James Comey indicted again

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Getty Images James Comey speaks onstage during Former FBI Director James Comey In Conversation With MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace at 92NY on 30 May 2023 in New York City. bbc.com

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted for a second time on Tuesday (Getty Images) Getty Images

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James Comey was indicted again this week after a federal grand jury took up a brief Instagram post showing seashells arranged as “86 47” on a North Carolina beach. According to the BBC, the Justice Department has not publicly detailed the new charges, but multiple outlets tie the case to the image, which Trump officials have framed as a threat against the 47th president. Comey deleted the post and said he did not realise some people associate the numbers with violence.

The new indictment lands on top of a failed first attempt. Last year Comey was charged with lying to Congress about authorising leaks to the press; he pleaded not guilty, and a judge dismissed the case after finding the interim prosecutor’s appointment invalid. The BBC reports the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was a former White House aide with no prior prosecution experience and was not authorised to present charges to the grand jury, making her actions unlawful. The judge left the door open for the government to try again, and Comey said at the time that Trump might pursue him.

The practical effect is that the process becomes the penalty. A former FBI director now faces repeated investigations, Secret Service interviews, and grand-jury action over a social-media post that was up for hours, then removed, and later reinterpreted as a coded call for violence. Trump himself has insisted “a child knows what that meant,” while Comey has maintained it was a political message he did not connect to harm. The legal question is not only what the numbers mean, but whether prosecutors can turn contested slang into criminal intent.

The institutional question is larger: a Justice Department that can refile after an appointment error—and can pivot from alleged “leaks” to a beach photo—signals a willingness to keep the docket open until something sticks. The Independent notes other political figures, including New York attorney general Letitia James, have also been singled out in the administration’s push for investigations and prosecutions. In Washington, where most senior officials communicate through curated social feeds and rapid-response messaging, that creates a simple compliance rule: speak less, post less, and assume any ambiguity will be litigated.

Comey declined to comment on Tuesday, according to CNN via the BBC. The only publicly visible evidence at the centre of the case remains a deleted picture of seashells on a beach.