Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that federal prosecutors relied on evidence beyond former FBI Director James Comey’s controversial Instagram post when they secured an indictment against him on charges of threatening President Trump.
“Rest assured that the career assistant United States attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career Secret Service agents that investigated this case didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away,” Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
Comey was indicted last week Tuesday by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina over alleged threats against Trump. The only threat detailed in the three-page indictment was a May 2025 Instagram photo showing seashells arranged on a beach spelling “86 47,” which the Justice Department characterized as a death threat against the president.
Blanche acknowledged the unusual nature of the case while defending the prosecution. He noted that the phrase “86 47” is posted and used constantly across the country, yet those who post it are not indicted.
“Every one of those statements do not result in indictments,” Blanche said. “Of course, the sea shells are part of that case.”
The distinction Blanche drew—between ordinary postings of the phrase and Comey’s indictment—suggests prosecutors identified additional evidence beyond the Instagram post. Blanche declined to elaborate, citing grand jury secrecy.
“I am not permitted to get into the details of what the grand jury heard or found, as you know. But rest assured that it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted,” he said.
The timing of the indictment raised questions. Comey posted the image in May 2025, but prosecutors did not seek charges until April 2026—nearly a year later.
Blanche attributed the delay to the scope of the investigation. “That’s why you saw an indictment last week, notwithstanding the fact that it was last May that the post was made,” he said.
Comey has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the charges. He said he does not associate “86” with violence, but rather with hospitality industry terminology, where the code has been used for decades to denote barring a customer or removing an item from a menu.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
