James Comey faces federal charges over Instagram post

Former FBI Director James Comey is facing federal charges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He is accused of threatening President Donald Trump through a May 2025 Instagram post featuring seashells arranged to display the numbers ‘8647’. The Department of Justice has brought two charges: threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.

Court filings reveal that the FBI interviewed Salvatore ‘Sammy the Bull’ Gravano, a former underboss of the Gambino crime family, regarding the meaning of the post. Gravano, who previously encountered Comey during his career as a prosecutor in the 1990s, told investigators during a May 2026 phone call that Comey ‘had to know’ what the term ‘86’ meant in the context of ‘killing someone’. This information was included in a sworn affidavit by attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in support of Comey’s motions to dismiss the case.