USA: Ex-FBI chief Comey appears in court over Trump threat

Former FBI director James Comey handed himself in to authorities in Virginia on Wednesday to face charges of threatening US President Donald Trump's life through a social media post.

Comey, an outspoken critic of Trump, posted a photo on Instagram in May 2025 of seashells arranged in the shape of the numbers 86 and 47, which Trump said was a coded threat.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "86" is slang meaning "to throw out" or "to get rid of," while Trump is the 47th President of the United States.

What is James Comey charged with?

US broadcaster CNN reported that Comey appeared for the hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, where he did not speak or enter a plea and was later allowed to leave without any conditions.

Comey is charged with acting "knowingly and willfully" to threaten the life of the president and transmitting threats across state lines.

His attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said he would argue that the case ​is a "vindictive prosecution," meaning that it was brought to punish Comey for exercising his legal rights.

"[The] '86' is ambiguous," wrote John Keller, a former senior Justice Department official who led a task force to prosecute violent threats against election workers, in a text message to the Associated Press.

"It doesn't necessarily threaten violence and the fact that it was the FBI Director posting this openly and notoriously on a public social media site suggests that he didn't intend to convey a threat of violence."

The indictment comes as Trump's Justice Department makes a renewed push to target perceived political enemies of the president with criminal prosecution.

Last year, Trump referred ​to Comey by name in a social media post calling for criminal charges against his adversaries.

James Comey on Conflict Zone

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Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru