Former FBI Director James Comey made his first court appearance Wednesday after his indictment a day earlier for allegedly making threats against President Trump.
He did not enter a plea on Wednesday. Federal Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick read the charges against Comey and denied the Justice Department’s attempts to set conditions of release.
“I don’t think conditions on release are necessary in this case,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that “they weren’t necessary last time” Comey was indicted.
Comey, in a blue suit and light blue dress shirt, was represented by Patrick Fitzgerald and Jessica Carmichael. He nodded as he was read his rights and smiled back at his family as he left the courtroom.
Comey has been charged with two counts: knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of — and to inflict bodily harm on — the president, and second, knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to kill the president.
The charges stem from an image he briefly shared to Instagram last year showing seashells arranged in the sand to form the numbers “86 47.” The indictment states that a “reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances” would interpret the depiction of the shells in the photo “as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to President Trump.”
Comey, a frequent Trump critic, soon removed the post after outraged Trump supporters interpreted the numbers as a threat against Mr. Trump, the 47th president. He said in an Instagram post that he believed the shell formation was communicating a “political message.”
“I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence,” Comey wrote. “It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
In a video posted on Substack after the indictment, Comey said, “”I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So, let’s go.”
In a post to Truth Social late Wednesday night, President Trump wrote, “’86’ is a mob term for ‘kill him.’ They say 86 him! 86 47 means ‘kill President Trump.’ James Comey, who is a Dirty Cop, one of the worst, knows this full well! EIGHT MILES OUT, SIX FEET DOWN! Didn’t he also lie to the FBI about this??? I think so!”
Comey’s attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said his legal team intend to file motions to dismiss on the grounds of selective and vindictive prosecutions imminently and asked a judge to order the preservation of records from the government, given the Justice Department’s recent opinion that the Presidential Records Act does not apply to the Trump administration.
Comey was previously indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2025 for allegedly lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. In that case, his legal team presented arguments on selective and vindictive prosecutions, but the judge never had to rule on that issue because the case was dismissed on grounds that the U.S. attorney who had brought the case was illegally appointed. The original case is being appealed by the Justice Department.
CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson told CBS News that the charges in the second indictment are unusual in that they stem from a symbolic message: “They’re based on seashells.” She indicated the Justice Department would face a high bar in prosecuting the case, noting that the biggest issue is whether there’s a First Amendment defense in the case.
“There’s a robust First Amendment defense if you can’t show that either the speech, or the symbolic speech or the expression satisfies that intent requirement.” The Justice Department will have to prove that Comey intended to threaten the president’s life or that he intended to transmit a message with that threat in his social media post.
In 2023, the Supreme Court said that for a true threat to be considered speech that is unprotected under the First Amendment, the government must show that the speaker “consciously disregards a significant risk that their words might harm another.” Comey said at the time of his Instagram post that he didn’t understand the numbers could be associated with violence and then removed the post.
