By Ginika Igboke
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on April 29 that President Donald Trump did not instruct the Department of Justice to pursue additional criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey over a controversial social media post.
Speaking during an interview on CBS Mornings, Blanche firmly denied that Trump influenced the prosecution.
“Of course not, absolutely, positively not,” Blanche said when asked whether the president directed the Justice Department to pursue the case.
He added that the matter had been under investigation for nearly a year and that the charges were ultimately approved through the grand jury process.
“This is something that has been investigated for nearly a year now, and the results of that investigation is that a grand jury returned an indictment,” Blanche said.
Grand Jury Returns Indictment Over Instagram Post
On April 29, a federal grand jury indicted Comey over an Instagram post he shared in May 2025 featuring seashells arranged on a beach to display the numbers “86 47.”
Federal prosecutors allege the message constituted a threat against Trump, interpreting the numbers as coded language referencing violence against the president.
Comey later removed the post and denied intending any threat.
“I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence,” Comey wrote at the time. “I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
According to prosecutors, a reasonable person familiar with the context could interpret the message as a serious expression of intent to harm the president.
Comey has been charged with threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The charges carry a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Blanche Defends Prosecution
Blanche argued during the interview that threats against the president must be treated seriously, particularly given previous assassination threats and security incidents involving Trump.
“If anybody in this country thinks—especially given what happened over the past couple of years with respect to President Trump—that it is okay for anybody to threaten the president of the United States … and then have the media or others say, well that’s not serious, then we have a bigger problem than I even imagined in this country,” Blanche said.
He also rejected claims that the case was being exaggerated.
“Anybody who tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells or something to the contrary is missing the point,” Blanche added. “You cannot threaten the president of the United States.”
Second Criminal Case Against Comey
The indictment marks the second criminal case filed against Comey within recent months.
A separate and unrelated case brought against the former FBI director in late 2025 was dismissed after a court determined that the U.S. attorney who filed the charges had been appointed improperly.
Comey and Trump have remained political adversaries since Trump dismissed him as FBI director during the early months of his first presidential term.
Blanche, who previously served as one of Trump’s personal attorneys before joining the administration, was elevated earlier this month to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Comey Denies Wrongdoing
In response to the new indictment, Comey released a video statement through Substack on April 28 denying the allegations and maintaining his innocence.
“Well, they’re back,” Comey said in the video. “This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago, and this won’t be the end of it.”
He added that he was not intimidated by the charges.
“I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” Comey said.
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