Comey in Court on Trump Threat Indictment

Former FBI Director James Comey appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday for his initial hearing in a criminal case accusing him of threatening President Donald Trump through a social media post.

Comey was indicted Tuesday in the Eastern District of North Carolina on charges stemming from a photograph he shared last year showing seashells arranged to form the numbers 86 and 47. Prosecutors contend the post constituted a threat against Trump, the nation's 47th president, with "86" interpreted in slang as meaning to get rid of or, in some contexts, to kill. Comey has stated the numbers represented a political message, not a call to violence, and he deleted the image shortly after posting it upon learning of misinterpretations. In a follow-up statement, he wrote, "I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence and I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."

The case marks the second indictment against Comey in the past year. A previous one, involving false statement and obstruction charges, was dismissed by a judge. The government alleges Comey acted knowingly and willfully, but legal experts note the indictment provides few...