Comey Makes First Court Appearance After Second Indictment Against Him

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- James Comey, the former FBI director, made his first court appearance Wednesday after being charged over a photograph of seashells he had posted on social media that the Justice Department branded a serious threat to President Donald Trump.

Comey, a longtime critic of Trump, appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, for a brief, largely procedural appearance before a judge. He was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in North Carolina on two counts: making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat across state lines. It was the second time the administration had brought charges against him, signaling a renewed effort by the Justice Department to pursue Trump's rivals.

Usually, after defendants turn themselves in to face charges in another state, they appear before a judge, who describes the counts they face and hears preliminary arguments over whether they should be detained. Comey is expected to appear in court in North Carolina at a later date.

In U.S. District Court in Virginia, Comey was seated at the defense table wearing a dark suit over a blue dress shirt, flanked by his two lawyers, Jessica Carmichael and Patrick Fitzgerald. Members of Comey's family sat together in the back of the courtroom during the hearing.

Comey did not speak before the magistrate judge, William E. Fitzpatrick, but nodded along as he was reminded of his rights and the charges against him. The judge addressed mainly administrative matters, including the conditions of Comey's release, during which he referred to the last time Comey appeared at the federal court in Alexandria, over the first indictment the Justice Department brought against him.

"I don't think conditions of release are necessary," Fitzpatrick said, shaking his head. His tone and manner were brusque. "They weren't necessary last time," he added. "They are not necessary this time."

Fitzgerald was the only one who spoke for Comey and told the court that they would be challenging the case by claiming a "vindictive and selective prosecution." The hearing was over in less than 10 minutes.

In a brief video posted online Tuesday, Comey said he was determined to fight the charges. "This won't be the end of it -- but I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary."

He added, "So let's go."

The charges against Comey stem from a social media post he shared nearly a year ago, of seashells arranged in sand to form the numbers "86 47." The phrase is often used by protesters to call for Trump, the 47th president, to be ousted from office. Merriam-Webster defines "eighty-six" as an old slang term meaning to dismiss or remove.

After the image set off an uproar, Comey denied that the post's message was violent and took it down.

Members of the administration and Trump's defenders seized on the post, describing it as a call to kill the president. Prosecutors reiterated that argument in a three-page indictment, asserting that "a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret" the message "as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to President Trump."

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Trump said he believed the term "86" was a mafia term for killing someone.

"That's a mob term for killing," he said. "The mob uses that term to say when they want to kill them; they say 86 the son of a gun."

Asked if he believed Comey's social media post had put him in danger, the president replied, "Probably."

"People like Comey have created tremendous danger, I think, for politicians and others," Trump said, before returning to an old complaint of his that the former FBI director was "a dirty cop."

The administration's previous effort against Comey faltered. In September, a grand jury in Virginia indicted him on charges of lying to Congress. He pleaded not guilty, but a federal judge dismissed the charges after ruling that the prosecutor assigned to bring the charges, Lindsey Halligan, had been appointed unlawfully.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 3:11 PM.