Former FBI Director James Comey is facing a second DOJ indictment in less than a year, this time over an Instagram post showing seashells arranged in a '8647' formation that prosecutors claim constitutes a true threat against President Donald Trump.
Background
The case centers on Comey's social media post, which the government alleges uses coded mob language to threaten the president. According to court documents, the DOJ contends that '86 47' is mafia terminology meaning 'kill him,' and that a reasonable recipient familiar with the circumstances would interpret the post as a serious expression of intent to do harm.
Comey's legal team, led by former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, has aggressively challenged the indictment on multiple fronts. The defense argues the prosecution is vindictive and selective, noting Trump has publicly shared images of political enemies in artificial mugshots and prison jumpsuits while directing DOJ prosecutions against Comey.
This marks Comey's second indictment from the Justice Department within a year. A previous false statements case brought in the Eastern District of Virginia was dismissed by a district court as 'fatally defective,' leading to the firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to defense filings.
The Charges
The criminal complaint alleges Comey posted the seashell formation with knowledge that it would be interpreted as a threat. Prosecutors relied on search warrant applications supported by the interpretation of Person-1, someone who 'knew Patrice Comey,' Comey's wife. That individual initially believed '86' meant restaurant lingo for running out of food items before adopting the government's interpretation after reading posts from Rudy Giuliani, Trump's twice-disbarred former attorney.
In response, defense attorneys filed a motion to suppress evidence derived from the warrants and moved to dismiss the indictment entirely. Central to their argument is an affidavit from John Gleeson, a former federal judge who spent years prosecuting organized crime cases in Brooklyn.
Gleeson's credentials are substantial: he directly supervised investigations and prosecutions of more than 100 mafia members, served as lead counsel in the 1992 trial of John Gotti that resulted in convictions for five murders and conspiracy to commit murder, and was lead counsel in Victor Orena's trial that same year, securing convictions for murder and conspiracy.
'I have never come into contact with a single recorded conversation where a mafia member uses '86' in any way, shape, or form, let alone to refer to killing or murder,' Gleeson swore. 'Nor have I come into contact with any such reference to '86' in my thousands of hours of debriefings and conversations with cooperating witnesses in mafia cases.'
The former prosecutor called the government's theory 'preposterous' and stated it 'would be laughable if Mr. Comey's freedom wasn't at stake.' He emphasized that while overlapping with Giuliani's tenure as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he can definitively state '86 is definitely not mafia terminology in any way, shape or form, let alone to refer to killing or murder.'
Key Takeaways
- John Gleeson, who prosecuted John Gotti and Victor Orena, filed a sworn affidavit stating '86' has no connection to murder in mafia terminology
- Comey's defense argues the prosecution is politically motivated and vindictive, citing Trump's public statements about Comey
- This marks the second DOJ indictment against Comey in under a year; the first was dismissed as defective
- Prosecutors relied on Person-1's interpretation of '86,' which initially meant restaurant lingo before shifting to violence after exposure to Giuliani's online claims
What's Next
Comey's defense team will continue pursuing dismissal of the indictment, arguing both that the post cannot constitute a true threat under mob terminology analysis and that the prosecution represents selective and vindictive enforcement. The court has not yet ruled on pending motions.
The defense memorandum specifically noted Trump said 'probably, I don't know' when asked if Comey's post put his life in danger, while simultaneously claiming 'movies prove that 86 'em'' is a mob term meaning 'kill 'em.'
Comey's daughter Maurene Comey, fired from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York by Trump last summer, has an ongoing lawsuit against the administration over her termination.