Comey appears in court for indictment over alleged threat to Trump, attorney says prosecution politically motivated
發佈日期: 2026-04-30 20:55
TVB News
Ex-FBI chief James Comey surrenders himself and appears in court following an indictment against him, relating to a photo of seashells he posted online that the Justice Department calls a threat to President Donald Trump's life. Comey's attorney says the prosecution is politically motivated while Trump says the social media post was a call for his murder.
Comey made his first court appearance in Virginia Wednesday.
This follows an indictment in North Carolina on Tuesday related to two charges of making threats against President Donald Trump with a photo he posted on social media last year of seashells arranged in the numbers "86 47."
Comey did not speak or enter a plea, and was released with no special conditions imposed.
His legal team says the defence intend to argue that the prosecution is vindictive and selective, alluding to the long-standingfeud between Comey and Trump over FBI investigation that alleged collaboration between the Trump campaign and Russia to sway the 2016 election results.
Comey maintained the post was not a call to violence against the president, and removed the post as soon as he saw some people were interpreting it that way.
But the Justice Department contends those numbers amounted to a threat against Trump, the 47th President of the United States.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump says Comey used mob terms and that the numbers imply murder.
Well, if anybody knows anything about crime, they know 86, you know what 86 - it's a mob term for 'kill him.' You know, you ever see the movies? '86 him,' the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates. '86 him,' that means kill him. I think of it as a mob term, I don't know, people think of is something having to do with disappearing, but the mob uses that term to say when they want to kill somebody they say, '86 the son of a gun.
He goes on to say Comey "created tremendous danger" and felt his life was "probably" at risk as a result of the social media post.
This is the second indictment against Comey in a matter of months.
