Former FBI director and staunch Trump critic James Comey surrendered to authorities in the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday, after previously indicating he would surrender.
The arrest followed a controversy over a secret post Comey shared last year, after which a federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted him.
MAGA’s anger over Comey’s Instagram post
The three-page indictment, which has now been removed, shows the numbers “86 47” written on shells on a beach and the caption, “Creating spectacular shells on my beach walk.”
Trump’s prosecutors and allies say the post is a threat to the president, citing the word ’86’ as meaning “to get rid of something” and ’47’ as a veiled reference to the 47th president.
Charges against the former FBI director include one count of threatening the President and heirs and one count of sharing a threat in interstate commerce.
However, this is not the first time Comey has faced indictment. in 2020 on charges last year of allegedly lying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He said at the time, “I know that Donald Trump will probably come after me again and my attitude is going to be the same.”
“I am innocent. I am not afraid, and I believe in an independent federal judiciary – the gift of our Founders to protect us from a would-be tyrant.”
According to the New York Times, in addition to the legal battle, the phrase has been adopted by Trump’s critics as a way to register their opposition.
