The nation’s former top cop was indicted – and the subject of a federal arrest warrant -Tuesday over a photo of seashells officials said threatened to kill President Trump.
James Comey a year ago posted a picture on social media of shells on a beach writing out the numbers “86 47,” which critics said referred to killing Trump.
The former deputy attorney general and FBI director has denied – with a straight face – the display had any nefarious meaning.
“When used as slang, the number 86 can refer to getting rid of or tossing something out,” CNN said. “Trump is currently the 47th president.”
Comey posted the photo of the shells, writing in the caption “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
When the Secret Service called Comey in for a little chat, he told investigators he saw the shells on a North Carolina beach.
Comey removed the post the same day, claiming he assumed the shells represented “a political message” but “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.”
He told MSNBC and CBS’ The Late Show – America’s best arbiters of truth – that he and his wife saw the shells and she suggested he take a picture and post it to Instagram, believing it to be a “clever” political message.
(Note to self – blame the wife if asked about promoting threatening a president.)
The charges in the latest Comey indictment, entail “knowingly and willfully” making a threat against the president, Attorney General Todd Blanche told a news conference late Tuesday.
Blanche said a warrant for Comey’s arrest had been issued in North Carolina.
He was initially indicted last fall on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstruction of justice, only for a federal judge to throw out the case on the premise that the indictment was illegal because it had been secured by an acting U.S. attorney.
The earlier case hinged on a committee hearing exchange Comey had with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during which the former FBI director denied authorizing leaks to media outlets related to the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation and a separate probe into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to store sensitive emails.
“On May 3rd, 2017, in this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, ‘Have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?’ You responded under oath, ‘Never,’” the line of questioning from Cruz began.
“He then asked you, ‘Have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration?’ You responded again under oath, ‘No.’”
The Texas Republican then noted that Comey’s responses to Grassley (R-Iowa) appeared to be at odds with comments made by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who Cruz said “publicly and repeatedly stated that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal and that you were directly aware of it and that you directly authorized it.”
“Who’s telling the truth?” Cruz asked.
“I can only speak to my testimony,” Comey replied. “I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017.”
Comey, who was fired by Trump six days after his 2017 testimony, also testified that he “never” was an anonymous source about investigations into Trump or Hillary Clinton, and “no,” he had not authorized subordinates to be anonymous sources for journalists about the probes either.
Yet in other testimonies to Congress and federal investigators, Comey confessed to leaking information to Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor whom the top G-man called a “good friend.”
