Todd Blanche: More to Comey indictment than the '8647' Instagram post
· UPIMay 3 (UPI) -- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday that the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is not based solely on the "8647" post on Instagram that infuriated President Donald Trump.
The indictment is the product of a months-long investigation that was brought to a grand jury and, while it does include and refer to Comey's post of seashells on a beach arranged into the numbers, the case is not centered on that.
"This is not about a single Instagram post," Blanche said on NBC News' "Meet The Press."
"This is about a body of evidence collected over the series of about 11 months ... At the trial -- a public trial that will be open to the public -- everybody in this country will know exactly what evidence the government has against Mr. Comey," he said.
The Department of Justice on April 28 indicted Comey for what it alleges is a threat made against Trump, with the two-count indictment alleging that Comey knowingly and willfully made a threat on the life of the president through communication channels that constitute interstate commerce.
The charges stem from a post on Instagram on May 15, 2025, that showed seashells on a beach arranged to show "8647," which was alleged to 86 -- or get rid of -- Trump, who is the 47th President of the United States.
The term "86" is slang for canceling, dismissing or getting rid of something across industries and populations, but Trump and the Justice Department have suggested it refers to killing somebody, which many have suggested is a reference to movies and is not used that way in real life.
Sen. Thomas Tillis, R-N.C., said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that while he considers Comey to be a "disappointment" as director of the FBI, he's questions whether the Instagram post is an actual call to violence or if the indictment has more to do with a "vindictive prosecution based on politics."
"If this whole case is based on a picture in the sand of a North Carolina beach, it again makes no sense to me," Tillis said, according to Politico.
"I can't find any evidence where 86 is used as a call for violence," he said. "It better be more than just a picture. There have to be facts and circumstances beyond that to convince me."