Ex-FBI boss Comey indicted again, this time over seashell ‘threat’ to Trump
Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on charges of making a threat against President Donald Trump based on a social media post showing seashells arranged as '86 47'. The indictment alleges the post constituted a threat to harm the president, despite Comey's claim that he did not intend it as such and deleted it promptly. The case was brought by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a Trump ally, as part of a broader political context.
- ▪The indictment charges Comey with knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of or inflict bodily harm upon President Trump.
- ▪Comey shared an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to read '86 47' and later deleted it, stating he did not realize the numbers were associated with violence.
- ▪The Secret Service interviewed Comey after Trump administration officials interpreted the post as advocating assassination.
- ▪Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a Trump loyalist, secured the indictment nearly a year after the post was made.
- ▪Comey maintains his innocence and says he opposes all forms of violence.
6 outlets in our directory ran this story, first to last over 15 hours. Coverage spans 3 points on the political spectrum — 2 lean left, 2 centre, 1 right.
- ▪ Former FBI Director James Comey Indicted Over Alleged Trump Threat — TIME — Top
- ▪ Grand jury indicts Comey for alleged threat against Trump — NBC News — Top
- ▪ James Comey gets indicted (again) — Vox
- ▪ James Comey Indicted For ‘86 47’ ‘Threat’ Against Trump — The Federalist
- ▪ James Comey indicted over seashell photo that officials say threatened Trump — NBC News Politics
Sydney Morning Herald publishes from Australia and files mainly under world. We currently carry 3,705 of its stories.
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| Original publisher | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| Canonical URL | https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/ex-fbi-boss-comey-indicted-again-this-time-over-seashell-threat-to-trump-20260429-p5zrvk.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed |
| Publication time | Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:40:15 +1000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-04-28T19:44:21.793Z |
| Last seen | 2026-04-28T19:44:21.793Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | Yi_iIjYlU2A- · 6 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Sydney Morning Herald.