Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey goes beyond the Instagram post central to his case.
“This is not just about a single Instagram post,” Blanche told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “This is about a body of evidence that [prosecutors] collected over the series of about 11 months. That evidence was presented to the grand jury.”
Blanche said he was not “permitted” to share the other evidence against Comey that was collected, but added: “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.”
Comey was indicted last week on charges alleging he threatened the life of the president after he posted a photo on Instagram of seashells forming the numbers “86 47.”
When asked Wednesday whether he actually felt that his life was threatened by Comey’s post, President Donald Trump said, “Probably.”
“Well, if anybody knows anything about crime, they know 86 — you know what 86 — it’s a mob term for kill him,” Trump added.
Restaurant workers told NBC News the term is “everyday lingo,” noting is has nothing to do with death or murder.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., also cast doubt on whether “86” is an inherently violent term.
“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 told CNN on Sunday.
“I can’t find any evidence, except some that’s come up after the president made the comment about the movies," he added. "I can’t find any evidence where ‘86’ is used as a call for violence.”
Blanche on Sunday said the Justice Department has “evidence of all sorts” against Comey and that the indictment goes beyond just the number “86 47,” which appears frequently on social media and online shops.
“That’s posted constantly. That phrase is used constantly. There are constantly men and women who choose to make threatening statements against President Trump,” Blanche told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. “Every one of those statements do not result in indictments. Of course there are facts, there are circumstances, there are investigations that have to take place, and we have charged dozens and dozens of men and women this this year with threatening President Trump and others.”
Appearing later on “Meet the Press,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., criticized Blanche’s defense of the indictment, citing the widespread presence of “86 47” merchandise online.
“The only facts that distinguish this case from those people buying things on Amazon or posting things on Amazon is not any particular facts that are not visible to public,” the senator said. “It’s the fact that James Comey is a political opponent of the president’s. It’s the fact the president has called upon him for prosecution. It’s the fact that Todd Blanche wants to keep this job.”
Schiff also slammed Blanche’s focus on the case, saying: “The fact that we’re spending time on a seashells case and the top leadership of the Justice Department is so focused on it means they’re not focused on violent crime cases. They’re not focused on rape cases and child trafficking. Their focus is, you know, on James Comey and seashells, and it’s the American public that suffers.”
Blanche’s ability to secure an indictment against Comey left Trump pleased, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The acting attorney general took over the post atop the Justice Department after the president fired Attorney General Pam Bondi last month.
Last year, prosecutors in the Justice Department sought criminal indictments against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — who drew Trump’s ire after leading a civil fraud case against him and his company — but those cases were dismissed by a federal judge who found that the prosecutor who indicted them was not lawfully appointed.
On Sunday, Blanche said the previously dismissed indictment isn’t related to this case and that comparing the two indictments against Comey would be like comparing “apples to oranges.”
“The judge dismissed those cases not based on a factual finding that President Trump did something wrong or that there was something wrong with the underlying facts leading to that indictment,” the acting attorney general said. “The federal judge dismissed that case because he found that the U.S. attorney was not properly appointed. That’s not — there was no final reading on the facts or anything like that. So look, those cases are on appeal. We will see what happens.”
The former FBI director was also subpoenaed in a wide-ranging probe led by the Trump administration related to an earlier federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
