ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has become the second Justice Department leader in seven months to secure an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime target of President Donald Trump’s ire. And Trump is happy with Blanche's performance in the job, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Comey appeared briefly in court Wednesday on the latest charges. This time, the indictment accuses him of making a threat against the president when he posted a photo of seashells arranged to read “8647" on Instagram in May.
The first indictment, under former Attorney General Pam Bondi, was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia over an allegation that Comey lied to Congress five years ago during remote testimony via Zoom. A judge dismissed that case, finding that the acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan — a Florida insurance attorney with no prior prosecutorial experience — was unlawfully holding her position and had no authority to seek the indictment in the first place. Comey maintains his innocence in both cases.
Bondi was fired this month in part because Trump found that she couldn’t deliver on his agenda, including the effort to prosecute some of his political enemies, NBC News has reported. Late last year, the president published a Truth Social post imploring Bondi to take legal action against his foes.
Blanche, who was the second-in-command at the Justice Department under Bondi and was also Trump’s personal lawyer, then took over. Asked recently, Trump told reporters that Blanche was doing a “fantastic job.”
“He’s a great lawyer, I know that.”
According to the person familiar with the discussions around the Cabinet position, the president has said he feels Blanche would be a great attorney general. But Trump hasn’t made a final decision about whether to nominate him for the job permanently, the person said. The position requires Senate confirmation.
Trump’s allies have also suggested Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Civil Rights Division, for the job.
Right now, the White House isn’t expecting any major changes; Blanche’s time in the acting role is up Oct. 29, the person said.
Since he has taken over, Blanche has appeared at the White House for many events, including for the visit this week by King Charles, and has held several press conferences, including one to announce the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
He bristled when asked by CBS News on Wednesday whether the indictment against Comey was an attempt to placate the president and win the job permanently.
“I’ve worked with President Trump for many, many years. I don’t audition for this job. I’ve been the deputy attorney general for over a year, OK?” he said. “This is not an audition.”
While Comey appeared in the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday, the case originated in the Eastern District of North Carolina and will continue there. He was investigated last year over the seashells posting. Under the image, which he later deleted, he wrote: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
The term “86” is used in the restaurant industry, and it can informally mean “to get rid of.” The number “47” was thought to be related to Trump, the 47th president.
The indictment doesn’t spell out what the numbers mean, but it claims that a “reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances” would interpret the seashell image as “a serious expression of intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”
There are scores of T-shirts, hats, buttons, bumper stickers and posters for sale that read “8647,” including some that are made with seashells.
Later Wednesday during an unrelated news conference, Blanche was asked whether every posting of 8647 would result in federal charges. “Every case is different; every threats case is different," he responded.
Blanche said he did not know what jury would decide about the case.
“If there’s a prosecutor in this country that speaks about what a jury will do, they are not living up to their oath," he said. "I know that a grand jury returned a two-count indictment. I know that this case was investigated for the past year. I do not know what a jury of his peers will do at a trial that will come at some point in the future."
Some legal experts — including several conservatives who typically defend the Trump administration’s actions — expect the case to be dismissed long before it gets to trial.
“As one of his longest and most vocal critics, I would frankly prefer to crawl into one of Comey’s conversant shells than write this column,” wrote scholar Jonathan Turley. “However, here we are. This indictment is unconstitutional and will not likely survive constitutional challenge.”
Comey's attorney Pat Fitzgerald said he was going to file a motion arguing the case was a vindictive prosecution.
Comey, who was escorted out of the courtroom by a U.S. Marshal, turned toward the gallery and smiled on his way out. He didn’t speak publicly. In a social media post late Tuesday, he said he was “still innocent.”
“I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” Comey said. “So let’s go.”
The former Republican served in the Justice Department during the George W. Bush administration and was appointed FBI director in 2013 by President Barack Obama. The director serves a 10-year term, but Trump fired Comey in 2017.
On Wednesday, Trump said from the Oval Office that he thought people like Comey created “tremendous danger for politicians and others.”
“Comey is a dirty cop. He’s a very dirty cop,” Trump said. "He’s a crooked man.”
The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina W. Ellis Boyle, traveled to Washington to appear at a press conference announcing the charges. The prosecutor assigned to the case, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Petracca, was hired by Boyle months ago, according to another person familiar with the hiring.
Petracca has picked up only a handful of other cases in the district. Before his time at the U.S. attorney's office, Petracca was a Republican councilman in Morris County, New Jersey.
He did not respond to an email and a text message seeking comment.
