Trump's Trials - Trump's DOJ indicts former FBI director James Comey for a second time

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

The Justice Department has secured another grand jury indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, an outspoken critic of President Trump.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's Trump's terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. Every episode, we bring you a story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president, with a focus on ways he's using power like no president before him. Here is the latest from NPR. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. The Justice Department has again secured an indictment against James Comey. This is the second time the department under the Trump administration has brought charges against the former FBI director.

Comey has been one of President Trump's most vocal critics. NPR Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is here with more. Hi. Hi there. Ryan, just tell us about the case. Right. So this all revolves around an incident about a year ago in which Comey posted a photo on social media that showed seashells on a beach. And the seashells were arranged so that they read 8647, 8647, 86 being an old slang term meaning to dismiss or remove. 47 could be seen as a reference to President Trump, who in his second term, is the 47th president. Now, this post caused outrage among Trump supporters.

Many of them claimed that Comey was calling for Trump to be killed. At the time, Trump was asked about it in an interview with Fox News. Here's what he said. He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant assassination. Now, Comey has said that he did not realize some people associated the number 86 with violence. He said he opposes violence of any kind.

And so he deleted the post after the uproar. Once can we been charged with? So he faces two counts in this new indictment. The first is threats against the president. The second is transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The indictment says that a reasonable person who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret the 86-47 photo as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the president. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced these charges.

Here's a bit of what he told reporters. I think it's fair to say that threatening the life of anybody is dangerous. dangerous and potentially a crime. Threatening the life of the President of the United States will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice. Blanche also said that federal prosecutors bring cases all the time against people who threaten public officials. And he said this case may seem unique because of the defendant's name, but Blanche argued that it's not just a normal case. Ryan, I mean the fact that the charges are against James Comey, who of course is the former FBI director, as we've noted a critic of the president. This does not seem to me like a run-of-the-mill case.

Right. It doesn't seem like a run-of-the-mill case, and it's also not happening in a vacuum. There's a lot of history between President Trump and Comey. Trump has made clear he does not like Comey. And this is, of course, the second time in Trump's second term that the Justice Department has brought charges against the former FBI director. Last fall, Comey was charged in Virginia with false statements and obstruction tied to congressional testimony. And that case was brought right after President Trump had publicly called on then Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after Comey. Trump mentioned Comey by name, as well as some other prominent critics of the president. Ultimately, that first case against Comey was dismissed after a judge found that the acting U.S. attorney who had been handpicked by Trump had been unlawfully appointed. Now, Comey just put out a statement about the latest

indictment that came out today. Comey said prosecutors are back at him again, but he said he's innocent. He said he's still not afraid. And he plans to fight these charges. Now, Comey is not the only Trump critic or political adversary to be targeted by the Justice Department. What does this case tell us about the department's priorities under Trump? Well, look, Trump publicly campaigned on getting vengeance on his perceived enemies and the department has taken steps to make that a reality. There are the two cases against Comey. Yes. There's also the prosecution of New York State Attorney General Letitia James. There are investigations into California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. Former CIA director John Brennan and the DOJ just recently dropped its investigation of Fed

Jeremy Jerome Powell. That's not even a full list. And that's why people being targeted and many legal observers as well, it has to be said, say that the department is being weaponized against the president's political adversaries. NPR's Ryan Lucas. Thanks. Thank you. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and, of course, who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more. Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's Terms

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