For a second time, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department has leveled charges against disgraced former FBI Director James Comey. This time, a federal grand jury in North Carolina handed down a two-count felony indictment.

As Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche explained, “The first count is that on or about May 15 of last year, he knowingly and willfully [made] a threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States. Count two, same day, May 15, 2025, that the defendant, James Comey, knowingly and willfully [transmitted] in interstate commerce a communication that contained a threat to kill the president of the United States. Both of these counts carry a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.”

The charges are directly related to a photo Comey posted on Instagram last year. It depicted seashells arranged in the sand that read “86” and “47.” To the image, he added the comment, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

Comey’s post triggered an uproar online with a number of Trump supporters interpreting the message as a veiled threat against the president. Comey took down the post and then posted the following statement: “I posted a picture earlier of some shells I saw on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

Despite Comey’s laughably dubious explanation, his post earned him a visit from the Secret Service, but little else. At least that’s what it looked like until this indictment.

“This investigation just didn’t come now,” Blanche said. “It’s the result of a lot of work by law enforcement over the past year.” He added, “I am not going to talk about the evidence that we have. That’s unfair to him. It’s unfair to the prosecutors, but it’s enough to say that the grand jury returned an indictment.”

Well, to that last point, as the saying goes, a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich.

The fact of the matter is that even if Comey viewed the message as “get rid of Trump,” it still falls short of a direct threat against the president. Furthermore, after the outcry, Comey’s removal of the image and his explanation, in which he expressed opposition to violence of any kind, makes the argument that his intent was to threaten Trump with death or bodily harm legally flimsy at best.

Indeed, this second indictment against Comey is even more legally suspect than the first. Unfortunately, this looks like the Justice Department bowing to Trump’s personal vendetta against a political enemy.

“‘86’ is a mob term for ‘kill him,’” the president railed on Truth Social. “They say 86 him! 86 47 means ‘kill President Trump.’ James Comey, who is a Dirty Cop, one of the worst, knows this full well! EIGHT MILES OUT, SIX FEET DOWN! Didn’t he also lie to the FBI about this??? I think so!”

As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy sees it, however, “This farce, then, is nothing more than a continuation of Trump’s lawfare campaign against a political enemy. It is inconceivable that Comey could be convicted of a crime in these circumstances, but the president’s minions are putting him through the anxiety, expense, and stigma of the judicial process. This includes acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is under pressure to prosecute Trump’s enemies and hopes to have the ‘acting’ designation removed from his title.”

Actions like this only reinforce the narrative that the Justice Department under Trump is biased and motivated by political considerations rather than by the impartial application of the law.

In fact, it will only give Comey and Democrats even more fodder to criticize the Trump administration, as Comey’s sanctimonious response to this latest indictment demonstrated. “Well, they’re back,” he posted. “This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina Beach a year ago, and this won’t be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me. I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go. But it’s really important that all of us remember this is not who we are as a country. This is not how the Department of Justice is supposed to be. And the good news is we get closer every day to restoring those values — keep the faith.”

This also exposes the inherent problem for any attorney general picked by Trump. They will be expected to pursue a lawfare campaign against Trump’s political enemies, or their time in the role will be short. The best AG pick Trump made was William Barr, yet Barr continuously frustrated Trump for refusing to target political enemies.

Comey is a corrupt and partisan hack who did his best to ruin the FBI and destroy Trump’s first candidacy and presidency, but there is almost no chance this case will go anywhere. And that will likely frustrate Trump even more. Yet it would behoove Trump to look at the reality on the ground. Comey has been out of government since Trump fired him back in 2017. Comey’s efforts to get Trump booted from office failed. All Comey amounts to now is a disgraced former G-man who occasionally vents his Trump Derangement Syndrome. Meanwhile, Trump is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, overseeing not only the expansion of the White House but also the reestablishment of America’s status as the world’s global leader.

Trump should either forget about Comey and let him disappear into history as a sandcastle washed away by the tide, or the DOJ should prosecute him for his real crime — his role in the Russia collusion “grand conspiracy.”