WASHINGTON, United States: Former FBI director James Comey has been indicted for threatening the life of Donald Trump, officials said Tuesday, five months after a previous case against the outspoken critic of the US president was thrown out.<\/p>\n
The indictment by a grand jury in North Carolina stems from an Instagram post the 65-year-old Comey made in May last year that showed the numbers \u201c86 47\u201d spelled out in seashells.<\/p>\n
Trump alleged in an interview with Fox News at the time that \u201c86\u201d was slang for kill and \u201c47\u201d was a reference to his being the 47th president.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew exactly what that meant,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThat meant assassination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comey responded dismissively to the charges and vowed to fight them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, they\u2019re back this time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago, and this won\u2019t be the end of it,\u201d Comey said in a video statement posted on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still innocent, I\u2019m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The indictment alleges the \u201c86 47\u201d reference in the seashell pattern was a \u201cserious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Comey faces one count of \u201cwillfully making a threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States\u201d and another of making an interstate threat.<\/p>\n
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s fair to say that threatening the life of anybody is dangerous and potentially a crime,\u201d Blanche said. \u201cThreatening the life of the president of the United States will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comey apologized at the time for the Instagram post and said he \u201cdidn\u2019t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Comey\u2019s indictment comes three days after a gunman was arrested for allegedly attempting to assassinate Trump during a Washington dinner hosted by the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n
Comey was charged in September with making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding in what was widely seen as retribution by the Republican president against a political opponent.<\/p>\n
A federal judge threw out the case on the grounds the US attorney handpicked by Trump who brought the charges was unlawfully appointed.<\/p>\n
The judge tossed a separate case at the same time that was brought against another Trump foe, New York Attorney General Letitia James.<\/p>\n
Another Trump critic, his former national security adviser John Bolton, has been indicted for allegedly transmitting and retaining classified information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON, United States: Former FBI director James Comey has been indicted for threatening the life of Donald Trump, officials said Tuesday, five months after a previous case against the outspoken critic of the US president was thrown out. The indictment by a grand jury in North Carolina stems from an Instagram post the 65-year-old Comey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-543679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n