At a press conference to announce the indictment, FBI Director Kash Patel said that as the former director of the agency, Comey “knew full well the attention and consequences of making such a post”.
“James Comey disgracefully encouraged a threat on President Trump’s life and posted it on Instagram for the world to see,” Kash Patel said on Tuesday.
Comey was fired by Trump during his first term, after the former FBI director opened an investigation into Russian interference in the US 2016 presidential election.
Since then, Trump has repeatedly called for his prosecution – Tuesday’s charges are the administration’s second attempt to do so.
“Well, they’re back. This time about a picture of sea shells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this won’t be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me,” Comey said in a statement.
Comey faces charges of making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, according to court documents. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“Threatening the life of the President of the United States is a grave violation of our nation’s laws,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “The grand jury returned an indictment alleging James Comey did just that.”
US Secret Service agents interviewed Comey last May about the seashell photo.
Comey deleted the Instagram post, saying in a follow-up that he “assumed [the sea shells] were a political message”.
“I didn’t realise some folks associate those numbers with violence,” he added. “It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
Trump, who has long criticised Comey, said of the post that “a child knows what that meant”.