The US Department of Justice has indicted former FBI director James Comey again, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Tuesday. Blanche said Comey is charged with threatening the life of President Donald Trump and with making an interstate threat to kill the president.
Comey, a frequent critic of Trump, denied wrongdoing in a video statement released the same day. “I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go,” he said.
CNN reported the new indictment is linked to an Instagram post Comey made last May that showed shells on a beach arranged to form the numbers “86 47.” Trump is the 47th US president; some Republican critics interpreted the image as a reference to killing or “taking out” the president.
This is the second time the Justice Department under the current administration has brought criminal charges against Comey. In September he was indicted on counts of making a false statement to Congress and one count of obstruction; he pleaded not guilty. Those charges were dropped in November after a judge ruled the appointment of the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, unlawful.
Comey served as FBI director from 2013 to 2017 and became a vocal critic of Trump after his dismissal by the president in 2017. Trump said at the time the firing related to Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails; Democrats argued the removal was tied to the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia.
The Justice Department under Trump’s second administration has faced allegations that the president has pressured officials to pursue prosecutions of his political opponents. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche previously served as the president’s personal attorney.
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru, Dmytro Hubenko