Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Justice Department's decision to indict former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, telling NBC's Meet the Press that the criminal charges rest on far more than a disputed Instagram post showing seashells arranged on a beach.
The two-count felony indictment centers on a photo Comey posted last May displaying shells forming the numerals "86 47." Trump allies seized on the image as a veiled threat, interpreting "86" as slang for removing someone. Comey quickly deleted the post and apologized, stating he was unaware of the phrase's meaning and condemning violence.
"Rest assured that it's not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted," Blanche said during the Sunday interview. "You prove intent with witnesses, you prove intent with documents, with materials."
When pressed by host Kristen Welker to specify what additional evidence supports the case, Blanche declined to elaborate, promising instead that a public trial would reveal the government's full hand against Comey.
The assertion carries weight among legal observers who have grown increasingly skeptical of the prosecution. Prominent Republicans and Democrats alike have questioned whether the case can survive pretrial motions, let alone a jury trial.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, issued a pointed warning that the department must produce evidence beyond the photograph. "If this whole case is based on a picture in the sand of a North Carolina beach, it again makes no sense to me," he said on CNN's State of the Union. "It better be more than just the picture. There have to be facts and circumstances beyond that to convince me."
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California, who has himself faced Trump's political crosshairs, predicted the charges will not withstand judicial scrutiny. "I think this case is likely to be thrown out even before it goes to a jury," he said on Meet the Press. "It will absolutely be thrown out by a jury."
The prosecution team itself has raised red flags among legal observers. Experienced prosecutors exited the investigation before the indictment, Bloomberg Law reported. The prosecutor now handling the case is a former New Jersey city councilman whose prosecutorial background centers on Medicaid fraud matters. W. Ellis Boyle, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina overseeing the case, had no prosecutorial experience before being appointed to his current position last year.
Blanche, who assumed control of the Justice Department after replacing Pam Bondi, pointed to career prosecutors and law enforcement officials who investigated the matter. He has pursued cases against Trump's political adversaries with notable speed since taking office.
Comey has maintained his innocence throughout. A previous criminal case against him in Virginia was dismissed last year, underscoring a pattern that critics view as selective prosecution aligned with political aims rather than legitimate criminal conduct.
Author James Rodriguez: "The government's silence on specifics speaks volumes, and Tillis got it right: if all they have is a photo and apologies, this indictment collapses under the weight of the First Amendment."
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