Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, accused of threatening President Donald Trump, does not fall under the protections of free speech.

Earlier in the day, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina handed down an indictment against Comey on two counts connected to a since-deleted Instagram post. The post featured seashells arranged to spell out “86 47,” which prosecutors interpret as a serious threat, noting that Trump is the 47th president and that “86” can be used as slang for killing someone.

Comey issued an apology for the May 2025 post, explaining that he believed the seashell arrangement conveyed a political message and that “it never occurred to me” that “86 47” was associated with violence.

During a press briefing, Blanche was questioned about how to distinguish between constitutionally protected speech and a genuine threat.

“It’s not a very difficult line to look at,” he said. “And it’s not, in my mind, a difficult line for one to cross over one way or the other. You are not allowed to threaten the president of the United States of America. That’s not my decision. That’s Congress’ decision in a statute that they passed that we charge multiple times a year.

“And so, whether there is a defense, maybe there is, but the government will have evidence. 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.”

Blanche was also asked whether proving Comey’s intent would be a challenge in court.

“This case was indicted today,” he said. “This conduct occurred about a year ago, May 15 of last year. There has been a tremendous amount of investigation. And how do you prove intent? In any case, you prove intent with witnesses, with documents, with the defendant himself, to the extent it’s appropriate. And that’s how we’ll prove intent in this case.”

He added that an arrest warrant has been issued for Comey and said authorities anticipate communicating with his legal team as the case moves forward.

“This case will proceed like hundreds of others do every year,” Blanche said. “There will be some sort of arraignment set by the judge or assigned to the magistrate judge. And when that happens, you’ll know about it. But this is being handled differently from the last time he was indicted.”

This is not the first time Comey has faced federal charges. In September, he was indicted in Virginia on felony allegations involving false statements tied to the Russia investigation and obstruction. However, that case was dismissed in November after a judge determined that the Trump administration had improperly appointed Lindsey Halligan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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