Former FBI Director James Comey said Sunday that he has “complete faith in our judicial system” as he faces an ongoing federal case over a 2025 Instagram post.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
The judiciary is “the genius of our founders,” Comey told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“It’s frankly the only leg of our three-legged stool that is still standing in the U.S. government, but it’s standing tall and straight,” he added. “It is the guardian of the rule of law, and I believe in it.”
The former FBI director was indicted last month after prosecutors alleged his photo of seashells spelling out “86 47” was a threat against the president’s life.
Trump administration officials and the Justice Department allege that “86” means “to kill,” with President Donald Trump telling reporters in the Oval Office last month, “Well, if anybody knows anything about crime, they know 86 — you know what 86 — it’s a mob term for kill him.”
Restaurant workers, on the other hand, told NBC News last month that “86” is a common, nonviolent term in the hospitality industry meaning the kitchen is out of an item.
In a “Meet the Press” interview earlier this month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the indictment goes beyond the seashell photo.
“This is not just about a single Instagram post,” Blanche said at the time. “This is about a body of evidence that [prosecutors] collected over the series of about 11 months. That evidence was presented to the grand jury.”
He added that he was not “permitted” to publicly share other evidence against Comey in the case.
On Sunday, Comey declined to comment on the specifics of the seashell case, citing the ongoing legal action, and urged Blanche not to speak publicly about it either.
“He ought not to be talking about it,” the former FBI director said. “I can’t talk about it.”
Since his indictment, Comey has said multiple times he won’t stay silent in the face of attacks from the president and his allies, telling MS NOW last week that “Donald Trump has a bottomless desire to gain revenge against those who criticized him,” and, “I’m not gonna be quiet; I’m going to continue to speak about what I believe.”
In a separate interview with NBC News last week, Comey also said that targeting Trump’s foes is in direct conflict with the Justice Department’s mission to uphold the law.
“The department cannot target people like an Adam Schiff or Letitia James or Sen. Kelly because the president doesn’t like what they say,” the former FBI director told NBC News’ Hallie Jackson. “It just can’t be that way and still have it uphold the rule of law in this country.”
Separate indictments against Comey and James — the New York attorney general who brought a civil case against Trump and his company — were dismissed last year because a judge found the prosecutor in the cases was wrongly appointed. Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., both of whom have drawn the president’s ire, have also been targeted in separate cases that failed to advance.
On Sunday, Comey said that the dismissed case last year was “absolutely” a case of political payback because the president doesn’t like him.
“We made a motion to have it dismissed as a vindictive prosecution,” the former FBI director said. “The president of the United States cannot use the Justice Department to target people because he wants to retaliate against them. We just can’t operate as a republic if that happens.”
