Blanche denies that Trump directed Comey prosecution: “Absolutely, positively not”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday denied that President Trump directed the Justice Department to pursue the latest charges against former FBI Director James Comey.

“Of course not, absolutely, positively not,” Blanche said on “CBS Mornings” when asked if Mr. Trump directed him to pursue the case against Comey. “This is something that has been investigated for nearly a year now, and the results of that investigation is that a grand jury returned an indictment.” 

A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Comey, alleging that an Instagram post that said “86 47” in seashells was a threat to assassinate Mr. Trump. After receiving backlash online for sharing the photo in May 2025, Comey quickly deleted the post and explained he thought it was a political message and “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.”

The indictment states that a “reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances” would interpret the depiction of the shells in the photo “as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to President Trump.”

Comey was indicted in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The indictment is signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Petracca, and the case is assigned to Judge Louise Wood Flanagan. An arrest warrant for Comey’s arrest was also issued.

Comey posted a video statement on Tuesday proclaiming his innocence. 

Blanche on Wednesday insisted that the indictment had come from a grand jury and the charges were not politically motivated, saying “look at the indictment.” 

“If anybody in this country thinks — especially given what happened over the past couple of years with respect to President Trump — that it is okay for anybody to threaten the president of the United States … and then have the media or others say, well that’s not serious, then we have a bigger problem than I even imagined in this country,” Blanche said. 

Blanche insisted that “anybody who tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells or something to the contrary is missing the point. You cannot threaten the president of the United States.”

This is the second time the Justice Department has attempted to prosecute Comey. A grand jury indicted him in September for making false statements and obstruction of justice, related to Senate testimony he gave almost five years ago. The charges were thrown out in November by a federal judge, who said Lindsey Halligan, the top prosecutor in eastern Virginia who secured the indictment against Comey, had been unlawfully appointed to the job.

When pressed by CBS News’ Major Garrett about conservative figures who had posted similar images about former President Joe Biden, Blanche said that “every investigation is different.” 

“Everyday there’s comments made about President Trump, threats made against President Trump, every one of those are not indicted,” Blanche said. “It depends on the facts of the case.”