'8647' got James Comey indicted. What exactly does it mean?

A demonstrator holds up an "8647" sign at a "No Kings" protest in Louisville, Ky., in June 2025. It's an anti-Trump slogan, with multiple interpretations. Jon Cherry/AP hide caption toggle caption Jon Cherry/AP Former FBI Director James Comey was charged this week over a year-old social media post of a seashell formation that the Justice Department alleges constituted a threat to President Trump's life. A grand jury returned an indictment on Tuesday saying that Comey "did knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States" when he posted a picture of seashells in the sand on a North Carolina beach in May 2025. The seashells were arranged — it's not clear by whom — to form the numbers "8647." Eighty-six is a slang term widely interpreted as meaning "get rid of," while Trump is the 47th (and 45th) president. "I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let's go," Comey said in a Substack video response to the indictment, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. Comey has been an outspoken critic of Trump since the president fired him in 2017, four years into his 10-year term, as he was overseeing an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. …