Former FBI Director James Comey said he expects the Justice Department under President Donald Trump to try to indict him a third time if its latest case against him falls apart.
"Donald Trump has a bottomless desire to gain revenge against those who criticized him," Comey said in the May 11 interview on MS NOW, his first interview since being indicted for a second time. "And I'm not going to stop criticizing him, because I think that's required if you care about America, and so it will just keep going."
The DOJ secured charges from a North Carolina federal grand jury on April 28 that claim Comey threatened to harm or kill Trump when he posted an image of seashells reading "8647" on Instagram in May 2025.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
"86" is a slang term that means "to throw out" or "to get rid of," according to Merriam-Webster. Trump is the 47th U.S. president.
Some Trump supporters interpreted the post as a threat against the president.
Within hours, Comey deleted the post and said in a new post that he "didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence." He said he took the original post down because he opposes "violence of any kind."
Comey said in the May 11 interview that he expects Trump to be able to find prosecutors willing to target his perceived enemies, even if some refuse.
"At the bottom of every barrel there are still apples, and so he will find someone to do what he wants to do," Comey said. "They'll continue working on it because that's what the boss wants. I'm sure that if this case falls apart, they'll come with something else."
The Justice Department and the White House didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
It's the second case the Trump administration has brought against the former FBI director, who became a fierce critic of the president after being fired by him in 2017, amidst an FBI investigation into connections between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government.
In September, the DOJ secured an indictment from a Virginia federal grand jury that claimed Comey lied to Congress, an allegation Comey denied. The case was dismissed after a judge determined the prosecutor who brought it — a former personal lawyer to Trump with no previous prosecutorial experience — was unlawfully appointed. The Justice Department appealed that ruling.
Both cases come after Trump specifically called for Comey to face criminal charges in a September Truth Social post.
Under the current Trump administration, the DOJ has repeatedly sought charges against not just Comey, but also New York Attorney General Letitia James, another explicit target of Trump. Initial charges against James were dismissed along with those against Comey, and the Justice Department tried and failed at least two more times to secure charges against her.
The department has also investigated others disfavored by Trump, including Sen. Adam Schiff, D–California, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Board Member Lisa Cook, and six members of Congress who urged military service members not to obey potential illegal orders.
Comey said on May 11 that he would not be surprised if another case is filed against him in the coming days or weeks.
"I've told my family, 'This is only going to go away when this administration leaves office because Donald Trump is obsessed with me, and with others,'" he said. "He is not going to let it go."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'What the boss wants.' Comey says Trump DOJ may seek third indictment
