Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there is more to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey than the picture of “seashells.”

KRISTEN WELKER: All right. Let’s move on to former FBI Director James Comey. A grand jury has indicted the former FBI director. For this Instagram post, I want to put it up, I think a lot of folks have seen it at this point, 86 47 in seashells, which the indictment says, quote, “A reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the president of the United States.” How does that image amount to a serious threat against the president’s life? ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: Well, every case requires an investigation. And what you just showed is one part of that investigation. What you just showed is the Instagram post. Rest assured that the career assistant United States attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career secret service agents that investigated this case didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away. That’s why you saw an indictment last week, notwithstanding the fact that it was last May that the post was made. So I am not permitted to get into the details of what the grand jury heard or found, as you know. But rest assured that it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted. KRISTEN WELKER: Well, part of what the government would have to prove is intent. James Comey deleted the post the same day. And he wrote, quote, “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me. But I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.” How do you prove intent, Mr. Blanche, when Mr. Comey himself said he didn’t understand that some people would look at that and think about violence? ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: You prove intent like you always prove intent. You prove intent with witnesses, you prove intent with documents, with materials. So again, this is not just about a single Instagram post. This is about a body of evidence that the grand jury collected over the series of about 11 months. That evidence was presented to the grand jury. And it’s not the government. It’s not the Department of Justice. It’s not Todd Blanche that returns an indictment against James Comey. It’s the grand jury. Part of the judicial process, and that this process has to be allowed to play out in the courts. It’s not fair to Mr. Comey, it’s certainly not fair to the prosecutors for us to be airing your view or my view of this indictment. It’s something that will be presented in court at the time set by the judge. KRISTEN WELKER: Well, let’s dive a little deeper. Conservative legal scholar Jonathan Turley said, quote, “This indictment is facially unconstitutionally, absent some unknown new facts.” Are there, are you in fact saying that there are facts beyond this Instagram post that clearly establish an intent to threaten the president’s life? ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: I’ve said repeatedly this was an investigation that lasted 11 months. If the only facts that existed was the posting of the Instagram, obviously that wouldn’t have taken 11 months. And so when Mr. Turley talks about whether it’s facially unconstitutional absent unknown facts or circumstances, we will necessarily have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, at trial, every element of this crime, which we’re prepared to do. KRISTEN WELKER: Can you and will you let the public know what any of those other facts are? ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: Absolutely. It’s called a trial. That’s what happens at every single case. We indict thousands of cases every year. Every one of those cases, there’s an indictment and then eventually there is a trial or some sort of disposition. At the trial, a public trial, that will be open to the public, everybody in this country will know exactly what evidence the government has against Mr. Comey. KRISTEN WELKER: I know you can’t give me specifics, but can you give me any insight? Are you talking about writings, are you talking about conversations? What does this other evidence consist of? ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: We are talking about evidence of all sorts. And that means documents, that means witnesses, and that means the whole array of what we did. And again, we are not talking about some political guy in D.C. running out and getting an indictment. We are talking about career prosecutors in North Carolina systematically investigating a case with the FBI working with them, with the secret service working with them. And now we have an indictment. KRISTEN WELKER: Well, the image is part of what led to this indictment. It is worth noting that on Amazon.com, we looked this up, there are dozens of products with the same terminology, we’re showing it right here, 86 47 being sold and purchased right now. Should individuals selling or buying “86 47” merchandise be concerned that they’re going to be prosecuted by the DOJ? ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: This isn’t about a single incident, okay? I mean, of course not. That’s posted constantly. That phrase is used constantly. There are constantly men and women who choose to make threatening statements against President Trump. Every one of those statements do not result in indictments, of course. There are facts, there are circumstances, there are investigations that have to take place. And we have charged dozens and dozens of men and women this year with threatening President Trump and others. So this isn’t a new charge we’re bringing. KRISTEN WELKER: Just to be very clear, you are suggesting the seashells themselves are not at the root of this indictment? ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: No, I am suggesting that every single case depends on the investigation that’s done. And of course, the seashells are part of that case. I mean, that’s what the public sees. But without a doubt, and it should be evident by the fact that it’s been 11 months since the posting and the indictment, there is an investigation that takes place. And that’s the result. The result of that investigation is the indictment that was returned last week.

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