Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made an appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, where he was forced to admit that the term "8647" wasn't worth indicting someone over.
Since the arrest of former FBI Director James Comey, clothing bearing the message "86-47" has appeared all over Etsy and Amazon. During the show, host Kristen Welker pulled up the search on Amazon for such clothing and asked Blanche whether everyday Americans should expect a visit from the FBI and Secret Service for wearing such a shirt or for posting the numbers anywhere online.
Blanche was clear, no one is being targeted over "86-47" unless there is a reason to believe they are specifically threatening the president.
“This is not just about a single Instagram post,” Blanche said. “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.”
CNN legal analyst and former prosecutor Elie Honig explained that the filing from the Justice Department makes it clear that it's only about the Instagram photo that Comey posted.
"If you look at the indictment, if you look at the statute that DOJ has chosen to charge here, if you look at the wording of the indictment, it's quite clear that Jim Comey's Instagram post with the seashells, that is the case. And the case is that post. So I'm skeptical," said Honig.
The legal expert doesn't think that the DOJ will find much that would materially change the meaning of the phrase "86-47" to be more threatening than what Comey posted and said.
Former prosecutor and ex-law school professor Glenn Kirschner explained that the comments dealt a blow to the Justice Department's case.
Blanche's press conference made it clear that the photo was part of a larger case involving "threatening the life of the president."
After showing the clip of Blanche promising that every post of "8647" "does not result in indictments," Kirschner asked, "Really? Todd?"
"He just admitted that there are countless, maybe thousands, tens of thousands of people posting, saying, wearing t-shirts that display that very same thing, and what did he say? 'No! They're not prosecuted for that!'" recalled Kirschner. "Why? Well, they're not Donald Trump's perceived enemies, are they?"
"You don't have to be a career prosecutor, you don't have to be a lawyer, you don't have to be a professor to understand that this is a little something called 'Selective Prosecution.' And that is unconstitutional," he said. He recalled teaching undergraduate criminal justice and recalled the selective prosecution he did, showing the specifics in the law that block the Justice Department from being able to move forward in the case.
CNN host John Berman asked Honig about Blanche's comments, saying, "That these charges aren't just about this Instagram post, why might he be saying that?"
Honig said that he thinks this is a hat-top from Blanche, in legal terms, and that he knows it's not likely to result in a conviction.
"I think this apparent over-representation of the case by Todd Blanche is a reflection of the fact that he's a good enough prosecutor to recognize that this case is sorely lacking and deeply problematic," Honig said. "So the case is going to turn on the meaning of that phrase, 8647. No question, 47 means Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States. But 86 is ambiguous at best for prosecutors. Are there instances where people have used 86 to mean kill? Sure, but those are few and far between. Clearly, in the minority."
The one example from the Supreme Court comes from a Vietnam protester who said that if he's ever called up for the draft to be sent to fight, once he's handed a rifle, he will set his sights on LBJ, meaning President Lyndon B. Johnson. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled it wasn't a criminal threat. They ruled it was protected speech.
That said, the court today is very different. Half of the six conservative judges were appointed by Trump. All of them were invited to the White House for the state dinner to rub elbows with King Charles III last week.