A federal grand jury has subpoenaed Daniel Richman, a longtime friend and adviser to former FBI Director James Comey, as part of a renewed Justice Department investigation into alleged leaks of classified information to the New York Times, according to Fox News, which cited multiple law enforcement sources.
The subpoena was issued Monday. It comes as Comey separately faces a federal indictment accusing him of threatening President Donald Trump’s life.
Richman “played a central role in the initial investigation into the leak in 2018,” Fox News reported. He later sued, claiming his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when material was seized from his devices during subsequent investigations. Prosecutors used files from that seizure to indict Comey on charges of making false statements and obstructing Congress in connection with his 2020 testimony about FBI officials anonymously providing information to news outlets.
That indictment accused Richman, previously a special FBI employee, of communicating with reporters about the FBI’s investigations into 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who lost that year’s election to Trump. The original leak probe was shut down after President Joe Biden took office, following the initial investigation launched during Trump’s first term.
The Instagram Post
Comey’s separate indictment stems from a since-deleted Instagram post from May 2025 that read “86 47,” arranged in seashells on a beach — a message some interpreted as a threat against Trump, who has survived multiple assassination attempts.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in May the case against Comey extends well beyond that single post.
“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,” Blanche said.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was blunter in his assessment of Comey in May.
“This is a guy who took classified information out of the FBI and lied about it. This is a guy who leaked to the media sensitive FBI material — lied about it. This is a guy who lied to a court to get wire taps. He lies, he lies, he lies. He cheats, he steals. This is a bad dude, and he ought to get everything that’s coming to him,” Hawley said.
Comey has asked a judge to drop the charges against him, arguing the “86 47” post amounted to political speech rather than a threat against the president.
