Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with threatening the life of President Donald Trump over a cryptic photograph of seashells posted to social media.
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina in the US returned the indictment today, with an arrest warrant subsequently issued by the court.
Mr Comey faces two charges: making a threat against the President and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.
Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The indictment centres on a photo Comey posted to Instagram last May showing shells on a beach arranged to spell out the numbers "86 47", CNN reports.
In the caption, Comey described it as a "cool shell formation on my beach walk”.
The number 86 is a slang term meaning to get rid of something or someone, while 47 refers to Mr Trump's current term as the 47th president.
Critics immediately interpreted the post as a call for violence against the US President.
Former FBI chief James Comey has been charged with threatening life of President over a now-deleted Instagram post of seashells
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The indictment states that "a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret" the image as "a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States".
Mr Comey deleted the post the same day it was published, writing on social media that he assumed the shells represented "a political message" but "didn't realise some folks associate those numbers with violence”.
He wrote: "It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
Despite his explanation, the post had already drawn fierce condemnation from Republican officials.
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Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a second indictment of former FBI Director James Comey today at a press conference
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The then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she would have Mr Comey investigated by the Secret Service, describing the image as a call "for the assassination" of President Trump.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News that he should be "put behind bars for this" and that she was "very concerned" for Mr Trump’s life.
The Secret Service took the unusual step of bringing the former FBI chief in for a lengthy interview in Washington DC, during which he told agents he had seen the shells on a beach in North Carolina.
Speaking at a press conference today, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department was committed to prosecuting threats against the president.
He said: "Over the past year, this department has charged dozens of cases involving threats against all sorts of individuals.
"We take these seriously. Every single one of them."
When asked why an arrest warrant had been sought, Mr Blanche directed questions to the grand jury process.
He said: "The Department of Justice does not issue arrest warrants, grand juries do.
"This case will proceed like hundreds of others do every year."
Legal and security experts said the case may face significant obstacles given the country's constitutional free speech protections.
This marks the second attempt by the Trump administration to prosecute Mr Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017 during the Russian interference investigation and has since become one of his most outspoken critics.
More formally known as the Mueller special counsel investigation, the inquiry looked into potential links between President Trump's associates and Russia.
It has a particular focus on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
The investigation was led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 2017 to March 2019.
Last September, the Justice Department charged the former FBI chief with lying to Congress over leaks to the press, but a federal judge dismissed the case late last year after ruling that the interim US Attorney overseeing it had been improperly appointed.