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On Wednesday, Alina Habba, a former advisor to Donald Trump, found herself at odds with the hosts of “The View” during a heated discussion about the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. Sunny Hostin, one of the co-hosts, characterized the prosecution as “vindictive” and questioned its motives.
Hostin directly asked Habba, “Do you believe Comey’s actions constitute a criminal threat against the president, justifying an indictment?”
Habba affirmed her stance, saying, “I do. Considering Comey’s post and the events leading up to Saturday, individuals like us who have significant platforms must act responsibly. He is a former FBI director and understood the implications of ‘8647’ without any doubt.”
This marks the second indictment for Comey, who was previously charged with perjury and obstruction last year—charges that were subsequently dismissed by a federal judge. The Justice Department’s renewed action indicates an intensifying investigation into Comey’s activities post his tenure at the FBI. Central to this probe is a controversial Instagram post from May 2025, where Comey shared an image of shells arranged as “86 47” on a beach, sparking widespread online debate.
The cryptic sequence “86 47” was perceived by some as a veiled reference to President Donald Trump, the 47th president, though Comey had earlier dismissed it as merely an interesting shell formation. As the case unfolds, details about the charges and the extent of the indictment remain scarce.
As Hostin and co-host Joy Behar argued that “86” didn’t mean kill, Habba pointed out that Comey should have known what it meant as former head of the FBI.
“Let me just tell you what happened after James Comey’s post,” Habba said. “A gentleman posted that about me. He posted on Twitter [sic], ’86 Habba,’ and he was also charged. He was charged in Florida, and he was held accountable because you cannot do it.”
“Now, this is an FBI director,” she continued. “We have responsibilities. You guys have responsibilities not to call the president certain things or say things that could incite violence. I most certainly think after Saturday, I have a completely new perspective on how important our voices are and how we use them.”
Hostin and Behar raised rhetoric by Trump about Democrats, which Habba said she has not seen but that no one should be inciting violence.
“Here’s directly how I feel about this: nobody should be inciting violence. Period. That’s my perspective,” Habba responded. “But you have to remember something. The Department of Justice brings real cases. We are not Jack Smith, we are not Letitia James. We bring real cases against people.”
Hostin said she believed it was a “vindictive prosecution against Comey” directed by Trump and asked Habba, “As Trump’s personal attorney, you actually were sanctioned nearly a million dollars for filing a frivolous civil lawsuit against Comey, against Hillary Clinton and others that a federal judge called ‘political grievances masquerading as legal claims.’ So why should anyone believe this pattern of targeting Trump’s enemies is about justice and not revenge?”
“If you think that the Russia collusion hoax, if you think that the things that we’ve now seen evidence of in this Department of Justice aren’t real, I’d just tell you to sit tight because things are coming,” Habba said. “Because what they did was weaponize. I don’t want to hear about weaponization because the reason you all know who I am is because of weaponization.”
“I sat through targeting, people saying, ‘We’re going to get Trump,’ and then a Hillary Clinton-appointed judge sanctioned me for suing Hillary Clinton,” she continued. “By the way, I’m proud of that. I’m proud of what I did because it was the right thing to do.”
Habba served as a top prosecutor in New Jersey, and as an advisor to former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi after an appellate court found in December that Bondi improperly appointed her as U.S. attorney.