MS NOW⁠94%

Todd Blanche says Comey indictment is ‘not just about’ seashells photo ⁠98%

By Erum Salam⁠75%

5/3/2026, 8:04:13 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Burden of Proof, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 27.4% saturation with 104 hits. Analysis detected 882 faulty-reasoning hits from 380 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 97.1% and a BS Rank of ⁠98% (499 of 20,517 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 97.60% of the article peer group.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that the Trump administration’s new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey is “not just about a single Instagram post” of seashells. 
But Blanche declined to disclose what other evidence the government might have against Comey, whom President Donald Trump has repeatedly singled out as one of his top political foes. 
“This is not just about a single Instagram post,” Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. 
“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.” 
Blanche said he was not “permitted” to share the evidence that led a grand jury in North Carolina to charge Comey with threatening the president over a photo he posted to social media last year of seashells on a beach arranged to form “86 47.” 
“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,” Blanche said. 
“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 this Instagram post and walk away,” Blanche said, adding, “Rest assured it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted.” 
During his NBC appearance, Blanche also gave assurances that not everyone who posts the “86 47” message will be charged with threatening the president. 
“That phrase is used constantly,” Blanche acknowledged of the combined numbers “86” — meaning to cancel — and “47” being the 47th U.S. president. 
“Every one of those statements do not result in indictments.” 
Despite calling Comey’s appointment as FBI Director the “biggest disappointment” of his Senate career, Sen. 
Thom Tillis, R-N.C., lambasted his indictment as baseless. 
“I can't find any evidence where 86 is used to as a call for violence,” Tillis said on CNN. 
The retiring North Carolina Republican said he is familiar with the term as one rooted in the restaurant industry when a menu item is canceled. 
“It has its roots at ‘86ing’ the menu or ‘86ing’ the product,” Tillis said. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 9.7%Erum Salam: 4.2%MS NOW: 7.6%Confirmation Bias9.7%This article: 3.7%Erum Salam: 0.7%MS NOW: 1.2%Anchoring Bias3.7%This article: 5.0%Erum Salam: 3.2%MS NOW: 3.7%Availability Heuristic5.0%This article: 12.9%Erum Salam: 1.1%MS NOW: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic12.9%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.8%MS NOW: 1.3%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 1.4%MS NOW: 2.6%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 14.7%Erum Salam: 13.7%MS NOW: 15.5%Framing Effect14.7%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.3%MS NOW: 0.7%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 11.8%Erum Salam: 1.2%MS NOW: 0.9%Status Quo Bias11.8%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.3%MS NOW: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 7.6%Erum Salam: 2.7%MS NOW: 2.4%Optimism Bias7.6%This article: 6.3%Erum Salam: 1.0%MS NOW: 3.2%Pessimism Bias6.3%This article: 27.4%Erum Salam: 15.6%MS NOW: 19.3%Negativity Bias27.4%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 3.0%MS NOW: 2.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 3.9%Erum Salam: 2.4%MS NOW: 3.1%Fundamental Attribution Error3.9%This article: 14.2%Erum Salam: 0.3%MS NOW: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias14.2%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 3.6%MS NOW: 3.5%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 1.8%MS NOW: 2.6%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 3.2%MS NOW: 2.2%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.9%MS NOW: 1.8%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.0%MS NOW: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 5.0%Erum Salam: 1.7%MS NOW: 1.8%Recency Bias5.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.5%MS NOW: 0.6%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.3%MS NOW: 0.2%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 4.9%MS NOW: 4.8%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.2%MS NOW: 1.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 26.3%Erum Salam: 5.7%MS NOW: 5.4%Appeal to Authority26.3%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 1.1%MS NOW: 2.2%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.6%MS NOW: 2.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.0%MS NOW: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 6.3%Erum Salam: 5.4%MS NOW: 8.1%Hasty Generalization6.3%This article: 7.6%Erum Salam: 2.2%MS NOW: 0.7%Red Herring7.6%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.4%MS NOW: 0.9%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 9.4%MS NOW: 9.9%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 2.1%MS NOW: 2.4%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 4.0%MS NOW: 3.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.5%MS NOW: 0.6%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 24.5%Erum Salam: 2.4%MS NOW: 1.0%Burden of Proof24.5%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.2%MS NOW: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.1%MS NOW: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 5.0%Erum Salam: 1.7%MS NOW: 2.6%Anecdotal5.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.1%MS NOW: 0.2%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 13.2%Erum Salam: 2.2%MS NOW: 1.7%Ambiguity (Equivocation)13.2%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.0%MS NOW: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.0%MS NOW: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.1%MS NOW: 0.3%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.4%MS NOW: 0.3%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 10.3%Erum Salam: 0.9%MS NOW: 1.3%Genetic Fallacy10.3%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 2.3%MS NOW: 2.5%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 2.9%Erum Salam: 2.4%MS NOW: 1.5%Quote-first Misdirection2.9%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 5.9%MS NOW: 14.2%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 13.7%Erum Salam: 0.8%MS NOW: 2.1%Indoctrination13.7%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 2.5%MS NOW: 5.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 1.0%MS NOW: 0.6%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Erum Salam: 0.0%MS NOW: 0.4%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

380 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers86%attributed speech52writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Todd Blanche • 11 words • 100.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 16 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 45 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 29 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 3 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 52 words • 100.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 24 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 24 words • 0.0% coverageTodd Blanche • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageThom Tillis • 8 words • 0.0% coverageThom Tillis • 19 words • 0.0% coverageThom Tillis • 25 words • 0.0% coverageThom Tillis • 14 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Thom Tillis

100%flagged-word coverage
66 attributed words20% of attributed speech85% writer coverage

No manipulation-pattern hits were found in this speaker's attributed words or the writer's voice.

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.