Florida GOP Congressional Candidate Posts False Claim That Comey Was Convicted — He Wasn’t
Michael Carbonara, a Republican candidate running for Congress in Florida, posted a false claim on social media Monday asserting that former FBI Director James Comey had received felony convictions — a statement that is flatly untrue and was quickly flagged by fact-checkers and ordinary users alike.
“Wow: [FBI Director] Kash Patel CONFIRMS felony convictions against James Comey,” Carbonara wrote. “This is MASSIVE for accountability.”
Comey has not been convicted of any crime. He was indicted in April on two felony counts by the Trump Justice Department — related to a photograph of seashells he posted on social media — but an indictment is a charge, not a verdict.
Immediate Backlash and Fact-Checks
X’s crowd-sourced fact-checking tool, known as Community Notes, flagged the post within hours. “Kash Patel announced a grand jury indictment of James Comey on two felony counts, not convictions,” the note read. “An indictment is not a conviction.”
Critics were swift and blunt. Retired Wisconsin sports journalist Jeff Potrykus, writing to his nearly 35,000 followers, asked simply: “Felony ‘convictions.’ And this guy is running for Congress?”
Travis Akers, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer, labeled Carbonara’s claim “false.” Political commentator Alex Cole was less measured, writing that “MAGAs are dumb.”
A Basic Legal Distinction — Ignored
The confusion — or deliberate misrepresentation — between an indictment and a conviction is not a minor slip. An indictment means prosecutors have brought charges; a conviction means a jury or judge has found the defendant guilty. Carbonara’s post collapsed that distinction entirely.
Carbonara’s post also included a video of Patel from late April, raising questions about why the clip was being circulated weeks after the fact, and what purpose the misleading framing was intended to serve.
As of publication, Carbonara had not corrected or deleted the post.