A former FBI director and bumbling Instagrammer, James Comey, says President Trump’s pardons of the January 6 protesters was “an obscenity” and believes it was a “mistake” for Christopher Wray, his successor, to “step down” before Mr. Trump took office, instead of trying to serve out the remainder of his 10-year term. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I wish he hadn’t done it,” Mr. Comey said during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that aired Tuesday night.

“I think it’s a mistake to signal that this is just like another presidential appointment. Since Hoover, the American people, through Congress, have wanted this to be outside of politics. So the 10-year term is to span any president’s tenure,” Mr. Comey added. 

Mr. Wray, who Mr. Trump appointed as Mr. Comey’s successor in 2017, had three years remaining on the standard 10-year term when he announced he would be stepping down from his role just weeks before the second Trump administration began. Mr. Trump had made clear he was going to fire Mr. Wray, just as he fired Mr. Comey, and Mr. Wray had also lost the support of Republicans in the Senate. 

Mr. Wray had earned Mr. Trump’s undying enmity for approving the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago to retrieve classified documents when Mr. Trump was at one of his lowest points of the interregnum. 

Under Mr. Wray’s watch, the FBI was also at the center of politically charged investigations into Hunter Biden and the January 6 protests. Furthermore, agents were discovered to be surveilling conservative Catholics they considered extremists, and using search terms like “Cabela’s” to look for potential homegrown terrorists.

“I care deeply, deeply about the FBI, about our mission, and in particular about our people. But the president-elect had made clear that he intended to make a change, and the law is that, that is something he is able to do for any reason or no reason at all,” Mr. Wray told CBS News in January, as he was departing. “My conclusion was that the thing that was best for the Bureau was to try to do this in an orderly way, to not thrust the FBI deeper into the fray.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Comey described Mr. Trump’s decision to grant presidential pardons to the 1,500 people convicted of January 6-related offenses as “an obscenity that will stain this country forever,” to rapturous applause from Mr. Colbert’s audience.

“It totally undercuts the deterrent effect of the prosecution. It sends a terrible message to people who might investigate crimes like that,” Mr. Comey said, adding that Mr. Trump’s decision was “awful on multiple dimensions.”

Messrs. Colbert and Comey took jabs at the current FBI director, Kash Patel, and his decision to divide his time between Washington, D.C., and his Las Vegas home.

“Just from your experience, does director of the FBI feel like a part-time job? Would it benefit from remote work when you’re close to the slots, the loosest slots in town, and the lady showgirls?” Mr. Colbert asked. 

“It’s not that kind of job. But in his case, I’m actually cool with that,” Mr. Comey said.

When asked to define the qualities that make a good FBI director, Mr. Comey — whose more than three-year tenure as FBI director is best remembered for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — stressed the importance of “integrity.”

‘It has to be someone who is committed to protecting the reality and the perception that Justice is just, and that’s an institution that stands outside of anything that smacks of fear or favor. That has to be your passion,” Mr. Comey said. 

During the interview, Mr. Comey was asked about his recent “8647” seashell Instagram post, which senior Trump administration officials had interpreted as a call for Mr. Trump’s assassination and earned him a summons from the Secret Service.

“I don’t know if you do this on purpose just to get attention here,” Mr. Colbert asked while holding a print-out of Mr. Comey’s post, which depicted shells arranged to read “8647.” Mr. Comey claimed he and his wife came across the shells during a walk on the beach and initially thought someone “left their address in the sand.”

“We looked at it, trying to figure out what it was. And she’d long been a server in restaurants, and she said,  ‘You know what I think it is? I think it’s a reference to restaurants,’” Mr. Comey said. 

Thinking it was a “clever political message,” Mr. Comey decided to post a picture of it on Instagram with the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Mr. Comey continues to deny that the post, which has since been deleted, was a call to violence against the current president.

“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination,” Mr. Trump said in response.

The term “86” has several connotations, from refusing a drunk customer service to the standard 86-inch depth of a grave in the United States. 

“In the days before a safety fence was installed on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, people would commit suicide by jumping from it. The deck was on the 86th floor,” George Mahe wrote years ago in St. Louis Magazine.

Mr. Comey, who is currently promoting the release of a new crime novel, said he spoke with the Secret Service last week, describing the agents he met with as “pros.”

“Just said, ‘What did you intend? What did you understand? Why did you do this?’ And I gave them the exact same explanation, which is the truth, and I would expect it to go away,” Mr. Comey said.

“Well, congratulations on the attention. That is a hell of a viral campaign,” Mr. Colbert replied.