The US Department of Justice is defending its prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, asserting there is no serious dispute that a social media post he made could be interpreted as a threat against President Donald Trump. The DOJ filed these claims in court documents on Tuesday in response to efforts by Comey to have the case dismissed.
At the center of the case is a May 2025 Instagram post featuring a photo of seashells arranged to read 8647. Prosecutors argue that an objective viewer of the post could read the arrangement to mean Kill President Trump.
While Comey claims he found the seashells in that numerical arrangement while walking on a beach in North Carolina, prosecutors have called his account into question. The Justice Department is doubling down on the prosecution, pushing back on the former director's assertion that the post was not intended as a threat.
Comey faces accusations of transmitting threats and exploiting controversy to market a forthcoming novel. Prosecutors suggest that the social media post was an effort to generate attention for the upcoming book.