The case centers on social media posts featuring messages on shells that prosecutors say refer to the murder of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Published July 29, 2026
Lawyers for James Comey, the former FBI director and longtime target of President Donald Trump’s ire, say U.S. prosecutors omitted key details and falsified others in the case brought against their client.
Mr. Comey’s lawyers on Tuesday made a series of allegations of wrongdoing, arguing that the government’s case is motivated by political retaliation and riddled with “fraud.”
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Lawyers are asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed.
“Sufficient objective evidence, much of it directly from government officials’ own public statements and confessions, demonstrates that the President’s hostility toward Mr. Comey led to this persistent and selective prosecution,” they wrote in one of their filings.
Comey was indicted in April over an Instagram post he posted last year showing seashells arranged on a beach to spell out the numbers “86 47.”
The Justice Department claims the numbers are a numerical message hinting at the murder of 47th President Trump. The term “86” is slang for “nix” or “throw out” and is often used in restaurants when canceling an order.
Prosecutors have argued that the phrase had criminal overtones, but Comey has denied that the post had any violent overtones.
Advocates also question whether the charges would hold up in court, since photos of seashells would likely be considered speech protected by the First Amendment.
Comey is charged with one count of threatening the president and a second count of communicating threats in interstate commerce. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
The case is the latest example of the Trump administration aggressively prosecuting the president’s rivals.
Federal prosecutors have so far announced indictments against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, who have been vocal critics of the president.
Mr Bolton pleaded guilty in June to unlawfully withholding confidential material, but the case against Mr James was quickly dropped.
Comey also faced another criminal charge in September 2025, shortly after Trump posted on Truth Social that “nothing was being done” to prosecute people like him and James.
Federal prosecutors at the time charged Comey with obstructing Congress and making false statements.
That case and James’s were both dismissed in November 2025 after a federal judge determined that the prosecutor who brought the charges was not legally appointed.
A motion filed Tuesday by Comey’s lawyers alleges that federal prosecutors withheld details about their failed efforts to prove a link between the word “86” and criminal activity.
Mr. Comey’s lawyers described several instances in which federal prosecutors and FBI agents searched for “86,” including in files on suspected gangster John Gambino.
Mr. Comey worked on Mr. Gambino’s case early in his career. However, no mention of “86” was found in the file.
Mr. Comey’s lawyers say these botched searches were intentionally omitted from the search warrant application in the latest Comey case.
“Evidence obtained during discovery supports at least substantial preliminary evidence that the affidavits submitted in support of two of the search warrants contain intentionally false statements and material omissions, and that those deficiencies invalidate any possible proof of probable cause,” Comey’s attorneys said in a statement.
President Trump has described Comey as “corrupt trash” and has frequently called for him to be prosecuted.
Republican leaders fired Comey during his first term in May 2017, when the FBI was investigating potential ties between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. Since then, the two have continued to publicly criticize each other.
