Comey Seeks Dismissal of Charges Over Seashell Post

James Comey, the former FBI director, asked a federal judge Monday to throw out charges that he incited violence against President Donald Trump by posting a picture of seashells on Instagram. The government's case, his lawyers argued, rests on a reading of the image that no reasonable observer would share.

The post showed shells arranged on a beach to spell "86 47." The number 86 can mean "get rid of" in some contexts. The 47 refers to Trump, the 47th president. His lawyers wrote that the government cannot prove the post constituted a true threat, calling it "mere political hyperbole" protected by the First Amendment.

"The government now singles out Mr. Comey to prosecute one of the President's most prominent critics for publishing another person's statement of political opposition," his attorneys said in the filing, according to the Associated Press. The Justice Department has not detailed specific evidence of intent, though Attorney General Todd Blanche said earlier this year that prosecutors prove intent "with witnesses, with documents, with the defendant himself."

This is the second case the Trump administration has brought against Comey. An earlier case in Virginia, which accused him of lying to Congress, was dismissed in November 2025 after a judge ruled the prosecutor who charged him was illegally hired. The dismissal also covered charges brought against New York Attorney General Letitia James, another Trump adversary.