The United States Department of Justice has defended its criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, telling a federal court that “there is no serious dispute” that a social media post depicting seashells arranged in a pattern could reasonably be read as a threat against President Donald Trump.
The filing, submitted on Wednesday, marks the latest attempt by prosecutors to keep alive one of several criminal cases the Trump administration has pursued against perceived political adversaries. It comes as Comey’s legal team continues to press for the charges to be dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution amounts to political retaliation.
James B Comey Case: What Did Comey’s Instagram Post Show?
The case centres on an Instagram post Comey made in May last year, showing seashells arranged on a beach in the shape of the numbers “86 47”, a sequence widely interpreted online as a coded reference to removing the 47th US president. Comey has said he came across the shells while walking on a beach in North Carolina and did not intend the post as a threat.
Prosecutors, however, said in their filing that there was “reason to doubt” that account, noting that the shells were found roughly four miles from the beachfront property where Comey was staying, in an area separated from the ocean by a sand dune. They added there was “no evidence that anyone else arranged, photographed, or even saw the shells,” and suggested the post may have been intended to draw attention to a forthcoming novel Comey has written about a social media personality whose words incite followers to attack his enemies.
James B Comey Case: Is The Case Politically Motivated?
Comey’s lawyers have argued the indictment, filed months after an earlier and unrelated case against him was dismissed, forms part of a campaign of retribution by the Trump administration against one of the president’s most vocal critics. Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017 while Comey was overseeing an investigation into potential ties between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, and has since repeatedly called for him to be prosecuted.
The Justice Department has firmly denied allegations of vindictiveness. In a related filing addressing a separate false-statements case against Comey, prosecutors acknowledged that Trump’s public social media posts reflected the president’s belief that Comey “committed crimes that should be met with prosecution” and “may even suggest that the President disfavours the defendant.” However, they argued there was “not direct evidence of a vindictive motive,” writing that Comey’s defence “spins a tale that requires leaps of logic and a big dose of cynicism.”
“There is no direct admission of discriminatory purpose,” prosecutors wrote. “To the contrary, the only direct admission from the President is that DOJ officials decided whether to prosecute, not him.”
James B Comey Case: What Has Happened In Court So Far?
The broader prosecution of Comey has faced repeated procedural setbacks. A federal judge previously dismissed an earlier indictment after ruling that Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney who secured the charges, had been unlawfully appointed by the Trump administration. Separately, another judge raised concerns during a hearing about what he described as “profound investigative missteps,” including questions over whether the full grand jury had reviewed the final version of the indictment.
Comey has pleaded not guilty in the case and continues to argue that the prosecution should be thrown out before any trial. His attorney, Michael Dreeben, has told the court that the Justice Department’s pursuit of the case forms part of an effort to “punish and deter” critics of the president, arguing that “the government cannot use the power of prosecution in an attempt to silence a critic.”
The case remains one of several ongoing prosecutions the Justice Department has brought against figures seen as political opponents of Trump, and is expected to face further legal challenges before any trial date is set.
