US Justice Department Defends Prosecution of Ex-FBI Chief Comey Over Seashell Post
Al Jazeera Staff
The US Justice Department has defended its prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, arguing that his seashell post reading '86 47' could be seen as a threat against President Trump. Prosecutors also suggested the post was a publicity stunt for his upcoming novel.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has defended its decision to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey after he posted a photo of seashells arranged to read the numbers "86 47" on Instagram last May.
In court filings submitted on Tuesday (April 29), prosecutors argued that there was "no serious dispute" that a reasonable viewer could interpret Comey's post as a message to "kill President Trump." They also rejected Comey's explanation that he merely stumbled upon seashells arranged as "86 47" during a beach walk in North Carolina.
According to Merriam-Webster, "86" means to "remove," "discard," or "refuse to serve." Comey's lawyers argued the phrase has long been understood as "to eject" or "to eliminate" and appears on thousands of products sold online and at protests. However, prosecutors contended that the number 47 in the post referred to President Trump, who is the 47th US president.
Prosecutors also suggested the post was a stunt to promote his upcoming novel "FDR Drive," which features a prosecutor chasing a right-wing populist social media personality who urges followers to use violence against his critics. The filing noted that after the controversial post, Comey's publisher's representative texted that he had "gone viral." Comey allegedly replied that it wasn't his intention, but "I'll be fine if it sells books." The representative responded, "Music to an agent's ears."
Prosecutors also revealed that two minutes before the post went up, Comey's wife allegedly texted him a screenshot of the dictionary definition of "86," reading "to remove or refuse to serve." Comey deleted the post after backlash and said he didn't think anyone would interpret the numbers as a call for violence.
Comey faces charges of threatening the president and transmitting a threat through interstate commerce. The filings on Tuesday opposed his lawyer's request to suppress evidence obtained via FBI search warrants and to release grand jury details. His lawyers argued investigators misled a judge by submitting documents with false information, hiding key facts, and failing repeatedly to show Comey intended to threaten physical harm or knew that 86 could imply violence.
Comey's lawyers called the indictment part of a vendetta by President Trump against one of his most vocal critics. The indictment came months after an unrelated case against Comey was dismissed. President Trump has long urged prosecutions of political opponents and has specifically targeted Comey since early in his second term. Comey led the early phase of the investigation into whether Trump's 2016 presidential campaign coordinated with Russia.
Serving as FBI director from 2013 to 2017, Comey oversaw investigations that angered both Democrats and Republicans during the 2016 election cycle. Trump fired him in 2017, just three and a half years into a ten-year term. The firing had major political consequences and raised questions about whether it was linked to the FBI's probe of foreign interference in the 2016 election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller later took over the Russia investigation, which lasted nearly two years and found extensive Russian efforts to influence the election but did not establish a criminal conspiracy involving Trump or his associates. The matter nonetheless dogged Trump for years, and he called it a "witch hunt."
