{"id":4171,"date":"2026-08-19T19:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4171"},"modified":"2026-08-19T19:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:44:17","slug":"book-him-prosecutors-using-james-comeys-novel-against-him-in-seashells-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4171","title":{"rendered":"Book him: Prosecutors using James Comey\u2019s novel against him in seashells case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Federal prosecutors want to throw the book at former FBI Director James Comey in their seashells-based case \u2014 including his own crime novel.<\/p>\n

Read more Hayden Panettiere\u2019s mom says narcotics investigator was called into police probe of her death<\/a><\/p>\n

In court filings defending their controversial criminal case against the frequent critic and target of President Donald Trump, prosecutors in North Carolina say Comey\u2019s book \u201cFDR Drive\u201d bolsters their argument that a picture he posted on Instagram of seashells on the shore arranged to say \u201c8647\u201d constituted a \u201ctrue threat\u201d against the president\u2019s life. Trump is the 47th president. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The documents filed Tuesday describe the book, which was released days after the post, as focusing on a prosecutor pursuing a \u201cfar-right wing media personality\u201d whose foes are being killed after \u201che singled out his enemies by name and suggested \u2018something should be done\u2019 about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Comey is a former prosecutor and Trump has been repeatedly accused of inspiring death threats and harassment of people he\u2019s complained about online, the filing compares Comey to his book\u2019s villain. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn May 15, 2025, a charismatic leader named James Comey, through the wonder of the internet, posted a coded message to his followers meaning \u2018kill\u2019 or \u2018get rid of\u2019 (a euphemism for \u2018kill\u2019) President Trump,\u201d the filing says. <\/p>\n

The government also used the book to push back against Comey\u2019s argument that he\u2019s a target of selective or vindictive prosecution, given the prevalence of \u201c8647,\u201d \u201c8646\u201d and \u201c8645\u201d apparel and other items for sale online. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Comey\u2019s filing had noted there were with the messages on Amazon \u2014 and no evidence the government was pursuing charges against any buyers or sellers. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors said \u201cnot every statement containing the phrase \u20188647\u2019 is equal,\u201d and pointed to the \u201csurrounding context.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cComey published a novel where the antagonist successfully persuades his followers to kill his political rivals by communicating coded messages online. Needless to say, Comey does not and could not point to similar evidence in any comparator case \u2014 let alone a threat against the sitting President of the United States,\u201d they argued.<\/p>\n

NBC News has reached out to Comey\u2019s legal team for comment.<\/p>\n

Comey was indicted on two felony counts earlier this year alleging he \u201cknowingly and willingly\u201d made \u201ca threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States\u201d by posting the picture with the message \u201ccool shell formation on my beach walk\u201d nearly a year earlier. <\/p>\n

Comey has pleaded not guilty, and said he deleted the post after he was told the term \u201c86\u201d \u2014 longtime restaurant slang meaning \u201cget rid of\u201d \u2014 could be taken to mean kill.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Prosecutors noted that Comey\u2019s wife sent him a screenshot of what \u201c86\u201d means, minutes before her husband published the post. <\/p>\n

Read more New maps make Florida a key player in the fight for the House majority<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAt 3:12 pm, Comey\u2019s wife sent him a screenshot of what appeared to be a partial (cropped) definition of \u2018U.S. English slang\u2019 indicating that \u201886\u2019 means \u2018to get rid of or refuse service,\u2019\u201d Severo writes. \u201cTwo minutes later, at 3:14 pm, Comey posted a picture of the seashells on his Instagram account with the caption \u2018Cool shell formation on my beach walk.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While major dictionaries including Merriam-Webster do not include \u201ckill\u201d as a definition for 86, the prosecutors found one that did. \u201cCassell\u2019s Dictionary of Slang (2nd edition) defines \u201c86\u201d to mean: (1940s) to throw out, get rid of, (1970) to kill, to murder, to execute judicially, (1980) to be finished ready to leave or out of an item or be exhausted,\u201d the said. <\/p>\n

The filing said that in the days after the post was deleted, Comey and his publishing agent texted about whether the uproar over it would help his book.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve gone viral,\u201d the agent told Comey. \u201cNot my intention, but I\u2019ll be OK if it sells books,\u201d Comey replied. \u201cMusic to an agent\u2019s ears,\u201d the unidentified agent responded, according to the filing. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors also pushed back on Comey\u2019s legal argument that he\u2019s the victim of a prosecution that had been directed by a vengeful president still enraged by Comey having investigated his ties to Russia in the aftermath of the 2016 election. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Although Comey has \u201ccobbled together a seventy seven-page collection of every public statement President Trump has ever made regarding Comey, spanning back nearly a decade, those statements are irrelevant to the analysis,\u201d they argued. \u201cThe President\u2019s view of a prior subordinate\u2019s performance in conducting his official duties \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 can hardly be retaliation in violation of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMissing is any evidence that \u2018the ill will, whoever its bearer, actually motivated his prosecution,\u2019\u201d the filing said, adding the decision was made solely by W. Ellis Boyle, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. <\/p>\n

\u201cI made that determination individually\u201d and \u201cdid not feel pressured, coerced, or motivated in any way from any individual,\u201d Boyle said in . He said that then-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was not aware he was bringing charges against Comey until the day before his office presented the case to the grand jury.<\/p>\n

And the filing said even if Trump had ordered the prosecution, there would be nothing wrong with that. <\/p>\n

The \u201cChief Executive directing his subordinates to exercise core Executive functions is a feature, not a bug, of our constitutional system. The purported \u2018independence\u2019 of DOJ that Comey cites is antithetical to the constitutional separation of powers (which lodges the Executive power in the President alone),\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump administration was warned about peeling Reflecting Pool nearly a month before it brought vandalism case<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors want to throw the book at former FBI Director James Comey in their seashells-based case \u2014 including his own crime novel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice-department"],"yoast_head":"\nBook him: Prosecutors using James Comey\u2019s novel against him in seashells case - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4171\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book him: Prosecutors using James Comey\u2019s novel against him in seashells case - 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