James Comey Seeks Dismissal of Donald Trump Threat Case Over ‘86 47’ Post
James Comey Seeks Dismissal of Donald Trump Threat Case Over ‘86 47’ Post
Evolve EditorsTue, July 28, 2026 at 7:46 AM UTC
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Photo Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images News via Getty Images
Former FBI Director James Comey has asked a federal judge to throw out criminal charges alleging he threatened President Donald Trump’s life. The motion challenges the basis of an indictment centred on a photo of seashells arranged to read “86 47” on a North Carolina beach.
James Comey wants the ‘86 47’ threat charges dismissed
Lawyers for Comey filed the dismissal motion on Monday, arguing the seashell image represents political speech protected by the Constitution. A grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted the former FBI chief in April on counts of threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.
The defence team contends the numerical phrase has an established meaning in American political discourse. “No reasonable observer would understand the phrase ’86 47′ to connote violence at all. Let alone to threaten that Mr. Comey personally would commit violence against the President,” the motion states.
Central to James Comey’s argument is the interpretation of the slang term “86.” His lawyers maintain the word simply means to eject or get rid of something, not to kill. “Most dictionaries do not even list the meaning — ‘to kill’ — that the government now proposes,” they wrote. Paired with “47,” which they describe as common shorthand for the 47th president, the phrase becomes nothing more than a call to oppose Trump.
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The filing emphasises the slogan’s widespread use before Comey’s post. “Thousands of items featuring this slogan have been sold on the internet and are available to this day. And the slogan was commonly displayed at protests around the country.” The lawyers argued prosecuting Comey for publishing another person’s statement of political opposition amounts to suppressing core free speech.
Donald Trump, who fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017, has publicly stated he interpreted the 86 47 seashells photo as a death threat. Comey maintains the Department of Justice is targeting him because of the president’s personal hostility.
(Source: CNBC)
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
The post James Comey Seeks Dismissal of Donald Trump Threat Case Over ‘86 47’ Post appeared first on Reality Tea.
Source: “AOL General News”
