DOJ Invokes Comey Novel to Fight Dismissal of '8647' Threat Case

Federal prosecutors are pulling out an unusual piece of evidence in their effort to prevent a judge from throwing out a criminal threat case tied to former FBI Director James Comey: Comey's own novel. The case centers on a social media post Comey made featuring seashells arranged to display '86 47' — a phrase the Justice Department says a reasonable person could interpret as a call to kill the 47th president, Donald Trump.

The number '86' is slang with roots in restaurant culture, loosely meaning to get rid of something — or, in darker contexts, to kill someone. Paired with '47,' a reference to Trump's presidential number, the DOJ argues the combination sends a threatening message that no serious observer could dismiss as innocent. Prosecutors stated plainly in court filings that 'there is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey's post could read it to mean Kill President Trump.'

So where does the novel come in? The DOJ cited Comey's own published fiction writing to help establish context around his language and intent — essentially using his creative output as a lens for interpreting the real-world post. It's a legally creative move, turning an author's own words against him in a federal proceeding.

The government's goal is to convince the judge that the case has enough merit to survive a motion to dismiss, meaning the trial or resolution process would continue rather than being shut down at an early stage. Dismissal motions are common in high-profile cases and often argue that even taking the facts at face value, no actual crime was committed — a bar prosecutors here are fighting hard to clear.

The case underscores the increasingly blurry line between provocative political speech and genuine criminal threats, a debate that courts across the country are actively wrestling with in the social media era. Continue reading at US Top News and Analysis.