DOJ: Comey Seashell Post Could Mean 'Kill Trump'

The Justice Department is defending its prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, telling a court there is "no serious dispute" that his Instagram photo of seashells arranged to read "86 47" could be understood as a threat against President Donald Trump.

"There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey's post could read it to mean 'Kill President Trump,'" prosecutors wrote in motions filed Tuesday.

The filings are the government's most detailed explanation of its indictment to date, and they go further: prosecutors say there is "reason to doubt" Comey's account that he simply came across the shells on a North Carolina beach.

What Prosecutors Allege

The government says that two minutes before the post went up, Comey's wife texted him a screenshot of a definition of "86" reading "to get rid of or refuse service."

Prosecutors placed the post against what they described as a spate of assassination plots or attempts against Trump in the months before and after it.

They also cast the post as a book-selling move. After the outcry, according to the filings, Comey's publishing agent texted that he had "gone viral." Comey replied that it was "not my intention, but I'll be OK if it sells books." The agent answered: "Music to an agent's ears."

On the shells themselves, prosecutors said they sat 4 miles down the beach from the beachfront property where Comey was staying, in an area separated from the ocean by a sand dune, and that there is "no evidence that anyone else arranged, photographed, or even saw the shells."