James Comey criminal case and prosecution
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Controversy Arises Over Prosecution's Use of James Comey's Novel and Mob Informant in Legal Case
The U.S. Department of Justice charged James Comey in April with threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce over a social media post showing seashells arranged as "8647".
The FBI interviewed former Gambino crime family underboss Salvatore Gravano regarding whether James Comey likely understood the meaning of the term "86".
PEN America legal director Mara Gassmann criticized prosecutors' reliance on Comey's novel as a "desperate Hail Mary" that should be rejected.
“It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,”
Justice Department defends Comey prosecution over '8647' seashell post
A judge dismissed the earlier case in November after ruling that Lindsey Halligan, a former personal lawyer for Trump, was unlawfully appointed as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Prosecutors wrote that there is "no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey's post could read it to mean 'Kill President Trump.'"
Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017.
“in this context, 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”
US Justice Department defends prosecution of James Comey over '8647' seashell post
“in this context, 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”