Comey’s lawyers ask court to toss indictment over alleged Secret Service surveillance
James Comey's attorneys filed a motion in North Carolina federal court seeking dismissal of a charge that he threatened President Trump with an Instagram post, alleging the Secret Service conducted unlawful surveillance at the request of senior officials.
Lawyers for former FBI director James Comey have moved to dismiss an indictment that accuses him of threatening President Donald Trump by posting a photo of seashells forming the numbers “8647” on Instagram. The filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina claims the Secret Service carried out warrantless electronic monitoring of Comey and his wife in May 2025 after a senior Department of Justice official requested it, and that the agency continued surveillance as the couple traveled back to Washington, D.C., including a stop at their son’s gravesite.
The petition argues the prosecution is vindictive and selective, noting that a Secret Service supervisor described the surveillance as “legally questionable” but proceeded anyway. It also alleges that the Secret Service coordinated closely with the Department of Justice and the president, providing frequent updates to Air Force One ahead of Trump’s press briefings about the Instagram post.
"A North Carolina grand jury indicted Comey, and he'll have his day in court like any other defendant," a Department of Justice spokesperson said when asked about the filing.
The motion seeks dismissal on the grounds that the indictment stems from an improper investigation, citing a new Secret Service policy that classified the phrase “8648” as coded language for a presidential threat. The filing references a prior case in which a Virginia federal judge dismissed an indictment against Comey, finding that a former Trump personal lawyer had been improperly appointed as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
If granted, the dismissal would remove the charge that Comey transmitted a threat in interstate commerce, a case that has drawn significant political attention.