Ex-FBI director James Comey asks judge to cancel NC hearing in Trump threat case
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Comey’s attorneys asked a judge to cancel his scheduled federal courtroom appearance.
- The hearing in Greenville was set for Monday for an initial appearance on two charges.
- Charges allege Comey threatened Trump with a photo of seashells on a North Carolina beach.
A hearing that was expected to bring former FBI director James Comey to a federal courtroom in Greenville on Monday may be called off after his attorneys asked a judge to cancel it.
On Thursday, Comey’s attorneys filed a motion asking a North Carolina federal judge to cancel the 11 a.m. hearing where Comey was scheduled to make an initial appearance on two charges of threatening President Donald Trump with a photo of seashells taken on a North Carolina beach.
The photos arranged in a pattern of “86 47” has been interpreted as a threat by the Trump administration. Comey, who says he found the shells arranged that way and shared a photo of them on Instagram, has said he saw the display as political and took the post down when he learned it could have another meaning.
In the motion filed Thursday, Comey’s attorneys argue that the hearing is redundant because he has already had a first appearance in the case in another state.
Comey case transferred from Virginia to North Carolina
After the April 28 indictment accusing Comey of threatening Trump in the Instagram post last year, Comey turned himself in the next day at a courthouse in Virginia, where he lives.
Comey was arrested on the two federal charges and appeared before a Virginia judge, who granted him pretrial release. Then the case was transferred to the federal Eastern District of North Carolina, where the alleged crimes occurred.
In Thursday’s filing, Comey’s attorneys argue that the Monday hearing should be removed from the calendar because he already had a first court appearance in Virginia.
The filing says that federal prosecutors have consented to dispensing with the first North Carolina court appearance.
In response, U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan issued an order saying she will approve the request if Comey files a notice saying he has agreed to skip the hearing before Monday.
Was the Comey seashell post a threat?
On May 15, 2025, Comey said he found the seashells arranged to say “86 47” during a walk on an eastern North Carolina beach.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines 86 as slang for refusing or banning a customer, removing an item from a menu, or rejecting, discontinuing or getting rid of something. Forty-seven refers to Trump serving as the 47th president.
Some criticized Comey’s post, including Donald Trump Jr., saying the post called for his dad to be murdered, CNN reported.
Comey deleted the post later that day, saying he thought it was political and didn’t realize some people associated the phrase “86” with violence.
“It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,” Comey wrote.
Trump has said that 86 is a mob term for murder.
“86 him. That means kill him,” Trump said recently.
What the Comey indictment says
In April, a North Carolina federal grand jury, which typically has from 16 to 23 members, agreed that the government had probable cause to charge Comey with two federal felonies.
The charges of threatening the president and broadcasting the threat over state lines carry prison sentences of up to five years each.
The indictment claims that a “reasonable person” with information about the case would interpret the seashell post as “a serious expression of an intent to harm the president.”
For Comey to be convicted, prosecutors would have to prove that a reasonable person would view the post as a threat to the president and that Comey intended it as such.
Just a photo of seashells?
Comey posted a video on the online platform Substack after the April indictment, his second set of federal charges since September 2025.
The September indictment, which accused Comey of lying to Congress, was dismissed by a Virginia judge in November. The judge agreed with a Comey motion that Lindsey Halligan, who stepped into the U.S. attorney job days before the September indictment, was appointed unlawfully and any indictments she sought were set aside. Halligan, who has since left the U.S. attorney position for the Eastern District of Virginia, appealed the judge’s decision.
In the video posted by Comey, he said he planned to fight the new charges.
“Well, they’re back. This time, about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago,” Comey said in the video posted on Substack.
“I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” Comey said. “So let’s go.”
On the NBC news program “Meet the Press,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that investigators and North Carolina career prosecutors have built a case that goes beyond the photo of the seashells.
“I am not permitted to get into the details of what the grand jury heard or found, as you know, but rest assured that it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted,” Blanche said.
This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Ex-FBI director James Comey asks judge to cancel NC hearing in Trump threat case."
