Former FBI Director James Comey asked a federal court in North Carolina on Thursday to cancel his upcoming appearance, arguing it is unnecessary because he already surrendered in Virginia and has appeared before a judge for allegedly threatening President Donald Trump. The Department of Justice has backed his request.
Comey was indicted last week on two counts of allegedly “knowingly and willfully” transmitting a threat against Trump after posting an Instagram photo showing seashells arranged in the numbers “86 47.” Prosecutors say the post amounted to a threat against Trump, the 47th president.
Comey has denied that interpretation, saying he believed the arrangement was a political message he noticed on a beach and did not intend it as a threat.
He also said he deleted the post once he realized it was being viewed as potentially violent.
He is currently set to appear Monday in a federal court in Greenville, North Carolina, but his lawyers urged a judge on Thursday to cancel that appearance. They noted that he had surrendered and appeared before a judge in Virginia, where he lives, and that the Justice Department has consented to their request.
The case is the second against Comey, a longtime perceived adversary of the Republican president, brought by Trump’s Justice Department. An earlier unrelated prosecution accusing Comey of making a false statement to Congress was dismissed by a judge who concluded that the prosecutor who filed the case was illegally appointed.
Legal experts have questioned whether the Justice Department can meet the high legal standard of proving that Comey intended his Instagram post to be a threat. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has said investigators have evidence beyond just the post itself. He has not elaborated.
Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says 86 is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” It notes: “Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of ‘to kill.’ We do not enter this sense, due to its relative recency and sparseness of use.”
