Former FBI Director James Comey asked a federal judge Thursday to cancel his scheduled court appearance in Greenville, North Carolina, where he faces charges that he threatened President Donald Trump, arguing the hearing was unnecessary because he had already surrendered and appeared before a judge in Virginia, where he lives.
In a court filing Thursday, Comey’s lawyers said the Justice Department has consented to the request to cancel the Monday appearance. The judge assigned to the case said she would cancel the proceeding provided Comey files a waiver of appearance on or before Friday.
Comey was charged last week in a two-count indictment with “knowingly and willfully” communicating a threat against Trump by posting an Instagram photo of seashells arranged in the numerical sequence “86 47.” Prosecutors allege the arrangement constituted a threat against Trump, the 47th president.
Comey has said he assumed the seashells, which he said he found on a beach, reflected a political message rather than a call to violence. He said he removed the post after seeing that some people were interpreting it as a threat.
Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by the Associated Press, notes that “86” is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of,” or “to refuse service to.” The dictionary acknowledges a more recent meaning of “to kill,” but says it does not enter that definition “due to its relative recency and sparseness of use.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said investigators have gathered evidence beyond just the Instagram post itself, though he declined to elaborate on what that evidence includes. Legal experts, however, have questioned whether the Justice Department can meet the high legal standard of proving that Comey intended the post to be an actual threat.
The case is the second prosecution the Trump administration Justice Department has brought against Comey, a former FBI director whom Trump fired in 2017 and who has been a longtime perceived adversary of the Republican president. 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.