Comey 8647 case filing alleges illegal Secret Service surveillance

James Comey’s lawyers asked a federal judge in North Carolina to throw out the Comey 8647 case, arguing that the prosecution is vindictive and selective, according to a court filing submitted Tuesday night. The filing alleges that the U.S. Secret Service carried out warrantless electronic surveillance of the former FBI director after President Donald Trump said Comey’s Instagram post amounted to an assassination threat.

The indictment, issued in April in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, accuses Comey of threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The charge centers on a photograph Comey posted of seashells arranged on a North Carolina beach to form the numbers “8647.”

Comey’s attorneys allege that the Secret Service “knowingly conducted illegal electronic surveillance” of him in May 2025 at the request of a senior Justice Department official described in the filing as the department’s “number three” person. The lawyers said a Secret Service supervisor described the planned surveillance as “legally questionable” but indicated the agency “might do it anyway.”

The filing says the monitoring covered Comey and his wife as they traveled back to Washington, D.C., from North Carolina, including during a stop at the grave of their deceased son.

What is the Comey 8647 case?

The case concerns whether Comey’s Instagram image of seashells forming “8647” constituted a threat against Trump, who is the 47th president of the United States. Comey’s lawyers argue the prosecution was driven by political retaliation and improper government coordination rather than a neutral law enforcement assessment.

The number “86” is widely used in restaurant settings to mean that an item is no longer available. Trump publicly described Comey’s post as a reference to “assassination,” according to the filing.

Comey’s lawyers also allege that the Secret Service was in close contact with the Justice Department and Trump while assessing the post. According to the filing, the agency sent repeated updates to Air Force One after direct requests from Trump, who wanted information before speaking to reporters about Comey’s Instagram post.

On the same day as the alleged surveillance, the filing says, the Secret Service adopted a new policy treating the phrase “8647” as coded language for threatening the president. The filing presents that policy change as part of Comey’s argument that the government’s handling of the matter was irregular and politically influenced.

A Justice Department spokesperson, responding to questions about the filing, told MS NOW: “A North Carolina grand jury indicted Comey, and he’ll have his day in court like any other defendant.”

The dismissal request adds to the legal disputes between Comey and Trump-aligned prosecutors. A federal judge in Virginia last year dismissed a separate indictment that accused Comey of lying to Congress. In that case, the judge found that Lindsey Halligan, a former personal lawyer for Trump who had secured the indictment, had been unlawfully appointed as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The North Carolina filing asks the judge to dismiss the current indictment on constitutional grounds tied to selective and vindictive prosecution. The court has not ruled on the request.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.