Book him: Prosecutors using James Comey’s novel against him in seashells case

Comey’s novel centers on a villain who sends coded messages urging retaliation against his political rivals. In new filings, federal attorneys argue that life imitated art.

Federal prosecutors want to throw the book at former FBI Director James Comey in their seashells-based case — including his own crime novel.

In court filings defending their controversial criminal case against Comey, a frequent critic and target of President Donald Trump, prosecutors in North Carolina say his book “FDR Drive” bolsters their argument that a picture he posted on Instagram of seashells on the shore arranged to say “8647” constituted a “true threat” against the president’s life. Trump is the 47th president.

The documents filed Tuesday describe the book, which was released days after the post, as focusing on a prosecutor pursuing a “far-right wing media personality” whose foes are being killed after “he singled out his enemies by name and suggested ‘something should be done’ about them.”

While Comey is a former prosecutor and Trump has been repeatedly accused of inspiring death threats and harassment of people he has complained about online, the filing compares Comey to his book’s villain.

The Justice Department has accused Comey of threatening President Donald Trump in this Instagram post.@comey via Instagram“On May 15, 2025, a charismatic leader named James Comey, through the wonder of the internet, posted a coded message to his followers meaning ‘kill’ or ‘get rid of’ (a euphemism for ‘kill’) President Trump,” the filing says.