Comey claims DOJ ordered illegal surveillance as he seeks dismissal of charges

Former FBI Director James Comey filed new motions late Tuesday in his effort to toss out federal charges accusing him of threatening President Trump's by posting a photo of seashells arranged to form the numbers "86 47," casting the indictment as the latest salvo in a yearslong effort to punish him for criticizing the president — and accusing the government of misconduct.

The filing — accompanied by a 76-page-long spreadsheet listing out all of the insults Mr. Trump and Comey have hurled at each other over the last nine years — argues the indictment should be dismissed on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution. Comey's lawyers also asked the court to suppress evidence from warrants for Comey's accounts, and to force the government to disclose the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment.

"Here, the government has singled out Mr. Comey for prosecution because President Trump harbors animus toward Mr. Comey and his protected speech, and it has done so in direct response to the President's urgings and Mr. Comey's successful motion to dismiss a prior indictment," the former FBI chief's attorneys argued.

The Justice Department has denied that Comey is being singled out due to his political views.

In the motion to dismiss, Comey also accused the U.S. Secret Service of conducting "illegal electronic surveillance of Mr. Comey at the request of a high-level DOJ official" without a warrant shortly after Comey's spring 2025 Instagram post.

Filings submitted by his lawyers show discussions between Secret Service staff about "pinging" Comey's phone to track its location, which some personnel viewed skeptically, and a request for Verizon to provide location information due to an "emergency" situation. At the time, Comey was set to travel from North Carolina to his Virginia home.

"At that time we did not believe that anyone's life was in immediate danger and legally it was a bad idea to ping the phone," an unnamed Secret Service official said in one message.

Those details on the surveillance — along with other allegations about the government's scramble to investigate Comey — are from an affidavit filed by Comey's attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, who cited "substantial discovery provided by the Government."

Comey's legal team is also asking for a Franks hearing, a court proceeding where the judge overseeing his case would determine if the government misled or lied to the magistrate judge who approved search warrants. In this case, the warrants are related to digital accounts belonging to the former FBI director and his wife.

The affidavits a