A federal judge delayed former FBI Director James Comey's arraignment on charges he threatened President Trump with a seashell Instagram post, pushing any trial to 2027.
U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan ordered the delay on Friday in North Carolina, moving Comey's arraignment to January and stating the trial will not begin until 2027 while she works through multiple motions, Breitbart reported.
Comey had been set for arraignment Wednesday in New Bern, N.C. The case stems from an Instagram photo he posted of the numbers 8647 arranged in seashells on a beach.
Federal prosecutors say the image amounted to a threat against Trump. They argue “86” is common restaurant shorthand for “get rid of,” and 47 points to Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
Comey’s defense team rejects that reading. In July, his lawyers asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing the photo could not be treated as “a true threat.” They also sought more time.
Flanagan granted the continuance. In her order she wrote, “The gravity of the charges, pending motions and the need to provide defense counsel additional time to prepare for trial promote need for continuance.”
The ruling keeps a high-profile case against a former FBI director in a holding pattern for years. It is the second time a grand jury has indicted Comey during Trump’s second term. A judge dismissed the first case in November.
Comey has long criticized Trump and was fired by the president in 2017. He has said Trump is targeting him over that criticism. The new indictment puts the former bureau chief back in federal court over a social media post rather than a classified leak or field operation.
Related scrutiny of Comey’s circle has continued elsewhere, including when a federal grand jury subpoenaed former Comey adviser Daniel Richman in a classified leak probe.
Prosecutors built this case on the seashell photograph and their reading of the numbers. Defense counsel calls that stretch legally insufficient. The judge has not yet ruled on the dismissal request while she sorts the pending motions.
Trump removed Comey from the FBI in 2017. In the years since, fights over the bureau’s conduct toward Trump have only widened. Declassified FBI memos later detailed a secret probe that treated Trump as a potential Russian asset after that firing.
Comey now faces a criminal charge tied to an Instagram image. The government says the shells spelled out a call to eliminate the 47th president. Comey’s lawyers say a beach photo is not a true threat under the law.
That clash sits inside a larger run of cases and subpoenas aimed at former intelligence officials. John Brennan was subpoenaed to face a Florida grand jury in a Justice Department probe of an alleged conspiracy against Trump.
Flanagan’s schedule means the seashell case will not reach a jury until 2027 at the earliest. Arraignment itself slips to January. For a charge the government labels grave, the calendar is slow.
Records from other corners of the same fight show how often the bureau’s choices toward Trump have drawn official review. FBI ran three operations that targeted Trump while shielding Biden, according to declassified records and federal reports covered previously.
Comey’s team put the core legal question on the table in July: whether seashells on a beach can count as a true threat against a president. Prosecutors say the coded numbers cross that line. The judge has left that motion unresolved while she manages the rest of the docket.
The first indictment against Comey in this term did not survive. A judge threw it out in November. This second case now stretches toward 2027 before trial even starts.
Separate personnel shifts have hit related Justice Department work as well, including when Joe diGenova stepped down from a DOJ conspiracy probe focused on alleged efforts against Trump’s political enemies.
None of that resolves what Flanagan will do with the dismissal request or the other open motions. Her order is clear on timing. Arraignment moves to January. Trial stays off the calendar until 2027.
A former FBI director charged over beach shells will wait years for a verdict while the motions pile up. Accountability on that timetable is no accountability most Americans would recognize.
