Lawyers for James Comey allege that the U.S. Secret Service conducted illegal electronic surveillance of the former FBI director at the request of a high-level official on the same day President Donald Trump claimed Comey was threatening assassination by posting a photo of seashells on a North Carolina beach that formed the numbers '8647.' This information comes from a court filing submitted on July 29, 2026, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The filing states that a Secret Service supervisor indicated that the warrantless surveillance of Comey in May 2025 was 'legally questionable' but that the agency might proceed regardless. It is claimed that the surveillance was initiated after a senior official at the Department of Justice requested it, and it included monitoring Comey and his wife as they returned to Washington, D.C., from North Carolina, including a stop to visit their deceased son's grave.
The filing seeks to dismiss an indictment issued in April against Comey, which accuses him of threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce related to the '8647' photo posted on Instagram. Comey's lawyers assert that the Secret Service coordinated closely with the DOJ and President Trump, sending updates to Air Force One in response to Trump's requests for information prior to his press statements regarding Comey's post.
Additionally, the filing notes that on the same day the surveillance occurred, the Secret Service implemented a new policy to treat the phrase '8647' as coded language for threatening the President. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice stated that a North Carolina grand jury indicted Comey, and he will have his day in court. Previously, a federal judge dismissed another indictment against Comey for lying to Congress, citing the unlawful appointment of a U.S. attorney involved in the case.