James Comey Files Scorching Motion to Have His Indictment Thrown Out — Accuses Trump DOJ of ‘Selective and Vindictive Prosecution’

Former FBI Director James Comey filed a scorching motion to dismiss the indictment against him — accusing President Donald Trump and the DOJ of ‘selective and vindictive prosecution.’

In a 54-page filing late Tuesday night in U.S. District Court in North Carolina, the former FBI Director slammed the DOJ for bringing the case against him. Comey was charged, in April 2026, with two criminal counts connected to a social media post in which he depicted seashells arranged to show the numbers “86 47” — which the DOJ contends is “serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”

“This is the second indictment that the DOJ has obtained against Mr. Comey in less than a year—both at President Trump’s direction,” the brief read. “In September 2025, President Trump ordered the DOJ to prosecute Mr. Comey for unspecified crimes. A White House aide improperly installed as U.S. Attorney swiftly executed that directive, securing an indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia. Yet because that indictment was fatally defective, a district court quickly dismissed it. The
President thereafter fired the Attorney General.”

Comey’s motion argued, “the ensuing indictment is not based on a good-faith application of the law to the facts; instead, it effectuates a years-long campaign by the President to use the criminal process to punish Mr. Comey for his protected speech and because of the President’s deep-seated animosity.”

The legal argument the brief is centered on is the claim that Comey’s post was protected speech under the First Amendment.

“The indictment must be dismissed under two bedrock legal doctrines. First, the government instigated this prosecution based on Mr. Comey’s protected speech and to vindicate the President’s animus towards Mr. Comey, in violation of First Amendment and due process principles. Second, the government engaged in selective prosecution, in violation of equal
protection principles. Dismissal of federal criminal charges under these doctrines has historically been rare. That is because for decades the DOJ’s independence and integrity have guarded against the use of the criminal process to punish enemies or settle political scores. The prosecutions of Mr. Comey mark a sharp break from that tradition. Ample objective evidence—much of which comes directly from government officials’ own public statements and admissions—establishes that the President’s animus toward Mr. Comey led to this vindictive and selective prosecution.”

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