{"id":1067,"date":"2026-05-30T07:05:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T07:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2026-05-30T07:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T07:05:06","slug":"lead-federal-prosecutor-in-james-comey-seashells-photo-case-steps-aside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=1067","title":{"rendered":"Lead federal prosecutor in James Comey seashells photo case steps aside"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A rookie federal prosecutor who brought a case accusing former FBI Director James Comey of threatening President Donald Trump\u2019s life by posting a photo of seashells on Instagram has stepped off the case.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=1065\">One birthday, two party planners: Freedom 250 vs. America250, explained<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Matthew Petracca, who was had been recently hired as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of North Carolina, is no longer on the Comey case, according to a .<\/p>\n<p>Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Severo is now heading the case. Petracca did not respond to a prior message seeking comment on his status at the Justice Department. Petracca did not handle a recent interaction with Comey\u2019s defense team, which instead .<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina W. Ellis Boyle oversaw the highly-criticized case, which will go to trial in October if it manages to survive legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Petracca also dropped off of other criminal cases in the Eastern District of North Carolina in recent days, according to court filings. Petracca is a former Republican county committeeman in New Jersey whom Boyle hired months ago, NBC News has reported.<\/p>\n<p>A , was brought late last month and suggested that a reasonable person would interpret the image of the shells, arranged to spell out \u201c86 47,\u201d as \u201ca serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The indictment doesn\u2019t spell out what the numbers mean. The term \u201c86\u201d is widely considered to be restaurant slang for being out of something in the kitchen, and the 47 was thought to be a reference to the 47th president.<\/p>\n<p>It was the second time the Justice Department has tried to indict the former FBI director, a longtime target of Trump\u2019s. The first, over an allegation that Comey lied to Congress five years ago during remote testimony via Zoom, was dismissed by a judge who ruled the federal prosecutor had been improperly appointed.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has said he wants the Justice Department to go after his political enemies; acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has argued that those now targeted by the Justice Department themselves used the law to go after the president.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=1063\">ICE eyes selling mega-warehouses purchased for mass detention<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some legal experts \u2014 including several conservatives who typically defend the Trump administration\u2019s actions \u2014 criticized the case and expect it to be dismissed long before it gets to trial.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs one of his longest and most vocal critics, I would frankly prefer to crawl into one of Comey\u2019s conversant shells than write this column,\u201d wrote scholar Jonathan Turley. \u201cHowever, here we are. This indictment is unconstitutional and will not likely survive constitutional challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the indictment was announced, Trump said of Comey: \u201cComey is a dirty cop. He\u2019s a very dirty cop,\u201d Trump said. \u201cHe\u2019s a crooked man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Comey\u2019s attorney has said he was going to file a motion arguing the case was a vindictive prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>There are scores of T-shirts, hats, buttons, bumper stickers and posters for sale that read \u201c8647,\u201d including some that are made with seashells.<\/p>\n<p>Blanche said on \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d that he had \u201cno idea whether there was an investigation into the other times that that post has been made and whether that investigation yielded different results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis investigation that we undertook resulted in a two-count indictment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=1061\">Trump in \u2018excellent health\u2019 after latest checkup, president\u2019s physician says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The federal prosecutor who accused ex-FBI Director James Comey of threatening Trump with a seashell Instagram post has stepped off the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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