GREENVILLE, NC (WITN) – Former FBI Director James Comey is set to appear in a New Bern federal courtroom next month on charges he threatened the president.
Comey this morning formally asked that a hearing in Greenville for Monday be waived, a day after his lawyers filed a request to cancel the first appearance hearing.
One of Comey’s attorneys argues that he initially appeared in an Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom last week, making Monday’s scheduled hearing duplicative.
The former head of the FBI was indicted by a grand jury sitting in Wilmington last month for making threats against Trump related to a photograph he posted on social media last year of seashells arranged in the numbers “86 47” on a North Carolina beach. The Justice Department contends those numbers amounted to a threat against Trump, the 47th president.
Comey has said he assumed the numbers reflected a political message, not a call to violence against the Republican president, and removed the post as soon as he saw some people were interpreting it that way.
The case was charged in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the location of the beach where Comey has said he found the shells.
There are multiple reports that say Comey owns a beachfront home in Emerald Isle.
Comey will be arraigned and enter a plea at a hearing on June 30th in New Bern.
His trial is scheduled for July 15th before U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, but that could be delayed as the former FBI chief’s legal team indicated they will be filing several motions, including one for selective/vindictive prosecution.
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