In a move that has free-speech advocates reaching for their football analogies, federal prosecutors are citing a novel by former FBI director James Comey to bolster their case that he threatened to kill Donald Trump. PEN America, the leading US free-expression group, isn't amused.

"Citing a novel to save an indictment that is constitutionally dubious is a desperate Hail Mary and should be rejected," said Mara Gassmann, PEN America's legal director, in a Friday statement. Because nothing says 'credible legal argument' like a last-second heave in American football.

The Trump administration-led justice department, in a filing earlier this week, argued that Comey sent coded messages to his followers suggesting they kill an enemy, citing the fictional protagonist - a federal prosecutor - in his novel FDR Drive. The book's main character tries to take down a far-right media personality named Sam Buchanan. The filing quotes passages and a Publishers Weekly review describing a prosecutor who "believes Buchanan went far beyond the protection of the first amendment" when he "singled out his enemies by name and suggested 'something should be done' about them."

This literary analysis is part of a legal effort to sustain the prosecution of Comey on charges that he made a threat against the president and transmitted it across state lines via social media. The offending post? An Instagram image of seashells arranged to read "8647," posted while vacationing in North Carolina five days before FDR Drive's publication.

Prosecutors claim there's "no serious dispute" that the May 2025 post could be interpreted as a threat against Trump, who has reportedly been the target of multiple assassination attempts. The number "86" is often shorthand for getting rid of something (famously in the restaurant industry, where Comey once worked), and Trump is the 47th president. So, 86 + 47 = threat, according to this logic.

The filing was in response to Comey's motion to dismiss the case. Comey, who denies the charges, said it "never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down." His feud with Trump dates back to his handling of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. That investigation found Russia interfered "in sweeping and systematic fashion" but did not establish that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Moscow.

The government also claims Comey had an "apparent financial incentive to stir up controversy," suggesting the seashell photo was a marketing ploy for his "eerily on-the-nose novel." The novel has sold 6,471 copies, according to Circana BookScan. Clearly, a literary sensation.

Gassmann's statement added: "A political message, expressed through a photo of seashells, is no true threat; now, the government's use of Comey's work of fiction to support this prosecution compounds the first amendment concerns." She warned: "Extreme caution should be taken any time creative works are used to support criminal charges to protect the free expression rights of us all."

Comey's lawyers argue the post was protected speech and not a "true threat." They contend that "no reasonable observer would understand the phrase '86 47' to connote violence at all - let alone to threaten that Mr Comey personally would commit violence against the president." They also allege "vindictive and selective prosecution," saying the indictment "effectuates a yearslong 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."

So, in a nutshell: a former FBI director's seashell photo is now the subject of a constitutional showdown, and a novel is being used as evidence. Only in America - and only in this timeline.