Raleigh, North Carolina - President Donald Trump's Department of Justice has revived its claims that James Comey was calling for the assassination of the president with his infamous seashell photo.

In a court document filed Tuesday, the DOJ argued that there was no other way to interpret the photo Comey shared on Instagram in May 2025 featuring seashells arranged to spell out "86 47."

"There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey's post could read it to mean 'Kill President Trump,'" prosecutors wrote.

The DOJ further cited both Merriam-Webster and the Cassell Dictionary of Slang to bolster their point, claiming Comey and "biased" news media have been spreading the "conspiracy theory" that Trump is unjustly targeting him.

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Tuesday's filing came in response to a motion filed last month in which Comey's legal team urged the court to dismiss the case, arguing the term "86" has "no violent connotation except in the most uncommon usages."

Comey's team also argued the prosecution was "not based on a goodfaith application of the law" but instead "effectuates a yearslong campaign by the President to use the criminal process to punish Mr. Comey" out of "deep-seated animosity."

In his second term, Trump vowed to seek retribution against his political enemies, with Comey being one, as he was head of the FBI during an investigation into Russia colluding with the Trump campaign to sway the 2016 election.

After a first attempt to prosecute Comey for separate allegations fell through, Trump's new Attorney General Todd Blanche indicted him in April on the assassination claims.

Blanche, who served as Trump's personal attorney prior to becoming Attorney General, has made it clear that he aims to use the position to further the president's agenda and carry out the promised retribution.