President Donald Trump has been making specific demands of those involved in the James Comey sea shell case, court exhibits show.
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According to exhibits in a recent court filing published by CNN, Trump asked a Secret Service agent who interviewed Comey to give him his notes so he could use them for a press conference he was having later that day.
According to CNN, “one agent messaged that Comey’s post and investigation ‘is a hot topic’ on Air Force One and noted that Trump ‘is very interested.'”
The exhibits were revealed as part of discovery in the case against Comey, who has argued that the prosecution should be dismissed as vindictive. Comey is accused of making threats against the president when he posted a photo that spelled out “86-47” in shells on a beach in North Carolina. The full document includes a series of emails between agents. Comey later deleted the photo and said that in his and his wife’s experience in the restaurant industry “86” meant to clear a table or cancel an order. Not to murder someone.
The filing also included every statement from Trump about Comey between May 2017 and the fall of 2025.
In The New York Times reporting of the exhibit, it described the details as “one of the most glaring examples to date of the degree to which Mr. Trump now directs federal law enforcement actions. The records suggest his intense personal involvement in investigating his longtime nemesis and a sharp break from past practice in which the president remained removed from criminal inquiries.”
Comey was reportedly interviewed by phone by Secret Service agents and he committed to stopping by the office on his way back from North Carolina for another interview.
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A previous report revealed that the special agent in charge of the matter at Secret Service asked agents if it was possible for law enforcement to track Comey’s phone, one email said. At the time, an agent said it was a “bad idea” because they’d need to “declare an exigency exemption” in court.
“We needed to believe that there is an imminent threat to life or limb,” the agent’s email said. “At that time we did not believe that anyone’s life was in immediate danger and legally it was a bad idea to ping the phone.”
The case against Comey argues that there was an “imminent threat” to the president from Comey, who was on vacation at the time.
The special agent in charge responded that he understood that tracking the phone was “legally questionable” but claimed, “we might anyway.”
The full motion to dismiss was filed on Tuesday.
Trump reportedly wanted a “perp walk” in the James Comey indictment, CBS News reported in October.
“The source told CBS News that leadership asked for ‘large, beefy’ agents to conduct an arrest of Comey ‘in full kit,’ including Kevlar vests and exterior wear emblazoned with the FBI logo. It was suggested that a supervisory special agent in the violent crimes division of the FBI’s Washington Field Office would be able to put together the kinds of agents who fit the bill,” the source told CBS.
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