James Comey hires Raleigh attorney in federal threat case
james comey has hired Raleigh attorney Joseph Zeszotarski Jr. to defend him against a federal indictment in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The case centers on a now-deleted Instagram post from May 2025 that showed seashells arranged as “86 47,” which prosecutors say was a coded threat against President Donald Trump.
Federal prosecutors allege the numbers amounted to a threat against Trump, the 47th president, and say a “reasonable recipient” could interpret the post as a “serious expression of an intent to do harm.” A federal judge has scheduled the trial to begin July 15.
Joseph Zeszotarski Jr. joins defense
Zeszotarski will be part of Comey’s defense team in the Eastern District of North Carolina. He has more than 30 years of experience practicing in federal and state courts, giving Comey an attorney with courtroom experience in both systems as the case moves into the trial phase.
The hiring gives Comey a local defense lawyer as the indictment advances in the federal court handling the case. That filing puts the Instagram post at the center of the prosecution, not any broader political dispute.
May 2025 Instagram post
The dispute traces back to an image Comey posted in May 2025 and later removed. The post showed seashells on a North Carolina beach arranged to form “86 47.” Comey said, “I did not intend the post to be violent,” and said he took it down after learning some people associated the phrase with harm.
That explanation sits alongside the government’s allegation that the post carried a criminal meaning. Prosecutors say the numbers referred to Trump as the 47th president, while Comey has denied wrongdoing.
July 15 trial date
The July 15 trial date sets the next hard step in the case. Between now and then, Comey’s lawyers will prepare to answer the indictment’s claim that the post could be read as a threat, while prosecutors will try to support the interpretation laid out in the charging document.
For Comey, the immediate consequence is that the Instagram post is now a federal criminal matter with a scheduled trial date, a named defense lawyer and a record that will turn on what the post meant and how a jury reads it.
