Free-speech group questions use of Comey novel in threat indictment

A PEN America statement criticizes prosecutors for citing James Comey’s novel FDR Drive to bolster an indictment alleging he threatened Trump. The DoJ argues a seashell image post with the code “8647” could be read as a threat and involved cross-state transmission, while Comey and his lawyers say the post was protected speech and not a true threat. The case hinges on whether fiction or a literary metaphor can be used to criminalize free expression.