The lead prosecutor in the latest Justice Department case against former FBI Director James Comey has stepped aside.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Petracca, who had recently been hired to work in the Eastern District of North Carolina, has been removed from Comey’s case, according to a court filing.
The two-page document filed Friday lists Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Severo as Petracca’s replacement. NBC News reported on the court filing first.
Petracca had considered quitting the DOJ entirely, two of NBC News’ sources said.
Comey was indicted in late April for a photo of seashells that the Department of Justice claims amounts to “making threats to harm” the president.
The former FBI director has maintained his innocence, and the case has been heavily scrutinized. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan — who endorsed President Donald Trump, but has also split with him on several issues — called the indictment “nuts.”
open image in galleryThe Independent has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina for comment.
When the case was first announced, NBC News reported that Petracca had been hired by U.S. Attorney W. Ellis Boyle months before. Before his role in the DOJ, Petracca was reportedly a Republican councilman in New Jersey.
At the center of Comey’s indictment is a photo he posted to social media in May 2025 of seashells on the beach that read “86 47.”
The first number is a slang term for getting rid of something and is often used in the restaurant industry, and the second is a presumed reference to Trump, who is currently the 47th president of the U.S.
open image in galleryComey has vowed to fight the charges against him, saying that he still believes in the “independent federal judiciary.”
In an interview with MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace earlier this month, Comey — who became an adversary of Trump after he fired him from the FBI during his first term in the Oval Office — warned that the president “has a bottomless desire to gain revenge against those who criticized him.”
Comey predicted that “if this case falls apart, they’ll come up with something else.”
The current case against Comey is the second time the DOJ has brought an indictment against the former FBI director in the past several months.
open image in galleryLast September, Comey was formally charged with making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding in connection with testimony he gave to senators five years before.
Comey pleaded not guilty, and a federal judge dismissed the case.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, has denied that the DOJ is targeting Trump’s critics.
Blanche insisted in a CBS News interview earlier this month that Comey’s indictment was led by local prosecutors, saying, “I don’t even know their names.”