James Comey and Letitia James press for dismissal of their cases, challenge prosecutor’s appointment

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for two of President Donald Trump’s foes who have been charged by the Justice Department asked a judge on Thursday to dismiss the cases against them, saying the prosecutor who secured the indictments was illegally installed in the role.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie said she expects to decide by Thanksgiving on challenges to Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both shepherded by the hastily installed Halligan, have amplified concerns the Justice Department is being used as a weapon to target the Republican president’s perceived adversaries.

Currie also disclosed in court that a record of grand jury proceedings in the Comey case that she reviewed was missing a portion, which she said raised questions about whether Attorney General Pam Bondi could have properly ratified the indictment as the Justice Department says she did.

Halligan was installed in the job at Trump’s urging by Bondi in September, just days before Comey was indicted, in what defense lawyers say was a violation of complex constitutional and statutory roles governing the appointment of U.S. attorneys.

“Ms. Halligan was the sole prosecutor in the grand jury room, and when the sole prosecutor lacks the authority,” said Ephraim McDowell, one of Comey’s defense lawyers, “that’s not going to be a harmless error.”

U.S. attorneys, top federal prosecutors who oversee regional Justice Department outposts across the country, are typically nominated by the president and then confirmed by the Senate. Attorneys general have the authority to get around that process by naming an interim U.S. attorney who can serve for 120 days. But lawyers for Comey and James argued that once that period expires, the law gives federal judges the exclusive say of who gets to fill the vacancy.