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.

AP video by Nathan Ellgren