(TNS) In a stunning setback for President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, a judge on Monday dismissed federal criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey — finding the prosecutor handpicked by the president “had no lawful authority” to file them.

South Carolina Federal Judge Cameron McGowan Currie found that the appointment of Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, without Senate confirmation was invalid in granting requests by Comey and James to dismiss the cases against them.

Describing Halligan as “a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience,” Currie wrote, “All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Ms. James

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