ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge on Thursday suggested she could toss the charges against ex-FBI boss James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — and she appeared to agree with claims that the prosecutor who brought the cases is illegitimate. 

Alexandria District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who was appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, appeared skeptical of several of the government’s arguments about why the appointment of Lindsey Halligan as interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was aboveboard.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued for James — who was not present in court Thursday — that the government’s position on appointments would give the Trump administration the “perpetual ability” to appoint interim US attorneys — bypassing Congress’ sign-off.

If all that’s needed is an attorney general to appoint a US attorney every 120 days, “even a person like Steve Bannon or Elon Musk” could have overseen the grand jury proceedings against Comey and James as Halligan did, Lowell contended.

Prosecutor Henry Whitaker later pushed back at the “odd” line of reasoning that Halligan, a lawyer who was on the team defending President Trump against former special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case, had no more qualifications than a “private citizen.”

Halligan, a former pageant queen, had also worked in the White House before her appointment as interim US attorney. She was installed after her predecessor Erik Siebert resigned in the wake of accusations by Trump that he was refusing to bring a case against James.

At the core of the argument is the question of whether the US attorney general — in this case, Pam Bondi — can make multiple interim appointments to fill a US attorney position when the candidate can’t get confirmed by the Senate.

James and Comey are seeking to have their cases — for bank fraud and lying to Congress, respectively — dismissed on a technicality, claiming Bondi used up her one opportunity to appoint someone to the empty position for a 120-day period when she installed Halligan’s predecessor.

Whitaker countered during Thursday’s hearing, “The attorney general is entitled to multiple 120-day appointments.”

Currie appeared not to agree with Whitaker’s arguments, noting how judges had traditionally made the appointments to fill vacant US attorney posts for centuries. Congress gave the attorney general the power to make interim appointments starting in 1986.

During normal term periods, the president would appoint US attorneys who would then be confirmed by the Senate. “We have about 200 years where the judges made the appointments,” Currie said.

Comey’s lawyer Patrick McDowell blasted the feds for a “fundamental defect” in their arguments.

If she rules against the government, Judge Currie’s order will likely prompt an appeal process that could also sweep up three other prominent acting US attorneys — New Jersey’s Alina Habba, Sigal Chattah of Nevada and Bill Essayli of Los Angeles.

All three have been in the job for more than 120 days, and have not been confirmed.

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Toward the end of the arguments, Currie also brought up the Florida classified documents case against Trump. The then-ex-president’s lawyers successfully argued to have the charges against him dismissed on the grounds that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed by then-US Attorney General Merrick Garland. 

“Do you believe that US versus Trump was wrongly decided?” Currie asked, to excited whispers from some in the courtroom gallery. 

Whitaker argued the ruling in the Trump case doesn’t apply in the Comey and James cases, in part, because a US attorney and a special counsel are two very different positions. Whitaker said a special counsel is given “unique and broad” authority that a US attorney doesn’t have.

And Whitaker said Smith wouldn’t have been appointed to the position of US attorney because he doesn’t qualify.

“The attorney general has full authority,” to appoint anyone who meets the US attorney qualifications, Whitaker added. 

Smith appealed the decision but eventually dropped the appeal after Trump was elected for a second term.

The judge said she hoped to issue a ruling before Thanksgiving. 

Halligan — who sat between two prosecutors from her office — didn’t address the judge during the hourlong hearing.

James was charged with federal criminal counts of bank fraud and making false claims to a financial institution that allegedly netted her $19,000 in savings for a loan on a second home.

Former FBI Director Comey is charged with lying to Congress about leaks to the press involving agency probes. 

Comey was in the Alexandria federal courtroom accompanied by his wife and daughter Maurene — who was ousted by the Trump administration earlier this year from her job in the US attorney’s office in Manhattan.

Both Comey and James have pleaded not guilty and claim they have been targeted by Trump because of their past investigations into him.

The feds have argued that the prosecutions against James and Comey are legitimate and public officials must be held to a higher standard.

James is accused of buying a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Norfolk on Aug. 17, 2020, using a $109,600 loan.

James allegedly said she would be the “sole borrower to occupy and use the property,” when in reality her grandniece lived there and paid rent, the feds claim. James faces up to 60 years behind bars and a $2 million fine if convicted on both counts.

Comey is accused of lying during a 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when he claimed he didn’t authorize leaks to the media about his probe into 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers.

Comey faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted on both counts.

Both James and Comey face trials in January.