Trump warns Comey and Letitia James about more charges after case brought by former beauty queen falls apart

Donald Trump warned James Comey and Letitia James that they're not off the hook yet after her cases against them were thrown out as he backed beauty queen lawyer who tried to prosecute them.

The president spoke for the first time about the cases against two of his biggest rivals were tossed after a Clinton-appointed judge said federal prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

'They got out on a technicality, and you'll see what happens from here on. But if you look at the actual charges, I think anybody that looks at it very fairly would say, boy, are they guilty,' he said of Comey and James.

Comey, the former FBI director, was initially charged with making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding relating to his 2020 Senate testimony, where he denied authorizing FBI officials to leak information to the press.

James had been indicted on charges including bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution concerning information on mortgage applications.

Trump pointed out that US District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie's orders do not concern the substance of the allegations against Comey or James

'You know, the court didn't say you couldn't bring the case, re-bring the case, or appeal the case. So they have a lot of options. They're going to call that shot. I'm not calling that shot,' he said.

However, he added that Halligan - was hand-picked by the president to prosecute the cases because he believed Bondi wasn't moving fast enough - remains a 'very talented lawyer.'

'Oh, she's great. I think she's great,' he said, when asked if he 'still had faith' in Halligan.

The challenges to Halligan's appointment are just one facet of a multiprong assault on the indictments by Comey and James, whose multiple other efforts to dismiss the cases remain unresolved.

Halligan, a former beauty queen, was named to the job of interim US Attorney for Virginia in September.

Before her appointment, Erik Siebert, a different interim attorney, was forced out amid pressure from Trump to file charges against his political enemies.

Comey's lawyers argued that after Siebert was forced out, the judges should have had exclusive say over who would fill the vacancy.

But it was ultimately Trump who moved forward and nominated Halligan as he publicly pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and James.

'JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!' the President wrote on Truth Social at the time.

Comey was indicted three days after Halligan was sworn in by Bondi, and James was charged two weeks after that.

Both have separately asserted that the prosecutions were vindictive and emblematic of a weaponized Justice Department.

Comey's lawyers last week seized on a judge's findings of a constellation of grand jury irregularities and missteps by Halligan and James likewise has cited 'outrageous government conduct' preceding her indictment.

'I am grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence and a reflection of what the Justice Department has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking,' Comey, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress, said in a video statement.

In a separate statement, James, a Democrat who has pleaded not guilty to mortgage fraud allegations, said, 'I am heartened by today´s victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country.'

She said she remained 'fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day.'

Judges have separately disqualified interim US attorneys in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Nevada, but have permitted cases brought under their watch to move forward.

But lawyers for Comey and James had argued that Currie's ruling needed to go even further because Halligan was the sole signer of the indictments and the driving force behind them.

Comey has for years been one of Trump's chief antagonists.

Appointed to the job in 2013 by President Barack Obama, Comey, at the time of Trump's 2016 election, was overseeing an investigation into whether his presidential campaign had conspired with Russia to sway the outcome of the race.

Furious over that investigation, the President fired Comey in May 2017 and the two officials have verbally sparred in the years since.

James has also been a frequent target of his ire, especially since she won a staggering judgment against him and the Trump Organization in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements.

An appeals court overturned the fine, which had ballooned to more than $500 million with interest, but upheld a lower court's finding that Trump had committed fraud.