ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — Whether President Donald Trump dislikes James Comey is irrelevant to the question of dismissing the two-count indictment against the former FBI director, federal prosecutors argued in court Wednesday morning.

The hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, was the latest step in Comey’s effort to throw out the charges on the grounds that the prosecution is a politically driven act of retaliation orchestrated by the president. Comey’s attorneys argue he was targeted because he publicly criticized Trump and resisted political pressure during his tenure at the FBI. Prosecutors countered that Comey was charged “simply for lying to Congress,” not because the president harbors long-standing animus toward him.