O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Missouri-based TV pastor Jim Bakker is asking a judge to dismiss a state lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming that a health supplement could cure the coronavirus.

Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Bakker and Morningside Church Productions Inc. in early March.

Schmitt asked for an injunction ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for the coronavirus on his streaming TV program, The Jim Bakker Show.

A court filing Monday seeks dismissal of Schmitt's lawsuit.

The lawyer representing Bakker is former Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, who calls the lawsuit an assault on religious freedom.