Defense counsel for Donald Trump on Thursday filed a motion seeking the recusal of the New York judge who oversaw the former president’s civil fraud case, alleging ex parte communications by the Court and a reputed ongoing investigation into those comments by the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“Where, as here, this Court’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned under the circumstances, it must recuse,” reads the defense motion in support of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s recusal from the case.