Counsel for Donald Trump may subpoena a Manhattan real estate lawyer who “boasted” about alleged ex parte communications with the judge overseeing the ex-president’s civil fraud case, a Supreme Court justice has said.

“The subpoena is not wholly without merit,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron wrote in a Tuesday decision, finding that the defense was entitled to communications between Adam Leitman Bailey and the court relating to the New York attorney general’s civil fraud action.