A federal judge drew a strong objection from the House’s top attorney Tuesday as he sent lawyers back to the negotiating table in a two-year subpoena fight over former President Donald Trump’s tax documents at Mazars.

During a status conference, held by videoconference, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia noted that the parties were able to have negotiations in a similar case in the Southern District of New York, over a subpoena to Deutsche Bank. He was apparently curious as to why those conversations were not taking place in the Mazars case, based in the D.C. trial court, where he was set to hear arguments Friday (the public line was not connected during the first 15 minutes of the virtual hearing, so the start of the proceedings couldn’t be heard).