William Consovoy, President Donald Trump’s attorney, told a Second Circuit panel Friday that the court is obligated to accept his “plausible allegation” that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office issued an inappropriate subpoena for the president’s financial records while investigating 2016 payments made by Trump’s former personal attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen.

The panel, composed of Judges Robert Katzmann, Pierre Leval and Raymond Lohier Jr., often appeared skeptical of the arguments made on Trump’s behalf by Consovoy, of Consovoy McCarthy.