When Rudy Giuliani makes public arguments on behalf of the president, it’s normally in front of a camera or a microphone, sometimes a text or tweet. But on Tuesday, for the first time in decades, it was before a federal judge. And at times his rustiness showed.

Giuliani has served as President Donald Trump’s private attorney since the days of Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation, but he litigated in the court of public opinion. His discovery was through trips to Ukraine to search for political dirt on the president’s rivals; his arguments delivered at press conferences like that held at Four Seasons Total Landscaping.