Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York went sideways on Friday before things even got started. Judge Arthur Engoron, who furiously accused Trump’s legal team of misogyny on Thursday, opened by raising his very evident concerns about Trump and his attorneys haranguing Engoron’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, over their perceptions of “bias.”

“I’m worried about this,” Engoron said.

“To the extent that there is the perception of bias,” defense attorney Chris Kise responded, he needed to “as a lawyer… at least mark it.”

Engoron said he didn’t view the case as a political one, and “promised not to pound the table again, the bench,” but reiterated that he had an “unfettered right to get assistance” from his clerk, who sits by his side on the bench, and said he had “no idea” how that showed bias.