Former President Donald Trump and his legal team pleaded for relief Thursday from civil rulings and courtroom fines they view as baseless.

Convening in a Manhattan courtroom, Mr. Trump’s lawyers asked Judge Arthur Engoron to reconsider the $10,000 fine he imposed on the ex-president one day earlier for referring to a “very partisan” person alongside the judge.

Trump lawyer Christopher Kise repeated Mr. Trump’s assertion he was referring to Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer-turned-accuser who testified earlier in the week, and not a judicial clerk as Judge Engoron assumed.

Judge Engoron had ordered all participants in the trial not to comment publicly about his staff. That restriction from Oct. 3 followed a Trump social media post that might have maligned the judge’s principal law clerk, who sits next to him.

The trial stems from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit claiming Mr. Trump and his business manipulated financial statements to gain favorable terms on insurance and loans.

Judge Engoron said Mr. Trump’s assertion that he was talking about Mr. Cohen was “not credible,” noting that he sat closer to the clerk than to the witness.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers continued to disagree Thursday.

“To me, the ‘he’ in that sentence is referring to the person in the immediately preceding sentence,” Mr. Kise said.

The judge responded that he would look at the entirety of the remarks and would reconsider the penalty.

“But I’ve made the decision, and unless I say otherwise,” it stands, the judge added.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, used his social media channels to plead for intervention from the state of New York in his trial.

He said Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul or other officials should step in, reprising his complaints that Judge Engoron is biased against him because he ruled against him before the trial began.

Judge Engoron, in his early ruling, said Mr. Trump was operating in a “fantasy world” and was liable for misrepresenting the value of some of his properties, handing Ms. James an early victory on one of her claims.

The trial also focuses on other claims and potential damages that Mr. Trump might owe.

“This is Judicial Misconduct, coupled with Prosecutorial Misconduct, and somebody from the State of New York must step in and stop this Complete & Total Miscarriage of Justice!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

• This story is based in part on wire reports.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.