A federal judge denied Donald Trump’s motions for a mistrial in the defamation case brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll saying the former president’s arguments had no “merit” and are “entirely pointless.”

Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Trump’s motions from the bench during the civil trial and said a written order would follow. In the written order on Wednesday, the judge said granting a request for a mistrial “would have been entirely pointless” because it would only mean that the case would start over.