A federal judge grew exasperated with a Justice Department lawyer who struggled to defend President Donald Trump’s revenge tour against a Big Law firm.

U.S. District Court Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, grilled government lawyer Richard Lawson in a Monday hearing. He questioned the merits of Trump’s March executive order targeting the law firm Jenner & Block.

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When Lawson responded that the move was necessary to prevent alleged racial discrimination by the law firm, Bates exclaimed: “Give me a break!”

Michael Attanasio, attorney for Jenner & Block, said it was “like a game of Twister, verbal gymnastics, to justify this architecture of retaliation based on speech.”