SAN DIEGO — A federal judge who has been a target of Donald Trump’s repeated scorn on Tuesday denied a media request to release videos of the Republican presidential candidate testifying in a lawsuit about the now-defunct Trump University — images that Trump’s attorneys had argued would have been used to tarnish the campaign.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel also rejected a defense request to dismiss the lawsuit.

On the video issue, Curiel said in his written ruling that “while there is a degree of legitimate public interest in the demeanor of the defendant in the deposition videos,” it did not outweigh the potential harm the ongoing media scrutiny of the footage could do to the case.

Trump’s attorneys had argued the video testimony would have been used in campaign attack ads and tainted the jury pool.

Curiel agreed, saying “there is every reason to believe that release of the deposition videos would contribute to an ongoing ‘media frenzy’ that would increase the difficulty of seating an impartial jury.”

News organizations argued that the public has a right to the complete record, given how Trump has touted his business acumen and questions that the lawsuits alleging fraud have raised.

The media requested full transcripts and video of Trump testifying at an all-day deposition Dec. 10 at his New York office and for three hours on Jan. 21 in a Las Vegas law office. Nearly all transcripts have been released, and Trump’s attorneys said last month that they won’t oppose unsealing the remaining pieces.