Takeaways from today's proceedings

Today marked the fourth week of the criminal hush money trial. This morning, the judge again held former President Donald Trump in contempt and prosecutors called two more witnesses to testify. Here's a recap:

Gag order violation: Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for another gag order violation this morning, the tenth so far. Merchan warned the former president that should the violations continue, he would consider incarceration.

"The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan said to Trump. "You are the former president of the U.S. and possibly the next."

Testimony: The rest of the day featured rather dry and tedious testimony from former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney and accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff.

In the morning, McConney laid out how he and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg came up with the $420,000 that would be reimbursed, in monthly installments, to former Trump fixer Michael Cohen. That figure accounted for the $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the payment at the center of the case.

Tarasoff took the stand in the afternoon. The Trump employee testified about who had signing authority and how checks are prepared at the company.

In court: Eric Trump and Alina Habba were among those from Trump's circle in court today.

Schedule: Court resumes tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., and will be off as usual on Wednesday.

Trump: "Our Constitution is much more important than jail"

This morning, Judge Juan Merchan held Trump in contempt for violating the gag order for a tenth time, and threatened jail should the violations continue. The former president addressed this after court Monday afternoon.

"You have the other thing, that's maybe is even more disgraceful, is the gag order," Trump told reporters outside of the courtroom, referring to Merchan's threat of jail.

"Frankly... our Constitution is much more important than jail, it's not even close. I'll do that sacrifice any day," Trump said.

Before court adjourned for the day, prosecutors told Merchan the timing of their case is going "well." The judge pressed them for a better answer, which earned laughs from the room. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said their side of the case should be wrapped up "two weeks from tomorrow."

"That means they want to keep me off the [campaign] trail for two to three more weeks," Trump said after court.

Prosecutors estimate their side should take two more weeks

On behalf of the DA's office, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is raising issue with the defense's arguments that they haven't had sufficient notice of the evidence that the prosecution is introducing, saying, "it's just not true."

He says they've been giving Trump's team a day's notice for the witnesses out of concerns that the former president will make public comments about them. Steinglass argues that the defense has had the full list of witnesses for months, just not the order in which they'll appear.

"I don't like the impression that's being left that we're somehow sandbagging the defense," Steinglass says. He signals that the DA's office plans to recall Georgia Longstreet to introduce other social media exhibits into the trial. Longstreet is a paralegal for New York County's DA's office and testified last week.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says he's looking at the witness list he was given in January and Longstreet is not on it. He also argues that he did not say the DA's office wasn't providing exhibits in advance, "What I said is we didn't know which exhibit the People want to offer through the witness."

Blanche argues Longstreet shouldn't be allowed to retake the stand, but Merchan seems skeptical about how letting her introduce more social media posts would be prejudicial. Merchan tells prosecutors that they need to give the defense a 24-hour notice before recalling Longstreet.

Trump family reacts to checks cut to Cohen

Trump shakes his head as we go through some tedious evidence showing the emails and invoices related to the monthly payments made to Cohen in 2017.

Despite the drier testimony this afternoon, Eric Trump seems to be interested in the exhibits being shown. He's been attentively glancing at the screens in the courtroom, unlike others in the front row.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche has taken the podium for cross-examination.

Trump is watching Tarasoff closely as his attorney asks about how the Trump Organization changed while he was transitioning into the White House after winning the 2016 election.

Tarasoff is now done testifying. She smiled at the prosecution table as she left the courtroom.

The judge informed jurors that court will end early today.

Next witness: Deborah Tarasoff

Prosecutors have called their next witness, Deborah Tarasoff.

Tarasoff is the Trump Organization's accounts payable supervisor who reported to Jeffrey McConney, she also testified in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial. She has been with the Trump Organization since 2000.

She testifies that she has never worked directly with Trump himself, although she worked closely with McConney and CFO Allen Weisselberg. She describes Weisselberg as someone who "had his hands in everything."

She says that in 2017, a check of more than $10,000 needed to be approved by someone higher up than Weisselberg: either Trump, Don Jr., or Eric. As McConney testified, the monthly payments to Michael Cohen were $35,000.

When asked who can sign checks for the DTJ account—Trump's personal account—Tarasoff answers, "only Mr. Trump."

Tarasoff says that Trump did not have to sign a check just because Weisselberg approved it. "If he didn't want to sign it, he didn't sign it," she said. Instead, Trump would just write VOID in Sharpie and send it back.

Court is back in session

Court is back in session. Trump attorney Todd Blanche says the defense just found out who the witness would be 30 minutes ago.

McConney finishes testimony

Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney has completed his testimony. He nodded and smiled at Trump as he passed the defense table. Court is now taking a lunch.

Here's a quick recap of what's happened in court today:

Gag order violation: Judge Merchan began court by ruling on the four alleged gag order violations against Trump. He found one to be in violation and fined Trump $1,000. This was the 10th time Trump has been held in contempt and Merchan threatened the former president with jail sanctions should the violations continue.

Testimony: The prosecution called former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney as its next witness. McConney testified for several hours about payments made from the Trump Organization to Michael Cohen. Among these payments were reimbursements for the alleged hush money payment Cohen made to Stormy Daniels. McConney is the prosecution's 10th witness.

Court will resume at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Former Trump Org. controller continues testimony

After a short break, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney has returned to the stand.

Earlier, McConney explained how the Trump Organization owed Michael Cohen $420,000, prosecutors are now showing jurors the payments made. McConney says Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017.

Why does this matter? These are tied to some of the 34 falsifying business records charges against Trump.

Trump attorney Emil Bove is now up for the cross-examination.

McConney had "very few" conversations with Trump over his decades of work at the Trump Organization, he testifies. Bove asks if they talked about accounting services when they did speak, McConney chuckles and says "no."

McConney says that his interactions with Cohen were also at a "minimum," and he did not speak with the former Trump fixer about these issues. Bove shows Cohen's 2017 email signature which reads, "Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump." He asks McConney to confirm to the court the signature doesn't include the term "fixer."

McConney confirms he does not know if Cohen did legal work for Trump in 2017. When asked by Bove, McConney says the way business was conducted at the Trump Organization had to change "drastically" after Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

When asked about the invoice emails from Cohen that read "pursuant to the retainer agreement," McConney agrees with Bove that the legal retainers can be verbal.

Attorney: "Myriad of reasons" why stories are killed with NDAs

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's witnesses "contradicted" the basis for Trump's prosecution in the hush money case, attorney Jonathan Turley says.

One of the witnesses Turley points to is former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. Pecker was the prosecution's first witness who testified over several days. Turley argues Pecker killed stories for multiple celebrities, not just Trump.

"The question is not whether bad stories can impact a defendant on a political as well as a personal basis. The question is whether the denotation of these payments as legal expenses was intended to hide a crime," Turley told Newsweek regarding Pecker's testimony.

"While many of us are still unclear what that crime was, there are a myriad of reasons why such stories are killed with NDAs, including stories going back over a decade with Trump," Turley continued. "NDAs are often treated by celebrities as a matter handled by private counsel to avoid bad press. Pecker acknowledged that fact."

Turley also references the testimony of Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels' former attorney. On the stand, Davidson said he would "never" call the payment made to his client hush money.

"It wasn't a payoff and it wasn't hush money... it was consideration in a civil settlement agreement," Davidson said.

Read the full story from Newsweek's Rachel Dobkin here.

Photos: A look inside the courthouse

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Trump: "They have absolutely no case"

Moments before walking into court, Trump again said there is "no case here" and called Judge Merchan "totally conflicted."

"They have absolutely no case," Trump said Monday morning. "It's a political hoax, it's election inference, anything they can do. And even the witnesses they want to bring up, they have nothing to do with the case. This is a ridiculous situation, not fair — not fair but we will fight."

When asked if he would testify, he cited his gag order, which he called "unconstitutional."

Judge Merchan has now fined Trump $10,000 for 10 gag order violations. This morning, Merchan threatened the former president with jail sanctions should the violations continue.

Next witness called: Jeffrey McConney

The prosecution has called its first witness of the week, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney.

After going over some accounting details of the Trump Organization, the prosecution's questions move to Michael Cohen. "He [Cohen] said he was a lawyer," McConney said.

McConney recalls becoming aware that the Trump Organization owed Cohen money via a conversation with Allen Weisselberg, the company's former CFO. He testifies that there were other outstanding monies owed to Cohen, so he and Weisselberg also account for those and came up with a number.

Prosecutors show Weisselberg's notes. McConney explains they owed Cohen $180,000 ($130,000 for payment to Keith Davidson plus $50,000 for tech services), which was grossed up to $360,000 by Weisselberg for income tax purposes.

There was also an additional $60,000 bonus because Cohen had complained that his year-end bonus wasn't large enough. In total, the Trump Organization owed Cohen $420,000, McConney testifies.

McConney said they were to wire Cohen $35,000 every month beginning February of 2017. That money was to come "out of the president's personal bank account," he said.

McConney says after Trump goes to the White House, reimbursements are paid out of the DTJ account instead of the trust account. This required the Trump Organization to get those checks out to Washington for the president to personally sign.

One email from McConney reads, "DJT needs to sign check." McConney recalls the payments stopping in December of 2017.

Judge to Trump: "The last thing I want to do is put you in jail"

Judge Juan Merchan begins this morning by addressing the four additional gag order violations against Trump.

The judge found Trump violated one of the four, and held him in contempt for a 10th time. Merchan said it appears the fines "aren't working" and in the future, the court must consider sanctions.

"The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan says to Trump. "You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president.... I do not want to impose a jail sanction."

Trump was fined $1,000 for his comment about the jury, including how quickly jurors were selected. The three other potential violations brought forward by prosecutors, which included Trump calling witness David Pecker "very nice" and two other comments about Michael Cohen, were not found to be in violation. He must pay the fine by May 10.

The defendant is hereby "put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future
violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration," the order reads.

Eric Trump, Alina Habba in courtroom

The prosecution walked in a few moments ago.

Eric Trump is back in court this morning, supporting his father. Attorney Alina Habba, Boris Epshteyn and Jason Miller are also here.

Soon: Prosecutors to call next witness

Good morning, it's just after 9 a.m. in New York City, and the fourth week of former President Donald Trump's hush money trial is set to begin in 20 minutes. The prosecution is expected to call its next witness to the stand today. Here's a quick recap of the trial so far.

Week 1: The jury was selected during the trial's first week.

Weeks 2 and 3: Prosecutors have called nine witnesses to testify. There have also been hearings discussing potential gag order violations against Trump as well as Sandoval.

Who has testified so far?

• David Pecker, former National Enquirer publisher
• Rhona Graff, longtime Trump assistant
• Gary Farro, Michael Cohen's former banker
• Dr. Robert Browning, executive director of C-SPAN archives
• Phillip Thompson, from court reporting company Esquire Deposition Solutions
• Keith Davidson, attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal
• Douglas Daus, processes digital evidence for the Manhattan DA's office
• Georgia Longstreet, paralegal for New York County's DA's office
• Hope Hicks, former top Trump aide

Hicks wrapped up her testimony Friday afternoon. She was one of Trump's closest advisers during his 2016 campaign and presidency and appeared in court under a subpoena. She offered flattering commentary about her former boss and recalled Trump's "great" 2016 campaign. She also described the fallout of the infamous Access Hollywood tape. Following court on Friday, Trump declined to respond to specific questions about Hicks' testimony, citing his gag order, but told reporters he was "very interested in what took place" in court.

It's unclear who may testify next; however, Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen have yet to be called.

Gag order violations: Trump was fined $9,000 for nine posts found to be in violation of the gag order. Last week, Judge Merchan considered four additional alleged violations but has yet to rule on those.

Sandoval: Friday, Merchan ruled that if Trump testifies, prosecutors cannot ask the former president about the gag order violations. Merchan agreed with Trump attorney Todd Blanche that it would be "very prejudicial" for the jury to hear that he held Trump in contempt.

Get caught up: Here's the latest from Friday. Newsweek senior reporter Katherine Fung is inside the courtroom and has a recap ahead of today's proceedings below: