Mr. Trump has been fined for 10 violations in all since the start of the hush-money trial last month.

Prosecutors asked Justice Merchan in a hearing last week to hold Mr. Trump in contempt for four statements he made about witnesses and the jury. But on Monday, Justice Merchan ruled that Mr. Trump would be fined for just one violation.

After his ruling, witnesses were expected to take the stand in the third week of testimony. There are only a few key witnesses who have yet to take the stand.

There is Stormy Daniels, the porn star who accepted hush money in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign to keep silent about her story of having had sex with Mr. Trump a decade earlier. There is Michael D. Cohen, the Trump fixer who made that payment and is expected to be crucial for the prosecution. And there are several employees of the Trump family business, who helped the then-president reimburse Mr. Cohen.

Mr. Trump, the first American president to face criminal prosecution, is charged with 34 felonies related to those reimbursements: The Manhattan district attorney’s office says that he coordinated the falsification of documents related to the repayment.

Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has denied that he had sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face probation or as long as four years in prison. He will not testify as part of the prosecution’s case; it is unclear whether he will later take the stand in his own defense.

Here’s what else to know:

• The false records charges: Prosecutors say Mr. Trump, 77, falsified the records to cover up his reimbursement of Mr. Cohen for the payment to Ms. Daniels, directing his company to describe the payments as “legal expenses” from a retainer agreement. The expenses and agreement were fictional, prosecutors say.

• Hope Hicks speaks: Mr. Trump’s former press secretary and White House communications director on Friday described the deep anxiety that gripped Mr. Trump’s campaign after the revelation of the so-called “Access Hollywood” tape in October 2016. In nearly three hours on the stand, Ms. Hicks also described concerns about a 2016 article in The Wall Street Journal, published days before the election, regarding Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump in 2006 and 2007. Ms. McDougal’s story was purchased by the parent company of The National Enquirer, only to be buried. Here are five takeaways from Friday’s court session.

McConney, the former controller of the Trump Organization, is familiar to many of the reporters covering this trial. He testified at the trial of Trump’s company in 2022 and at Trump’s civil fraud trial last year, where he was among the defendants.

Trump had no noticable reaction to Merchan warning him that jail could be in the offing if he continues to flaunt his gag order.

Trump was hunched over at the defense table staring at Merchan as he issued his warning. When the judge concluded, Trump shook his head.

Justice Merchan tells Trump his ongoing violation of his gag order is a “direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue." He says he wants him to understand he will put him in jail if he has to.

It’s a cloudy, damp, decidely cheerless day outside. Spring remains elusive, but the trial chugs on.

Taking the stand under a subpoena, Ms. Hicks said she was nervous, and at one point, early in the cross-examination, she broke down in tears.

The Manhattan district attorney has charged Mr. Trump, 77, with falsifying 34 business records to hide a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who says she and Mr. Trump had a tryst in 2006 while he was married. Mr. Trump, the first American president to face criminal prosecution, has denied the charges and says he did not have sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face probation or prison time.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s 11th day, and third week, on trial:

A scandalous recording resurfaces.

Ms. Hicks, now a communications consultant, testified to her fast rise in the Trump family orbit, going from working for his daughter Ivanka to press secretary for Mr. Trump’s campaign. It was in that role that, in October 2016, she had to confront what she called the “intense” fallout from the revelation of the “Access Hollywood” tape.

The judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, has said the tape itself cannot be played, but jurors saw a transcript of it on Friday in an email sent to Ms. Hicks by a reporter from The Post.

“When you’re a star, they let you do it,” Mr. Trump said in the tape about groping women. “You can do anything.”

“Deny, deny, deny.”

The need for damage control did not abate, however, as Ms. Hicks was confronted with the story of Karen McDougal and a mention of Ms. Daniels in an article by The Wall Street Journal just days before the 2016 election. The story reported that Ms. McDougal, a former Playboy model, had been paid $150,000 in August 2016 by the parent company of The National Enquirer, which then suppressed her story of an affair with Mr. Trump which he has denied.

Ms. Hicks recalled consulting with Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, who eventually paid Ms. Daniels to keep quiet. Mr. Cohen denied the stories, drafting a proposed response calling them “completely untrue,” and Ms. Hicks told The Journal the same thing.

Indeed, even as the “Access Hollywood” tape was coming out, Ms. Hicks said one strategy — which she documented in an email to other senior Trump aides — was simple: “Deny, deny, deny.”

Election pressures were huge.

Earlier in the week, Keith Davidson, a Los Angeles lawyer, testified about deals he negotiated for Ms. Daniels and Ms. McDougal during the closing months of the 2016 campaign, when Mr. Trump was battling Hillary Clinton.

The election was a constant topic, with Mr. Davidson pressuring Mr. Cohen for payment as Election Day loomed and Ms. Daniels threatening to blow up the deal as days ticked down.

On Friday, prosecutors introduced online postings and a video statement by Mr. Trump in which he acknowledged saying “foolish things” on the “Access Hollywood” tape, but also attacking Ms. Clinton. The jury also saw posts made in the weeks before the election in which Mr. Trump blasted women who had accused him of misconduct, calling their accounts phony.

“Nobody has more respect for women than me,” he wrote.

Trump’s voice was heard in court, and outside, too.

Prosecutors on Tuesday played video clips of Mr. Trump’s denials of sexual assault while on the campaign trail, as well as part of a deposition Mr. Trump gave in a lawsuit in which he was found liable for sexual abuse.

And on Wednesday, Mr. Trump blasted the criminal case while campaigning, calling Justice Merchan “crooked” and “conflicted.”

Back in court on Thursday, jurors heard a conversation Mr. Cohen had recorded with Mr. Trump about how to reimburse the publisher of The Enquirer for the purchase of Ms. McDougal’s story.

Trump, fined once, faces another gag-order ruling.

After hearing prosecutors’ arguments last week over violations of a gag order barring attacks on trial participants, Justice Merchan on Tuesday fined Mr. Trump $9,000 and threatened him with jail if they continue.

On Thursday, prosecutors presented four more incidents and called Mr. Trump’s statements “corrosive.” Mr. Trump’s legal team argued that he was merely responding to political attacks.

Justice Merchan has not yet ruled, but a decision could come soon, perhaps next week. The trial continues on Monday.