Donald Trump trial LIVE: Former president threatened with JAIL for 10th violation of gag order and fined another $1,000 as fourth week of hush money case kicks off

From Senior U.S. Political Reporter Rob Crilly in court:

After the tears of Hope Hicks’ testimony and the gutter tour of tabloid king David Pecker’s evidence, Jeff McConney makes for a much dryer witness.

He is giving us an account of how the Trump Organization is structured and the way its books are run, including descriptions of the software used and who was in the team he managed as the company’s controller.

It may be prosaic, but this is the crucial next bit of the jigsaw.

The case against Trump is that 34 documents were falsified in order to hide hush money payments.

A detailed understanding of invoices, ledgers and checks is ultimately how the case will be proven (or not proven).

Trump smiled as McConney recounted a ‘teaching moment’ a year into his employment when Trump told him to ‘focus on my bills’ or don’t spend money he didn’t need to.

McConney said that he walked into Trump’s office – it would have been around 1988 – and dropped off the weekly cash report on his desk.

Trump asked him to hang on until he got off the phone and told him that his ‘cash balances went down from last week.’

McConney said that Trump told him to ‘focus on my bills’ and that ‘just because somebody’s asking for money, negotiate with them, talk to them.’

Trump appeared to enjoy the anecdote and smiled. McConney called it a ‘teaching moment’ for him.

Prosecutors have argued that Trump’s frugality was one of the reasons his decision to pay his former lawyer Michael Cohen back $420,000 for the $130,000 hush money he paid to Stormy Daniels was so unusual

Jeff McConney is taking the prosecution through how the financial accounting operation worked at the Trump Organization.

McConney is explaining step by step the approval process for cutting checks and reimbursing expenses.

Donald Trump stared blankly ahead after Judge Merchan again threatened to throw him in jail for violating the gag order.

It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as deterrent, Merchan told Trump.

Therefore, ‘this court will have to consider a jail sanction,’ he continued.

Trump displayed no visible reaction.

Jeff McConney is a former executive at the Trump Organization.

He is the first witness of the day.

McConney was first hired in 1987 and retired in February 2023.

McConney is in court in response to a subpoena and the Trump Organization is paying for his lawyer.

Judge Juan Merchan begins the morning by finding Trump in contempt for a 10th time.

Merchan warns the last thing he wants to do is put Donald Trump in jail.

‘Mr Trump, it is important you understand the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You’re a former President of the United States and possibly the next President as well,’ Merchan said.

He called it a last resort for him and said such a move would be disruptive.

Merchan said he worries about the broader implications of jail but said at the end of the day, he has a job to do.

Judge Merchan said that Trump’s ‘continued and willful’ violations of his orders ‘threatens the fair administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law.’

‘I cannot allow that to continue,’ Merchan said. ‘As much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction….I will if necessary and appropriate.’

Donald Trump spoke after arriving in court for another day of testimony in the hush money case.

He called the gag order unconstitutional and said witnesses are being called who have ‘nothing to do with the case.’

The ex-president did not respond to shouted questions about the judge.

Trump is joined in court Monday by son Eric Trump as well as Boris Epshteyn and his lawyers.

Donald Trump aides Margo Martin and Natalie Harp are seen leaving Trump Tower as the ex-president heads downtown for another day in court.

Court wrapped on Friday with former Donald Trump aide Hope Hicks delivering riveting testimony in the hush money case.

Hicks worked for the Trump Organization before becoming press secretary on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and then working as a top aide in the Trump administration.

During her at times emotional testimony, Hicks shared a behind the scenes look at the handling of some of the biggest moments for the ex-president’s 2016 campaign including how Trump responded to the release of the Access Hollywood tape as well as the Wall Street Journal reporting on the alleged Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels affairs.

Hicks recalled at one point Trump did tell her about the payment to Stormy Daniels.

She also shared how Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen was looped in during the 2016 campaign but testified how he would go rogue and was known to insert himself.

Donald Trump returns to a New York courtroom on Monday, where he will be forced to sit silently while others testify about his efforts during the 2016 presidential election to cover up news of an alleged tryst with a porn star.

Trump’s criminal hush money trial, entering its 12th day, has featured testimony from a top aide and a former tabloid publisher about efforts during his first presidential bid to tamp down stories of unflattering sexual behavior.

New York prosecutors have charged Trump with falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with him in 2006. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies ever having sex with Daniels