Trump's former top aide was the top witness on Day 11 of his hush money trial.
Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Donald Trump has entered the courtroom for the day's proceedings.
The former president was accompanied by his usual entourage of lawyers, Secret Service agents and campaign staffers.
A custodial witness who testified yesterday about the contents of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's phone is scheduled to return to the witness stand this morning on Day 11 of the trial.
Douglas Daus, who handles the processing of electronic devices for the Manhattan district attorney's office, told jurors what he found when he extracted the contents of Cohen's two iPhones -- including a September 2016 recording of Donald Trump discussing the arranged purchase of Karen McDougal's story that was made public in 2018.
Daus also testified that Cohen had nearly 40,000 contacts on one of this phones, including 10 pages of contact information s for Trump alone.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, former President Trump signaled that he might not be taking the stand in the trial in response to a question about what he thought of Keith Davidson's testimony.
"I'm not allowed to testify because this judge who's totally conflicted has put me under an unconstitutional gag order. Nobody's ever had that before," Trump said, despite the limited gag order only keeping him from directing prohibited comments at witnesses, jury members, and attorneys in the case.
"The easiest question so far," Trump told reporters, "but I'm not allowed to testify because this judge is totally conflicted, has me under an unconstitutional gag order."
-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh and Mike Pappano
In his cross-examination of expert witness Douglas Daus, defense attorney Emil Bove asked Daus why the 2016 Trump-Cohen recording on Cohen's phone abruptly cuts off, attempting to raise doubts about the integrity of the recording.
Daus suggested that he heard in the recording that another call was coming in, but Daus said he could not say with certainty why the recording ended.
"You don't have firsthand knowledge of why it cuts off?" Bove said.
Bove -- a former prosecutor with plenty of experience handling cellphone extractions -- then discussed with Daus the different ways to extract a device. For a brief moment, the tone of the cross-examination shifted from tense to friendly.
Judge Merchan subsequently ended the proceedings for the day, dismissing the parties.
The proceedings are scheduled to resume tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. ET.
