Trump trial: Stormy Daniels tells (almost) all about alleged encounter with Trump

Trump once told McConney, "You're fired" -- but it was just a "teaching moment," the former Trump Organization controller testified.

McConney shared an anecdote from early in his tenure at the Trump Organization, in the late 1980s -- which might have foreshadowed the iconic catchphrase Trump later brandished on his reality TV show, The Apprentice.

"I would hand-deliver the [cash position] report to him once a week," McConney explained.

On one of those occasions, McConney said he entered Trump's office while Trump was on the phone. After he dropped off the report, McConney said he turned to leave. Trump asked whoever he was on the phone with to "hold on."

"Jeff, you're fired," he said Trump told him, before turning back to his conversation on the phone.

McConney said he waited until Trump rang off. When he did, he said, "Jeff, you're not fired. But my cash balances went down since last week."

"It was a teaching moment," McConney said. "Just because someone is asking for money, negotiate with 'em, talk to 'em -- don't just do it mindlessly."

Trump, sitting at the defense table, appeared to flash a smile as McConney relayed the anecdote.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo began his questioning of former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, who is testifying under subpoena. McConney said the Trump Organization is paying for his attorneys in this matter.

McConney, who oversaw the company's general ledger and managed the accounting department, told jurors that he directly reported to Allen Weisselberg, the former Trump Organization CFO, from "the day I was hired until the day he left."

McConney told jurors that he interacted with Weisselberg on a daily basis.

"Other than having lunch everyday, whenever I needed to. His office was next to mine," McConney said.

Prosecutors have called as their next witness Jeffrey McConney, the former longtime controller at the Trump Organization.

McConney served as the Trump Organization's controller for over 20 years before leaving the company with a $500,000 severance payment amid multiple criminal and civil investigations. He was among the Trump Organization executives who, along with Trump himself, was found liable earlier this year for committing a decade of business fraud.

Prosecutors have said he allegedly received and processed nearly a dozen fraudulent invoices from Michael Cohen to reimburse him for paying Stormy Daniels a $130,000 hush money payment just days ahead of the 2016 election.

Judge Juan Merchan has found former President Trump violated the limited gag in the case for a 10th time and has held him in contempt.

"I find you in criminal contempt for the 10th time," Merchan said, determining that Trump violated the gag order when he made remarks about the case's jury on April 22 during an interview on Real America's Voice, after the trial had started.

Merchan said that the $1,000 dollar fines per violation "are not serving as a deterrent" and threatened to jail Trump moving forward.

"Mr. Trump, last thing I want to do is put you in jail, you are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well," Merchan said, directly addressing Trump.

"At the end of the day I have a job to do," Merchan said.

"Defendant violated the order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected," Merchan's ruling said. "In doing so, Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones.

"That jury was picked so fast -- 95% Democrats," Trump told Real America's Voice on April 22. "The area's mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a -- just a purely Democrat area. It's a very unfair situation, that I can tell you."

The ruling comes after Merchan earlier found Trump in contempt for nine previous violations of the trial's limited gag order, for which Trump paid $1,000 for each violation.

Merchan determined that prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt the three other additional gag order violations they had sought, including remarks Trump made about former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker during his testimony.

Prosecutors had argued that Trump's remarks were a threatening message to other participants in the trial, but Merchan was not convinced by that argument.