Former President Trump was "cursing audibly" at one point during today's direct examination of Stormy Daniels, according to a transcript of a sidebar conversation that was released following court.

"I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that's contemptuous.
It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that," Judge Juan Merchan told Trump's attorney during the sidebar, according to the transcript.

"I will talk to him," said Trump attorney Todd Blanche.

"So, I am speaking to you here at the bench because I don't want to embarrass him," Merchan said. "You need to speak to him. I won't tolerate that."

"I will talk to him," Blanche replied.

Following a subsequent break, reporters heard Judge Merchan ask Blanche whether he had spoken to his client, but at the time it wasn't clear what the judge was referring to.

Daniels' testimony included a graphic description of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

Former President Trump, on his way out of court, slammed the proceedings as "a disaster for the DA."

"This was a very big day, a very revealing day," Trump told reporters. "As you see, their case is totally falling apart."

"They have nothing on the books and records and even something that should bear very little relationship to the case," he said.

"It is just a disaster for the DA," said the former president.

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh and Mike Pappano

Judge Merchan has ended the proceedings for the day.

Former President Trump was conferring with his attorney when Stormy Daniels passed by the defense table on her way out of the courtroom, and she and Trump did not appear to acknowledge each other.

Court is off tomorrow, with Daniels' cross-examination scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.

Defense attorney Susan Necheles, resuming her cross-examination of Stormy Daniels following a break, raised the defense claim that Donald Trump was the victim of extortion.

"You were looking to extort money from President Trump, right?" Necheles asked.

"False," Daniels replied.

"That's what you did, right?" Necheles insisted.

"False," Daniels responded.

On occasion, Daniels has been hesitant to answer questions during the cross-examination, especially when Necheles quickly presents an exhibit to jurors.

"You want me to comment on something when I don't know the context, and that is not fair," Daniels said at one point.

Stormy Daniels testified that she initially authorized her agent Gina Rodriguez to shop around her story in 2016.

"My motivation wasn't money," Daniels said. "It was to get the story out."

But then, after the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape came out, she learned that then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen was interested in purchasing her story -- by way of a settlement or nondisclosure agreement -- "which was the best thing that could've happened ... because then I'd be safe and the story wouldn't come out," Daniels testified.

"It was motivated out of fear, not money," Daniels said, adding that her financial situation at the time was the "best it's ever been."

"Why didn't you ask for more money?" Hoffinger asked about Michael Cohen's $130,000 offer.

"Because I didn't care about the money," Daniels said.

Daniels, on the witness stand, then reviewed the contract she signed to sell her story in exchange for her silence.

Asked if she signed it, she said, "Yes."

But Daniels affirmed earlier testimony that she wasn't paid the money on time.

"No, it was late. I didn't know why it was late, he just kept making excuses," she said of Cohen.

Daniels said she became concerned when Cohen delayed the payment, and she worried that if she didn't get the payment before the election, she might never get it -- "because he (Trump) had gotten what he wanted and it goes all the way back to me not being safe," she said.

Asked what she understood the payment arrangement to be, she answered, "Trump to Cohen, Cohen to Davidson," referring to then-attorney Keith Davidson.

Court subsequently recessed for lunch, with Daniels scheduled to return to the stand after the break.