Judge Juan Merchan began the day's proceedings by clearing up a "misunderstanding" about the case's limited gag order's impact on Trump's ability to testify.

It comes after Trump, speaking after court yesterday, told reporters, "I'm not allowed to testify because this judge who's totally conflicted has put me under an unconstitutional gag order," referring to the limited gag order that keeps him from directing prohibited comments at witnesses, jury members, and attorneys in the case.

"I want to stress, Mr. Trump, that you have an absolute right to testify at trial," Merchan said from the bench while looking directly at the former president. "That is a constitutional right that cannot be denied ... it is a fundamental right that cannot be infringed upon."

"The order on extrajudicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way, it does not prohibit you from taking the stand and it does not prohibit or minimize what you could say from the witness stand," Merchan said.

The judge told Trump and his lawyers that the order only prohibits extrajudicial statements -- not statements made during the actual proceeding.

"It does not apply to statements made from the witness stand," Merchan said, directing Trump to speak to his lawyers if he has any further questions.

Trump clearly nodded along as Merchan spoke to him.

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

"We are going to call it a week at this time," Judge Merchan told the jury, dismissing them for the weekend.

The judge then gathered attorneys for both sides to continue the case's Sandoval hearing, begun last week, about the limit on Trump's potential testimony.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche objected to Trump being cross-examined on his gag order violations.

"Injecting into the cross-examination a finding by your honor beyond a reasonable doubt of contempt ... it puts a layer on top of the testimony," Blanche said. "It invites a sideshow that the People don't need."

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued that the gag order violations are relevant to Trump's credibility because if he violated the gag order, he similarly might "violate his obligation to tell the truth."

"These findings are relevant to the defendant's credibility if he chooses to testify," he said.

Issuing his ruling, Merchan denied the prosecution's request to cross-examine Trump on the gag order violations, finding that a determination from the court would be too prejudicial for the jury to overlook.

"I agree with Mr. Blanche," Merchan said, ending the week's proceedings.