The U.S. Secret Service has held meetings and started planning for what to do if former President Trump were to be held in contempt and Judge Juan Merchan opted to send him to short-term confinement, officials familiar with the situation tell ABC News.

Prosecutors said at this point they are seeking a fine.

"We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty," assistant district attorney Chris Conroy said, "But the defendant seems to be angling for that."

Officials do not necessarily believe Merchan would put Trump in a holding cell in the courthouse but they are planning for contingencies, the officials said.

There have be no discussion about what to do if Trump is convicted and sentenced to prison, they said.

"Under federal law, the United States Secret Service must provide protection for current government leaders, former Presidents and First Ladies, visiting heads of state and other individuals designated by the President of the United States," the Secret Service said in an official statement. "For all settings around the world, we study locations and develop comprehensive and layered protective models that incorporate state of the art technology, protective intelligence and advanced security tactics to safeguard our protectees. Beyond that, we do not comment on specific protective operations."

-Josh Margolin and Luke Barr

The combative hearing on Trump's alleged violations of the judge's limited gag order ended with the judge saying he will not rule from bench on the district attorney's motion to hold Trump in contempt, so a ruling will come later.

Before concluding the hearing, Judge Merchan told Trump attorney Todd Blanche, "You're not offering me anything … to hang my hat on."

The trial will resume shortly with the return of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to the witness stand.

Judge Juan Merchan is visibly irritated with the lack of evidence presented by defense attorney Todd Blanche.

"You have presented nothing," Merchan said. "I have asked eight or nine times; show me the exact post he was responding to."

"You're losing all credibility with the court," Merchan said after Blanche suggested Trump has been careful to comply with the gag order.

Blanche attempted to represent that Trump did not intend to violate the gag order, but Merchan did not appear satisfied by the response.

"Are you testifying under oath that this is his position?" Merchan asked.

"Do you want me to put him on the stand?" Blanche asked, though Trump did not take the stand.

Merchan strongly reacted earlier when Blanche suggested there were two tiers of justice in the courtroom.

"There are two systems of justice. Mr. Weisselberg is in prison, and Mr. Cohen is a witness," Blanche said, in reference to the former Trump Organization CFO who was sentenced to jail time for perjury.

"There are two systems of justice in this courtroom -- is that what you are saying?" Merchan responded.

The contempt hearing has turned tense as Trump attorney Todd Blanche tries to defend Trump's posts as mere responses to attacks -- but isn't giving clear examples of how Trump was being attacked.

Instead, Blanche asked the judge why the timing of the posts mattered -- prompting a strong rebuke from the judge.

"I'm asking the questions, OK?" Judge Merchan told Blanche. "Please don't turn it around."

Merchan continued to reprimand Blanche: "I'm asking a specific question over and over and I'm not getting an answer."

Merchan then lamented that nearly an hour into the hearing they are still only up to reviewing post NO. 2 of 10, and the jury is set to arrive at 11 a.m. ET to resume trial proceedings.

"The people got to speak as long as they want to," Blanche said regarding the prosecutors.

"The people were answering my questions," Merchan retorted.

So far, Merchan has appeared skeptical of what Blanche has been arguing in defense of the posts. Blanche at times has been struggling to answer Merchan's questions, at one point saying, "I don't have any case law to support that. It's just common sense."

With Donald Trump following along from the defense table, head cocked slightly to the side, David Pecker described the negotiations conducted with Karen McDougal to purchase the exclusive rights to her story about an alleged year-long relationship with Trump.

Pecker said that Trump's attorney Michael Cohen authorized negotiations to begin, then during those negotiations, "Michael was very agitated," constantly asking "Why is this taking so long?"

"To purchase the lifetime rights to Karen McDougal was going to cost $150,000. Plus Karen wanted to restart her career. She wanted to write for the celebrity magazines. She wanted to be on the cover of the life and fitness titles. She had a major problem when her breast implants were removed and she wanted to write about that," Pecker testified.

Pecker said he asked Cohen, "Who is going to reimburse me for this?" He said Cohen responded "Don't worry about it, I'm your friend the boss will take care of it.'"

When prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked Pecker who "the boss" was, Pecker answered "The boss would have been Donald Trump"

Prosecutors then displayed for the jury the contract with McDougal, dated August 5, 2016. It awarded AMI, the Enquirer's parent company, the rights to her story of a relationship she had "with any then-married man." Pecker said "she was referring to Donald Trump."

Pecker testified he needed to "validate" the amount of money AMI was going to pay, so the contract included other provisions, like having McDougal write monthly columns on aging and fitness.

"With respect to campaign laws, I wanted to have the contract be a record that stipulates the services she was going to perform for American Media had a basis for it, the $150,000," Pecker said.

"Was it your primary purpose to buy the life rights?" Steinglass asked. "Yes it was," Pecker responded.

"Were the other provisions to disguise the true nature of this contract?" Steinglass asked. "Yes," Pecker replied, letting out a sigh.