After several hours of arguments over various evidentiary and procedural matters, jury selection is nearly ready to get underway.

"This is what we're going to do -- sit down and relax," Judge Merchan told attorneys for both sides. "We have 500 jurors waiting for us. And to be honest with you, I'm not interested in getting into this minutiae with you."

"There's more important work to be done," he said.

Before moving on, Merchan assured attorneys for both parties that his pretrial rulings are subject to change over the course of the trial.

"This is a roadmap," Merchan said, referring to his rulings. "I can reverse myself, I can change my mind."

Merchan then began reading instructions to the attorneys about how to conduct themselves before prospective jurors.

After a break, Judge Merchan ruled that prosecutors can submit evidence related to Trump's attacks on his former attorney Michael Cohen if the defense first chooses to question Cohen's credibility as a witness.

Merchan said, "I imagine" the defense will seek "to discredit" Cohen -- and when they do, he said, "the door is open" for prosecutors to introduce those tweets of Trump's.

Trump has been leaning forward with his hands clasped beneath his chin as his attorney, Todd Blanche, argues about what other evidentiary guardrails should be in place.

Following the arguments over alleged witness intimidation, prosecutors signaled they may seek to have Trump held in contempt.

A limited gag order Judge Merchan imposed in recent weeks prohibits Trump from attacking witnesses and others associated with the case.

"Shortly, we will be seeking order to show cause as to why defendant should not be held in contempt," prosecutor Josh Steinglass said, suggesting Trump violated Merchan's order.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argued that several pieces of evidence related to Trump's alleged "pressure campaign" meant to "keep witnesses off this stand, at this trial" should be introduced at trial.

Steinglass said Trump's public commentary amounted to a "thinly veiled effort to intimidate" two of the government's star witnesses, Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

"The defendant himself has publicly embraced the public strategy of going after his perceived enemies," Steinglass said.

"These tweets, phone calls and emails" should be permitted, Steinglass said. "It's a clear effort to raise the cost of cooperation."

Trump's public postings, Steinglass argued, demonstrate Trump's attempts to silence potential fact witnesses and "relate to his consciousness of guilt."

Trump attorney Todd Blanche pushed back, saying that Trump has been "facing criticism from all sides … the media and others ... and he's defending himself" to his "millions and millions of followers."

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified on cross-examination that the publication's limited involvement in Stormy Daniels' hush money payment was unrelated to the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting where Pecker vowed to serve as the "eyes and ears" of Trump's presidential campaign.

Pecker's testimony on cross-examination about the Daniels story appeared consistent with his testimony yesterday about his strong desire not to be involved in the Stormy Daniels payment.

Pecker said yesterday that he did not want to be involved in the story due to concerns about reputational harm to the National Enquirer and a lack of reimbursement for the other payments he had made to suppress previous Trump stories.

"I said, we already paid $30,000 to the doorman, we paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal, and I am not a bank. I am not paying out any further disbursements among us," Pecker testified yesterday. Pecker said he instructed National Enquirer Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard to flag the Stormy Daniels story to Michael Cohen, who made the payment to Daniels himself.

Asked about Daniels' payment on cross-examination, Pecker said that the National Enquirer's limited involvement was unrelated to their vow to Trump.

"You did not consider the Stormy Daniels story to be part of any agreement you had in August 2015?" defense attorney Emil Bove asked.

"That is correct," Pecker said.

"You wanted nothing to do with it?" Bove said.

"That's correct," Pecker said.

Pecker added that he did not "authorize" Howard to continue communicating with Stormy Daniels' lawyer Keith Davidson about the payment.

When Howard raised concerns to Pecker that Davidson had not yet been paid by Michael Cohen, Pecker said he was angry that Howard continued to communicate with Davidson about the story. In addition to the nature of the story -- which Pecker said could endanger the National Enquirer's relationship with its distributors -- Pecker said Cohen's delay in paying Daniels' lawyer could result in reputational harm to the National Enquirer.

"Frankly, you were not happy to be hearing that?" Bove asked about Cohen's delayed payment.

"Yes," Pecker said.

"The main concern was Howard's reputation?" Bove asked.

"Yes," Pecker said.