Prosecutors have called to the stand Hope Hicks, who for a time was one of Donald Trump's closest and most trusted aide.

Hicks came to Trump after being recruited by his daughter Ivanka, then later expanded as head of communications for the Trump Organization. After launching his campaign, Hicks moved over to run all of his 2016 campaign communications and took on a similar role in the White House. Hicks had two stints in the White House, with her office just steps outside the Oval Office.

She no longer works for Donald Trump or any of his affiliated organizations.

Following the break, custodial witness Georgia Longstreet returned to the stand so prosecutors could introduce evidence that had been posted to social media.

Jurors were shown the 2016 video Donald Trump posted in the wake of the publication of the "Access Hollywood" tape, in which the then-candidate apologized for making "foolish" statements about groping women.

"I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize," Trump said in the video.

Jurors watched their screens closely as the apology video played -- many of them with their heads tilted down at the monitors and showing no emotion at all. Trump watched the video on the monitor on his table.

Trump posted the video late at night following the release of the tape, after aides debated how to respond.

Prosecutors have called Georgia Longstreet as their next witness. A paralegal with the Manhattan district attorney's office, she has worked on the DA's Trump investigation for one-and-a-half years.

Longstreet has been called to introduce multiple social media posts, after the defense declined to stipulate to any of that evidence.

She said has saved about 1,500 social media posts of the approximately 10,000 she reviewed as part of the investigation.

Additional testimony was delayed while the jurors took their morning break. Trump, who usually leaves the courtroom during these short breaks, remained in courtroom during the recess as his attorneys discussed the details of what exhibits prosecutors will introduce after the break.

The former president also surveyed the courtroom and chatted with his legal adviser Boris Epshteyn. At one point he stood alone behind the counsel table while his lawyers attended to other tasks nearby.

Trump appeared please during his lawyer's cross-examination of custodial witness Douglas Daus, in which Daus acknowledged there were gaps in the handling of the data on Michael Cohen's iPhone that could create a risk of tampering. Trump nodded at his attorney Emil Bove and conversed with him when Bove sat down.

On prosecutors' re-direct examination of Daus, Christopher Conroy asked Daus if the issues raised by Bove would materially impact the integrity of Cohen's device.

Daus replied that they would not.

Prosecutor Christopher Conroy told Judge Merchan during the contempt hearing that the limited gag order exists because of Trump's "persistent and escalating rhetoric" regarding trial participants, adding that Trump had violated the gag order nine times already.

"He has done it again here," Conroy said.

"That is what the order forbids, and he did it anyway," Conroy said about Trump's remarks about the composition of the jury.

Conroy then turned his attention to Trump's remarks about witness and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker last Thursday at a construction site in midtown Manhattan, in which he said, "He's been very nice. I mean, he's been -- David's been very nice. A nice guy."

"It was deliberate and calculated," Conroy said, describing the remarks as a "deliberate shots across the bow" to participants in the case.

"The defendant thinks the rules should be different for him," Conroy says about Trump's remarks about witnesses like Michael Cohen and David Pecker.

Trump has defended some of his commentary about the trial as a recitation of what he sees in media coverage. But Conroy said that Trump's rhetoric carries an "air of menace that is substantially different" than a news report.

"He places this process and proceeding here in jeopardy," Conroy said,