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

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,