NEW YORK — A judge considered holding Donald Trump in contempt yet again on Thursday for more potential gag order violations as his hush money trial resumed in Manhattan.

Before jurors took their seats for the day, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan heard arguments from prosecutors and the former president’s attorneys concerning four more instances of Trump publicly commenting on witnesses and jurors in the case.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy said Trump should be fined another $4,000 for public remarks he made about the jury and witnesses like David Pecker and his former fixer, Michael Cohen.

But Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said his client had not willfully violated the order and was defending himself against criticism as a presidential candidate. He said constant taunts by Cohen, like recently calling Trump “Von Sh--zInPantz,” were essentially “daring” him to respond.

On Tuesday, the judge imposed $9,000 in sanctions for similar comments Trump made and reposted in nine offending Truth Social posts. Merchan did not immediately rule on the latest alleged violations but sounded unconvinced by arguments by Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, defending his comments about the jury.

After the hearing, attorney Keith Davidson continued testifying about the hush money he negotiated for his clients Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal on the eve of the 2016 election. The Los Angeles lawyer repped the two women as they mulled coming forward with allegations of extramarital trysts with Trump early into his marriage to Melania.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies alleging he repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to cover up reimbursement to his former fixer for a hush-money scheme to hide damaging information from the voting public in 2016. Trump denies the affairs or that he did anything illegal.

Davidson in shock over Trump White House win: “What have we done?”

Davidson’s descriptions of his chaotic eleventh-hour negotiations with Cohen to buy Daniels’ silence on the eve of the election stood in contrast to team Trump’s position that efforts to silence the women were executed to protect his reputation and his family rather than win him the election.

Prosecutors displayed a text Davidson sent Dylan Howard, the former editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, the night Trump was elected, reading,

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