For Trump, a $9,000 rebuke and a stern warning

For the entirety of his unorthodox political career, and for decades before in the hype-friendly confines of New York City real estate, Donald Trump’s gift for gab has always been an advantage. Quick with a joke — or a jab — he proved irresistible to innumerable reporters, and millions of voters, who devoured his untrammeled style of slash-and-burn rhetoric.

But today, Trump’s enthusiasm for criticizing others ran headfirst into an immovable object: a gag order laid down by the state judge, Juan Merchan, overseeing his criminal trial.

That eight-page decision by Merchan was prologue to a day of gripping, granular testimony from a lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels, the porn star whose $130,000 payout, in the days leading up to the 2016 election, led to the charges against the former president.

The testimony — by Keith Davidson, a Los Angeles lawyer — included a series of text messages and emails concerning the hush-money payoff as the Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump bragged about groping women, threatened to sink his campaign. Davidson also described a previous 2016 deal with Karen McDougal, another client, a former Playboy model who said she had a romantic and sexual affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007.

Trump is charged with falsifying 34 business records to cover up the payment to Daniels. He has denied the affairs with Daniels and McDougal and the charges against him; the former president could face probation or prison if convicted.

The morning began with a rebuke as Merchan found Trump in contempt of court for violating the judge’s gag order — which protects witnesses, jurors, court staff and the judge’s own family from attacks. That represented nine online posts “about known witnesses” and “making public