NEW YORK — Donald Trump on Tuesday was threatened with thousands of dollars in fines — and potentially jail time — for denigrating anticipated witnesses and jurors in his hush money case in violation of a gag order.

Before the trial resumed, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan heard arguments from prosecutors requesting that the former president be held in criminal contempt for almost a dozen violations of his order prohibiting him from publicly attacking trial participants in the last week alone.

The DA’s office said Trump disseminated comments by Fox News host Jesse Watters that disparaged potential jurors and shared posts on his social media site calling his former fixer Michael Cohen a liar. Cohen is slated to be the trial’s star witness. Gag order violations can result in jail time.

After a short break, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker told the court he learned about a Trump Tower doorman looking to sell a story claiming Trump “fathered an illegitimate girl with a maid at Trump Tower.”

Pecker told his editor in chief to negotiate a price to get it off the market — who secured it for $30,000.

“The boss will be very pleased,” Pecker recalled Cohen telling him. Merchan looked right at Trump as Pecker said this.

Pecker said the story would have been explosive and that it would have sold the most copies of the Enquirer since Elvis Presley’s death.

He later said they determined it was “absolutely, 1,000% untrue,” but they still bought it in case it was sold to another publication.

“So this was a way to lock it up?” Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass asked.

“That’s correct,” Pecker said.

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