Judge Juan Merchan on Thursday denied a request from Donald Trump’s attorneys to declare a mistrial and modify the gag order against the former president in his hush-money criminal trial, rejecting the defense team’s argument that Trump should be able to defend himself against Stormy Daniels’s “prejudicial” testimony.

Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records over his alleged involvement with a hush-money payment to Daniels.

Thursday marked the second consecutive day that Trump attorneys requested a mistrial, with attorney Todd Blanche arguing that prosecutors asked the former adult film star a number of questions that should not have been asked because they were “irrelevant to the facts of this case,” including questions about her childhood and her alleged interaction with Trump.

“It is so dangerous, so prejudicial, it borders on a problem from the beginning,” Blanche said.

He also argued that Daniels’s testimony and her story about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump kept changing.

While Merchan acknowledged much of Daniels’s testimony was “unnecessary” and “irrelevant” to the charges at hand, he declined the request.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, meanwhile, said Daniels’s testimony did not represent a change of story.

Merchan said that Blanche’s comments during his opening argument in which he denied Trump had a sexual relationship with Daniels puts the jury in a position of needing to decide whom to believe. The judge said the defense could have objected during Daniels’s testimony, but didn’t.

He said he made the call to strike some information from the record to “protect” Trump, but noted that details “add a sense of credibility.”

Meanwhile, Blanche also asked Merchan to alter a gag order imposed on Trump to allow the former president to discuss Daniels. The order prevents Trump from making statements about witnesses and jurors in the trial related to alleged hush-money payments. Trump also may not make comments about lawyers involved in the case, court staff, or family members of lawyers or staff if the comments are made with the “intent to materially interfere” with the case.

Blanche argued Trump should be able to respond to Daniels’s allegations around her alleged sexual encounter with the former president in 2006, particularly since she is no longer an active witness.

Merchan rejected the request, saying his concern “is not just protecting Daniels” but also “protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole.”

“Your client’s track record speaks for itself,” Merchan said to Blanche.

Trump has so far violated the gag order at least ten times. Merchan has fined Trump $10,000 and has threatened jail time for additional violations. “The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said on Monday. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.”