Donald Trump, addressing the media ahead of this afternoon's pre-charge conference, told reporters, "This next couple of hours is very important."

Judge Juan Merchan is preparing to hear arguments from attorneys regarding the instructions the judge will provide jurors about the law and evidence in the case when the jury begins deliberating next week.

Trump declined to answer questions from the reporters about why he decided not to testify in the case, and whether he is nervous about a possible conviction.

Judge Merchan asked the parties to return to the courtroom at 2:15 p.m. ET. for the previously scheduled pre-charge conference.

It will provide an opportunity for the parties to weigh in on the instructions Merchan will provide the jury about the law and evidence in the case.

Trump and his entourage then filed out of the courtroom.

Following the defense resting its case, Judge Juan Merchan told the parties that "summations will not be quick" and that they "will take at least a day." Jury instructions will then take at least an hour, he said.

"At the end of the day, I think the best thing we can do is to adjourn now until next Tuesday. At that time you will hear summations from the attorneys," Merchan said.

Merchan says that deliberations could begin as early as next Wednesday.

Merchan told the jury he opted to delay the summations because of this week's abbreviated schedule and his belief that "it's always ideal or best not to break up summations."

Trump's eyes were closed, his head titled back, as Merchan instructed the jury to return on Tuesday.

The jury then left the courtroom.

"You still have a lot of animosity against Michael Cohen," prosecutor Susan Cohen Hoffinger asked Michael Cohen's then-legal adviser Robert Costello after displaying emails from 2018.

"I don't have animosity but --," Costello replied before being cut off.

"Yes or no," Hoffinger said.

Hoffinger then asked Costello bluntly if he was trying to "intimidate" Cohen regarding his 2018 congressional testimony.

"Intimidate Michael Cohen?" Costello asked incredulously.

"Yes, that's my question," Hoffinger repeated firmly.

"Ridiculous, no," Costello responded.

Hoffinger then concluded her cross-examination, which was followed by a brief redirect.

"Your honor, the defense rests," the defense team told Judge Merchan.

Former President Trump did not end up taking the stand in his own defense.

After Judge Merchan ruled that he would not admit a photo that prosecutors said showed Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together on Oct. 24, 2016 -- the night of the phone call Michael Cohen said he had with Trump to finalize the Stormy Daniels deal -- prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he respected Merchan's ruling, but criticized the defense for objecting to the evidence despite not contesting that Schiller and Trump are both in the photo together.

"I am not sure why we are jumping through all these hoops," Steinglass said.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche said it would be "patently unfair" to allow prosecutors to recall C-SPAN executive Robert Browning to testify about the photo after the defense has presented witnesses.

"That's not the way a trial is supposed to work, judge," Blanche said.

The judge ordered prosecutors to check with Browning -- who previously traveled from Louisiana to testify -- to see if he can be here by 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Mangold subsequently reported that Browning would be able to make it.

"They are booking travel right now," Mangold said.