Judge Merchan returned to the bench to check on how the search for the jury's requested readback material was coming.

"Where do we stand?" the judge asked.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass said there were a "few outstanding issues" requiring Merchan's intervention.

Steinglass said the parties were in agreement about three of the four requests, but disagreed over the relevant portion of the transcript regarding David's Pecker's testimony about the 2015 Trump Tower meeting.

Steinglass said the lawyers disagreed over whether the jury should hear a portion of Pecker's testimony regarding what he relayed about the meeting to then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.

"We tried to draw a line between the substance of the meeting and the execution," Steinglass told the judge.

"I can see why Mr. Blanche has some concerns about most of this," Merchan said after reviewing that portion of the transcript himself.

Prosecutors Josh Steinglass and Susan Hoffinger, and defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove continued to hash out the relevant portion of the transcript for tomorrow's readback as requested by the jury.

After spending about half an hour in his waiting area, Donald Trump returned to the courtroom.

He entered alongside his son Don Jr. and took a seat at the defense table as the attorneys continued to pore over the material.

After dismissing the jury for the day, Judge Merchan asked the lawyers not to leave the courtroom until they decide the portion for the jury's requested readback.

"Yes, your honor," defense attorney Todd Blanche responded.

As the lawyers met with Merchan at the bench, Trump leaned back in his seat at the defense table, with his arm resting on the top of his chair.

Blanche asked if Trump could return the his waiting area while the attorneys searched for the readback material.

Merchan said he would allow it as long as Trump remained nearby in case he is needed.

Trump slowly walked out of the courtroom, scowling as he left.

With the jury back in the courtroom, Judge Merchan told them the requested readback of testimony would will take at least half an hour, so announced he would dismiss the jury for the day and address both their notes when they return tomorrow.

Before dismissing the jury for the day, the judge emphasized his standard instruction about the jury not looking up information related to the trial.

"You are at a critical point in the proceedings," Merchan said.

"See you tomorrow morning at 9:30," the judge said before the jury exited the courtroom.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche told jurors that while both Trump and Stormy Daniels denied the affair, the allegations came back in 2016 so Daniels and others could extort Trump.

"There were a group of people that wanted to take advantage of a situation and ultimately wanted to extort money from President Trump," Blanche said.

Blanche argued that Daniels' claim of a sexual tryst with Trump was known in 2011, so the hush payment could not have been meant to influence an election five years later.

"The idea that when Ms. Daniels surfaced in 2016 that it caused some sort of panic amongst everybody is not true. It's just not true," Blanche said.

Blanche hesitantly used the word extortion in his opening statement to describe the Daniels payment -- calling it "almost an attempt ... to extort" -- but the defense appears to have leaned into the argument in their closing.

Blanche also suggested that Trump may not have known about the Daniels payment at the time, telling jurors they only have Michael Cohen to rely on for that evidence.

"There's no way that you can find that President Trump knew about this payment at the time it was made without believing Michael Cohen. Period," Blanche said. "And you cannot believe his words."