The jury in Donald Trump's criminal trial will return to court this morning for their second day of deliberations in the historic case.

After receiving instructions on the law from the judge yesterday morning, the jurors deliberated the case for four and a half hours and sent back two notes, asking to listen to testimony from two key witnesses in the case and to rehear the judge's instructions on the law.

The jury requested to rehear former National Enquirer David Pecker's testimony about a June 2016 phone call with Trump regarding the tabloid's response to a potential story about former Playboy model Karen McDougal's alleged year-long affair with Trump --- which he has denied --- as well as Pecker's decision about allocating the rights to her story.

Jurors also requested to hear both Pecker and Michael Cohen's testimony about the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting where the plan to catch and kill negative stories originated.

Judge Juan Merchan estimated that the entire readback will take approximately 35 minutes, and he also asked the jury to clarify this morning which portion of the instruction they would like read back.

Former President Trump, exiting the courtroom, again claimed to reporters that no one knows the crime he's been charged with.

"Nobody knows what the crime is. The DA didn't name the crime. They don't know what the crime is," Trump falsely claimed, despite District Attorney Alvin Bragg reading all 34 counts during Trump's arraignment last year and the judge in the case reviewing each one during jury instructions yesterday.

"It's a disgrace," Trump said of the case. "This thing ought to be ended immediately. The judge ought to end it to save his reputation."

-Kelsey Walsh

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass walked Judge Merchan through each of the disputed portions of the transcript regarding the 2015 Trump Tower meeting, detailing the page and line number for each disputed portion that the jury had requested be read back.

For some of the portions, defense attorney Todd Blanche expressed concern about providing too much information -- not just regarding the topic of the meeting but its repercussions -- while Steinglass argued that some of the testimony could create confusion for the jury.

"This issue is both confusing and difficult to correct," Steinglass said.

Merchan said that "for the sake of time," he would take the transcript with him after the proceedings conclude and make a decision.

Told about about another dispute, Merchan said, "I will take this with me into chambers and let you know what I think."

He then stepped off the bench and told the parties he would see them at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Trump rose from his seat, looking tired, and exited the courtroom with his entourage.

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.

Returning to the testimony of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, defense attorney Todd Blanche asked jurors, "How is the government going to ask you to convict President Trump based on the words of Michael Cohen?"

Blanche insisted to jurors that if the payments were all for repaying Cohen, that would mean Michael Cohen was working for free in 2017 -- something he said he never would have done.

"You saw him on the stand for three days -- do you believe that for a second?," Blanche asked. "That after getting stiffed on his bonus in 2016 … do you think that Michael Cohen thought, 'I'mgoing to work for free?'"

"Is that the man that testified, or was that a lie?" Blanche asked. "That is absurd!" he nearly shouted.