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.

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Michael Cohen's former attorney Robert Costello testified that he first met with Cohen at the urging of Jeffrey Citron, who scheduled the April 2018 meeting at the Regency Hotel.

Costello -- who has represented Leona Helmsley and George Steinbrenner in the past -- acknowledged that representing Cohen would have generated positive publicity for his law firm. But Costello said he did not have positive feelings about landing Cohen as a client.

"I didn't want him as a client with the firm," Costello said, pushing back on prosecutors' assertions that landing Cohen would have been a big win.

Jurors briefly saw an email where Costello's son congratulated him for landing Cohen as a client.

"Wow. That's big news. Congrats Dad. I hope this leads to a lot of good things coming your way," Costello's son wrote.

Asked about the FBI's raid on Cohen's office and hotel room, Costello said, "I wouldn't use the term raid -- they executed a search warrant."

"He was suicidal that day and acting very manic," Costello said about Cohen's behavior after the FBI searched on his hotel and office.

""You thought he was being a drama queen, didn't you?" Hoffinger asked.

"He was putting on quite a show and he explained to us that two nights before he was on the roof of the Regency Hotel and he was going to jump off and kill himself because he couldn't handle the pressure," Costello said.

Testimony subsequently concluded for the day, with Costello scheduled to return to the stand tomorrow.