Judge Merchan told the jury that they should not speculate about the sentence or punishment in the case.

"It will be my responsibility to impose an appropriate sentence," Merchan said.

The judge also had to advise the jury about this yesterday after defense lawyer Todd Blanche argued that the jury "cannot send somebody to prison" based on Michael Cohen's testimony.

The jury appears to be laser focused on Merchan during the charge. Half of the jurors appear to be taking notes.

"It is not my responsibility to judge the evidence here. It is yours," Judge Merchan told the jurors as he began his instructions for their deliberations.

"You are the judges of the facts, and you are responsible for deciding whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty."

The judge instructed jurors on avoiding "stereotypes" or "implicit biases" in their deliberations.

"As a juror you are asked to make a very important decision about another member of the community," he said.

Judge Juan Merchan took his seat on the bench, and Trump flashed a closed mouth smile when the judge said good morning in his usual fashion.

Before bringing the jury back into the courtroom, Merchan asked the parties to confirm the proposed verdict form.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass flagged a minor typo, but both sides appeared to be in agreement about the form, which will the jury will fill out once they render a verdict.

After the jury was brought into the courtroom, Merchan told them the reading of the jury charge will take approximately an hour.

Former President Trump did not speak with reporters as he entered the courtroom this morning, but instead made a series of posts on social media.

Referring to prosecutors' five-hour closing statement yesterday, Trump wrote, "THE D.A.’s OFFICE WAS ALLOWED TO GO ON WITH 5 HOURS OF BULL---- YESTERDAY."

The defense's closing argument took three hours.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass again showed the jury the summary chart the DA's office prepared, which outlines each of the allegedly falsified business records.

Steinglass suggested the jury could bring the chart into deliberations if they request it.

He harped on the testimony of former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, who testified that Trump preferred the Stormy Daniels story come out after the election.

"I think Mr. Trump's opinion was it was better to be dealing with it now, and that it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election," Hicks testified before breaking down on the witness stand.

"She basically burst into tears ... because she realized how much this testimony puts the nail into the defendant's coffin," Steinglass told the jury.

Steinglass pressed his argument that the Stormy Daniels payments were in service of the election, rather than Trump's marriage. Any desire to protect his wife was "far less significant to him" than how a negative story about him might affect the 2016 election," Steinglass said.

"The payment was for Trump's campaign," Steinglass stressed.

"It was a campaign contribution, and Cohen knows that better than anyone else -- because he went to prison for it," he said.