"I'm going to start with something I can say i think with confidence … which is just to thank you. To thank you for your jury service," defense attorney Todd Blanche told jurors to begin his closing argument.

"Each of you will decide ... whether President Trump is guilty or not guilty," he said.

All eyes in this courtroom are on Blanche. Every member of Trump's family is looking at him. The jurors are staring at him, many with pens in their hands ready to take notes.

"President Trump is innocent," Blanche said. "He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof. Period."

Defense counsel Todd Blanche says he has a 2.5-hour closing, "maybe a little longer."

Prosecutors say they estimate they have a 4 or 4.5-hour closing.

“Defense counsel must come up first, and the prosecutor must follow,” Judge Merchan said.

Merchan says he will ask the jury if they will work later than 4:30 p.m. to do all the closings in one day.

Judge Juan Merchan has taken his seat at the bench.

"Good morning, counsel. Good morning, Mr. Trump," Merchan said in his normal greeting to start the proceedings.

Donald Trump has entered the courtroom alongside his lawyers.

Don Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Tiffany Trump followed behind the former president and took seats in the gallery immediately behind the defense counsel table.

Today is the first time Tiffany Trump attended the trial, and it's the largest showing of Trump family members on a single day of the trial.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, also in court today, is seated behind his prosecution team.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass continued to lean on the testimony of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, arguing it offered unequivocal evidence that Trump was in on the catch-and-kill plan involving Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Pecker testified that Trump was furious at Pecker after the Wall Street Journal published a story in November 2016 about AMI's payment to McDougal.

"This is the story that he is simultaneously telling the press he knows nothing about," Steinglass said. "Pecker established unequivocally that Trump was in on the McDougal deal."

Trump was "angry because story came out that threatened his standing with female voters," Steinglass said.

"Of course we will never know if this effort to hoodwink the American voter made the difference in the 2016 election, but that's not something we have to prove," Steinglass said. What matters, Steinglass said, is that the scheme was "cloaked in false business records to hide the conspiracy."

Judge Merchan said the jury would take its next break, then the closing would continue.

"I was watching the jurors," said the judge. "They looked pretty alert to me -- I don't think we're losing anyone."