"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.

The prosecution team has entered the courtroom ahead of this morning's jury charge.

Prosecutors Josh Steinglass, Matthew Colangelo and Rebecca Mangold are seated at the counsel table, and seven other members of the district attorney's team are in the gallery.

Former President Trump entered the courtroom minutes later.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass, turning to the $150,000 payment that AMI made to Playboy model Karen McDougal, described the payment as a "unlawful corporation campaign contribution."

"This transaction amounted to an unlawful corporation campaign contribution by AMI to the Trump campaign," Steinglass said.

"There is not a lot of room for debate here," Steinglass said. "[Dylan] Howard is acting in cahoots with the candidate to kill the story," he said of the National Enquirer editor.

Steinglass emphasized a phone call that then-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified he had with Trump about the McDougal payment.

"With all of the evidence and documents in this case, it's easy to lose sight of the significance of this phone call," Steinglass said. "Trump is deputizing Cohen right in front of Pecker."

"Any go-ahead from Cohen is a go-ahead from Trump," Steinglass said.

Steinglass emphasized that the testimony about the phone call is significant because it demonstrates the conspiracy separate from the testimony of Michael Cohen.

"This is powerful evidence of the defendant's involvement wholly apart from Cohen," Steinglass said.