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.

Describing his own closing as "summation that never ends," prosecutor Josh Steinglass told the jury that in order to convict, they will have to find the defendant "has to have had the intent to defraud," but didn't need to actually make the records himself.

"Point is, Trump doesn't have to do each of these acts himself -- he can act in concert with others," Steinglass said. "He set in motion a chain of events that led to the creation of the false business records,.

The defense objected to that statement.

"I'll explain the law," Judge Merchan said.

Steinglass said the underlying crime they are alleging as part of the falsifying records charge is that Trump violated New York state election law.

Trump committed "election fraud, by any means necessary -- lawful and unlawful," Steinglass said, telling jurors there is a "mountain of evidence" to prove it.

Judge Merchan sustained another objection from the defense regarding Steinglass' effort to explain the law of the case.