Jurors will deliberate until 4:30 p.m. ET today if they don't reach a verdict sooner, Judge Merchan said.

"You cannot leave the building and you need to be able to get here quickly" when a verdict is reached, the judge told the parties after the jury had left the courtroom.

Former President Trump got up from the defense table and spoke with several associates, then exited the courtroom with his entourage.

The staff and lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney's office also left the courtroom.

As the 12 main jurors left the courtroom, most appeared to look away from Trump as they passed his counsel table.

The six alternate jurors remained in the courtroom after the 12 main jurors left to begin deliberations.

"We are not going to excuse you just yet," Judge Merchan told the alternates,

He asked them to stick around through the deliberations. though they won't participate in the deliberations themselves.

"That concludes my instructions on the law. Counsel please approach," Judge Merchan said when he was done instructing the jury.

He held a sidebar with the attorneys, after which the jurors filed out of the courtroom to begin deliberations.

Judge Merchan emphasized that jurors each need to come to an individual decision about the verdict after hearing and understanding the view of the other jurors.

"Each of you must decide the case for yourself, but only after a fair and impartial consideration of the evidence with the other jurors," Merchan said.

"You should discuss the evidence and consult with each other, listen to each other, give the others' views careful consideration," he said. "You should not surrender an honest view of the evidence simply because you want the trial to end, or because you're outvoted."

"Your verdict on each count you consider must ... be unanimous -- that is, each and every juror must agree to it," Merchan said.

Merchan said that the jury foreperson will read the verdict for each of the charged counts. Merchan will then poll the entire jury to confirm their verdict.

After Michael Cohen implicated Trump in the hush money scheme in August 2018, Trump was "furious," prosecutor Josh Steinglass told the jury.

"His fixer had done the unthinkable, and Trump immediately went on the attack -- an attack that continues to this day," he said.

Steinglass showed a tweet Trump posted the following day: "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!"

"This is the day after he pled guilty," Steinglass said.

Steinglass argued that Trump's tweets after Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 were warning messages to other potential witnesses who could cooperate against him.

"These tweets were not only designed to punish Cohen," Steinglass said. "Cooperate or you will face the wrath of Donald Trump," was the message they conveyed.

Steinglass described a "vexatious and punitive lawsuit" Trump filed against Michael Cohen and a defamation suit against Stormy Daniels as evidence of his punitive means against people who epoks out against him.

After a series of sustained objections regarding Trump's tweets and their alleged impact on Cohen's safety, Judge Merchan smiled and told the jury, "This might be a good time to take our last recess of the day."