Donald Trump’s legal team have rested in the sixth week of his historic hush-money trial in New York
The jury has been sent home, and the lawyers are now discussing a range of complex legal issues with the judge
Closing arguments will begin on Tuesday, and then the jury will begin their deliberations
Trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims they had sex
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, and denies having any sexual encounter with her
Thanks for joining us again, we're closing our live coverage for today.
This live page was edited by Brandon Livesay, Phil McCausland and Tiffany Wertheimer. We had Kayla Epstein, Madeline Halpert and Nada Tawfik at court.
It's likely that the next time we have a court date is on Tuesday, for closing arguments.
You can read our full story on today's proceedings here.
See you next time!
Image source, Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesAnother crowd of current and former Republican officeholders showed up to signal their support for Donald Trump today.
It’s been an ongoing theme in these proceedings, as well-known and back-bench Republicans pop by for press conference to denounce the legal proceedings and make the kind of direct criticisms of prosecution witnesses that Trump, because of his judge-mandated gag order, cannot.
US Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri was there on Tuesday morning, along with six members of the House of Representatives. That included Ronnie Jackson of Texas, a former Navy admiral who served as White House physician when Trump was president.
Matthew Whitaker, acting attorney general in the latter days of the Trump presidency, was also in attendance, as was long-time Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka.
It wasn’t all blue-blazer clad politicians in the Trump crowd today, however. Chuck Zito, the former president of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang showed up, as did Saturday Night Live comedian-turned-bodybuilder-turned-conservative-commentator Joe Piscopo.
Image source, .Donald Trump’s hush-money case is only part of the legal and political drama playing out in a very busy election year.
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Tiffany Wertheimer
US Reporter
Image source, Getty Images(From left) Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, David Pecker and Hope Hicks
Over the past five weeks, Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York has heard from a long list of witnesses for the prosecution.
Here's a reminder of some of the big names:
Stormy Daniels
The adult-film star who claims she and Trump had sex, and she was paid to keep quiet about it. At times, her testimony was both humiliating and explicit - and the judge had to tell prosecutors to reign it in.
Michael Cohen
Trump's ex-lawyer who paid Daniels the $130,000 hush-money payment. The defence worked hard to portray Cohen as a Trump-hating liar motivated by fame and money. Cohen described Trump as a micromanager who was well aware of what was going on in his organisation.
David Pecker
The former editor of the National Enquirer tabloid magazine, who told the court about his "catch-and-kill" scheme to buy and supress negatives stories about Trump in the lead up to the 2016 election. He called it "an agreement among friends".
Hope Hicks
Trump's campaign spokesperson during 2016 and close confidant. When the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape - where Trump brags about grabbing women by the genitals - was released, she told top campaign staffers in an email: "deny, deny, deny".
Madeleine Westerhout
Trump's White House aid testified that she would write his tweets and print them out so he could edit them on paper. She got to know his style and that "he liked exclamation points".
Robert Costello
A lawyer and Trump ally who gave legal advice to Michael Cohen. Costello was the main witness to be called by the defence, and prompted a furious rebuke from the judge after he appeared to groan at objections during his testimony.
Image source, epaDonald Trump just spoke to media outside of the courtroom.
He attacked the legitimacy of the trial, and called it election interference.
Trump also took aim at his political opponent, President Joe Biden.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Late in the afternoon, both parties are done making requests of the judge.
Justice Merchan says he will get them a copy of his jury charges by the end of Thursday.
Donald Trump gets up and leaves the courtroom, and a parade of guests file out behind him.
It's very possible that the next time we're back in this room, it will be for closing statements on Tuesday.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
This hearing is very important, but it's also quite dull.
After days of blockbuster testimony involving shadowy fixers, adult-film stars, secret pay-outs, and tabloid tactics, this hearing certainly has a more muted energy.
The courtroom is the emptiest I've seen it the whole trial. Normally, every single row of press seats is taken, but today, there are lots of empty seats, including a couple of rows that are almost entirely empty.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan is getting frustrated with Trump's lawyers as they argue about instructions for the jury regarding witnesses.
Apparently, it's a matter that's been discussed before.
Merchan calls Emil Bove's argument "disingenuous".
"Please don't get up," he tells Bove as he tries to stand and explain himself
To protect their identities, New York Judge Juan Merchan limited the amount of information reporters can share about the 12.
But from what we know, it's a highly educated group.
There are five women and seven men on the jury.
And two of them are lawyers.
Others have a range of jobs, including an investment banker with an MBA; a security engineer; a speech therapist and a retired wealth manager.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan has gone through most of his items, he says, so he opens the floor for defence and prosecution to raise any issues they have.
Emil Bove begins by asking for instructions regarding bias. It seems like a request for the judge to tell the jury that they must not bring any bias they may have with Donald Trump into their decisions.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass pushes back, saying that jury selection took care of most of those issues, and that there's already standard instructions on bias.
Justice Merchan notes jury selection was "pretty extensive".
But he gives Bove a win, and says he will "go ahead and include" some language in the prosecution’s version of preferred instructions even though it’s not an instruction that’s usually given.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
The defence team wants to include an instruction to jurors that hush-money payments are not strictly illegal.
Prosecutors say they can tell the jurors this during arguments, but it would be inappropriate to include that in instructions.
Justice Merchan sides with prosecutors.
He points out that several witnesses have been asked if hush-money payments are illegal.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Trump returns to the courtroom after a brief afternoon break.
He's chatting with his lead attorney, Todd Blanche, before he takes a seat at the defence table. His entourage returns with him.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
“What you're asking me to do is change the law, and I'm not going to do that,” Justice Merchan told Emil Bove just before the break.
That tough line came after Trump lawyer Emil Bove raised a big - and expected - request to the judge.
He was protesting that prosecutors have narrowed in on three possible second crimes that Trump could have committed or concealed when he allegedly falsified business records.
So far, they have not had to pick which one they think Trump was trying to commit or conceal, and they don't actually have to.
But Bove, Trump's attorney, requested that the jury be required to return with a “very specific finding” about what second crime Trump allegedly wanted to conceal or commit.
Bove also said he wanted a record of what happened.
Prosecutor Michael Colangelo pushed back, arguing that's not what the law calls for and that “there’s no reason to rewrite the law for this case."
As I noted at the top, Justice Merchan appeared to agree with the prosecution.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Prosecutors argued before the break that Trump falsified business records with the intent to conceal several crimes, including the violation of election laws and tax laws.
But Donald Trump's lawyers do not want the tax law issues included in the jury instructions. They asked that the allegations that Trump intended to violate tax laws with the hush-money reimbursement be kept out of it.
We heard during witness testimony that Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg doubled the amount of Cohen's reimbursement.
This was allegedly done so that Cohen could get the full amount he paid - $130,000 - for the hush-money payment, after taxes were subtracted.
Emil Bove argued that there is insufficient evidence that Trump violated tax laws.
The judge has paused court proceedings for 10 minutes.
Donald Trump leaves the room with his entourage. He doesn't speak to the cameras waiting in the hallway.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Both sides are now talking about a meeting in Trump Tower.
At that meeting, prosecutors allege that former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, Michael Cohen and Donald Trump agreed to participate in a secret scheme to kill negative stories about the former president.
This scheme allegedly led to the hush-money payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The defence is arguing that Trump's presence at this meeting doesn't mean he was a participant.
The defence wants the jurors to be told: "Evidence that President Trump was present when others agreed to a crime does not mean that President Trump engaged in that conspiracy".
The prosecution is arguing against this phrasing.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan has turned to an item which he says he is concerned about.
It has to do with the second alleged crime that would bump up the business fraud charges from a misdemeanour - a lower level charge - to a felony.
It becomes a felony charge if the defendant did so to commit or conceal another crime, as prosecutors allege Trump did.
They don't have to prove a second crime was committed, however.
The defence wants a higher burden to prove intent. Basically, they want the prosecution to have proved that there are two intents:
That's not what the statute says, prosecutor Michael Colangelo pushes back.
He says that the law as written calls for one - the intent to defraud in order to conceal or commit another crime.
They don't have to prove intent for both crimes, and making them do so would basically change the statute, he tells Justice Merchan.
Justice Merchan appears inclined to agree with him.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Image source, Getty ImagesDonald Trump appears to be following along as we go through the lengthy instructions.
He's reading the papers in front of him and sometimes whispering to lawyers and writing notes to them.
Sometimes he takes breaks to close his eyes.
Court sketch artists have been busy providing a regular supply of images to show us the inside of the courtroom.
Here are some of the key moments we've seen thanks to their deft handiwork.
Image source, ReutersDavid Pecker, the ex-tabloid publisher, is the first witness called to the stand
Image source, ReutersKeith Davidson, who represented Stormy Daniels in the hush-money negotiations, testifies how the deal was made
Image source, ReutersHope Hicks, who served as a Trump campaign spokeswoman , breaks down in tears during her testimony on the stand
Image source, ReutersAdult-film star Stormy Daniels, whose hush-money payment lies at the centre of this trial, testifies in court
Image source, ReutersTrump's long-time fixer Michael Cohen alleges that his former boss falsified business records to repay him for the hush-money payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels
Image source, reutersCourt sketch artists capture Trump yawning during his lawyer's lengthy cross-examination of Michael Cohen