With both sides resting their case, the BBC spoke with Andrew Weissman.

Weissman has attended the Trump hush-money trial, and he served as the lead prosecutor in Robert Mueller's investigation of Donald Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

He's held numerous roles in the FBI and the US Department of Justice, most recently as the chief of its Fraud Section.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from outside court

Image source, EPA

As Donald Trump Jr left the courthouse complex, he was asked why his father did not testify. He said there was absolutely no reason and no justification to do that.

He claimed, repeating his father’s talking points, that everyone sees this trial for the sham that it is.

I tried to ask Trump’s eldest son how his father felt about the possibility of being a convicted felon.

He dodged the question and used a similar reply: “I think everyone understands this is a farce”.

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from outside court

Compared to a relatively calm past few days, we’ve had quite a bit of protester activity today briefly in the park outside the New York courthouse.

Both pro and anti-Trump sides have been screaming at the top of their voices.

A few NYPD officers are keeping a close watch, but the tension slowly seems to be dissipating - at least for now.

What does this trial mean for Trump's political campaignpublished at 16:23 British Summer Time 21 May

16:23 BST 21 May

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The jury’s decision in this case will have both political and personal implications for Donald Trump, given that he is also the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

In exit polls of Republican primary voters earlier this year, substantial numbers indicated that they would not support Trump if he were convicted of a felony. A guilty verdict would put that hypothetical – that this is the turn of events that finally breaks his support - to the test.

If the jury finds Trump innocent, it would instantly become a cause for celebration – and promotion - by his campaign. With Trump’s other criminal trials indefinitely postponed, the former president would seem to have a clear path, at least legally, to election day. It would go a long way toward defusing Trump’s alleged criminality as a campaign issue.

Then there’s the political limbo if the jury can’t reach a verdict. That outcome could become yet another instance where voter opinion is mostly set by what they thought of Trump to begin with.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Donald Trump Jr is headlining a press conference with members of Congress and other Trump allies outside the courthouse.

“This insanity cannot stand,” he says.

Over in the park, behind some barricades, a duelling protest is going on.

Some chant in support of the former president, declaring “we love Trump” while another woman shouts, “Lock him up”.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

Today, we heard several objections from prosecutors during Robert Costello's testimony. They said that Trump lawyer Emil Bove's questioning went "beyond the scope" of the case.

We also heard several of those objections when Costello - who gave Michael Cohen legal advice in 2018 - began testifying yesterday.

Justice Merchan sustained several of those objections, but he also heard quite a debate between prosecutors and Trump's legal team regarding what Costello should be allowed to testify about.

Justice Merchan decided to limit Costello's testimony in several ways to ensure the questioning focused on the issues at the heart of the case.

Several times today, the questioning seemed to wander off topic.

For example, Bove asked Costello whether he really did pressure Cohen not to cooperate with prosecutors.

“I did not,” Costello said in response.

“Do lawyers really ever control their clients?” Bove asked.

Prosecutors lodged an objection, which was sustained.

Justice Merchan made clear during his sidebars with the legal teams that Cohen is not the man on trial in his courtroom.

Court scheduling has been a tricky job for Justice Merchan.

We just heard that the jury has been sent home and they won't be back in court until next Tuesday.

That's because it's a holiday weekend in the US, with the upcoming Monday being Memorial Day.

Keep in mind that this trial doesn't sit on Wednesdays. The judge also allowed jurors to take this upcoming Friday off because one of them had already booked a trip before the trial began.

We still have to get through closing statements and jury instructions, those will take some time.

“There is no way that we can possibly do what needs to be done in a cohesive manner," Justice Merchan said earlier.

He doesn't want to have the jury listen to closing statements and then be away from the trial for multiple days before they return to consider a verdict.

Donald Trump has left the courtroom. He holds a fist into the air as he walks out.

Reporters shout out, asking why he did not testify. But Trump does not reply.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Before the jury was sent off, Justice Merchan began to tell those 12 New Yorkers - and the rest of the court - what happens next.

He has considered “all the different permutations… at the end of the day the best thing we can do is to adjourn now, until next Tuesday”.

After the defence and prosecution give closing statements next Tuesday, Merchan said he will instruct the jury and they will begin to deliberate.

He's not completely sure they will have both summations done by Tuesday. He asks the jury to consider working late that day.

The next order of business is for the judge, prosecutors, and defence to work on the charges that Justice Merchan will give the jury.

We'll continue work on that today, Justice Merchan says.

He's giving the parties time to work on it, and we'll return to court at 14:15 local time (19:15 BST).

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Justice Merchan is sending the jurors off until Tuesday.

He tells them that they might be tempted to relax now that both sides have rested, “but in fact, these instructions now take on even greater significance”.

He gives the jurors the same instructions they receive after every day in court: to keep an open mind, not to discuss the case with others, and not to read any news reports about the trial.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

After Robert Costello leaves the stand, there are no further witnesses.

"Your honour, the defence rests," Todd Blanche says.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Trump's lawyer Emil Bove is trying to pin all the chaos and drama on Michael Cohen, asking Robert Costello to walk through some of his dealings with the former fixer at the time.

Costello testifies that his partner had sent Cohen a retainer agreement a few times, which would have officially engaged them as his lawyers.

Cohen, however, kept putting it off.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Trump's defence lawyer Emil Bove is back, trying to push back against some of the prosecution's questions.

Bove pulls some of the emails back up, including the email where they talk about a "back channel".

Who used that phrase back channel first, Bove asks. Costello replies Rudy Giuliani was the one who first raised that idea.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

Susan Hoffinger digs into a few points with her aggressive questioning of Robert Costello.

“You lost control of Michael Cohen, correct?” she asks Costello.

“No,” he says.

She asks if he eventually lost control of Cohen when he decided to cooperate with prosecutors and plead guilty to campaign finance violations over the Stormy Daniels hush-money payment.

“I certainly didn’t have any control when he plead guilty,” Costello says.

“You have animosity against Michael Cohen?” Hoffinger asks.

"No," he says.

She points to testimony Costello gave last week to a Republican-controlled Congressional panel in which Costello accused Cohen of lying on the stand.

Hoffinger finishes her cross-examination.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Susan Hoffinger from the prosecution is again using emails to rebut what Robert Costello is telling her on the witness stand.

She asks him about his testimony to Donald Trump's lawyer Emil Bove yesterday, where Costello said his focus in 2018 was helping Michael Cohen, not Trump.

Did Costello believe Cohen was playing Trump in 2018? Hoffinger asks.

Costello says he don't think that's correct, so Hoffinger pulls up another email to contradict him.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

The prosecution's Susan Hoffinger asks Robert Costello about his conversations with Michael Cohen back in 2018. Around this time, Rudy Giuliani joined Trump's legal team.

Hoffinger asks Costello if he continued to tell Cohen that Giuliani would provide him with a back channel of communication to Trump.

No, Costello replies.

Well, Hoffinger has some evidence to rebut this.

She displays a 2018 email, that we've seen before, where Costello wrote to Cohen and told him: “Michael, I just spoke to Rudy Giuliani and told him I was on your team [...] He said thank you for opening this back channel of communication."

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Susan Hoffinger has shared a series of emails with the court in an apparent effort to undermine Robert Costello's credibility.

They show that he seemed eager to represent Cohen, despite his previous claims that he did not want the former Trump fixer as a client.

Several emails seem to reflect that Costello was in fact boasting about potentially landing Cohen as a client.

But Costello is proving to be a challenging witness.

He sometimes provides long-winded answers to Hoffinger’s yes or no questions and often answers “no”, when Hoffinger is clearly looking for a “yes”.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

The prosecution's Susan Hoffinger shows an email Michael Cohen sent to Robert Costello in August 2018.

In the message, Cohen asks Costello and his partner to "please cease contacting me" and says they do not represent him.

Costello had provided Cohen some legal advice after the FBI raided the ex-lawyer's home in 2018.

But Cohen has said that he never retained him as counsel, and they had a falling out after the ex-fixer believed Costello was more concerned with Trump's desires than his own.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters

As Robert Costello begins his testimony, Donald Trump is seated back in his chair with his arm propped up on the seat.

He looks in Costello’s direction as he testifies, something he rarely does with witnesses - especially those with whom he has sparred in the past.

The former president looks relaxed.

Costello is now narrating emails between himself and Cohen.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

The jury arrives, and Susan Hoffinger resumes her cross examination of Robert Costello.

Once again, Donald Trump has brought so many people to court with him that there isn't enough room in the two rows of benches reserved for the defence.

A few VIPs are now seated in the back row of the courtroom, including Rep. Ronny Jackson. He served as Trump's White House doctor before running for Congress.