Trump trial: Cohen faces Trump team grilling over past lies, recollections

Michael Cohen said then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg suggested using a non-Trump entity to make the $150,000 payment to AMI to distance Trump from the deal.

"I went to Allen's Office. I expressed to him that we need funding of $150,000 to consummate this transaction. Allen then said to me, 'Well, if we do it from a Trump entity, that kind of defeats the purpose,'" Cohen recounted.

Cohen said Weisselberg suggested using a non-Trump entity for the transaction to distance Trump from the deal. Cohen said Weisselberg asked him to "think about ways that we could raise the $150,000."

"It was in order to keep it separate," Cohen said.

Cohen told the jury that he created the company "Resolution Consultants LLC" to purchase the life rights to McDougal's story. When asked about the purpose of the company, Cohen responded that it was "to use this entity for the assignment of the McDougal matter as well as the other information."

The "other information" appears to be a reference to the National Enquirer's other records on Trump that Cohen sought to attain.

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard from Cohen's banker Gary Farro about Cohen's frantic effort to create a bank account for Resolution Consultants LLC and saw the bank records associated with the company.

According to Michael Cohen, the recording he secretly made of a 2016 meeting with Trump abruptly ended because he took an incoming phone call on his phone.

"I must have believed it was an important phone call," Cohen testified.

Cohen added that he believed he recorded enough to prove to Pecker that the $150,000 reimbursement was coming, which he said was the the goal of the recording.

"I didn't want to record more -- I already had enough," Cohen said.

Jurors saw a phone record from AT&T that suggested Cohen received a call around the time of the recording.

13:56

Jury hears secret recording of Trump discussing catch-and-kill payment

Michael Cohen testified that he made a recording to prove to National Enquirer publisher David Pecker that Donald Trump would repay him the $150,000 for Karen McDougal's catch-and-kill arrangement.

ABCNews.com

The conversation briefly continued after the recording ended, according to Cohen.

Cohen said he told Trump, "I am going to head over to Allen Weisselberg's office and I will get back to him with more of an update."

Jurors briefly saw the metadata for the recording.

"Did you ever alter that recording?" Hoffinger asked.

"No," Cohen said.

Trump, at the defense table, shook his head "no" at Cohen's response. The former president appears much more engaged now, thumbing through a stack of papers in his hands.

Judge Juan Merchan restarted the proceedings after the mid-morning break. Before prosecutor Susan Hoffinger resumed her direct examination of Michael Cohen, Merchan instructed the jury that, in regards the secretly made recording the jury just heard, the recording itself is evidence in the case, not the transcript.

“It is the tape itself that is the evidence,” Merchan said, though he said the transcript will be accessible to the jury during deliberations.

Trump, back from the break, appears much more alert, sitting in his chair with his body angled directly toward Cohen as Cohen recounts more of the recording.

Twice, Trump shook his head "no" as Cohen spoke.

After Cohen's recording was played in court, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is replayed sections and asked Cohen about what he said at the time.

"Who is 'our friend David?'" Hoffinger asked.

"He is referring to David Pecker," Cohen said.

Asked about the reference to then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, Cohen said, "Because Mr. Trump had previously directed me to speak with Allen Weisselberg about getting this matter settled."

"Because we are going to need money and going to need to open the LLC and to resolve this issue," Cohen said about the LLC being formed.

"We were referring to the 150,000 that was advanced by AMI in order to purchase the life rights of Karen McDougal," Cohen said "He knew already knew based on conversations with David which is why he mentioned the number 150."

When asked about the comment about Pecker getting "hit by a truck," Cohen said that Trump was concerned about the National Enquirer's files about him in case Pecker ever left the company.

"David Pecker was being considered for the CEO position of Time Inc. and the concern was the information -- so all the stuff refers to that," Cohen said

Following this testimony, court was recessed for the mid-morning break.

Cohen, exiting the courtroom, did not appear to look at Trump as he walked by the defense counsel table.