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

Michael Cohen testified that in the summer of 2018, then-President Trump carried out a "pressure campaign" on him through Cohen's then-attorney Robert Costello.

"You are making a very big mistake if you believe the stories these 'journalists' are writing about you. They want you to cave. They want you to fail. They do not want you to preserve and succeed," Costello wrote in an email to Cohen that was shown to the jury. "If you really believe you are not being supported properly by your former boss, then you should make your position known."

Cohen summarized Trump's message as "Don't flip. Don't speak. Don't cooperate."

Cohen testified that he "didn't trust" Costello.

"I believed based upon all of our conversations that he would immediately run back to Mr. Giuliani and that communication would be divulged to Mr. Trump," he said.

"My family -- my wife, my daughter, my son -- all said to me, 'Why are you holding onto this loyalty? What are you doing? We're supposed to be your first loyalty," Cohen testified.

"So what decision did you make?" asked prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.

"That it was about time to listen to them," Cohen said. "To my wife, my son, my daughter, to the country," Cohen said in emotional testimony.

Cohen testified that he pleaded guilty to federal charges in August 2018.

"I would not lie for President Trump any longer," Cohen said.

Jurors saw an April 21, 2018, email where Michael Cohen's attorney at the time, Robert Costello, told Cohen, "Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places."

"The friend in high places was President Trump," Cohen testified.

"It let me know that I was still important to the team, and stay the course, that the president had my back," Cohen said about Costello's emails.

Jurors then saw another email from Costello dated June 13, 2018.

"Since you jumped off the phone rather abruptly, I did not get a chance to tell you that my friend has communicated to me that he is meeting with his client this evening and he added that if there was anything you wanted to convey, you should tell me and my friend will bring it up for discussion this evening," Costello wrote.

According to Cohen, the aforementioned client was Donald Trump.

Asked about the vagueness of the email, Cohen testified that it was "sort of to be covert -- it is all back channel. Sort of eye spy-ish. Didn't want to put anybody's name."

Jurors then saw a June 2018 email between Cohen and Costello that suggested their relationship had begun to fray.

"I must tell you quite frankly that I am not used to listening to abuse like today's conversation," Costello wrote, referencing an "unfortunate outburst" by Cohen.

"Please remember if you want or need to communicate something, please let me know and I will see that it gets done. I hope I am not wrong but it seems to both Jeff and I that perhaps we have been played here," Costello wrote, referencing the back channel to Trump.

Cohen told the jury he was concerned about his communications with Costello making their way to Trump, and he began looking for other lawyers.

Cohen said Costello was "again pressuring me as he had done with constant calls and sending me emails and so on. He wanted to absolutely be retained to represent me in this matter. He was angered that I was willing to sit down with another attorney but not sit down with them, so I had enough."

Following the mid-morning break, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger resumed her direct examination by asking Cohen about attorney Robert Costello, who represented him in 2018.

Cohen testified that Costello told him "this would be a great way to have a backchannel of communication to the president in order to ensure you're still good and still secure"

Cohen said that Costello also touted his relationship with Rudy Giuliani, who was close with Trump at the time.

Costello suggested his representation would be "very beneficial for you going forward with this matter."

Cohen said he was skeptical of Costello because he seemed "really sketchy and wrong."

Cohen also said worried that "anything I said to him was going to be spoken and told to Rudy Giuliani."

Jurors saw an April 2018 email from Costello to Cohen, which Cohen said was sent to "reinforce the whole concept of the back channel."

"I am sure you saw the news that Rudy is joining the Trump legal team. I told you my relationship with Rudy which could be very useful to you," Costello wrote in the email.

Michael Cohen testified about the April 9, 2018, FBI raid on his hotel room and office as part of a federal investigation related to the Stormy Daniels matter. At the time, Cohen's apartment was flooded, so he was residing in a hotel.

"At 7 o'clock in the morning, there is a knock on the door and I look through the peephole and I see a ton of people out in the hallway. I saw a badge ... they identified themselves at the FBI," Cohen said.

Cohen told jurors that the FBI seized two phones, a series of tax books, and other records.

"I found out that simultaneously they had also raided my apartment that was under construction, my law office, and my bank that had a safety deposit box I had just opened in order to hold valuables in because I didn't want to keep them in the hotel," he testified.

"How would you describe your life being turned upside down?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked.

"Concerned. Despondent. Angry,” Cohen said, describing his response to the raid.

"Were you frightened?" Hoffinger asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Cohen said.

Cohen said that he left a message for Trump after the raid, and received a phone call from Trump.

"I received a phone call from President Trump in response to me leaving a message for him to call," Cohen said. "I wanted obviously for him to know what was taking place. He said, don't worry, I am the president of the United States -- there is nothing here. Everything is going to be OK. Stay tough. You are going to be OK."

Cohen said Trump's statements at the time" reinforced my loyalty and my intention to stay in the fold." At the time, the Trump Organization was paying his legal fees.

Cohen said this was the last time he spoke to Trump.

Jurors then saw an April 21, 2018, tweet from then-President Trump that referenced the possibility Cohen might "flip" -- i.e., decide to turn on him.

Cohen said he understood those tweets as being directed "to me" -- meant to indicate, "stay in fold, stay loyal, I have you ... don't flip."

"Mr. Trump did not want me to cooperate with the government, certainly not to provide information or flip," Cohen said.