Following the conclusion of the state's direct examination of Michael Cohen, Trump attorney Alina Habba has begun what is expected to be a lengthy cross-examination.

“You understand what 'under oath' means?” Habba asked Cohen at the start of her cross-examination.

“Yes,” Cohen said, after which Habba began to describe Cohen’s previous criminal conduct.

When Donald Trump attempted to bid for the Buffalo Bills football team in 2014, he claimed that his net worth was "in excess of eight billion dollars," according to a document entered evidence during Michael Cohen's testimony.

To support the bid, Trump's frequent lender Deutsche Bank sent a letter to Morgan Stanley to demonstrate that Trump had the "financial wherewithal" to support his bid, according to Cohen.

The New York attorney general alleges that Trump used his inflated financial statement to convince Deutsche Bank to support Trump's financial strength.

The line of questioning prompted strong objections from Trump lawyer Chris Kise, who argued that the bid for the Buffalo Bills is not related to any of the attorney general's causes of action.

"I think this is arguably false, particularly the eight billion dollars ... and this shows a pattern of practice of fraud," Judge Engoron said when overruling the objection.

Donald Trump used his inflated financial statements to convince journalists about his net worth, to lower his insurance premiums, and even to support his bid to purchase the Buffalo Bills football team, according to Michael Cohen.

Cohen described how the Trump Organization would grant external parties only limited access to the documents themselves, often presenting them during video calls -- rather than handing out the document for external parties to keep -- in the process of demonstrating Trump's net worth.

For example, Cohen described using the documents in a meeting with a journalist from real estate news site "The Real Deal" to "create the story about how much Trump was actually worth," Cohen said.

According to Cohen, Trump Organization executives used Trump's financial statements in meetings with insurance companies to obtain lower premiums, and Trump would occasionally attend these meetings to help move the process along.

"About three quarters of the way through the meeting, Mr. Trump would then come in, and there would be an extended conversion about his net worth, and that he was richer than the insurance companies," Cohen testified, adding that Trump's drop-in to the meeting was pre-planned.

Trump's financial statement also proved vital when Trump attempted to get a line of credit for a 2014 bid to purchase the Buffalo Bills, according to Cohen.

"We can all agree that Mr. Trump never owned the Buffalo Bills," Judge Engoron remarked.

Sitting at the witness stand in a white dress shirt and sport coat, Cohen swapped his reading glasses on and off as he studied financial statements presented to him.

Feet away at the counsel table, Trump leaned forward to study the real-time transcript of Cohen's testimony while actively whispering and passing notes between his lawyers Alina Habba and Chris Kise.

Often leaning to speak with his lawyers on either side of him, Trump appeared actively engaged throughout Cohen's testimony since the mid-day break.

While Cohen testified steadily and confidently for most of his early-afternoon testimony, he at times spoke vaguely and struggled to offer specific firsthand knowledge. When asked about Trump's adult children, Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric, he initially described them as involved in the process of inflating specific assets before walking back his testimony.

"I did not observe them specifically engaging in conversation," about that, Cohen acknowledged.

Deutsche Bank executives courted Donald Trump to attract more business and referrals, viewing the former president as an opportunity to sell services to his family members and other high-net-worth individuals, according to the testimony of former Deutsche Bank managing director Rosemary Vrablic.

"Given the circles this family travels in, we expect to be introduced to the wealthiest people on the planet," Vrablic wrote to colleagues while courting Trump in the early 2010s, according to materials entered into evidence.

Recruiting Trump stemmed from a 2007 effort in the bank to develop a broader commercial real estate financing division for their high-net-worth individuals.

"He would have fit the category of the entrepreneur and investor with a successful track record," Vrablic testified on the stand regarding Trump's profile.

After being introduced to Donald Trump Jr. through Ivanka Trump's now-husband Jared Kushner, Vrablic began pursuing Donald Trump's business.

"We are whale hunting ... Haven't seen him yet. Also maybe Dad will convert like Ivanka did," Vrablic wrote in a 2011 email to a colleague.

"It is a term used when there is a very high-net-worth individual who is a prospect," Vrablic said in explaining why she referred to Trump as a "whale."

Once Trump was on board, leadership from the bank personally courted Trump to do more business with the bank and to connect them to other potential clients. The former CEO of the bank personally met with Trump with the express goal of gaining more deposits from Trump and leveraging Trump's relationships.

CEO Anshu Jain "thought that if Mr. Trump wanted to, there could be additional leverage provided among his world," Vrablic testified.

The effort appeared to work, as the bank made over $3 million in revenue from Trump in 2013, up from only $13,000 in 2011.