"Would you have ever paid the nondisclosure agreement for Stormy Daniels on your own?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Michael Cohen after he detailed his efforts to find an alternative sdolution.

"No ma'am," Cohen responded. "It's $130,000. I was doing everything I could and more to protect my boss, which is something I did for a long time but I would not lay out $130,000 for an NDA needed by someone else."

Cohen described frantic days to finalize the NDA with Stormy Daniels. "If this matter wasn't resolved it was going to be catastrophic to Mr. Trump and the campaign," Cohen said.

Cohen said he asked AMI's David Pecker and Dylan Howard to front the money, but Pecker balked. "I cannot do it again," Cohen quoted Pecker saying, consistent with Pecker's testimony that he wasn't a bank.

Cohen testified that he ultimately used a home equity line of credit to finance the Stormy Daniels payoff because he was too afraid his wife would find out otherwise.

"I elected to use money that was in the HELOC because my wife, who was CEO of the household, would not understand if there was $130,000 missing from our joint bank account."

Many of the jurors keep their eyes locked on Cohen as he responded to this line of questioning.

Donald Trump eyes remained closed.

Cohen, on the stand, let out a sigh.

Michael Cohen testified that as the clock ticked toward the 2016 election, it became increasingly clear he could no longer delay the nondisclosure arrangement with Stormy Daniels.

Cohen said Trump agreed.

"He stated to me that he had spoken to some friends, some individuals, very smart people. It's $130,000. Just pay it. There's no reason to keep this thing out there. Just do it. So he expressed to me, 'Just do it,'" Cohen said.

Then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg allegedly suggested that Cohen could fund the account that would ultimately wire the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels through one of Trump's golf courses, either through a membership or a wedding.

In a meeting with Weisselberg, Cohen said he suggested two options: "One option was to see if I knew anybody who wanted to purchase a golf membership," and a second option was for "somebody who was having a family affair, like a wedding or a bar mitzvah" pay that account and redeem the value as a "credit on their invoice."

"Why don't you pay?" Cohen testified he asked Weisselberg.

"He said to me that he wasn't financially in a position to do it," Cohen said.

Cohen said he eventually agreed to make the payment.

"I said I'll pay for it," Cohen said.

According to Cohen, both he and Weisselberg discussed the plan with Trump;

"Allen and I spoke to Mr. Trump and we expressed to him that I was going to front the money for it, to which he was appreciative," Cohen said.

Cohen said Trump replied, "Good, good."

Jurors saw a record of a text message on Oct. 18, 2016, from Melania Trump to Cohen.

"Good morning Michael, can u pls call DT on his cell. Thanks," Melania texted.

Cohen replied, "Of course."

Later that day, Cohen appeared on CNN to defend Trump's conduct in light to the "Access Hollywood" tape and other allegations.

"I advocated for Mr. Trump in the best light possible -- denials as well as exclamations that I have never seen him act in this sort of manner before," Cohen said.

Michael Cohen told jurors that he grew concerned in mid-October 2016 when Stormy Daniels' attorney Keith Davidson told him he was backing out of the nondisclosure deal over Cohen's failure to pay Daniels the agreed-upon $130,000.

"We were losing control over the settlement ... in order to prevent the story from coming out as a direct result of my failure to wire funds," Cohen told jurors.

"Were you concerned?" Hoffinger asked.

"Very much so," Cohen said.

Later that day, Cohen texted National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard to try to revive the deal, telling the jurors that the idea of the story going to an outlet like the Daily Mail was "incredibly stressful and incredibly important."

Cohen said he then tried to call Trump over a matter of "great importance." Cohen testified that "I didn't forward the funds, she's now declaring the agreement void," and he said he wanted to tell Trump "the story was now going to go to the Daily Mail."

The call lasted eight seconds. "I left a voicemail," Cohen said.

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.