Defense attorney Todd Blanche turned the cross-examination to the topic of Stormy Daniels' $130,000 hush payment.

Jurors were shown the nondisclosure contract between Daniels and Trump.

“In your mind, then and now, this is a perfectly legal contract, correct?” Blanche asked Michael Cohen, hammering at a key defense argument that the agreement was fully legal.

“Yes sir,” Cohen responded.

Under questioning, Cohen conceded that he told the Manhattan district attorney's office that before he paid Stormy Daniels her hush money, he thought Daniels was "exploiting Mr. Trump."

"In your mind, there was either two choices: Pay, or don't pay and the story comes out?" Blanche asked COhen.

Cohen affirmed his thinking.

"But you went a long time without paying?" Blanche asked.

"Yes, we went several weeks without paying," said Cohen.

"Ultimately, though, you did. You paid," Blanche said.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche questioned Michael Cohen about his secretly made recording of the September 2016 conversation between him and Trump. Cohen testified earlier that be believed the recording ended abruptly because he got a phone call.

Blanche asked Cohen what Trump meant, on the recording, when he told Cohen to use "cash" to repay David Pecker for the Karen McDougal catch-and-kill agreement, suggesting that Trump was talking about not using financing, rather than going "down to the bank with bags full of cash."

"That's not what he was talking about, was he?" Blanche said.

Following up, Blanche asked, "You're recording him but the phone rings and you just answered that call?"

"I did," Cohen said, adding that he remembers being the victim of identity theft.

"When you hung up with the bank you were still talking to President Trump?" Blanche asked.

"For a few seconds," said Cohen. He said did not restart the recording.

Trump, angled toward the witness stand to get a better view of Cohen, appeared attentive during this questioning.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche pressed Michael Cohen on the hush money payment made to Playboy model Karen McDougal, whose story Cohen said he thought could be damaging to the Trump campaign.

"President Trump at least initially didn't think it would hurt him?" Blanche asked.

"Initially yes," Cohen said.

Blanche attempted to cast doubt on how Cohen could remember a specific phone call with Trump about McDougal in June 2016 when he was getting a hundreds of calls a week at the time.

Cohen agreed with the defense that he gets 14,000 phone calls a year.

"So when you testified Monday and Tuesday about specific conversations you had with Mr. Howard, with President Trump, you were not testifying about a specific recollection of that phone call?" Blanche asked.

"I was," Cohen said. "Because these phone calls are things I've been talking about for the last six years. They are, and they, were all-consuming."

Defense attorney Todd Blanche turned his attention to the origins of the catch-and-kill arrangement with National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. He asked Michael Cohen about his past testimony regarding the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting with Trump and Pecker where prosecutors say the conspiracy was formed.

Cohen earlier testified that the meeting was important because the "power of the National Enquirer is its placements in supermarkets."

"Had you ever told anyone that before your testimony this week?" Blanche asked.

"Not that I recall," Cohen said.

Blanche asked about Dino Saludjin, the doorman who was paid off after falsely claiming that Trump had a love child.

"The story was false, correct?" Blanche asked.

"I believe so yes," Cohen responded.

"Do you have any doubt in your mind it was false?" Blanche asked.

"No sir," Cohen said.

Blanche Cohen asked if Trump "was worried about the story getting out because of his employees?" appearing to challenge Cohen's testimony about why hush money was paid.

"He mentioned that I should speak to them as well," Cohen said.

Michael Cohen told jurors that he submitted 11 invoices to the Trump Organization over the course of 2017 to get his reimbursement for the Stormy Daniels hush money payment and other expenses -- but that they were false records because they were not for their stated purpose of a retainer fee.

Asked the purpose of the $420,000 payment over the year, Cohen said "the reimbursement to me of the hush money fee along with Red Finch, and the bonus."

"Was this invoice a false record?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked.

"Yes ma'am," Cohen said.

"Were any of those invoices you submitted for services performed pursuant to a retainer agreement?" Hoffinger asked.

"No," Cohen replied.

Hoffinger then walked Cohen through each of the false invoices he sent, and the checks that he received in return.

As Hoffinger showed Cohen each document, he confirmed that there was no retainer agreement at the time and that the invoices were false.

"Is that a false record?" Hoffinger asked about each invoice.

"Yes ma'am," Cohen said.

After each invoice, Cohen identified the check he received.

"Did you receive this check for $35,000 in response to that false invoice?" Hoffinger asked.

"Yes ma'am," Cohen replied.

"Whose signature is it?" asked Hoffinger.

"Donald J. Trump" said Cohen.

"Was this the last check that you received from Mr. Trump or anyone at the Trump Organization?" Hoffinger asked about a December 2017 check for $35,000.

"Yes," Cohen said, explaining that the "full reimbursement of the $420,0000 had been paid."