Defense attorney Todd Blanche continued to work to paint a picture of Michael Cohen as a proven liar who pleaded guilty to crimes associated with those lies and leveraged his cooperation as part of those plea deals to secure a shorter prison sentence.

"When you plead guilty to a crime, one of the things you get -- one of the benefits you get -- is a little time off your sentence ... correct?" Blanche asked.

Blanche then said that in the case of Cohen's guilty plea to charges that included those related to the Stormy Daniels payment, "You got that credit even though you lied."

Cohen, for his part, has claimed some responsibility for the hush money charges Donald Trump now faces -- but he has suggested that he himself should not have been charged, and that the system that charged him was "corrupt."

"Do you have any doubt in your mind that the outcome of this trial affects you personally?" Blanche asked Cohen.

"Yes," Cohen replied.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche got fiery as Michael Cohen refused to give yes-or-no answers to some of his questions.

"Sir, sir, please don't make a speech," Blanche snapped at Cohen.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objected, and Judge Merchan instructed Cohen to just answer the question.

Blanche continued his deep dive into Cohen's past perjury.

"There is no doubt you know what perjury means?" Blanche asked.

"I know what perjury means," Cohen said.

Blanche then asked Cohen about his 2019 congressional testimony following his guilty plea.

"When congressmen ask you questions, they go on and on and on?" Blanche asked.

"Yes sir," Cohen said.

"Even more than I do," Blanche joked.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche confronted Cohen with his past statements about the late Judge William Pauley, to whom he pleaded guilty in 2018 to charges including those related to the Stormy Daniels payment.

“You also believe Judge Pauley is corrupt as well?” Blanche said.

“I have said that,” Cohen said.

“He is deceased, by the way,” Blanche said.

“Yes he is,” Cohen said.

Cohen confirmed that he at one point described Pauley and prosecutors as “f------ animals.”

“Do you believe that Judge Pauley was in on it?” Blanche asked.

“I do,” Cohen said.

Cohen said he does not believe he should have been charged with federal crimes in 2018.

“I do not believe I should have been charged,” Cohen said.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche emphasized that Cohen told a federal judge that he was not pressured or induced to take a guilty plea in 2018 on charge including those related to the Stormy Daniels payment.

"That was a lie?" Blanche said.

"That was not true, correct," Cohen said.

Blanche later asked Cohen to confirm that he believes he lied at the time.

"It was a lie?" Blanche asked.

"Correct," Cohen said.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche is confronted Michael Cohen with past communications -- with friends and his daughter -- to suggest Cohen was vying to be chief of staff or attorney general after Trump was elected in 2016.

"You told your daughter were disappointed?" Blanche asked about Cohen's response after Reince Priebus was named Trump's chief of staff.

"That I wasn't considered -- yes sir," Cohen said.

Blanche also suggested that Cohen wanted to be attorney general or special counsel the president.

"You told people you would like to be attorney general?" Blanche asked.

"I don't recall that," Cohen said.

An earlier witness -- Stormy Daniels' lawyer Keith Davidson -- testified that Cohen told him that he wanted to be chief of staff or attorney general.

Cohen pushed back on Blanche's suggestion that Cohen wanted a job other than the one he was ultimately given: personal attorney to President Trump.

"I wanted a hybrid position -- one where I would still have the access to President Trump but not be a White House employee," Cohen testified, echoing his testimony from earlier this week.

"You still, even after November, were still looking for a position in the White House?" Blanche said.

"Yes sir," Cohen said before quickly correcting himself. "No."

"I didn't want the General Counsel's office - I made that crystal clear," Cohen said. "There was no shame in being personal attorney to the president of the United States."