Focusing on Michael Cohen's 2018 guilty plea for lying to Congress in 2017, Blanche attempted to suggest that Cohen has not accepted responsibility for the crime and instead blames Trump.

"The reason why you lied was because of your loyalty to President Trump?" Blanche said.

"We crafted this document -- a two page document -- in order to stay on message we all knew Mr. Trump wanted, including Mr. Trump's attorney at the time," Cohen said.

"Are you saying you accept responsibility or blaming the joint defense agreement," Blanche asked.

"Accepting responsibility…" Cohen said.

Blanche continued to recount the many lies Cohen has acknowledged telling in the past, including in answering questions before the House Intelligence Committee and federal investigators.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche challenged Michael Cohen on his past lies during his sworn testimony.

Regarding Cohen's testimony before Congress in 2017, Blanche asked Cohen, "That's one of the times you have lied under oath?"

"That's correct," Cohen said.

Cohen told jurors that he has done at least 17 sworn interviews with federal agents.

"Each time you met with the federal agents, you were told that if you made a false statement that was a felony -- a federal crime?" Blanche asked.

"Yes sir," Cohen said.

Blanche hammered at the idea that Cohen knows the penalty for perjury, has testified under oath many times, and has lied before.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche, playing aloud portions of Michael Cohen's Mea Culpa podcast, told the jury that the second recording predated Trump's 2023 New York indictment, suggesting that Cohen's animosity for Trump has been consistent for years.

Continuing a similar tactic from Tuesday, Blanche then confronted Cohen with past statements about Trump on on social media.

"You called him 'Dumba-- Donald', is that correct?" Blanche asked.

"Sounds correct," Cohen said.

Blanche also asked Cohen to confirm that on April 21, 2024, he said on TikTok that he has "mental excitement over the fact that this trial was starting."

"Yes sir," Cohen said calmly, in contrast to his elevated tone the jury heard on his podcast audio.

Cohen confirmed that he made statements on social media about Trump despite knowing that a paralegal from the Manhattan district attorney's office was monitoring his posts.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche returned to questioning Michael Cohen about his Mea Culpa podcast. The jury heard an excerpt regarding Trump's indictment.

"I want to thank the Manhattan district attorneys office," Cohen said on the podcast.

"He is about to get a taste of what I went through. And I promise you, its not fun," it continued.

Jurors remained stone-faced as Cohen's excited and hyper-energized voiced came through the courtroom speakers.

"What an embarrassment it is to the office of the presidency," Cohen said in the recording, adding that the indictment "filled me with delight and sadness."

"I truly f------ hope that this man ends up in prison," Cohen said in another clip. "You better believe I want this man to go down and rot inside for what he did to me in my family."

Most of the jurors appeared to have no visible reaction to the audio. Cohen, too, remained calm on the stand, answering questions from Blanche about his own words.

For the second time during the trial, the jury was shown the paperwork for Resolution Consultants LLC, the shell company Michael Cohen formed initially to pay AMI for the Karen McDougal payment.

Cohen conceded he did not give First Republic Bank the "true reason" for the account.

"I'm not sure they would have opened it," Cohen said, if the bank knew the true reason "was to pay off an adult film star for a nondisclosure agreement"

"Need an account opened for Mike Cohen immediately. He wants no address on the checks," Cohen's banker wrote to a colleague on Oct. 13, 2016, when he earlier testified earlier about Cohen's frantic effort to open the two bank accounts in October 2016.

Prosecutors suggested that Cohen misled bankers when he opened the bank account by stating the account was for legitimate business purposes.

Cohen told jurors that he opted to rename the shell company to Essential Consultants after realizing that Resolution Consultants LLC was a real company owned by a friend. The $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels was made from a new account for Essential Consultants.