Attempting to rebuff the idea that Michael Cohen's then-attorney Robert Costello was asserting pressure on Cohen not to flip on Trump, Costello testified that Cohen was also trying to get information from him -- a backchannel that went both ways.

"Cohen was trying to get information from Rudy Giuliani?" defense attorney Emil Bove asked.

"That's correct," Costello said.

Following another objection, Costello let out an audible breath then at one point said, "Jeez."

An angry Judge Merchan sent the jury out of the courtroom.

"I'd like to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom," he admonished Costello. "If you don't like my ruling, you don't say 'Jeez,' you don't say 'Strike it,' because I'm the only one who can strike testimony in the court. If you don't like my ruling, you don't give me side-eye and you don't roll your eyes."

Costello said he understood.

Then Merchan abruptly said: "Are you staring me down?"

Merchan, now furious, then ordered the entire courtroom cleared out.

After a resolution was reached, everyone returned to the courtroom.

Michael Cohen's former attorney, Robert Costello, testified that in their initial meeting on April 17, 2018, Cohen said Trump did not know about the payment to Stormy Daniels.

"Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he said that numerous times," Costello testified.

"Jeez," Costello muttered when Judge Merchan sustained an objection following another question.

The judge had earlier instructed Costello to wait until an objection was resolved before answering the question.

Defense witness Robert Costello, who for a time was Michael Cohen's attorney, introduced details of his first meeting with Cohen, saying they first met at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan on April 17, 2018, with attorney Jeffrey Citron.

Cohen "was absolutely manic" during the first meeting, Costello said. The FBI had just raided his home and office.

“I really want you to explain what my options are. What’s my escape route?” Costello said Cohen told him.

Cohen said, "My life is shattered, my family's life is shattered," Costello testified.

Costello said he told Cohen, “This entire legal problem he was facing would be resolved by the end of the week if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and cooperated with the Southern District of New York.”

Costello said that Cohen on multiple occasions said, “I swear to god Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.”

"Did the topic of Stormy Daniels come up?" defense attorney Emil Bove asked Costello.

Costello said it did, with Cohen telling him, "I don’t understand why they’re trying to put me in jail for some f------ NDAs."

Judge Merchan, after returning to the bench, agrees to give defense attorney Emil Bove "some latitude" to explore with witness Robert Costello the pressure campaign that Michael Cohen spoke.

"I’m not going to allow this to become a trial within a trial ... that's not the purpose of this trial, and I'm not going to let it become that," the judge said.

The defense called Robert Costello to the stand.

Donald Trump said Wednesday that he didn't take the stand in his hush money trial because he didn't agree with the judge's rulings -- and because he was seemingly worried about information that could have come out during cross-examination.

"He made rulings that makes it very difficult to testify," Trump said in an interview on WABC Radio, referring to Judge Juan Merchan. "Anything I did, anything I did in the past, they can bring everything up, and you know what, I've had a great past -- but anything."

"The other reason is because they have no case," Trump said. "In other words, why would -- why testify when they have no case?"

Trump had originally indicated he would testify, saying on April 12 that "I would testify, absolutely." But he subsequently appeared to back away from the idea, falsely telling reporters on May 2 that the limited gag order in the case -- which prohibits extrajudicial statements about witnesses and jurors -- prevented him from testifying.

The next day in court, Judge Merchan directly addressed Trump to clarify that he has an "absolute right" to testify and that the limited gag order does not apply to his statements in court.

"I want to stress, Mr. Trump, that you have an absolute right to testify at trial, if that is what you decide to do after consultation with your attorneys," Merchan said.

-Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh