Trump's Attorneys Hammer Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen, star witness in New York Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million fraud lawsuit against ex-President Donald Trump, fielded hours of blistering cross-examination by Trump's attorneys.

Trump is accused by James of misrepresenting the value of several assets attached to The Trump Organization for financial benefits. The former president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are also facing allegations attached to the suit.

Cohen, Trump's former attorney and "fixer," took the witness stand Wednesday for the second time to face questioning from Trump's defense team, which focused their cross on Cohen's history of lying under oath in previous cases. Cohen testified Tuesday that he was directed to inflate the value of Trump's net worth by overvaluing a number of assets to a figure that the former president "arbitrarily selected."

"I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected," Cohen said, according to the Associated Press, adding that he and former Trump finance chief Allen Weisselberg would work to "reverse-engineer the various different assets classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us."

But on Wednesday afternoon, Cohen appeared to backtrack on his statements while under questioning by Trump attorney Clifford Robert, who again homed in on Cohen's past lies while entering a guilty plea in 2018 for financial crimes related to hush-money payments made during Trump's 2016 presidential run.

Jose Pagliery, reporter for The Daily Beast who watched Cohen's cross-examination inside the courtroom, reported that the former attorney looked "clearly beaten down from his hours-long boxing match" with Trump lawyer Alina Habba earlier in the day as Robert began his questioning.

"Robert is pounding him," Pagliery added in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Trump lawyer also pressed Cohen on his previous testimony that the former president had pressured him to raise the value of Trump's assets, asking Cohen directly, "Mr. Trump never directed you to inflate the numbers in his personal statement. Yes or no?"

"Yes," Cohen replied, according to reporting by The Hill.

Cohen's answer caused Trump to throw his hands in the air and look around the courtroom, reported The Hill's Ella Lee. Robert also reportedly asked for a "directed verdict," which was immediately denied by New York Judge Arthur Engoron.

The former president abruptly left the courtroom in response.

During the New York Attorney General's Office redirect, Cohen was given a chance to explain his contradicting statements, saying that while Trump never told him directly to inflate the value of his assets, the former president "speaks like a mob boss."

"He tells you what he wants without specifically telling you," Cohen said, according to CNN's report. "We understood what he wanted."

Robert asked for a second time after Cohen's testimony for a verdict to "end this case once and for all," which was again denied by Engoron. The judge also reportedly stated that he didn't consider Cohen to be a "key witness" in the civil case.

"There's enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom," Engoron added, according to CNN.

Newsweek reached out to Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, as well as Trump's press team via email for comment Wednesday evening.