Michael Cohen, under questioning from state attorneys, testified it was his job to help Trump look as rich as he wanted to.

"I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected, and my responsibility -- along with Allen Weisselberg -- predominantly was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us with," Cohen said, referring to former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Cohen joined the Trump Organization in 2007 as executive vice president and special counsel to Trump, putting him "directly under Mr. Trump" in the corporate hierarchy, Cohen said.

"I reported and only handled work for Mr. Trump and so I was his special counsel. Whatever issues he had, whatever created ire for him, he would bring it to me to resolve," Cohen said.

"So the only person who asked you to perform work was Donald J. Trump?" state attorney Colleen Faherty asked.

"Correct," Cohen responded.

Cohen affirmed his involvement in preparing Trump's statements of financial condition and told the judge those documents were "shared with third parties," including insurance brokers.

Michael Cohen, hunched slightly on the witness stand, began his testimony by outlining the federal charges to which he pleaded guilty and served prison time -- including tax evasion and lying to Congress -- as Trump leaned back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest.

Once Trump's self-described bulldog, Cohen has not shared a room with Trump in five years, he said prior to his testimony.

As he recounted his criminal history, Cohen invoked the names of Stormy Daniels and Karen MacDougal, two women who in 2016 were paid to keep quiet about long-denied affairs with Trump. Defense attorney Chris Kise moved to strike the answer but the judge overruled the objection.

Colleen Faherty, an attorney with the state attorney general's office, asked Cohen if his crimes occurred while he was employed by Trump, to which Cohen responded "Yes" and affirmed his employer was "Donald J. Trump."

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen has begun his testimony in his former boss' civil fraud trial.

Sitting at a cramped counsel table between his lawyers, Trump is about ten feet from his former lawyer and so-called "fixer."

The courtroom itself is at capacity, with attendance appearing to exceed the number of observers during the trial's opening statements.

When Mazars USA said that Trump's financial statements were no longer reliable in 2022, the accounting firm did not conduct an audit or identify any "material discrepancies" in Trump's statements, Mazars General Counsel Bill Kelly testified.

"As we have stated in the Statements of Financial Condition, Mazars performed its work in accordance with professional standards. A subsequent review of those workpapers confirms this," Kelly wrote in a 2022 letter to the Trump Organization entered into evidence.

Both Trump and his lawyer Jesus Suarez seized on the admission from Mazars.

During cross examination, Suarez displayed multiple financial statements and repeatedly asked Kelly about the lack of discrepancies identified in the statements. Exiting court for a break, Trump also focused on that portion of the testimony.

"They found no discrepancies, there was nothing wrong with the financials," Trump said, alleging that his former accountants were "abused" and "hurt very badly" by the New York attorney general.

"Sorry to be brash," Eric Trump began a 2012 email to a board member of a North Carolina golf club that the Trump Organization intended to purchase, according to materials entered into evidence.

The board member had come to New York to review financial documents to be assured the Trump organization had the "financial wherewithal to purchase, renovate and operate the club," state attorney Andrew Amer said while questioning Eric Trump.

Amer contended that meant Eric Trump knew "the company had personal financials available to share with third parties," despite the former president's son testifying that "I don't want to speculate" what was being shared.

"I understood we had financials as a company. I was not personally aware of the statement of financial condition," Eric Trump said. "I did not work on the statement of financial condition. I've been very clear about that."