Key takeaways from Thursday's rough cross-examination of Michael Cohen - including angry texts to teen prankster that undermine his story about briefing Donald Trump

If Michael Cohen is done in by any of the receipts surfaced by defense lawyers in court, it would be a cruel twist if it happened with intimidating text messages he sent to a teenager.

It’s the kind of ‘bullying’ that Cohen testified for years he did on behalf of his onetime client, Donald Trump, before he says he turned over a new leaf.

But on Thursday, he was forced to confront his own texts threatening to sic the Secret Service on someone who was placing repeated harassing phone calls to him.

That wasn’t Trump lawyer Todd Blanche’s reason for bringing it up. Blanche wanted to establish that Cohen’s testimony Tuesday about an Oct. 24, 2016 phone call at 8:02 pm might not be as Cohen remembered it. He had testified Tuesday that that is when he spoke to Donald Trump to tell him the Stormy Daniels situation was taken care of, shortly before Election Day.

But Blanche dug up concurrent texts with Schiller about running down the kid who called him repeatedly. ‘The Dope forgot to block his call,’ Cohen wrote Schiller at 7:48 – minutes earlier.

Michael Cohen had to answer for a text echange with a teen who made repeated harassing phone calls. He brought up the Secret Service and asked to talk to the teen's parents

Blanche ripped into Cohen, his voice rising, about how he could be sorting out the porn star payoff while simultaneously tracking down the teen.

‘You finalized the deal with Stormy Daniels. You said we’re going to move forward and you said yes,’ Blanche intoned. ‘That was a lie. Because you were actually talking to Mr. Schiller about you were getting harassing phone calls from a 14-year-old,’ he intoned.

Here are some other key takeaways from the trial:

Cohen’s lies are piling up

Michael Cohen has lied. A lot. And lawyer Todd Blanche has been getting him to admit it himself. He lied to Robert Mueller. He lied to a congressional committee about a Moscow tower he was exploring while working for Trump.

He even lied when pleading guilty to his crimes. Blanche was able to argue that because Cohen is consistently denying one part of his guilty plea – the tax evasion charge. He says he acted under 48-hours of pressure to make a deal with his wife facing possible indictment.

As part of that plea, Cohen had to tell a judge that he wasn’t being pressured to put forth his plea.

'You do feel like you were induced to plead guilty?' Blanche asked him.

'I never denied the underlying facts. I just did not believe that I should have been criminally charged,' Cohen responded.

But it wasn’t long before he let down part of his defense. Judge William H. Pauley III had asked Cohen in court 'did anybody offer you any inducements or thereaten or force you to plead guilty.'

'And you said no?' Blanched asked him.

'I accepted responsibility,’ Cohen tried again. 'That was a lie?' Blanche asked.

'Correct,' he acknowledged.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche finally tore into Cohen on Thursday

Cohen is being confronted by his own denials of a Trump Organization payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels

Texts between Cohen and daughter Samantha Blake Cohen reveal disappointment at trouble even scoring Trump inauguration tickets

Texts with daughter point to trail of resentment

Anyone who has travelled in New York and D.C. political circles knows what it’s like to score a top invite – or to be left on the curb feeling like a has-been.

Texts with his daughter reveal the personal toll of Cohen being shunted aside by the president he had helped steer to the White House.

Blanche asked Cohen about a text from his daughter Samantha Blake Cohen that new White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump’s new people were ‘walking all over you.’

Cohen was even having a 'hard time getting tickets to the inauguration,' Blanche said, drawing from the family texts. 'I believe so,' said Cohen.

Cohen’s defense was that although he wanted to be ‘considered’ for a gig for his ‘ego,’ he landed where he wanted with an influence peddling job that allowed him to make millions as ‘attorney for the president.’

'There's a way that I could monetize that, which I did,' he testified.

Whether the jury buys it may depend on how much stock they put on a grinning Cohen who posed for a photo behind the White House podium on a visit there.

Cohen challenged by his own denials of $130,000 payoff

Blanche finally gets to the $130,000 payments that Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels through an LLC he helped set up.

It’s the subject where prosecutors spent hours going through tedious paperwork to establish the trail. But Blanche has his own paper to rely on. One is a statement by Cohen stating that none of the funds came from the Trump campaign or the Trump Organization.

Another is a letter furnished by a law firm to the Federal Election Commission.

Blanche’s next move might be to establish that the $130,000 wasn’t even a campaign contribution at all. The defense wants to call former FEC chair Bradley Smith, a conservative legal scholar whose opposition to government regulation of campaign finance helped the push to took down major campaign finance reforms in the landmark Citizens United case.

Trump's entourage might help him outside the courtroom, but not inside

Trump is keeping the media guessing about who will compose his daily court entourage. He's already trotted out senators, the House Speaker, and now a gaggle of conservative House Freedom Caucus members.

 Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has had to deal with his own issues with prosecutors, ended up seated up front in court with Eric Trump, and was in the shot inside the courtroom as Trump railed against the case.

But Trump's expanding entourage might be wearing thin inside the 15th floor courtroom where Trump's freedom could be on the line. Prosecutors raised complaints about disruptions with their security details, and Merchan seemed sympathetic. The way GOP members have given Trump talking points could catch the judge's notice as a way to get around his gag order.

Judge Merchan is looking for the exits

Judge Merchan told lawyers to be ready for summary arguments as soon as Tuesday. That comes despite Todd Blanche refusing to rule out testimony by former President Trump himself.

Merchan was even willing to give up one of his precious Wednesdays, which he uses for other court matters rather than the Trump trial. (President Biden mocked Trump this week by saying ‘I hear you’re free on Wedndesdays when challenging him to a debate).

He's also gaming out how to avoid long breaks in the rhythm of the trial, a sign he may have eyes on completion before Memorial day.