Greg Craig was found not guilty on Sept. 4. Click here for the updated story.

Washington (CNN) Greg Craig, the former White House counsel in 2009 and 2010, has maintained he was not a foreign agent of the Ukrainian government when he worked with lobbyist Paul Manafort in 2012 regarding a report he wrote on Ukraine, as he testifies in his own defense Wednesday.

Craig says he is not guilty of illegally hiding from the Justice Department work he did for the Ukrainian government. Manafort, Craig's law firm and others have admitted to attempting to shape the news coverage of Craig's Ukraine report and the failure of those involved to register as foreign agents with the Justice Department.

His testimony is an astonishing cap to a criminal case that arose out of the Mueller investigation and has drawn attention because of how well-known the 74-year-old lawyer and former top Democratic official is in Washington. Defendants don't often take the stand to testify on their own behalf -- it's often a risk to open the defendant to questioning under oath before the jury.

Craig began by speaking in full sentences in response to yes or no questions from his lawyer, often speaking directly to the jury.

He laughed or smiled occasionally but generally appeared serious and conversational as he describes the steps he took to get a New York Times reporter, David Sanger, and speak to other journalists his report on the trial of the then-Ukrainian President's political opponent before the report was made public. The report was meant to be independent, but Craig's law firm was being paid more than $4 million for it, and members of Manafort's team had been in touch with Craig for planning of the roll-out, with the intention of minimizing damage to their client Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych about the approach to the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko.

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