Trump Reconciles With Michael Cohen, His Fixer Turned Foe, on Radio Show

NEW YORK —

President Trump sat down Thursday for a friendly radio interview with Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer who spent years attacking him publicly and once testified against him in court and before Congress, CBS News reported.

Parts of the conversation aired Thursday evening on Cohen's show on 77 WABC-AM in New York, with the full interview set to air Sunday. The tone was warm, according to CBS News, with little mention of the bitter history between the two men.

"They weaponized you like nobody's ever been weaponized, like few have been," Trump told Cohen during the interview, according to CBS News. "I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said. That's a big thing that you did."

From Feud to Friendly Air Time

Cohen was once one of Trump's closest aides, so loyal he said he would "take a bullet" for him, CBS News reported. That changed after FBI agents searched Cohen's office, home and hotel room in 2018. Cohen later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations tied to hush money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, along with lying to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Russia, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Cohen became the star witness in Trump's 2024 hush money trial in New York, testifying that he made the payments at Trump's direction, CBS News reported. That testimony helped produce a 34-count felony conviction against Trump, who received no punishment. Cohen once said publicly he hoped Trump would "rot" in prison, according to CBS News.

In recent months, Cohen has reversed course, telling a radio audience last month that he received a text from Trump about six months ago and that the two later agreed to meet, The Hill reported. Cohen has since said he felt "pressured and coerced" by prosecutors to testify against Trump, a claim CBS News said helped pave the way for the reconciliation.

A Pardon Still Pending

Cohen told CNN before the radio interview aired that he had resubmitted a pardon application to the White House, one that had been denied under the previous administration, CBS News reported. He said he simply swapped former President Joe Biden's name for Trump's on the cover letter and sent it by FedEx, but had not received any acknowledgment as of Thursday. He said he planned to call the White House Friday to check on its status.

The Guardian reported that Cohen, when asked, declined to say whether he intended to use the interview itself to seek a pardon.

Cohen opened the segment by playing the 1975 War song "Why Can't We Be Friends," and closed it with lyrics from the Peaches & Herb song "Reunited," according to CBS News.