President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear on the radio show hosted by Michael Cohen, his former attorney and fixer. The taped interview is set to air Thursday evening and again on Sunday on Cohen's program on 77 WABC.
This marks a public reunion between Trump and Cohen, who previously described Trump with terms such as a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain” and testified against him in court and before Congress. Cohen served prison time for his role in what he stated was covering up Trump’s “dirty deeds."
Cohen confirmed the upcoming appearance in a newsletter post Thursday, noting that while their relationship became “political blood sport,” there were 15 years of close friendship. He stated, “We forgave.”
The White House did not comment on Cohen's statements, but Trump's official schedule indicated he was taping a radio interview Thursday morning.
Trump has made few public statements about Cohen this year, but has shared social media posts referencing some of Cohen’s comments about feeling pressured by prosecutors to testify against him in the hush-money criminal case and a civil fraud case.
Cohen's testimony was significant in both legal proceedings. He testified in Trump's 2024 criminal hush-money trial about a payment made to Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors argued was an illegal effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in that case.
In 2019, Cohen testified before Congress, alleging Trump had a history of misrepresenting asset values for loan and tax benefits. He provided similar testimony in a 2023 civil fraud trial in New York, which found Trump and his companies engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades. A New York appeals court later overturned a $550 million judgment against Trump in that case.
In his 2020 memoir, "Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump," Cohen was critical of Trump, calling him an “organized crime don” and “master manipulator.” However, he also wrote that he still cared for Trump, stating, “I had and still have a lot of affection for him.”
Cohen was initially sentenced to three years in prison in 2018, having pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. The campaign finance charges related to his efforts to arrange payouts during the 2016 presidential race to prevent adult film star Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from publicly discussing alleged extramarital affairs with Trump.