After years of bitter public feuding, Donald Trump and Michael Cohen — the former loyal fixer who became one of his most outspoken adversaries — found themselves back in conversation, this time on Cohen’s radio show.
For Cohen, who spent time in prison over matters he later described as efforts to conceal Trump’s “dirty deeds,” the exchange marked the result of a quiet thaw behind the scenes — a turn of events that would have seemed almost unthinkable not long ago.
Their history has been anything but cordial. Cohen once branded Trump a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain” and delivered damaging testimony against him in both court and before Congress. Trump, in return, repeatedly attacked his onetime lawyer as a “sleaze bag,” a “rat” and a “liar.”
But the interview, portions of which aired Thursday evening on Cohen’s 77 WABC program and is scheduled to run in full on Sunday, struck a notably friendly tone, with only brief nods to the turmoil that once defined their relationship.
“They weaponized you like nobody’s ever been weaponized, like few have been,” Trump told Cohen during the broadcast.
“I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said,” Trump added. “That’s a big thing that you did.”
Trump also used the appearance to revisit familiar political terrain, telling Cohen he believes he would win decisively if he were permitted to seek a third term in the White House.
“If I were running today, I think I’d win by 25 points. I think we’d win by a lot. The economy has never been stronger.”
After years of trading public insults, Donald Trump and his former fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen (pictured) reunited on his radio show
Before their fallout Cohen served as a a longtime lawyer for Trump
He sounded nostalgic about a time when he was one of Trump’s most trusted aides.
‘Boss, remember when I was by your side,’ he said at one point.
The clip was introduced with the 1975 War song, ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends,’ and closed with the lyrics, ‘Reunited and it feels so good,’ from the 1978 Peaches & Herb song.
In a long post on his online newsletter Thursday promoting the interview, Cohen said that although his relationship with Trump became ‘political blood sport,’ there were 15 years of close friendship between them.
‘The good times don’t cease to have existed because the bad times came afterward,’ Cohen wrote.
Simply, he said: ‘We forgave.’
Trump had made no warm public statements about Cohen before Thursday, but in a series of social media posts this year, he linked to some of his former lawyer’s comments saying he felt pressured by prosecutors to testify against Trump in the criminal hush money case and a civil fraud case.
In an interview with CNN shortly before the radio interview aired, Cohen said he had resubmitted a pardon application to the White House that had been denied by the previous administration, but had yet to receive any response and planned to follow up on Friday.
Trump also told Cohen that he believes he would win easily if he could run for a third presidential term
Cohen sounded nostalgic about a time when he was one of Trump’s most trusted aides
The truce with Cohen makes him the latest in a long line of Trump loyalists who have had public falling-outs with the president but found themselves back in his good graces.
Other recent examples include Elon Musk and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Cohen has said he and the president have had multiple conversations over the past year and introduced the interview by explaining his decision to move on.
‘Forgiveness does not mean amnesia. It does not mean that the past did not happen. It does not mean the scars vanish, that the pain was fake or that I have forgotten a single second of what transpired, I have not. Forgiveness isn’t about erasing history,’ he said. ‘It is about having the courage to decide that yesterday will no longer dictate tomorrow.’
The improbable booking signifies a dramatic turn in the divisive relationship the two have shared since 2018.
But the split from Cohen was perhaps the most personal. Cohen once boasted that he would ‘take a bullet’ for the president and was by Trump’s side during his political rise.
Cohen served as Trump’s personal attorney and problem solver for more than a decade. But that close-knit relationship fell apart after federal agents searched Cohen’s home and office.
Months later, the former lawyer pleaded guilty to charges that included tax offenses and campaign-finance violations linked to hush-money payments Cohen arranged at the president’s direction to quash stories about an alleged extramarital affair.
The former lawyer pleaded guilty to charges that included tax offenses and campaign-finance violations linked to hush-money payments Cohen arranged at the president’s direction to quash stories about an alleged extramarital affair he had with adult film star Stormy Daniels, shown above
In turn, Cohen, in congressional testimony, media appearances and a tell-all book, lobbed personal attacks at Trump.
During the 2024 New York trial regarding the president’s alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, Cohen’s testimony helped District Attorney Alvin Bragg secure a conviction against Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The former attorney also appeared in civil fraud cases brought against the Republican, recounting how the president inflated asset values to secure better loans.
Those appearances in court sealed Cohen’s transformation from fixer to foe.
However, in 2025, the two began to reconcile, and Cohen met with Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort to smooth over the past political combat.
Since then, Cohen has said he has a ‘cordial and growing’ relationship with his former employer.
The upcoming podcast appearance solidifies the two’s apparent détente.
In his tell-all memoir in 2020, ‘Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J Trump,’ Cohen was unsparing, calling Trump an ‘organized crime don’ and ‘master manipulator.’
But, foreshadowing their later rapprochement, Cohen also wrote that he still cared for Trump, writing: ‘I had and still have a lot of affection for him.’
Whether the conversation will revisit past political feuds or focus on reconciliation is unknown.
What is clear is that the scheduled podcast appearance signifies a dramatic shift from devotion to denunciation and the possibility of a working peace.
The White House did not immediately respond to Our News Outlet’s request for comment.
