WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President appeared Thursday on his former fixer-turned-foe radio show, holding a stunning public reunion with the man who once called him a 鈥淐heeto-dusted cartoon villain鈥� and testified against him both in court and before Congress.
For Cohen, who for his role in what he said was covering up Trump鈥檚 鈥渄irty deeds,鈥� it was the culmination of a behind-the-scenes detente that would have been impossible to imagine several years ago.
The interview, part of which aired on Cohen’s 77 WABC radio program Thursday evening and which will air in full on Sunday, was an exceptionally friendly affair, with only passing reference to the men’s tumultuous history.
鈥淭hey weaponized you like nobody’s ever been weaponized, like few have been,鈥� Trump told Cohen.
鈥淚 respect the fact that you recanted everything you said,鈥� he went on. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big thing that you did.”
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.
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 and .
But the split from Cohen was perhaps the most personal. Cohen once boasted that he would 鈥渢ake a bullet鈥� for the president and was by Trump鈥檚 side during his political rise. After their public breakup, Cohen鈥檚 testimony in Trump鈥檚 2024 criminal hush-money trial instead helped secure Trump鈥檚 criminal conviction just as he was trying to make his political comeback.
Cohen has since criticized prosecutors in the case 鈥� an admission that paved the way for their reconciliation.
鈥楤oss, remember when I was by your side,鈥� Cohen tells Trump
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.
鈥淔orgiveness 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鈥檛 about erasing history,” he said. 鈥淚t is about having the courage to decide that yesterday will no longer dictate tomorrow.鈥�
He sounded nostalgic about a time when he was one of Trump’s most trusted aides.
鈥淏oss, remember when I was by your side,鈥� he said at one point.
The clip was introduced with the 1975 War song, 鈥淲hy Can鈥檛 We Be Friends,鈥� and closed with the lyrics, 鈥淩eunited and it feels so good,鈥� 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 鈥減olitical blood sport,鈥� there were 15 years of close friendship between them.
鈥淭he good times don鈥檛 cease to have existed because the bad times came afterward,鈥� Cohen wrote.
Simply, he said: 鈥淲e forgave.鈥�
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鈥檚 comments saying he felt pressured by prosecutors to testify against Trump in the criminal hush money case and a civil fraud case.
Cohen was a key figure in Trump’s prosecution in New York
In 2024, trial, which resulted in a 34-count felony conviction. He ended up
But over days of probing questioning by prosecutors, followed by bruising cross-examination, Cohen placed the then-Republican candidate at the center of schemes during the 2016 presidential election to stifle accounts from an adult film actor and former Playboy model who said they had sexual encounters with Trump.
Cohen testified that Trump promised to reimburse the lawyer for the money he fronted and that he was constantly updated on behind-the-scenes efforts to bury stories feared to be harmful to the campaign.
鈥淲hat I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and benefit of Mr. Trump,鈥� Cohen testified.
Cohen鈥檚 testimony at the time appeared to be the final breach in a once-close relationship between the lawyer and his client that was tested in dramatic fashion in 2018 when FBI agents searched Cohen鈥檚 office, home and hotel room.
Cohen later pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Russia as well as to campaign finance violations in which he implicated Trump in payments that went to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, and Playboy Playmate Karen MacDougal. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
Since his trial testimony, though, Cohen has sung a different tune as he鈥檚 moved closer to Trump, insisting that he had testified under duress.
鈥淚 felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government鈥檚 desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump,鈥� he wrote in a Substack post in January.
Cohen , alleging Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits.
He gave in New York, which found that Trump and his companies had engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades. A New York appeals court later threw out a $550 million judgment against Trump in that case. Trump the remaining parts of the case.
In , 鈥淒isloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump,鈥� Cohen was unsparing, calling Trump an 鈥渙rganized crime don鈥� and 鈥渕aster manipulator.鈥�
But, foreshadowing their later rapprochement, Cohen also wrote that he still cared for Trump, writing, 鈥淚 had and still have a lot of affection for him.鈥�
___ Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
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