Trump Holds 'Stunning Public Reunion' With Michael Cohen

President Trump appeared Thursday on his former fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen's radio show, holding a stunning public reunion with the man who once called him a "Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain" and testified against him both in court and before Congress, the AP reports. For Cohen, who served prison time for his role in what he said was covering up Trump's "dirty deeds," 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 Sunday, was an exceptionally friendly affair, with only passing reference to the men's tumultuous history. "They weaponized you like nobody's ever been weaponized, like few have been," Trump told Cohen.

"I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said," he went on. "That's 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 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 Elon Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

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. After their public breakup, Cohen's testimony in Trump's 2024 criminal hush-money trial instead helped secure Trump's criminal conviction just as he was trying to make his political comeback. Cohen has since criticized prosecutors in the case—an admission that paved the way for their reconciliation. 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. (Click for more, including Cohen calling Trump "Boss.")