President Donald Trump and his former fixer Michael Cohen appear to be moving past their bitter feud.
On Thursday, Trump called into Cohen’s radio show on 77 WABC for an interview—the first such appearance after years of public conflict. Cohen had previously served as a key witness against Trump in two trials and told Congress that his one-time boss was “a racist, a con man and a cheat.”
During the broadcast, Cohen struck a conciliatory note. He quoted a Bible verse on forgiveness, played the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends?,” and largely steered clear of their earlier clashes.
In 2024 Cohen also testified that Trump directed him to pay $130,000 to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. A Manhattan jury convicted Trump of 34 felonies related to covering up that payment. Leaving court after one appearance, Cohen told reporters it had been “a heck of a reunion.”
Cohen spent more than a year in prison after pleading guilty in 2018 to tax and campaign-finance crimes and lying to Congress about Trump’s pursuit of a Moscow tower project. For more than a decade before their rupture, the self-described “fix-it guy” had defended Trump on television, delivered legal threats, and once boasted he would “take a bullet” for his boss. The relationship fractured after federal agents raided Cohen’s home and offices amid the Mueller investigation; as legal costs mounted and the White House distanced itself, Cohen felt isolated, entered a plea deal, and began cooperating against Trump.
After prison, Cohen built a public profile as a Trump critic, publishing the bestselling memoir Disloyal and regularly labeling his former employer “a cheat” and “a mobster.” Earlier this year Cohen wrote he had felt pressured by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to tailor testimony against Trump.
Last month Cohen landed an on-air slot at Trump-friendly 770 WABC after station owner John Catsimatidis publicly sought White House approval for the hire. He quickly floated the idea of interviewing the president—an invitation that has now been accepted.