Overview
- President Trump taped a roughly 40-minute interview with Michael Cohen that was broadcast in excerpts on Cohen’s 77WABC program on Thursday, with the full conversation scheduled to air on Sunday.
- The on-air tone was unusually friendly, with Trump praising Cohen for having “recanted” and the program bookended by conciliatory music and nostalgic remarks from Cohen.
- Cohen told CNN before the broadcast that he has resubmitted a pardon application to the White House and has not yet received a response.
- Prosecutors and legal teams are already contesting the import of Cohen’s recent unsworn public statements, while Trump’s attorneys have cited those comments in filings challenging his 2024 New York conviction.
- The interview follows private meetings in 2025 and 2026 and fits a broader media strategy to reshape narratives about both men, recalling Cohen’s role as the prosecution’s star witness in the hush‑money case that produced Trump’s 34‑count conviction.