Michael Cohen won’t say if he’ll use his Trump interview to seek a pardon
Politico · LC · trust 43/100
Politico Logo More from Politico Europe Pro E&E News AgencyIQ Press Escape to close the menu.
WASHINGTON & POLITICS WASHINGTON & POLITICS 6 items 1st item Congress 2nd item White House 3rd item Supreme Court and Legal Issues 4th item Magazine 5th item 2026 Elections 6th item Latest on POLITICO STATE POLITICS & POLICY STATE POLITICS & POLICY 4 items 1st item California 2nd item Florida 3rd item New Jersey 4th item New York GLOBAL POLITICS & POLICY GLOBAL POLITICS & POLICY 6 items 1st item Brussels 2nd item Canada 3rd item United Kingdom 4th item France 5th item Germany 6th item Australia POLICY NEWS POLICY NEWS 11 items 1st item Food and Agriculture 2nd item Cybersecurity 3rd item Defense 4th item Education 5th item Energy and Climate 6th item Tax, Finance and the Economy 7th item Health Care 8th item Labor 9th item Tech 10th item Trade 11th item Transportation NEWSLETTERS NEWSLETTERS 6 items 1st item Playbook 2nd item West Wing Playbook 3rd item Inside Congress 4th item POLITICO Forecast 5th item POLITICO Magazine 6th item All Newsletters COLUMNISTS COLUMNISTS 7 items 1st item Alex Burns 2nd item Victoria Guida 3rd item John Harris 4th item Debra Kahn 5th item Jonathan Martin 6th item Nahal Toosi 7th item All Columnists SERIES & MORE SERIES & MORE 7 items 1st item Inside Congress Live 2nd item Breaking News Alerts 3rd item Podcasts 4th item Video 5th item Matt Wuerker Cartoons 6th item Cartoon Carousel 7th item The POLITICO Poll POLITICO Live POLITICO Live 1 item 1st item Events Follow us X Instagram Facebook LinkedIn My Account Log In Michael Cohen won’t say if he’ll use his Trump interview to seek a pardon The president is expected to call into Cohen’s radio show Thursday in their first public conversation since a very public falling out.
Then-candidate Donald Trump and Michael Cohen during a visit to the Pastors Leadership Conference in Cleveland, Sept. 21, 2016. | Evan Vucci/AP
Michael Cohen and President Donald Trump have apparently patched up their differences in private. Now, they can do it in public.
The president is scheduled to do a phone interview Thursday with Cohen on the New York City radio show that Trump ’s former lawyer and “fixer” began hosting last month.
Cohen said in an interview ahead of the broadcast that he and his former boss have met privately three times and reconciled since a bitter and very public falling out during the president’s first term.
“I suggest you listen to the show. You may find it extremely interesting,” he told POLITICO.
Cohen , who made a stunning conversion from pro-Trump bulldog to fierce critic, said he wasn’t sure if during the interview he and the president would discuss presidential clemency for the conviction that landed him a three-year prison sentence.
He isn’t sure he will even push for clemency from the president.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Will I make that request down the road? I don’t know. Maybe maybe not.”
That the president’s erstwhile attorney is even considering asking Trump for a pardon is somewhat remarkable.
Cohen was the star witness in New York prosecutors’ 2024 hush money case against Trump , which saw the then-candidate become the first ever former president to become a convicted felon when he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to keep word of an affair with former porn star Stormy Daniels from public view.
Cohen , who testified that he lied and bullied for Trump during his years working for the Trump Organization, later turned on his former boss. He told POLITICO in an April 2024 interview, for example, that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was “grotesque” and predicted “there will never be another election again in America” if he was reelected.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 on charges related to hush money payments to help conceal his boss’ affair with a porn star.
He said he sent pardon applications to former President Joe Biden ’s administration and the Trump White House but doesn’t consider clemency, which would enable him to recover his law license, critical to his life at this point.
“I’m turning 60 next week. What am I going to go start practicing law again?” he said. “What has the loss of my law license prevented me from actually doing? Though I do believe I’m deserving of it, that’s a whole nother story.”
Thursday’s interview will mark the culmination of a months-long effort by Cohen to get back in the president’s good graces. He told a New York radio station this summer that they had a text exchange that started their reconciliation.
Teasing the interview, Cohen said people will be “interested to hear two individuals that were friends for a decade and a half who have not publicly spoken in eight years” talk about their long shared past. “What could they talk about?” he said.
Global power is in flux. Your daily guide to what comes next.
By signing up, you acknowledge and agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service . You may unsubscribe at any time by following the directions at the bottom of the email or by contacting us here . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Read the original at Politico →
Open in TruthVane →