Cohen and Trump Reconcile Publicly — Cohen Unsure He'll Seek a Pardon During Their Phone Interview

Michael Cohen and President Donald Trump say they have privately reconciled after a bitter public split, and they will make that détente public during a scheduled phone interview on Cohen’s New York City radio show on Thursday.

What Cohen Says

Speaking to POLITICO ahead of the broadcast, Cohen said he and his former boss have met privately three times and have patched up their differences since their acrimonious breakup during Trump’s first term. “I suggest you listen to the show. You may find it extremely interesting,” he told the outlet.

Cohen — who famously shifted from staunch Trump ally and fixer to vocal critic — said he isn’t sure whether the interview will include a discussion of presidential clemency for the conviction that led to his three-year prison sentence. He also said he has not decided whether he will ask Trump for a pardon.

“We’ll see. Will I make that request down the road? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not.”

Background

Cohen was a central witness in the New York hush-money investigation that was part of the evidence cited in the broader legal cases involving Trump. In 2024, a jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts related to falsifying business records in connection with efforts to hide an alleged affair with Stormy Daniels.

Cohen has acknowledged that, while working for the Trump Organization, he lied and used aggressive tactics on Trump’s behalf. He later repudiated his former boss: in an April 2024 interview with POLITICO he called the Jan. 6 Capitol riot “grotesque” and warned about the consequences of a Trump reelection.

Previously, Cohen was sentenced in 2018 to three years in prison for charges tied to hush-money payments intended to conceal the affair. He says he has submitted clemency applications to both the Biden administration and the Trump White House, but emphasized that restoring his law license through a pardon is not a pressing priority for him as he approaches 60.

What to Watch For

The phone conversation will cap months of outreach by Cohen to mend fences with Trump, which Cohen says included a text exchange this summer that helped start the reconciliation. Listeners can expect the two men — who were close for roughly a decade and a half but have not publicly spoken in years — to reflect on their history and possibly touch on the question of clemency.