President Donald Trump offered surprising praise for his former attorney Michael Cohen during a Sunday radio interview, calling Cohen “brave” for recanting what Trump characterized as testimony that authorities had pressured him to give.
Trump appeared on Cohen’s WABC 77 radio program in New York, marking a strikingly cordial exchange between two men who previously endured a very public falling out.
During the interview, Trump argued that Cohen had been targeted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and what the president described as a Democrat-run “weaponized government.” Trump claimed the system pressured Cohen into changing his testimony against him.
“Look, you took back, you recanted your testimony,” Trump told Cohen. “They forced you to do that. They threatened you with jail, they threatened you with everything if you didn’t go against Trump — and you took it back.”
Trump said Cohen’s reversal was the reason he was willing to speak with his former attorney again.
“I wouldn’t even be talking to you right now if you didn’t, to be honest,” Trump said. “You did something very few people have done.”
The president also recalled the FBI’s 2018 action against Cohen’s office, describing it as a “disgraceful” attack before turning his attention to Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump acknowledged that Cohen initially buckled under the pressure he faced but argued that his former attorney ultimately came back and challenged what had happened.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have been able to take it,” Trump said. “You took it for a while, in all fairness, then they broke you down — but you came back.”
Trump went on to claim James and Bragg “used” Cohen and pressured him to make statements he did not want to make. He called Cohen’s eventual decision to speak out “a brave thing.”
“I think it’s so amazing that you came out and you told the story and people respect you for doing it,” Trump added.
Cohen responded that not everyone respects his reversal, telling Trump that many people actually hate him for it.
Cohen previously served as a key witness in a 2023 civil case brought by James alleging Trump fraudulently inflated his business assets. He was also a key witness in the 2024 criminal case commonly known as the Stormy Daniels “hush money” case, which was brought by Bragg.
The former Trump attorney later had a highly public falling out with Trump, making the president’s appearance on Cohen’s radio program a surprising development.
The possibility of reconciliation emerged earlier this year when Cohen said he “felt pressured and coerced” to shape his testimony in support of what he characterized as a political witch hunt against Trump.
Hours after those comments, progressive media company MeidasTouch Network cut ties with Cohen and his podcasts.
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