President Donald Trump just held a conversation almost nobody would have predicted after years of one of the most bitter and consequential political feuds of his career.
The extraordinary exchange brought two former allies turned enemies back together publicly while producing remarks that could signal a dramatic change in their relationship.
Trump sat down with his former long-time personal attorney Michael Cohen on Thursday for their first public conversation in nearly a decade during a roughly 40-minute radio interview.
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The reunion was particularly remarkable considering Cohen became a central witness against Trump after their longtime relationship spectacularly collapsed.
Rather than relitigating all of their past grievances, however, Trump and Cohen found common ground while discussing the media, political polling and what both described as the weaponization Cohen experienced.
Cohen began by reminding Trump about the attorney’s famous 2016 CNN interview with Brianna Keilar in which he responded “says who” when challenged about Trump’s polling numbers.
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Trump immediately recalled how Cohen was subsequently treated following their falling out.
“And then they weaponized you like nobody’s ever been weaponized, like few have been,” Trump told him.
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Cohen jokingly suggested that perhaps only the president himself had experienced something comparable.
“Well, maybe just you and me, sir,” Cohen said.
Trump agreed that he had faced similar treatment before making one of the most striking statements of the entire interview.
“I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said,” Trump told Cohen, calling it “a big thing” that his former attorney had done.
Cohen then recalled a private conversation with Trump following his memorable 2016 CNN appearance.
According to Cohen, Trump encouraged him the following morning by telling him, “F— them. You’re stronger than them. We’ve got this.”
Cohen argued that many of the same media dynamics remain in place today and accused left-leaning outlets of continuing to promote polling unfavorable to Trump.
He specifically criticized CNN and other outlets for repeatedly discussing Trump’s approval and favorability numbers.
Trump responded by questioning the credibility of political polling and directing particularly sharp criticism toward The New York Times.
“The polls are crooked,” Trump said before arguing that many reporters are dishonest while acknowledging that there are also journalists he considers excellent.
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Trump said declining trust in some traditional media organizations is the result of audiences believing those outlets have lost credibility.
The cordial tone represented an extraordinary reversal from the hostility that defined Trump and Cohen’s relationship for years.
Cohen once served as one of Trump’s closest personal attorneys and publicly described himself as intensely loyal to his longtime boss.
Their relationship collapsed amid federal investigations, and Cohen eventually became one of Trump’s most prominent public adversaries.
He later served as a central witness in New York legal proceedings involving the president, placing the former allies on opposite sides of some of the most politically explosive cases in the country.
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Their Thursday conversation therefore amounted to far more than an ordinary media interview.
Cohen told Fox News that the approximately 40-minute discussion will be released in two installments, with the first portion airing Thursday and the remainder scheduled for his Sunday program, “When You Know You Know.”
The story may also extend beyond the personal reconciliation between the two men.
Cohen told CNN that he hopes his renewed dialogue with Trump could potentially create an avenue toward receiving a presidential pardon.
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He also indicated that he planned to follow up with the Trump administration on Friday.
Whether Trump would actually consider granting his former attorney a pardon remains unclear.
President Trump appeared on the radio show of his former fixer-turned-foe, Michael Cohen — making a public reunion with the man who testified against him both in court and before Congress. pic.twitter.com/mErFzvoPGm
— ABC News (@ABC) August 21, 2026
After years of investigations, courtroom testimony, public attacks and mutual hostility, Trump and Cohen have now spoken publicly again — and Cohen appears interested in making sure Thursday’s extraordinary reunion is not their final conversation.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
