New York Times White House reporter Maggie Haberman said President Donald Trump hopes to play his reunion with his fixer to his advantage.
Michael Cohen announced he would interview Trump on his podcast, despite their fallout in 2018. During an interview on CNN on Thursday, Haberman said Cohen’s interview with Trump isn’t as surprising on its face, given how it could play to the president’s advantage.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to eight criminal counts and implicated Trump in a scheme to silence women who claimed affairs with him during the 2016 campaign. Haberman noted that Trump is appealing his conviction in that case after he was found guilty by a jury on 34 felony counts in 2024.
According to Haberman, Trump’s team in the White House sees the interview as a way to help him with the appeal.
“There’s also a utility to some in the White House, not many, but some in the White House who support the president, who think that Cohen’s speaking out about that trial could be useful as they are trying to appeal the conviction,” Haberman said.
Haberman noted that although it seems like a big reunion, considering Cohen has been an outspoken, public critic of Trump since then, it’s not as much of a make-up as it seems.
Cohen used to be Trump’s personal lawyer and self-proclaimed fixer. Cohen has called Trump a “cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator,” and Trump has branded Cohen a “rat,” Forbes noted.
However, Haberman pointed out that she reported that the two had a “brief meeting” at Trump’s Bedminster golf course last year, “and that was the first time they had spoken.”
She said, “That was the beginning of what you are seeing now,” but she added that Cohen hasn’t completely soured on Trump.
“If it were up to Cohen, he would still be working for Trump,” Haberman said.
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