Trump to interview with Michael Cohen eight years after spectacular betrayal: Now THIS could get interesting

BS BULLETIN

President Trump is scheduled to be interviewed Thursday morning by his former lawyer and bitter antagonist Michael Cohen, with portions airing Thursday and Sunday on Cohen’s WABC program.
Cohen says he initiated the interview: “I reached out to the White House, reached out to the president, and he kindly agreed.”
The remarkable reunion follows Cohen’s claim that he felt “pressured and coerced” by prosecutors pursuing Trump and a private exchange that ended their years-long feud.

There are political reconciliations. There are Washington reconciliations. And then there is Donald Trump agreeing to be interviewed by Michael Cohen.

President Trump is scheduled Thursday to record an interview with the former personal attorney and fixer who broke with him, went to prison, became one of his loudest public enemies and ultimately served as a star prosecution witness in the Manhattan criminal case that produced Trump’s 34-count conviction.

Cohen confirmed the extraordinary sit-down, telling reporters that he made the approach.

“I reached out to the White House, reached out to the president, and he kindly agreed.”

The interview is expected to air in portions Thursday and again Sunday on Cohen’s WABC program, “When You Know, You Know… with Michael Cohen.”

Cohen described it as their first public conversation in eight years. Eight years in which “things got a little tense” would be one way to describe what happened.

Another would be: Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes. He implicated Trump. He testified against Trump. Trump called Cohen a liar. Cohen wrote books attacking Trump. Cohen openly fantasized about Trump going to prison.

And then Cohen became one of the most consequential witnesses in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Trump.

Cohen testified about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election and the reimbursement arrangement that prosecutors argued resulted in falsified Trump Organization business records.

Trump denied wrongdoing. The case ultimately produced 34 felony convictions. And now they’re doing radio together.

Folks, politics has officially surpassed professional wrestling. Cohen himself understands how bizarre this is.

He told CBS News:

“This is the first public conversation between the president and myself in eight years.”

But this reunion didn’t suddenly materialize Wednesday afternoon. The ice began melting months ago.

In July, Cohen appeared on WABC’s “Cats & Cosby” with John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby and revealed that an intermediary had contacted him earlier in the year with a message from Trump. Cohen said he was sitting in a restaurant with his wife when his phone buzzed. The message, he said, conveyed Trump’s “genuine empathy” for what Cohen believed he was going through.

Cohen responded directly to Trump.

“I thanked him. Expressed my sincere hope that this long, exhausting feud between the two of us could finally end.”

According to Cohen, Trump replied “almost immediately” and agreed that it was time for the two men to meet. Cohen summed up the moment this way:

“We both knew the cost of this war.”

And:

“The ice between us, it didn’t just melt, it broke.”

Cohen later told CNN that their relationship had become “cordial and growing.” Now comes the part that makes this reunion much more politically interesting than two old enemies simply deciding they’re tired of fighting.

Cohen has also changed his tune about some of the people who pursued Trump. Earlier this year, he published an extraordinary account alleging that he had felt pressured by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to provide information useful to their cases against Trump. Cohen described himself as feeling “pressured and coerced.”

That is quite a statement coming from a man whose credibility and testimony played such an enormous role in the legal campaign against Trump.

Cohen says his willingness to depart from narratives favored by Trump’s opponents subsequently produced backlash against him from the political left. He told WABC that this shared experience of feeling targeted helped reconnect him with Trump.

“We rekindled our relationship because of a shared experience of betrayal.”

Cohen even credits Trump’s political enemies with inadvertently helping repair the relationship. That’s a plot twist Hollywood would reject for being too obvious.

Remember where these two men were not very long ago. Cohen once said of Trump:

“I truly f—ing hope that this man ends up in prison.”

Before the 2024 election, Cohen said he was considering leaving the country if Trump returned to power. He talked about obtaining a foreign passport under a different name. Trump wasn’t exactly sending Cohen Christmas cards either. He repeatedly attacked his former lawyer as a liar and disloyal former employee.

Yet by this summer, Cohen was appearing regularly on Trump-friendly WABC, speaking much differently about the president. On a July appearance discussing a Trump address to the nation, Cohen defended the president’s desire to give Americans confidence in the voting process. And WABC itself has become part of this remarkable story.

Cohen joined the station as a Sunday host this summer, with station owner John Catsimatidis saying the White House had no objection to the hire. The New York Post reported that Cohen was already hoping to expand his radio presence beyond Sundays.

Now he’s landed Donald Trump. That’s one heck of a booking for a relatively new radio host. The most intriguing question is what happens when the microphones actually turn on.

Does Cohen ask Trump about his criminal trial? Does Trump ask Cohen about his allegations concerning prosecutors? Do they discuss Cohen’s testimony? Does Cohen explain why he once wanted Trump imprisoned and now describes their relationship as repaired? Does Trump forgive him? And perhaps most fascinatingly: what does Cohen now say about the cases in which he helped prosecutors pursue Trump?

Because Cohen’s story has evolved considerably. He once portrayed himself as a man who had finally broken free from Trump and was exposing his former boss. Now Cohen says other people used him, pressured him and discarded him when he stopped saying what they wanted to hear.

Those are two very different Michael Cohen stories. Thursday’s interview may tell us which one he now believes.

DBS WIRE SOURCES: