Michael Cohen said Monday that he reconciled with Donald Trump after a break that followed the hush money trial aftermath. Cohen made the remarks at an event for his new job at 770 WABC radio and said he later met Trump again at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
He said a mutual friend relayed Trump's empathy after online attacks on Cohen, prompting a text in which he thanked Trump and suggested they reestablish their long lost friendship. Trump replied, “That would be nice. Let's do it.”
770 WABC radio event
Cohen said, “The far-left group on my Substack platform and my other social media platforms began to vociferously attack me because I made certain statements that did not comport to their ideology or their messaging.” He said the criticism followed his public pushback on accusations involving Jeffrey Epstein, adding, “I never saw him in Trump's office. I never heard him on the speaker phone.”
He said, “There was no communication.” Cohen also said, “I didn't betray anyone.” The comments came while he was describing how he moved from a public split with Trump back to direct contact.
Mar-a-Lago in Florida
Cohen said the exchange did not stop with the text. He said he and Trump later had a second, more intimate, more friendly meeting at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, after the president’s response made clear he was open to renewing the relationship.
The reconciliation is notable because Cohen was a key witness against Trump in Letitia James' business fraud case and in Alvin Bragg's hush money trial. In 2024, Arthur Engoron found Trump engaged in fraud by exaggerating his net worth for decades and imposed a judgment that grew to more than $500 million after interest and fines, while Manhattan jurors found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Donald Trump and Michael Cohen
Cohen's account leaves one question hanging: what exact private conversation or agreement led to the second Mar-a-Lago meeting. For now, the public record shows only the text, the mutual friend's relay of Trump's empathy, and Cohen's own description of a friendship he says he wanted back.
