Michael Cohen was asked whether he'd petitioned President Donald Trump for a potential pardon during an appearance on CNN Thursday, ahead of Trump's appearance on Cohen's New York radio program, 77 WABC. Trump appeared on Cohen's radio program in a roughly 15-minute preview segment that aired Thursday, with the two discussing 2016, Iran, poll numbers, gasoline prices and more, while Cohen referred to the president as “boss.” The preview aired after Cohen appeared on CNN with anchor Jake Tapper, where Cohen said his relationship with Trump is “being resuscitated.” Cohen adamantly told Tapper that he refuses to be pulled back into “yesterday's news” and that he truly believes “there is forgiveness between Donald Trump and myself.” Newsweek reached out to the White House via email Thursday evening for comment. When Tapper asked whether he has asked the president for a pardon, he replied, "I have not." He went on to note that he had a pardon application in with former President Joe Biden, but it was denied.
"So, what I did is I took that same application, with the same documentation, and I just rewrote the cover letter, removing the name of President Joe Biden and inserting the name President Donald Trump," Cohen said. He added that he has not received an acknowledgment that they have the application and intends to call tomorrow to follow up. Legal analyst Elie Honig said on CNN after Cohen's interview with the outlet, "It's a fascinating social experiment; he took the exact same pardon application, supported by a bunch of liberal prominent voices, which was not acted on by Biden, and now he's resubmitted it to Trump...
I don't know if the same people will stand by him now that he has come out and said I felt pressured and coerced." "There never does seem to be a full final end to a relationship between Donald Trump and anyone else, but man I never would have expected this," Honig later added. Trump and Michael Cohen had a close professional and personal relationship for roughly 15 years, beginning when Cohen joined the Trump Organization in 2006. Cohen became one of Trump's most trusted advisers and was frequently described as his personal lawyer and “fixer,” handling sensitive matters for the businessman-turned-politician.
Cohen was a staunch defender of Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and later said he had been willing to “take a bullet” for him. Their relationship began to unravel in 2018 as federal investigators examined Cohen's business dealings and his role in alleged payments made during the 2016 campaign. The rupture became particularly bitter after Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges involving tax and bank fraud and campaign-finance violations, as well as later admitting that he had lied to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Cohen subsequently became a vocal critic of Trump and a key prosecution witness, including during Trump's New York criminal trial over the handling of a payment to Stormy Daniels. Trump, in turn, publicly attacked Cohen and questioned his credibility. A Manhattan jury ultimately found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in 2024.
Cohen notably said in January that he felt “pressured and coerced” by prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and New York Attorney General's Office to provide information and testimony that would help build their cases against Trump. Cohen has maintained that prosecutors pushed for testimony that fit their narrative, a claim that Trump has since seized on. During the radio preview clip with Cohen, Trump said that he respected the fact that Cohen "recanted." Thursday's interview highlights a remarkable turn in the pair's history.
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