Michael Cohen Says He Reconciled With President Trump After Backlash

Michael Cohen said he has reconciled with President Trump after an intermediary conveyed the president's empathy earlier this year and Trump later suggested they meet. The Independent reported the account from Cohen's Friday interview with 77 WABC. Cohen attributed the renewed contact to backlash from the left over his comments about Democrats and Jeffrey Epstein.

"We rekindled our relationship because of a shared experience of betrayal," he said. " Cohen, 59, served as Trump's personal attorney for years and later admitted helping facilitate payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the hush-money case. President Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in that case.

Cohen served three years in prison for lying to Congress and tax violations. Cohen said the shift began after he criticized New York Attorney General Letitia James and District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a Substack post and stated he never saw Trump meet with or speak to Jeffrey Epstein. He said those comments cost him 30,000 Substack followers.

Cohen also recounted showing Trump a 2011 newspaper survey indicating about 5 percent of respondents wanted him to run for president. Trump replied that he did not run sooner because of real estate projects and his deal with The Apprentice, Cohen said. The Independent contacted the White House for comment.