Inside the once-close relationship between Trump and his 'pit bull' lawyer Michael Cohen, who is now a key witness in the ex-president's criminal trial
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is a key witness in Trump's history-making criminal trial.
Andres Kudacki/AP
Michael Cohen was one of Donald Trump's closest associates for years.
Trump's former "fixer" is now a key witness in the former president's historic criminal trial.
"What I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and benefit of Mr. Trump," Cohen testified.
Michael Cohen was once so loyal to former President Donald Trump that he vowed "to take a bullet" for him. He's now one of the marquee witnesses in Trump's history-making Manhattan criminal trial.
"It means that if somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn't like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump's benefit," Cohen told ABC News in a 2011 interview. "If you do something wrong, I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck, and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished."
Cohen endeared himself to Trump, first as the treasurer on the board of Trump World Tower in New York and later as his personal attorney. As a lawyer to the then-future president, Cohen described himself as a "thug, pit bull and lawless lawyer." Cohen brokered what prosecutors have described as a 2016 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump has repeatedly denied Daniels' claims.
But Cohen has turned dramatically against Trump. In 2019, he told Congress that the then-sitting president was a"con man" and a "cheat." Cohen later went to prison for lying to Congress about a failed Trump Tower Moscow project and other financial crimes. He emerged as a self-styled, changed man who used a book and podcast to further his turn from a Trump ally into a wannabe resistance member.
"What I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and benefit of Mr. Trump," Cohen testified about the hush-money payments he made before the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen's fascination with the Trump brand began in back 2001
Michael Cohen and Donald Trump.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Cohen would quickly become one of Trump's most ardent supporters — but has since become one of the biggest legal threats to the Trump presidency.
Cohen pushed Trump to run for president in 2012. While the future president flirted with the idea, he ultimately declined.
Cohen tried to goad Trump into running for president in 2012.
David Becker/Getty Images
Trump, then-just a New York businessman and reality TV star, had long flirted with running for president. Ahead of the 2012 election, Cohen launched a website called "Should Trump Run." Trump ultimately passed, but he began to lay the groundwork for his shocking 2016 upset.
Despite being Trump's "fixer," Cohen sometimes created problems for the 2016 GOP hopeful.
Cohen was a surrogate for Trump's 2016 campaign and, at times, pressured reporters over stories.
Evan Vucci/AP
Like many in Trump's orbit, Cohen was thrust into the greater spotlight and onto the 2016 campaign trial. It didn't always go well. Cohen threatened a Daily Beast reporter for unearthing Ivana Trump's comments that described an encounter with her then-husband as "rape."
"You're talking about the frontrunner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as a private individual who never raped anybody," Cohen told the outlet. "And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can't rape your spouse."
Cohen's comments sparked a firestorm, leading Trump, then the GOP frontrunner, to declare, "He's speaking for himself."
But Cohen affirmed his loyalty to Trump with behind-the-scenes hush-money payments.
Porn actress Stormy Daniels, accompanied by her then-attorney, Michael Avenatti, right, talks to the media as she leaves federal court in 2018.
Mary Altaffer/AP
It was what Cohen did privately that remains his biggest 2016-related legacy.
Cohen testified at the hush-money trial that in the wake of The Washington Post publishing the "Access Hollywood" tape, the Trump campaign was on edge about any other stories regarding Trump's history with women.
Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, had been shopping around her story that she had an affair with Trump at a 2006 celebrity golf tournament. Trump has repeatedly denied that he had an affair. In the wake of the tape's publication, prosecutors said Trump wanted to "lock down the Stormy Daniels story."
Just weeks before the election, Cohen and Daniels' lawyer brokered a $130,000 hush-money payment.
Prosecutors allege that Trump's payments to Cohen were structured in a way to cover up hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Copies of checks Donald Trump signed to pay Michael Cohen.
Jon Elswick/AP
Cohen testified at the hush-money trial that he opened a new bank account to hide his payment to Daniels from his wife. After the election, prosecutors said the now-President Trump agreed to a series of installments to pay Cohen back, disguised as legal fees.
The episode remained private until a 2018 bombshell Wall Street Journal article uncovered the payment. Cohen, who was, at the time, the president's personal attorney, was about to have his life upended.
Michael Cohen listens to a call following the FBI's reported raids on his home, office, and hotel room
Michael Cohen listens to a call following the FBI's reported raids on his home, office, and hotel room.
Yana Paskova/Getty Images
Then-special counsel Robert Mueller makes a referral to the FBI. In April 2018, federal agents raided Cohen's home, office, and hotel room. Trump blasts his own Justice Department over the decision.
Cohen testified during Trump's 2024 trial that the president called his longtime attorney to reassure him that he had his back.
"Don't worry, I'm the President of the United States, there's no — nothing here," Cohen testified that Trump told him. "Everything is going to be ok. Stay tough. You'll be okay."
According to Cohen, it was the last time the pair spoke directly. Trump, according to his former attorney, used intermediaries and public tweets to convey that Cohen should remain loyal to his longtime boss.
Cohen has repeatedly cited his family as a major motivation for his turn against Trump.
Michael Cohen is accompanied by his wife and children as he arrives to his 2018 sentencing hearing.
Craig Ruttle/AP
Despite his bravado, Cohen testified that he was "scared." For some time, the Trump Organization paid his legal fees. He was part of a joint defense agreement. Ultimately, Cohen said his family questioned why he was willing to risk so much.
"We're in this unique situation that I've never experienced," Cohen testified on May 14, at the hush-money trial. "And my family, my wife, my daughter, my son, all said to me, why are holding onto this loyalty? What are you doing? We're supposed to be your first loyalty?"
He said that Trump directed the hush-money payments, a claim that contradicted the then-president's direct denials. It was, as the Associated Press reported, "the first time that any Trump associate has gone into open court and implicated Trump himself in a crime."
Trump's turn against his former "fixer" was evident when he blasted him on Twitter in 2018.
A screenshot of a Donald Trump tweet calling Michael Cohen a "rat."
Screenshot @realDonaldTrump
Trump's reaction was swift. Within months, he called Cohen "a 'rat'," a term more commonly used in mafia-related business than in presidential communications.
After over a decade together, the pair's relationship was shattered.
Cohen's 2019 congressional testimony was notably combative. At one point, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, a Democrat, moved him to tears.
Michael Cohen became emotional at times during his 2019 congressional testimony.
"I have done bad things, but I am not a bad man," Cohen said. "I have fixed things, but I am no longer your 'fixer,' Mr. Trump."
Cohen further testified he not only made the illicit hush-money payments at the direction of Trump, but testified that Trump directed him to threaten news outlets and others with litigation "at least 500" times — even threatening the schools Trump attended not to release his grades or SAT scores.
At the end of the hearing, Cohen was moved to tears when then-Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chairman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, expressed sympathy for Cohen's situation.
"I know it's painful being called a rat," Cummings said in his closing statement. "I live in the inner city of Baltimore. When you call someone a rat, that's one of the worst things you can call them … because that means snitch."
Republicans took every opportunity to tear into Cohen, which Trump's allies have repeated during the criminal trial.
Trump allies and Republicans have repeatedly tried to show that Cohen cannot be trusted.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Republicans repeatedly blasted Cohen throughout his testimony. They painted him as a jilted former aide who turned on Trump because he didn't get a job in the White House. (Cohen said he wanted to stay outside the administration.)
Trump allies also emphasized Cohen's admission that the former Trump attorney had lied to Congress before.
"Mr. Cohen, here's what I see, I see a guy who worked for 10 years, who is trashing a guy he worked for 10 years, didn't get a job in the White House, and now you're behaving just like everyone else who got fired or didn't get the job they wanted," Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who was at the time the top Republican on the Oversight committee, said during the hearing.
A few months later, Michael Cohen had to report to federal prison.
A car carrying Michael Cohen arrives at a federal prison in 2019.
Seth Wenig/AP
Cohen reported to the federal prison near Otisville, New York in May 2019. Before that, he was also formally disbarred. Cohen was sentenced to three years behind bars, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was able to serve out a lot of the time via home confinement.
Cohen continued his campaign against Trump as a free man, and, by his admission, it had made him millions.
Cohen speaks during a "Mea Culpa Live with Michael Cohen" event.
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
Cohen's turn against Trump has been lucrative for his former lawyer. Cohen testified that he has made roughly $3.4 million off of two Trump-related books. He also hosts a podcast on behalf of the anti-Trump group Meidas Touch.
Since breaking with Trump, Cohen has repeatedly trolled his former boss. One of his favorite insults is calling Trump Donald "Von ShitzInPantz."
Trump had not seen Cohen for years before they were reunited in a New York courtroom.
Michael Cohen pauses while entering court before testifying in Trump's civil fraud trial.
"The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience," Engoron wrote in his decision.
Trump is limited in how much he can attack Cohen during the New York criminal trial.
Trump addresses reporters outside his Manhattan criminal trial.
Steven Hirsch/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Cohen repeatedly barbed Trump in the lead-up to his then-expected testimony in Trump's Manhattan criminal trial.
Justice Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, which bars the former president from commenting on likely witnesses in the case. Merchan has held Trump in contempt and ordered him to pay $10,000 in fines. If Trump violates the order again, Merchan has warned he could jail the former president.
One of Trump's violations was when he posted on Truth Social, "Has disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen been prosecuted for LYING?"
Cohen is a key witness in Trump's criminal trial.
Trump has at times watched Cohen as Todd Blanche, one of the former president's lawyers, has conducted his cross-examination.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
The Manhattan trial is the first time in history a former president has faced criminal charges. Prosecutors have relied on Cohen to testify to Trump's direct involvement in hush-money payments and in helping falsify business records to cover them up.
If Trump himself doesn't testify in the case, Cohen could be the last major witness to testify.
Trump's lead attorney, Todd Blanche, has grilled Cohen over his past statements about Trump, including when Cohen called the former president a "Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain."
