Trump Open to Pardoning Former Fixer Cohen
Trump Open to Pardoning Former Fixer Cohen
The News
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would consider pardoning Michael Cohen, his former fixer turned enemy, whose testimony helped convict Trump in the 2024 New York hush money case.
Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday that a pardon for Cohen is "something I would consider" — the clearest sign yet that a decade of hostility between the two men is over.
"I've never been asked that question," Trump said, according to Mediaite, before adding: "Well, if everything is checking out, it's something I would consider, yeah. I mean, what they did to Michael Cohen was a disgrace."
Cohen is seeking clemency, Reuters reported, and has submitted an application for the federal crimes that sent him to prison, according to PJ Media. He was at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, where Washington Sun reporters spotted him and PJ Media reported he was broadcasting his radio show.
The Convictions
Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison in 2018 and served more than a year for a $130,000 hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, plus cheating on his personal taxes and lying under oath to Congress, Reuters reported.
Trump was convicted in 2024 on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal the Daniels payment, in part because of Cohen's testimony. Trump denies the encounter with Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, and is appealing.
Timeline
The FBI raids Cohen's home and office, and the relationship between Trump and his longtime attorney collapses.
Cohen pleads guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a bank and campaign finance violations, and separately to lying to Congress. A federal judge sentences him to three years.
Testifying before Congress, Cohen says he is "ashamed that [he] chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump's illicit acts" and calls Trump a "racist," a "con man" and a "cheat."
Cohen is the star witness at Trump's New York trial. Trump is convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Cohen writes on his Substack that he felt pressured to testify at the trial.
Cohen tells Mediaite founder Dan Abrams his testimony was "truthful and accurate," and that his complaint was about pressure, not the substance.
Trump appears on Cohen's radio show, his first public sit-down with his former fixer in years.
Trump posts on Truth Social that Cohen "fully recanted his testimony."
Trump says he would consider a pardon. Cohen is at the GOP convention in Dallas the same day.
Reactions
Trump framed Cohen as a victim of prosecutors. "They forced him to say things that he didn't want to say and that he didn't believe, and I appreciate that at least he came out, although late, he came out and rectified the situation," he told reporters.
In his Sept. 4 Truth Social post, Trump wrote: "I would like to thank Michael for having the Wisdom and Courage to step forward and do the right thing!" He said any "remnant" of the cases against him should be "immediately terminated and dismissed."
Cohen has not walked back what he said under oath. "No. To the exact contrary," he told Abrams in February. "As I stated, I felt pressured and coerced. That's my personal feeling which I am certainly entitled to have. In no way, shape, or form should it connote that the information that I provided was anything but truthful and accurate."
The Washington Sun noted Cohen has made no statement formally retracting specific claims in the legal or congressional record. PJ Media, on the right, put it bluntly: "Cohen hasn't actually recanted his sworn testimony."
What's Next
Trump attached a condition — "if everything is checking out" — and set no timetable. A pardon would cover Cohen's federal convictions; the president's clemency power does not reach state cases.
Trump's own appeal of his 2024 New York conviction is still pending.
More
Trump has previously called Cohen a "convicted liar, felon and jailbird" and a "rat." Cohen's federal sentence is already served, so a pardon would be an act of forgiveness rather than a release from prison.
Trump spoke in an impromptu gaggle at Joint Base Andrews after the emergency slide on the Qatari-gifted Air Force One deflated and delayed his departure for Dallas, Mediaite reported.
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