CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed President Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen on whether he stood by his testimony against the president.
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On Thursday, Tapper interviewed Cohen about his reunion with Trump. Cohen announced on Thursday that he would publish a podcast interview with Trump.
Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer before pleading guilty in 2018 over hush money paid to women alleging affairs, and later served as a star witness in the 2024 trial that ended in a 34-count conviction.
However, the upcoming interview has prompted questions about their relationship, especially since Cohen has continued to publicly criticize and attack Trump ever since acting as a star witness against him.
“How would you describe your relationship with the president right now?” Tapper said, to which Cohen responded, “It’s being resuscitated.”
“You say that you haven’t forgotten the past,” Tapper said. “You testified under oath, obviously, that President Trump directed you to commit crimes. Do you stand by that?”
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“I will not discuss what I had said in the past, what I had stated under oath,” Cohen shot back, speaking over the phone. “I will not go there simply because I want to live for the future.”
Cohen continued, “I refuse to be pulled back into yesterday’s news and yesterday’s headlines, so that a slew of people can turn around and start to try to pull it apart.”
He then changed his tone from shouting his defense to speaking hopefully.
“I truly believe that there is forgiveness between Donald Trump and myself,” Cohen said. “And that to me is what is important right now.”
Cohen spoke repeatedly about forgiveness between himself and Trump but refused to revisit their 2018 fallout. He maintained that he didn’t forget about it.
“This forgiveness does not require amnesia. It requires the courage to stop allowing yesterday to dictate tomorrow,” Cohen said.
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