Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer and self-described fixer who once compared Donald Trump to an "organised crime don" and helped send him to a criminal conviction, welcomed the US president onto his New York City radio show on Thursday — addressing him as "boss" and "sir" in what observers described as one of the most deferential interviews in recent broadcasting memory.

The interview aired on 77 WABC, a New York radio station where Cohen hosts a regular programme. The reunion marks a striking reversal for two men whose falling-out was among the most bitter in Trump's political orbit. Cohen once boasted he would "take a bullet" for Trump, but after his 2018 guilty plea — he was sentenced to three years in prison for campaign finance violations and lying to Congress, among other crimes — he turned sharply against his former employer. In 2019 congressional testimony, Cohen called Trump a "racist," a "conman" and a "cheat" who behaved more like a mobster than a president. He later arranged for the $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels on Trump's behalf, and his 2024 testimony in Trump's criminal trial helped secure a conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump, for his part, branded Cohen a "rat."

During Thursday's broadcast, however, none of that adversarial history was meaningfully revisited. Cohen allowed Trump's claims — including assertions about the economy and the administration's military operations — to pass without challenge, while expressing enthusiasm and nostalgia. Trump, in turn, told Cohen: "They weaponised you, they weaponised a lot of people, and I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said." Cohen did not directly dispute that characterisation, though he has previously described his position as one of forgiveness rather than full recantation. In a newsletter promoting the interview, Cohen wrote: "The good times don't cease to have existed because the bad times came afterward," and added simply, "We forgave."

Critics were quick to note a possible motive beyond reconciliation: Cohen has submitted an application for a presidential pardon. When asked beforehand whether he might use the interview to seek one, he declined to answer directly. Analysts pointed out that Cohen joins a long list of prominent figures — including Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and tech billionaire Elon Musk — who publicly clashed with Trump only to later seek to repair the relationship. One criminal defence lawyer, commenting on CNN, compared the reunion to "Julius Caesar and Brutus."

The interview broke no new news and generated no policy announcements, but its symbolic weight was considerable. It underscored the degree to which Trump's gravitational pull continues to reshape the political and personal calculations of those in his former inner circle, even those who once testified under oath about his alleged wrongdoing. For Cohen, who built a media profile in recent years partly on his role as a prominent Trump critic, the broadcast represented a conspicuous repositioning — one that drew both ridicule and fascination in roughly equal measure.