President Trump told reporters Friday he would consider granting a pardon to Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney who served as the star witness in the 2024 New York hush money trial, capping a remarkable public reconciliation between the two men.
Trump made the comments before boarding Air Force One for Dallas on September 9, speaking at length about what he called an unjust prosecution and praising Cohen for what he described as a belated decision to set the record straight. The Hill reported that Trump said he would move forward with a pardon "if everything is checking out."
The statement marks the clearest signal yet that the president is willing to use his pardon power on behalf of the man who once turned against him in a Manhattan courtroom, and who has spent much of 2026 working to repair the relationship.
On the tarmac Friday, Trump did not hedge. He called the legal process that ensnared both him and Cohen corrupt from the start.
"What they did to Michael Cohen was a disgrace. 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."
Trump added bluntly: "It was illegal what they did." He also said, "What they put him through was incredible." Those remarks track with a Truth Social post from the previous week in which Trump wrote that Cohen had "fully RECANTED his testimony" and had been "pressured" and "coerced" into saying things that were not true.
There is an important factual wrinkle. Cohen has not formally recanted his testimony. He admitted in court during the 2024 trial to facilitating hush money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. That admission stands. But Cohen has said he felt pressured by prosecutors to testify against the president, and Trump has seized on that claim as vindication.
The distinction matters legally, even if politically the two men have moved past it. Trump framed Cohen's public statements as an act of courage, writing on Truth Social: "I would like to thank Michael for having the Wisdom and Courage to step forward and do the right thing!"
The pardon push did not come out of nowhere. Cohen told CNN in August that he had submitted a formal written pardon application to the White House, though he said he had not spoken directly to Trump about it. The timeline of their reconciliation stretches back months. In July, Cohen told WABC radio hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby on their show "Cats & Cosby" that he had received a text message from the president roughly six months earlier.
By last month, the relationship had thawed enough for Trump to appear as a guest on Cohen's own WABC radio show. During that conversation, Trump told Cohen that the government had been "weaponized" against him and added: "There were plenty of others too, and it's a disgrace."
Trump also told Cohen on the air: "I think it's so amazing that you came out, and you told the story, and people respect you for doing it." The tone was not that of a president addressing a former adversary. It was warm, almost familiar, a far cry from the bitter split that defined their public relationship during and after the 2024 trial.
The broader pattern of former critics reversing course on Trump is not limited to Cohen. Actor Michael Rapaport recently admitted he was wrong about Trump after years of public attacks, reflecting a wider trend of public figures reconsidering their positions.
The arc of the Trump-Cohen saga is striking. In 2024, Cohen sat in a Manhattan courtroom as the prosecution's central witness, testifying about payments to Stormy Daniels that he said were designed to conceal an alleged affair before the 2016 election. He admitted to facilitating those payments. The trial became one of the most politically charged legal proceedings in modern American history.
Now, barely two years later, Cohen is asking the man he testified against to wipe his record clean. And Trump appears inclined to do it, provided the details check out.
Trump's Truth Social post last week tied the Cohen situation to a broader demand. After praising Cohen's "Act of Bravery" as "a Great Credit to the Justice System in New York City and State," Trump pivoted to a wider call: "Now we are asking that any remnant of those Politically Weaponized Cases against me be immediately terminated and dismissed."
That language fits a consistent theme from the president, who has long argued that the legal cases brought against him were politically motivated. A federal judge recently rejected Trump's bid to move his New York conviction for a third time, underscoring the ongoing legal battles that continue to shape his presidency.
Several open questions remain. The White House has not publicly acknowledged receiving Cohen's pardon application. Trump's condition, "if everything is checking out", remains undefined. Which specific convictions or charges a pardon would cover is also unclear from Trump's public remarks.
Nor is it clear which prosecutors Cohen alleges pressured him, or what form that pressure took. Trump has embraced the claim without elaboration, and Cohen's own public statements have been paraphrased rather than quoted at length.
The Cohen pardon talk arrives during a period of broader political realignment around Trump. Senators who once hesitated to back his nominees have reversed course to support his attorney general pick, and even the courts have delivered unexpected results. A federal judge dismissed Proud Boys convictions on constitutional grounds, adding another dramatic legal reversal to the Trump-era ledger.
Meanwhile, figures outside government have made their own dramatic pivots. Elon Musk pledged $100 million to Republicans after months spent repairing his own rift with the president, a reminder that in Trump's political world, yesterday's adversary can become tomorrow's ally.
Cohen's journey from courtroom witness to pardon applicant may be the most dramatic example yet. Whether Trump ultimately signs the paperwork remains to be seen. But the fact that the question is even on the table tells you everything about who controls the terms of this story, and who never did.