Michael Cohen Rejects Idea He Is Now on Donald Trump's Team

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, said people have wished him cancer and death after he had dinner with Trump. He made the remarks on his 77 WABC show When You Know, You Know.

For years Cohen was one of Trump's loudest critics, and he was a key prosecution witness against him. On the show he read out hostile listener mail, including messages calling him a traitor, and pushed back on the idea that a meal with the president made everything he had said inaccurate.

"Well, okay, so what? I went and I saw the president. I went and I had dinner with the president. All of a sudden, that means that everything that I have said is inaccurate." — Michael Cohen

"That all of a sudden I should go to hell. I should die," Cohen continued. "I mean, I had people wishing me cancer, wishing my wife of 32 years should leave me." He also said people had told him his children should stop talking to him. He did not say when the dinner took place or what the two men discussed.

Michael Cohen Denies Joining 'Team Trump'

Cohen rejected the idea that he has switched sides. He said that "at no point in time am I turning around and saying I am now on team Trump," and added: "I am merely speaking facts, facts as I know them."

He opened the episode by describing what he called the "tired majority": conservatives who back secure borders and limited government but want the freedom to criticize. "When Donald Trump does something that I agree with, I say so. And when I think that he deserves criticism, I will say that too," Cohen said. Answering one listener, he said he "may be left of center" and that "some people would say that I'm right of center."

He pointed to his record as a witness. He said he had appeared seven times before congressional committees and had testified under subpoena before two grand juries and at two trials.

From Key Witness to Radio Host: A Timeline

The public record traces Cohen's turn against Trump and his recent return toward him:

• 2018: Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and lying to Congress, among other crimes, and was sentenced to three years in prison.
• 2019: He testified before Congress.
• 2023: He testified in New York's civil fraud case against Trump and his companies, PBS reported.
• 2024: He testified about the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels in the criminal trial that ended with Trump convicted on 34 felony counts.
• 2025 and 2026: The two men met in person at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, last year and at Mar-a-Lago this year, NBC News reported. Cohen described a meeting with Trump as "warm and reminiscent of old times," The New York Times reported.
• August 2026: Trump appeared on Cohen's radio show and told him, "I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said," CBS News reported.

Cohen told CNN in August that he had resubmitted the pardon application that President Joe Biden's administration had denied, with President Donald Trump's name on the cover letter, CBS News reported.

Another Mar-a-Lago Visitor

Cohen is not the first person from outside Trump's political camp to meet him at Mar-a-Lago. In January 2025, when Trump was president-elect, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, was set to become the first sitting Democratic senator to meet him there, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Cohen told critics he would keep going on the radio, on Substack and on social media.

"I will continue to stand up and I will continue to tell the truth," he said.