Michael Cohen Says Ukraine Aid Came Under Donald Trump; Joe Biden Signed Most

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal attorney and the host of When You Know You Know, said in a preview clip that U.S. military aid to Ukraine "came under the Trump administration." The appropriations record largely contradicts that claim.

Congress has approved about $175 billion for Ukraine since Russia's February 2022 invasion, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found. The money came in five bills (two omnibus spending packages, a stopgap funding bill and two standalone supplementals), and President Joe Biden signed all five, according to congress.gov records.

Cohen made the remark in a short, choppy preview of his interview with Mother Jones journalist David Corn. The full episode is set for release Tuesday.

What Michael Cohen Said About Ukraine Aid

In the clip, Corn argued that Trump had not pushed back on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cohen cut in to defend the U.S. record.

"Well, except that the United States has given them over, what, a hundred billion dollars worth of armaments within which to stop," Cohen said. "Without the United States, Ukraine would have been taken. And that money came. That money came under the Trump administration."

The exchange was brief and full of cross-talk, and Cohen did not say which Trump term he meant.

How Much Ukraine Aid Congress Approved Under Joe Biden

Biden signed the first four bills into law on March 15, May 21, September 30 and December 29, 2022. Together they provided about $113.4 billion for Ukraine, according to a Government Accountability Office report. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's tally for 2022 is $113.1 billion. The fifth bill, signed by Biden in April 2024, included $61.7 billion for Ukraine, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found.

The Kiel Institute's Ukraine Support Tracker, which measures aid allocations rather than congressional appropriations, put U.S. military aid allocated from February 2022 to early 2025 at about €65 billion.

What Cohen May Have Meant: Donald Trump's First Term

Cohen may have been thinking of Trump's first term. In December 2017, the Trump administration approved the first sale of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, a step Barack Obama never took. The sale of 210 missiles and 37 launchers was completed in March 2018, and a second sale was approved in October 2019, ABC News reported.

The largest first-term aid program was far smaller than the Biden-era bills. Congress appropriated $250 million for the Pentagon's Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in fiscal 2019. Trump's budget office then withheld about $214 million of it in the summer of 2019, and the GAO later ruled that the hold violated the Impoundment Control Act.

If Cohen meant weapons that arrived during Trump's second term, the funding for them was still appropriated under Biden.

Donald Trump's Second Term: Arms Sales, Patriots and a G20 Invitation

In an early-2025 release, the Kiel Institute reported that no new U.S. aid had been announced since January 9, 2025, when the last package was announced while Biden was still in office.

Since then, weapons have reached Ukraine mostly through sales. Under a NATO program launched in July 2025, European allies and Canada buy U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine. Twenty-six countries take part, and more than $4 billion had been committed through the program by early July 2026, the Atlantic Council reported.

Corn said that the Iran war is now squeezing even those deliveries: "Donald Trump seemed to promise Patriot missiles and they're not going because we're using them in the stupid war..."

The strain on U.S. interceptor stocks is well documented. By May, the U.S. had used as much as half of its estimated 2,330 Patriot missiles against Iranian attacks since February 28, Foreign Policy reported.

Corn also pointed out that Trump has "invited him to the G20 meeting in December." Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last Wednesday that Putin had been invited to the Miami summit. "In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with," Rubio said, Al Jazeera reported.

What Happens Next

Cohen was not a one-sided defender of the administration in the clip. He acknowledged that Trump's envoys are not career diplomats: "I'm going to acknowledge that neither Jared Kushner or Steve Woodkoff, who was on my show here not too long ago, that they are not the seasoned diplomats that you refer."

The full interview comes out Tuesday. As for the December G20 summit, Rubio said of the invitation to Putin, "We hope that's an invitation he'll accept," according to Al Jazeera.