Donald Trump and Michael Cohen discussed Iran, the economy, immigration and their own repaired relationship in a newly released WABC radio interview.
Cohen shared an excerpt Thursday from his first public conversation with Trump in eight years. The former Trump lawyer described the exchange as “easy” and “familiar” after a bitter split that defined much of Trump’s first term.
The president used the interview to defend his ongoing war with Iran, claiming the country’s military and leadership had been severely weakened. He also repeated his longstanding pledge that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Trump further called the U.S. economy a “renaissance,” boasted about his record on illegal immigration and even claimed that he would win by 25 points if he were to run for reelection — despite polls indicating his approval rating remains at historic lows.
The interview was notable for the participants as much as its substance. Cohen was once Trump’s fiercely loyal fixer before becoming a key witness against him. The two have recently resumed contact, with Cohen describing their reconciliation as having been rooted in a shared sense of betrayal.
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open image in galleryTrump and Cohen’s repaired relationship
Cohen opened the interview by acknowledging the men’s checkered history. “You and I have obviously traveled a pretty rocky road together,” he told Trump, who called in over the phone.
Trump responded sympathetically, saying, “They weaponized you like nobody’s ever been weaponized.” He also praised Cohen for having “recanted everything you said,” apparently referring to Cohen’s January claim that New York officials had pressured him to testify against Trump.
Cohen served for years as Trump’s personal attorney, even claiming he would “take a bullet” for him. But their relationship collapsed after Cohen called Trump a “con man” in 2019 and later testified against Trump in his New York hush money trial.
open image in galleryCohen, who served three years in prison for lying to Congress and tax violations, became an outspoken Trump critic – one whom Democrats embraced. In 2024, for instance, he claimed Trump would run the U.S. “like the Führer” if re-elected. The president branded him a “sleazebag.”
This summer, however, Cohen said the two had rekindled their relationship due to a “shared experience of betrayal.” He said that after criticizing New York Democrats and saying he had never seen Trump meet with Jeffrey Epstein, the pair reconnected. “The ice between us, it didn’t just melt, it broke,” he told WABC in July.
Cohen also said Thursday that he had submitted a pardon application to the White House.
Iran war
During the interview excerpt, Trump characterized Iran as militarily weakened and economically strained, while arguing that continued U.S. pressure remains necessary.
“We’re doing very well with Iran,” Trump said. “The navy’s gone, the air force is gone, the leadership is gone.” He said the loss of Iranian leaders had also complicated diplomacy because “nobody knows who’s leading.”
Trump argued — as he long has — that the central issue was preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “Very simple.”
Still, the president acknowledged the ongoing war could increase energy and gasoline costs, but argued that such consequences were necessary.
open image in gallery“We’ve wiped them out militarily,” Trump said, while conceding that Iran still has missiles and drones. He said he would have made the same decision “100 times” because, in his view, Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t be having a nuclear weapon.”
Trump further claimed that, without him, much of the Middle East would be destroyed.
“There would be no Israel if there was not a Donald Trump president,” he told Cohen. “I think there’d be no Saudi Arabia either. Right now, I believe the Middle East would have been entirely wiped out.”
Multiple polls indicate a majority of Americans are opposed to the Iran war, which has now dragged on for nearly five months, upending the global energy industry. To date, 18 US service members have been killed in the war, and hundreds more have been wounded.
Trump brags about US economy
Elsewhere in the interview, the president called the U.S. economy a “renaissance.”
“There’s never been anything like it,” Trump said. “We had the greatest economy ever in my first term. This is going to blow it away.”
He focused on semiconductor production, saying the U.S. had become too dependent on imports from Taiwan. Trump said massive chip plants are now being built, including in Arizona, and that the country would no longer need to import the technology.
open image in galleryTrump also pointed to pharmaceutical manufacturing, arguing that the Covid-19 pandemic exposed U.S. dependence on foreign countries for medicine and medical equipment.
“Medicine is coming back,” Trump said. “We learned that from Covid because we didn’t make medicine.”
He named Eli Lilly, Merck and Pfizer among companies expanding U.S. operations, and argued that his sweeping tariffs — struck down by the Supreme Court in February — were driving companies to build factories domestically.
As with Iran, Americans appear to be at odds with the president on the economy. A recent Financial Times survey found that a majority of respondents believe economic conditions have worsened under Trump.
open image in gallerySouthern border
Trump said he had immediately resolved what he described as an uncontrollable situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, and complained that the achievement had received too little attention.
“When I came in, the border — they would allow 25 million people,” Trump said.
“I solved the problem in 30 days and solved it beautifully in 60,” Trump said. He claimed that “zero people came in” through the southern border in the past 16 months. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently said that zero releases had occurred at the border in 15 months.
Trump also criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she had failed to engage with Border Patrol officials. He argued that border security helped him win in 2016 and remained a central political issue in later campaigns.
“A victory has a two-week life,” Trump said, suggesting voters had moved on from an issue that he said had once dominated public discourse.
According to an August YouGov poll, 53 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, while 40 percent approve. By comparison, at the start of Trump’s term, 51 percent approved and 40 percent disapproved.