Trump's Former Lawyer Calls Out the Left

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]When I checked during the break, more than 15,000 had voted on today's poll question at skornicki.com which asks whether you agree or disagree with Graham Plathner's wife who says that the sexting story that emerged over the weekend about her husband is not the public's business. I was surprised that 60% are disagreeing with her. I thought that given those who typically vote on my poll questions, it would be the reverse that it would probably be 60% saying they do agree with her, but that's not the case. Saturday, as I've been discussing and summarizing, I delivered a commentary on CNN and I talked about the acquiescence, the willingness of Democrats to go along with a flawed candidate like Plathner because I think they perceive him to be a pugilist. They they want a guy like Trump. Like the evangelicals see in Trump, they want someone willing to bring a gun to a political knife fight.

[00:00:56]And in the same way evangelicals will look past those shortcomings, those moral flaws of Donald Trump, I think that in this case Democrats are doing likewise with the likes of Plathner.

[00:01:08]That was the thesis.

[00:01:11]And then in terms of contrast, I said, "Here's a guy in Pennsylvania named David Wecht. He's a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice. He got out of the Democratic Party and he got out of the Democratic Party because he said Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation, and attacks at synagogues minimized, ignored, even coddled."

[00:01:32]And there was quite a reaction, most of it negative to the things that I had to say. I did hear from someone over the weekend who seemed to understand what I was trying to get off my chest. That's the president's former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen joins me now.

[00:01:47]Michael, help me with the intro because I I was about to promote Mea Culpa. I was about to promote your social media projects.

[00:01:56]Um, don't know how open you are to having the conversation now, but you told me some of that is is no longer taking place because of a related issue.

[00:02:06]>> Yeah, so what happened was as a direct result of some comments that I had made, very similar to what you're experiencing, I started to get canceled by uh the left. Meaning uh like Midas Touch Network as an example, who I had been with for almost 5 and 1/2 years at the time we had a number one show called Political Beatdown on YouTube. Um, their folks were so angry at some of the things that I had said that they actually ended up breaking off relations um with me. We remained friends, but from a business standpoint, uh they really needed uh for me to go. And I understand what you were trying to say.

[00:02:50]For me, I found that one of the strangest developments, at least the strangest development in modern politics, is watching even the far left adopt the very same tactics that they once condemned. You see, like what you're doing, apparently telling the truth is now grounds for excommunication.

[00:03:16]>> There's no room for nuance. I mean, that that's I think what the way in which I would express it, but are you telling me everybody knows your history, right? I mean, you you worked side by side with President Trump for a period of of what? A decade? The two of you were inseparable?

[00:03:34]>> Yeah, decade and a half.

[00:03:36]>> Okay, had a falling out with him, you know, had to go away for a while. I don't need to revisit all of that today, but then have been a very harsh critic of President Trump as he sought to re-emerge for the most recent cycle. And I sense what you're telling me is that there's like a purity test. They didn't want you to be independent. They wanted you to be lockstep opposed to Trump. And anytime that you weren't, it was an issue. Fair?

[00:04:04]>> Right. Yeah, very fair. So, what I've now done is I have my own Substack, which I promote all the time. It's at The Real Michael Cohen, as well as my own YouTube show called The Michael Cohen Show. But, to answer your point, I have and I continue to be, like you, attacked. Not for defending Trump, but because I have not.

[00:04:29]But, literally also for refusing to manufacture facts about him that are just completely untrue. And likewise, what I had also done is I had questioned both Tish James and Alvin Bragg, who I testified as key witnesses in two very significant cases on behalf of their office, right? Just because I criticized them for the manner to which they either got into office or how they acted regarding those cases towards me, that now makes me into a MAGA loyalist. All right? It's It's so hard to imagine, Mike, that this is what we have to go through. You know, I want to say that my feelings right now, the problem with this ideological purity test, is that eventually everyone fails them. You've been on air how long? You have been both a critic of Trump, as well as you have praised him in the past. You call balls and strikes. Well, today, this tribal fight, this tribal loyalty, does not exist in the same way I as it used to exist where you're allowed to have these Murchanich opinions. You are not. If you say nine things that they agree with and one that they fundamentally disagree with, you my friend get excommunicated, you get hate mail, you get hate text, you get you get canceled by the far left or by the far right. There is no more centrist or centrist opinions that you are allowed to have.

[00:06:22]>> Well, the shame of it is that that's where the clicks are.

[00:06:25]Right? If if you want to if you want to attract eyes to websites and to YouTube videos or ears to podcasts and to radio programs, it's to play to one of those constituencies that are at the ends of the political spectrum because that's where the hardcore exist and the people who are somewhere in between, I like to say they're they're doing other things.

[00:06:44]They're working and paying mortgages and they're caught up in their communities and and they're not so intent to be focused on this every single day.

[00:06:52]>> Yeah, it's so true. You know, I I was watching you on CNN and I was saying to myself something that I had written about in my Substack the other day that when truth becomes subordinate to tribal loyalty, then justice suffers, credibility evaporates, and extremism, whether it's on the far left or the far right, they're the ones who ultimately win. So, I tell people to constantly ground yourself. As the famous Mayor Ed Koch used to always say, if you agree with me six out of 12 times, you should support me. If you agree with me 12 out of 12 times, you should seek a psychiatrist.

[00:07:38]It's true, right?

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[00:08:33]Casino bonus has to be wagered. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. I know you've a lot of choices when it comes to YouTube. Please consider subscribing to this channel because it's unlike any other. Every day we're putting out great content. It might be front page newsmakers like today John Fetterman. It might be somebody from the arts. It might be a rock star. I'm into everything and constantly providing you with great content here on my YouTube channel. Quote, this is this is this is the tip of the iceberg for for me this weekend. You're nothing but a right-wing Trump bootlicking MAGA hack. CNN should fire your ass. I said essentially nothing about Trump. It's that I was telling a story about how in Pennsylvania a Supreme Court justice ditched the Democratic Party. Couldn't take it anymore because he thought they'd acquiesced to anti-Semitism.

[00:09:23]That at the same time that Maynards are rallying around a guy who had a Nazi tattoo on his chest for 18 years. So, what's going on here? And I'd rather be with David Wecht, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice than I would with Graham Platter. But by having that conversation by having that conversation, that is somehow mega friendly. That wasn't my intent at all.

[00:09:49]>> It's and that individual, Mike, you will never ever reach them ideologically, philosophically, intelligently. You cannot because they have a tribal loyalty that you are not in step with. And since you are not in step with, you are in step out of. And that's the danger. You know, you can disagree with Donald Trump in terms of the War Powers Act of 1973.

[00:10:26]Congress is the branch that is supposed to declare war. Congress has the power of the purse. However, the War Powers Act of 1973 does provide the president with a limited window within which to conduct operations militarily. 60 days and then 30 days for withdrawal. We are far past that 60 days. We're like in today 92.

[00:10:54]So, the question then becomes you can agree with everything Trump is doing in Iran. Iran must never, in my estimation, ever possess a nuclear weapon. So, I'm lockstep with Trump on that. Do I believe that Congress needs to be informed? Yes. Do I believe that the War Powers Act of '73 has expired? Yes. Do I believe that the executive branch, um, including, of course, the Department of War, Pete Hegseth, are required to go to Congress for approval and to provide with a strategic plan for what's to go forward? absolutely. But, because I don't disagree with Trump's involvement and what he wants to accomplish in um with Iran, therefore, like you, I had a guy send me over the weekend. He must have taken 5 minutes out of his very busy day to do it. He called me the C-word 800 times and then um expressed how I am fellating Donald Trump with my what with my statements.

[00:12:02]>> Okay, that answers my question because I was wondering I was thinking to myself that why would they call you the C-word?

[00:12:07]That's an odd choice to use for a male, but it was a different C-word that they were calling you.

[00:12:13]>> No, no, it was the female. It was the see you next Tuesday word. Yeah.

[00:12:17]>> Oh, okay. Okay. Huh, I don't get that often. I I some that's something I don't that's something I don't often I see.

[00:12:24]Michael, let me ask you a different question. So, now now I can better appreciate. It sounds to me like you were on a platform or platforms that embraced you as a Trump critic, but that the moment you wouldn't go as far as they wanted, then that was going to be the end of of business as usual. They they needed 100% purity from you. But, now I'm sitting and I'm listening to you and it it's not as if you're embracing the administration. I say what you just said, which is I want him to achieve that objective in Iran, absolutely. I don't think that he ever made the case as to why we needed to go in on February 28th, but we're there and I want it to have a successful completion. Have you ever attempted any rapprochement with President Trump? Is that something that interests you?

[00:13:13]>> Of course, it does. And the reason why it does, and I've said this, you know, I went on, for example, what really got the Midas mighty very angry at me is I went on a podcast called PBD, Patrick Bet-David. I also went on Lara Trump's podcast. I also talked about how I was going to later down the road take my RSS feed, and I was going to do a podcast who I was speaking to several different people who are far right because I want to be able to engage in meaningful dialogue with people who generally would not be engaging in conversation with those of us who are say left of center.

[00:13:54]That was not okay for any of them, and so they did need within which to end our relationship, not our friendship, but our business relationship because I refused to turn around and to claim that Donald Trump um had either expressed to me or I had ever seen any relationship during my 15 years by the man's side with Jeffrey Epstein.

[00:14:23]That was just too much for me.

[00:14:24]>> Wait, wait a minute. Wait, in the This is important. In the time period that you were associated with Trump, you saw nothing of any relationship between he and Epstein?

[00:14:34]>> As I have said, and I will continue to say it because it is the truth. From the years of 2007 through 2018, I never met Jeffrey Epstein, I never emailed him, texted, communicated with him or anyone on his behalf. I never saw Jeffrey Epstein in the office, I never heard Jeffrey Epstein on the phone, had no dealings with Jeffrey Epstein at all.

[00:14:57]The only issue that I ever had that had Jeffrey Epstein attached to it was somehow a file came to my desk. A lawyer had sued both Epstein and Trump on behalf of a Jane Doe. I had sent an investigator in order to get me some information on it. It turns out that the plaintiff was not even real. The lawyer apologized, withdrew the case. They then started making all of these claims that the Katie Johnson Jane Doe case was the case that I was working on. And as the lawyer for Katie Johnson Jane Doe stated, "You're conflating a different Jane Doe case. I've never spoken, dealt with, or even communicated with anyone by the name of Michael Cohen."

[00:15:49]>> So, that he and Epstein had a relationship, I think is clear from all that's in the public record, but not as clear, says Michael Cohen, as people would believe if they're looking at that Wall Street Journal birthday greeting or have seen some of the pictures that by now we've all seen.

[00:16:07]>> Michael, that play that took place before my tenure started. I can only talk about what I know and the person that I know. And as I said and it made the mightiest mighty [ __ ] furious. I mean, just freaking furious. The fact that I would not turn around and I would not make statements to the effect of a relationship between Epstein and Trump. To the extent that I was within that orbit, I never heard about him, never spoke about him, never met him, never saw him in Trump's office, no connection whatsoever at all.

[00:16:46]>> Are you really Epstein file?

[00:16:48]>> never saw My if I I've never seen the file, I've never seen anything in the file, but I will turn around and say that I will never refute what somebody else sta- you know, makes um as a statement, especially based upon first-hand knowledge. I'm not here to dissuade anybody. I can only tell you what I know from a first-person position.

[00:17:12]>> And Michael Cohen is is here to say that the left demands purity. The right does too.

[00:17:19]But the left demands purity.

[00:17:22]>> And I think the left is much worse because as you know, many in the Trump orbit are expressing, there is a real case of TDS, uh short for Trump Derangement Syndrome.

[00:17:37]And the far left is truly suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. When Michael Smerconish, when Michael Cohen, when others cannot express truth, including when I said regarding Tish James and Alvin Bragg, that I felt, let me say it one more time, I felt pressured and coerced to provide them with answers that followed their line of questioning and their intention, which was to obtain a conviction, that seemed to have thrown That was the straw that broke the camel's back. You're not allowed to have your own Michael opinion. You're not allowed to have your own feelings if it does not comport with their position and their feelings.

[00:18:23]>> And that was the the money laundering case? That was the Stormy Daniels case?

[00:18:28]>> That's correct.

[00:18:30]>> Okay.

[00:18:30]>> As well as the as well as the other, the um >> [clears throat] >> Michael Michael, let me before you before you leave me, I'm just I'm just on a personal level curious and I'll bet the audience is as well in light of some of the things that you've said so far.

[00:18:43]So, would you like to patch things up with Trump?

[00:18:47]>> So, what I would like is I would like to understand, you know, I what I would like, to put it in the most basic of human terms, I would like closure.

[00:19:01]You know, I have been going through this now since literally 2018, eight years.

[00:19:08]Eight years this sits on top of my head.

[00:19:11]I have certain questions that I would like to ask the president. Somebody >> Give me one. Give me one.

[00:19:17]>> I will. Somebody who I was incredibly close to, who I spent every single day Monday through Sunday, who I was the first phone call 4:30 in the morning and the last at night at 11:00 p.m. every single night, including on my vacations.

[00:19:33]I would like to ask him why?

[00:19:36]Of all the people that you would throw under the bus, the guy who kind of started the entire campaign in 2011 and then again in 2015, why would you throw me of all people under the bus? Why did you turn around and just stop paying the lawyers? None of this makes any sense.

[00:19:56]I'm just curious as to why. I would like some closure in my life so that I can have peace in the rest of my life. So, sure, I would welcome an opportunity to sit down with somebody who I regarded um highly, who I worked for, who I called a friend. I would like closure in my life.

[00:20:18]So, absolutely.

[00:20:21]>> You're one of the only people, maybe the only one that I can think of who it it seems like with Trump you're not dead to him until you're really gone. That there have been so many rapprochements that he's been a part of where somebody's been on the outside and then they're all of a sudden back on the inside. Not that I perceive you seeking to get back on the inside, but it's it's just it's it's an interesting case why Michael Cohen hasn't been allowed at least some level of being on the periphery of Trump world. And I believe you if you're telling me that you're not.

[00:20:55]>> Yeah, well, I appreciate that.

[00:20:58]>> What does Lara Trump What What did Lara Trump say? When you said with the I assume you discussed this with her.

[00:21:04]>> I did. I did. Um you know, >> And?

[00:21:06]>> said that question came up and as I said to her, I would like closure. I would like some answers as to why. You know, it's it's um, a very tough thing to live with anger, to live with these sorts of questions that loom over your head. Um, you know, I would like to understand why of all the people that were in the orbit, why they thought I was expendable.

[00:21:39]And that's that's the that's really the essence of the beginning of the questions that I would like to ask.

[00:21:49]>> Michael, thank you for being here. It's a very provocative Finish Finish your thought. I want to hear it.

[00:21:55]>> Yes, so the I would also like to ask whether or not that he would consider me for uh, the return of the money that I had lost, which is an enormous amount of money under the anti-weaponization fund. So, I'm sure during any conversation that I would have with him, I would like to uh, sure, I would like to be a recipient uh, under the anti-weaponization fund because there are no two people on this planet that are or have lived the identical facts including by the same individual.

[00:22:28]>> And and when you're saying you're one of those two people, is Trump the other?

[00:22:32]>> He is.

[00:22:33]>> Mhm.

[00:22:35]Yeah. I mean, look, I I remember the hoops that they had to jump through to extend the statute of limitations to bring that case. I didn't think it was right and I said so at the time. That was That was a That was another act of That was another act of heresy that I committed saying that I thought that lawfare had been utilized against Donald Trump and that that case would never have been brought about somebody else.

[00:22:56]Final Final thought from you and then then I got to roll.

[00:22:59]>> Sure, you and I had that conversation where you said to me, you know, um, do you really think that this is going to be successful? And I said, truth is I don't know, and the truth is I really didn't care. You know, this wasn't me against Trump. This was the people of the state of New York or the New York Attorney General against, um, Trump. But it's funny how you say that that was another act of heresy. Next thing they're going to ask you take your shirt off and see whether or not you have MAGA tattooed on you.

[00:23:28]>> [laughter] >> No, I No, Michael all Michael all that I'm hiding under my shirt is a Totenkopf. That's all. Just I'm >> [laughter] >> I'm glad we're laughing about that. All right, thank you for being here. I wish you good things.

[00:23:41]>> And I wish you the same, my brother.

[00:23:43]Thank you.

[00:23:44]>> All right, that's Michael Cohen. That is Michael Cohen. Very, very interesting.

[00:23:48]Very interesting that he, uh, that he seeks closure.

[00:23:52]That he seek closure from from President Trump.

[00:23:55]I'd love to hear your reaction to that dialogue at any level. There are 20 different things in there that you could, uh, you could comment on.