President Donald Trump claimed on Friday that his former fixer Michael Cohen has recanted his testimony in the New York hush money trial, despite Cohen explicitly stating months earlier that his trial testimony was truthful and accurate.
Trump posted on Truth Social that Cohen “just fully RECANTED” his testimony and praised what he called “an act of bravery,” asking that the case be “immediately terminated and dismissed.” Trump cited Cohen’s January Substack article in which Cohen claimed prosecutors had pressured and coerced him into giving damaging testimony against his former boss.
However, Cohen forcefully rejected the idea that his testimony was untruthful when asked directly about it in February 2026. During an appearance on Sirius XM’s The Dan Abrams Show, host Dan Abrams quoted Cohen’s January article about feeling “pressured and coerced” by prosecutors and asked whether that meant his trial testimony “wasn’t truthful.”
“No. To the exact contrary. As I stated, I felt pressured and coerced. That’s my personal feeling which I am certainly entitled to have. In no way, shape, or form should it connote that the information that I provided was anything but truthful and accurate.”
Michael Cohen, The Dan Abrams Show, February 3, 2026
Cohen was the star witness in Trump’s 2024 criminal trial, where he testified about orchestrating a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her story quiet before the 2016 election. His testimony was central to the prosecution’s case. Trump was convicted on May 30, 2024, on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to those reimbursements, becoming the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony.
The apparent reconciliation between Trump and Cohen marked a striking reversal. Trump had previously called Cohen a “rat” and a “conman,” while Cohen had spent years as a vocal Trump critic after pleading guilty to crimes related to the hush money payments and serving prison time. In August 2026, the two appeared together on Cohen’s radio show on 77 WABC in New York, with Trump telling Cohen he respected him for having “recanted everything you said”—a characterization Cohen’s February interview contradicted.
Cohen has sought a pardon from Trump, according to reporting from Reuters and other outlets. In his Substack articles, Cohen has argued that prosecutors weaponized the justice system against Trump, but he has not filed any legal motion to retract or recant his sworn trial testimony. Legal experts note that while a witness can express regret or claim pressure, actually recanting sworn testimony requires formal legal action and typically carries significant legal consequences for perjury.
Sources
- Mediaite — Cohen’s explicit statement that his testimony was “truthful and accurate” on The Dan Abrams Show, February 3, 2026, and Trump’s September 4, 2026 claim that Cohen recanted
- Newsweek — Trump’s statement that Cohen recanted his testimony, September 4, 2026
- Washington Examiner — Trump’s Truth Social post claiming Cohen recanted and asking New York to drop the case, September 4, 2026
- NBC News — Trump and Cohen’s August 2026 radio interview reconciliation
- Reuters — Cohen seeking a pardon and the August 2026 radio interview details
- Manhattan District Attorney — Trump’s May 30, 2024 conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records
