Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen released a preview of his interview with President Donald Trump, and commentators slammed his fawning tone.
On Thursday, the New York radio station where Cohen works as a host published a few minutes of his interview with Trump, while withholding the full interview until later in the week.
Throughout the interview, Cohen called Trump "sir" and "boss," complimented his handling of the war in Iran, and agreed with Trump that he had been "weaponized" against the president. Cohen testified in a case that led to Trump's criminal conviction in New York for paying hush money.
"This Trump/Cohen reunion is pathetic," former GOP political strategist Tara Setmayer wrote in a post on X. "It's almost like watching a battered wife reunited with her abuser. It's sick. They deserve each other."
Former Republican lawyer turned Democratic New York congressional candidate George Conway was one commentator who slammed the interview shortly after it aired.
"It was just this incredible narcissistic lovefest," Conway told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. "It was basically comical for the first five or ten minutes and then was incredibly boring."
Earlier in the day, Cohen revealed to CNN anchor Jake Tapper that he had submitted a request for a pardon from Trump. Conway and journalist Tara Palmeri suggested that Cohen's goal with the interview was to win a pardon from Trump. Palmeri had revealed in her Substack earlier this month that Cohen asked for Trump's phone number in June, and shortly after, he became a defender of Trump.
"I was completely flabbergasted," Palmeri said about seeing Cohen's transformation. "I was like, 'What is going on here?' and obviously it was about a pardon. It's always been about a pardon for him."
Conway agreed, saying that Cohen was stroking Trump's ego during the interview as a way of winning the pardon.
"He absolutely wants a pardon," Conway said. "Trump is one of the most easily manipulable people in the world because of his extreme narcissism."
