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Politics20 outlets ran this5 min read

Michael Cohen to interview Donald Trump on podcast eight years after fallout

The former fixer, who testified against Trump in the hush money trial, will host his ex-boss on his show on 21 August 2026

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen is set to air an interview with the president on his podcast after years of discord between the two men, including Cohen’s bombshell testimony during Trump’s criminal hush money trial and fraud case (Getty)

What this story says

  • Michael Cohen will interview Donald Trump on his podcast on 20 August 2026, the first public conversation between them in eight years.
  • Cohen, who paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 and was reimbursed by Trump, testified against him in the hush money trial that resulted in Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts.
  • The interview was confirmed by Cohen in a text message to The Independent and by a senior White House official, though Trump had not yet recorded it as of 19 August 2026.
  • None of the right-rated outlets tracked by MediaBias News carried the story, though it was reported by two left-rated and four centre-rated outlets.

Who covered it

Left 26%(5)Centre 42%(8)Right 32%(6)

Percentages are shares of the 19 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 20 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

65/100

Craft

55/100

Hype

35/100

20 sources · methodology

Thin on the right so far

Only 6 of the 19 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Donald Trump will be interviewed by Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney, on Cohen’s podcast on 21 August 2026. The conversation will be the first public exchange between the two men in eight years. Cohen confirmed the interview in a text message to The Independent, and a senior White House official told the same outlet that Trump had not yet recorded it as of 19 August 2026.

Cohen, once Trump’s self-described “fixer”, became a central witness in the hush money trial that led to Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in May 2024. Cohen paid adult film actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her account of an affair with Trump, then was reimbursed by Trump through checks falsely recorded as legal expenses. The reimbursements formed part of the evidence that jurors used to convict Trump of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election.

The two men last met in person in the summer of 2025 at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to The Independent. Their relationship unravelled after Cohen testified to Congress in 2019 about Trump’s allegedly fraudulent business practices, leading to multiple investigations, including a $250 million lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James. Cohen later served prison time for his role in the hush money scheme and other offences.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated outlets tracked by MediaBias News carried the story. The centre-rated digests did not mention the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, the reimbursement scheme, or Cohen’s testimony in the fraud trial. The Independent was the only outlet to report that Trump had not yet recorded the interview as of 19 August 2026.

Tags:#USPolitics#DonaldTrump#MichaelCohen#HushMoneyTrial#PodcastInterview

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 20 Aug 2026, 06:31, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

5 rated outlets

  • The two left-rated reports, The Independent and Raw Story, led on the legal history between the two men. The Independent’s full report described Cohen as Trump’s “star witness in a landmark hush money case” and detailed the 34 felony counts, the $130,000 payment to Daniels, and the reimbursement scheme. It also recounted Cohen’s testimony in the fraud trial, where he said Trump had asked him to “reverse engineer” asset valuations.
  • The Independent quoted Cohen’s text message confirming the interview and a White House official saying Trump had not yet recorded it. It used the phrase “extraordinary public reckoning” to describe the interview and noted that Cohen had become one of Trump’s “chief antagonists” after his prison stint. Raw Story’s digest called the interview “one of the more improbable reunions of his second term” and described Cohen as Trump’s “former fixer turned chief antagonist”.

Centre

8 rated outlets

  • The four centre-rated digests, Alabama Live, CBS News, Newsweek, and Political Wire, led on the novelty of the interview and the personal history between the two men. CBS News and Newsweek both quoted Cohen’s statement that the interview would be “the first public conversation between the president and myself in eight years”. Alabama Live’s digest carried the headline “‘Getting in on the grift’: Backlash is scathing as Trump sits for interview with ‘rat’ Cohen”, framing the interview as a controversial move.
  • Newsweek’s digest said the interview would give listeners “a front-row seat to a conversation years in the making”. Political Wire’s digest, sourced to MS NOW, noted that the interview marked an “extraordinary thaw” between the two men and mentioned Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. None of the centre-rated digests detailed the hush money scheme or Cohen’s testimony in the fraud trial.

Right

6 rated outlets

  • All four right-rated outlets reported that Donald Trump would be interviewed by Michael Cohen on 29 July 2026, eight years after their public fallout. The digests agreed this was the first public conversation between the two since Cohen became a critic of Trump.
  • Three of the four digests led on the reversal of their relationship: VINnews called it a 'stunning reversal', Breitbart described a 'bitter feud', and the Washington Times noted Cohen as Trump’s 'former nemesis'. WABC did not use this framing in its digest.
  • None of the right-rated digests mentioned Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea or his 2024 testimony against Trump in the New York criminal case. VINnews was the only digest to state that Cohen’s testimony resulted in Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Michael Cohen to interview Donald Trump on podcast eight years after…?
Of the 19 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 26% are rated left, 42% are rated centre, 32% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 20. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Michael Cohen to interview Donald Trump on podcast eight years after… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 19 rated outlets on this story, 26% are rated left, 42% are rated centre, 32% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Michael Cohen to interview Donald Trump on podcast eight years after… biased?
Michael Cohen to interview Donald Trump on podcast eight years after fallout is one event reported by 20 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Michael Cohen to interview Donald Trump on podcast eight years after…?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Michael Cohen to interview Donald Trump on podcast eight years after…?
20 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What is the significance of Michael Cohen interviewing Donald Trump?
The interview will be the first public conversation between Donald Trump and Michael Cohen in eight years. Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, testified against him in the hush money trial that led to Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. Their relationship has been marked by legal battles and public animosity, making the interview a notable event in US politics.
What was Michael Cohen’s role in the hush money trial?
Michael Cohen paid adult film actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her account of an affair with Donald Trump. Trump later reimbursed Cohen through checks falsely recorded as legal expenses. Cohen’s testimony and the reimbursement scheme were key evidence in the trial that resulted in Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records.
Which outlets covered the story, and which did not?
The story was covered by two left-rated outlets, The Independent and Raw Story, and four centre-rated outlets: Alabama Live, CBS News, Newsweek, and Political Wire. None of the right-rated outlets tracked by MediaBias News carried the story.

Read it at the source

20 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

5

Centre

8

Right

6

Not rated

1

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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Cohen to interview Trump on podcast after eight years | MediaBias News