Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and alleged “fixer,” reportedly tried to apologize to Melania Trump “for the pain he said he had caused [the first lady]” with his well-publicized payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, according to a Friday report from The New York Times.

Cohen, who is fiercely loyal to the Trump family and previously said he “would take a bullet for the president,” reportedly approached the first lady at a Republican fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in early 2018, asking forgiveness for any hurt the $130,000 payment — made weeks before the presidential election — may have caused. It’s unclear whether the first lady accepted was receptive of that apology or, like so many other displays of devotion Cohen has reportedly showered on the family, ignored it.

The report also claims that Trump has nothing but contempt for Cohen, who is currently under federal investigation — despite the lawyer saying that he’d “jump out of a building” rather then turn on his client. “Donald goes out of his way to treat him like garbage,” longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone told the Times.

Tim O’Brien, a Trump biographer, added to that sentiment. “I think his abusive behavior to Michael is animated by his feeling that Michael is inadequate,” O’Brien said.


Cohen also reportedly owns some of Trump’s best real-estate — but was made to pay “top dollar for it,” according to Stone. The fact that Trump would offer no discounts or favors to Cohen would seem to corroborate the idea that the president has hesitated to show the same loyalty to the attorney as Cohen has showed him.

Nonetheless, Cohen still has undertaken a significant portfolio of work for Trump. In addition to helping him out with legal issues, he also helped with the media and laid the groundwork for several business deals, including plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, which was abandoned in January 2016, according to the Washington Post — just ahead of the Republican presidential primaries.

Cohen has had an eventful two weeks since the FBI raided his law offices, home, and hotel room on April 9, in search of payment records, documents related to the $130,000 he paid to Daniels, and documents related to a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claims to have had an affair with Trump in 2006. In court on Monday, he was forced to reveal the name of a confidential client, Fox News host Sean Hannity, and evidence has since surfaced that Cohen was in Prague during the 2016 election campaign — corroborating a key claim of the Steele dossier, which Cohen previously claimed was “fake.”

Meanwhile the right wing has been doing its utmost to discredit the Cohen investigation. On Wednesday the judge presiding over his case, Kimba Wood, was accused of being part of the “Deep State,” because she was previously second choice to become Bill Clinton’s attorney general before she withdrew her name, and officiated the wedding of George Soros in 2013. All this is despite the fact that Wood was appointed by Ronald Reagan — on the recommendation of former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY).