He was MSNBC’s golden goose — until his story no longer fit the network’s preferred narrative.
President Donald Trump‘s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was a frequent MSNBC guest for years while he was a key member of the #Resistance. But the liberal network — now called MS NOW — has not covered his striking admission he felt “pressured and coerced” to deliver testimony that would help secure convictions against the president.
Cohen, who was a key prosecution witness in two New York cases against Trump, accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday of pursuing evidence squarely aimed at getting Trump. He alleged in a Substack post that prosecutors in both offices were uninterested in testimony that didn’t fit their narrative.
“During my time with prosecutors, both in preparation for and during the trials, it was clear they were interested only in testimony from me that would enable them to convict President Trump,” Cohen wrote. “When my testimony was insufficient for a point the prosecution sought to make, prosecutors frequently asked inappropriate leading questions to elicit answers that supported their narrative.”
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“I experienced a similar dynamic in the Attorney General’s civil case,” Cohen continued. “Letitia James made it publicly known during her 2018 campaign for attorney general that, if elected, she would go after President Trump. Her office made clear that the testimony they wanted from me was testimony that would help them do just that. Again, I felt compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking.”
Cohen had long been a fixture on MSNBC, which changed its name late last year, appearing over the past five years on programs such as “The Beat with Ari Melber,” “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “Inside with Jen Psaki,” “The Weekend,” “Deadline: White House” and “PoliticsNation,” often to deliver anti-Trump commentary. He was also frequently discussed on the network even when he wasn’t appearing as a guest.
The first interview Cohen did after Trump was convicted in his New York case in 2024 for falsifying business records was with MSNBC. According to Grabien, his most recent interview on the channel was in November with weekend host Alex Witt about Trump and the Epstein files.
The progressive channel covered Trump’s criminal case in New York extensively in 2024. According to a Grabien transcript search, “Michael Cohen” was mentioned 10,906 times from the start of the trial on April 15, 2024, through May 31, 2024 — the day after the verdict was announced.
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But MS NOW has, as of Monday afternoon, ignored Cohen’s revelation that he felt “coerced” to deliver anti-Trump testimony. Instead, the network’s coverage in recent days has focused on the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minnesota and reports of potential U.S. interest in purchasing Greenland.
MS NOW did not mention Cohen from Friday’s Substack bombshell through Monday morning, according to a search of transcripts using Grabien Media. Cohen’s admission wasn’t covered on MS NOW’s website, either.
MS NOW did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Cohen said he made the admission because he doesn’t believe any American should face prosecution for political purposes.
“The intention of the Substack post was to expose my feelings, how I feel toward the corrupt practices of the Department of Injustice. No one, not me, not Donald Trump or any Donald Doe should ever be prosecuted for political purposes. That is the essence of our democratic republic and why Lady Justice wears a blindfold,” Cohen told Fox News Digital.
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MSNBC rebranded as MS NOW late last year after Comcast announced it would spin off its cable networks into its own company called Versant, separating MSNBC from its sister broadcast network NBC.
MS NOW is an acronym for “My Source for News, Opinion, and the World.”
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to several federal crimes, including campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress.
Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
