--- title: Michael Cohen Loyal to 'Family and Country' Before Trump description: Michael Cohen said in an interview released Monday that his highest loyalty lies with his family and country, not his onetime employer. canonical: https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/ author: Siobhan Morrin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-02T12:23:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:19.668Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump’s Former Lawyer Says He Puts ‘Family and Country’ Before the President og:description: Michael Cohen was considered one of Trump's most loyal enforcers og:url: https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1049ad6bf55187/69893464db29874453260127/michael-cohen-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: Michael Cohen Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump’s Former Lawyer Says He Puts ‘Family and Country’ Before the President twitter:description: Michael Cohen was considered one of Trump's most loyal enforcers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1049ad6bf55187/69893464db29874453260127/michael-cohen-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump’s Former Lawyer Says He Puts ‘Family and Country’ Before the President > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: ‘A Disgrace.’ Trump Reacts to FBI’s Raid on His Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen’s Office [Watch (HLS stream): ‘A Disgrace.’ Trump Reacts to FBI’s Raid on His Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen’s Office](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aQgKZ400.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2018-04-09. President Donald Trump called special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into election meddling “an attack on our country” during a White House meeting with top military advisers Monday._ by [Siobhan Morrin](https://time.com/author/siobhan-morrin/) ## Siobhan Morrin Jul 2, 2018 12:23 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen(C) leaves the US Courthouse in New York on April 26, 2018. US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen(C) leaves the US Courthouse in New York on April 26, 2018. HECTOR RETAMAL—AFP/Getty Images by [Siobhan Morrin](https://time.com/author/siobhan-morrin/) ## Siobhan Morrin Jul 2, 2018 12:23 PM UTC President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen said in an interview released Monday that his highest loyalty lies with his family and country, not his onetime employer. “My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen [told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-family-country-president-trump-loyalty/story?id=56304585). “I put family and country first.” The interview with Cohen is his first since the Federal Bureau of Investigation [raided his office in April.](http://time.com/5233843/donald-trump-lawyer-fbi-raid-michael-cohen/) Investigators seized Cohen’s emails, documents and tax records, including information on a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Daniels has alleged she and President Trump had an affair prior to Trump becoming President. Prosecutors conducted the raid after a referral from Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. [Trump denounced the raid](http://time.com/5234433/donald-trump-tweets-michael-cohen-raid/) of Cohen’s office as a “disgraceful situation” and a “total witch hunt.” Speaking to ABC, Cohen said that he doesn’t “like the term ‘witch hunt'” and refuses to condemn Mueller’s investigation as the President has. He also said he “respects the FBI” and that he will cooperate with the investigation, as well as with separate congressional inquiries into Russian election meddling. Cohen was a part of Trump’s inner for over a decade, working as his personal lawyer at the Trump Organization and moving with him when he became President. He was considered one of Trump’s most loyal employees, saying he would “take a bullet” for the President. Cohen told [ABC News](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trumps-political-pit-bull-meet-michael-cohen/story?id=13386747) in 2011 that “if somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/"},"headline":"President Trump’s Former Lawyer Says He Puts ‘Family and Country’ Before the President","datePublished":"2018-07-02T12:23:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:19.668Z","description":"Michael Cohen was considered one of Trump's most loyal enforcers","url":"https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1049ad6bf55187/69893464db29874453260127/michael-cohen-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Siobhan Morrin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/siobhan-morrin/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1049ad6bf55187/69893464db29874453260127/michael-cohen-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michael Cohen Trump","caption":"Michael Cohen Trump","creditText":"HECTOR RETAMAL—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/","name":"President Trump’s Former Lawyer Says He Puts ‘Family and Country’ Before the President"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"‘A Disgrace.’ Trump Reacts to FBI’s Raid on His Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen’s Office","description":"President Donald Trump called special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into election meddling “an attack on our country” during a White House meeting with top military advisers Monday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aQgKZ400/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-04-09T23:13:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aQgKZ400.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5328086/michael-cohen-trump-loyalty/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```