Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology sector leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday (local time). [AP]
Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology sector leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday (local time). [AP]

Donald Trump said he would win an election by 25 percentage points if one were held today, projecting strong confidence in his approval ratings. He also defended his military strike on Iran, saying he would do it "a hundred times over," and drew attention by publicly reconciling with his former personal attorney Michael Cohen — once a close confidant turned bitter adversary — for the first time in roughly eight years.

Speaking Thursday in an interview on Cohen's WABC radio program, Trump said, "We're doing really well in the polls," adding that if an election were held Thursday he would win by 25 percentage points.

Trump also touted his economic record, pointing to increased foreign investment in the United States and the return of auto factories that had moved overseas. He described the current US economy as a "renaissance." "We've made enormous money from tariffs," he said, arguing that his tariff policy has driven investment and a revival of manufacturing on American soil.

Trump reaffirmed his position that the military campaign against Iran was an unavoidable step to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons. "I would have done it a hundred times over," he said. "They cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they never will."

He claimed that when US B-2 bombers struck Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran had been "exactly two weeks away" from possessing a nuclear weapon, using the assertion to justify the military action.

The interview also drew attention as a public display of reconciliation between Trump and Cohen after years of bitter conflict.

Cohen served as Trump's personal attorney and fixer for about 15 years. The relationship collapsed in 2018 over a hush-money payment scandal involving Trump, after which Cohen became a key witness in related criminal proceedings. Trump had since publicly denounced Cohen as a "traitor" and a "liar."

The dynamic began to shift after Trump returned to the White House and Cohen claimed prosecutors had pressured him to testify against Trump. According to The New York Times, the two met privately last year at a Trump-owned golf course in New Jersey.

The reconciliation was on full display during the interview. Cohen addressed Trump as "Boss," as he had during his years as a close aide. Trump said prosecutors had "weaponized" Cohen as a tool to attack him, and praised Cohen for recanting his earlier testimony, calling it "an incredible thing."

Cohen, for his part, said before the broadcast that the two had forgiven each other. "Forgiveness is not erasing the past," he said. "It's deciding that what happened yesterday no longer controls tomorrow."

The segment aired Thursday was drawn from a roughly 40-minute pre-recorded phone interview. The full interview is set to be released Sunday.


sjy@heraldcorp.com