Roy Cohn, the infamous lawyer-cum-thug who once represented celebrities, politicians, mobsters and Donald Trump, has long held a special place in the president’s heart.
“You know how many lawyers in New York represent organized-crime figures?” Trump noted during an interview in 1997 after I asked him about his relationship with Cohn. “Does that mean we’re not supposed to use them?”
The president was willing to overlook Cohn’s shortcomings because he provided a valuable service, Trump told me when we revisited the subject in another interview eight years later. “Roy was brutal, but he was a very loyal guy. He brutalized for ...