Why Donald Trump Abandoned His Dying Mentor, Roy Cohn

Donald Trump and Roy Cohn were lawyer and client, teacher and student, and for ten years, best friends. Then Cohn got sick. This is what the record says happened next. In 1986 Roy Cohn was dying, lying about why, and about to lose his law license over a signature a court said looked "like someone took a chicken foot, dipped it in ink and stamped it on the document." This Roy Cohn and Trump documentary puts two versions side by side. His secretary says Trump "dropped him like a hot potato." A White House spokesperson calls that totally false. And Trump did testify to Cohn's character, hosted him at Mar-a-Lago, and went to the funeral. In this file: the Rosenberg case and Senator McCarthy. The 1973 housing discrimination suit, and the $100 million countersuit Cohn announced at a hotel. The three rules. The prenuptial agreement Cohn designed for Ivana. The Commodore Hotel tax break, Trump Tower, Roger Stone and the Reagan campaign. Then the hotel bill, the diamond cuff links, and four words Cohn is reported to have said about the man he called his best friend. Every claim is told with its source. Where accounts disagree, you hear both. Quotations from the 1986 ruling are set in type from the press report of the day, not shown as images of the decision. Donald Trump has disputed that Roy Cohn was ever an aide or a confidant. EXHIBITS A · Matter of Cohn, Appellate Division, First Department, New York, June 23, 1986 (as reported by UPI, June 24, 1986) B · Memorandum of the United States, U.S. v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump and Trump Management Inc., 73 C 1529, Eastern District of New York, filed January 8, 1974 Also shown: Department of Justice press release, October 15, 1973; FBI file on Roy Cohn (press clippings from his 1964 trial) MAIN SOURCES Marie Brenner, "How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn's Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America," Vanity Fair (June 28, 2017) Michael Kruse, "He Brutalized For You," Politico Magazine (April 2016) UPI, report on the disbarment of Roy Cohn (June 24, 1986) The New York Times (2016, 2018) Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Deals and the Downfall (1992) Joe Palazzolo and Michael Rothfeld, The Fixers (2020), as reported by Newsweek Timothy O'Brien, TrumpNation (2005) Donald Trump with Tony Schwartz, The Art of the Deal (1987) Sam Roberts, on Cohn's three rules Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark, American Scoundrel (2026) Court record, U.S. v. Trump, 73 C 1529 (E.D.N.Y.) Subscribe and open the next file:    / @thesealedpapers   IMAGE & FILM CREDITS Television and newsreel footage used for commentary and criticism (fair use): CBS, 60 Minutes (1979, 1985, 1986); CBS Morning News (1986); CBS News (2026); Bill Boggs, Midday (1977); British Pathé and British Movietone (1951, 1954); television record of the Army-McCarthy hearings (1954); Thames Television (1975, 1982); FOX 5 New York archive; NBC10 Philadelphia (1984); AP Archive (1985); ITN (1978, 1987); This Old House (1983); TV news archive (1977–1987). Four press photographs of Donald Trump and Roy Cohn are shown for commentary (fair use). Public domain: Reagan Library; U.S. Department of Justice; National Archives; Library of Congress (New York World-Telegram & Sun collection); FBI Vault; White House photographs; court records. CC-licensed images (Wikimedia Commons): Roy Cohn and Senator McCarthy (CC BY 4.0); Appellate Division courthouse (CC BY 2.0; CC BY-SA 3.0); Columbia Law School (CC BY-SA 4.0); Trump Village (CC BY-SA 4.0; CC BY 4.0); Trump Tower (CC BY 4.0); Marble Collegiate Church (CC BY-SA 3.0); Grand Hyatt (CC BY-SA 4.0); the former Barbizon Plaza (CC BY 2.0); Trump Plaza, Atlantic City (CC BY 2.0); Roger Stone (CC BY-SA 2.0). Music: Mixkit (Mixkit License). Narration is AI-generated. Was it loyalty, or was it for show? Tell us what you think in the comments. #DonaldTrump #RoyCohn #TrumpAndRoyCohn #TrumpFamily #TrumpDocumentary #IvanaTrump #JosephMcCarthy #RogerStone #AmericanHistory #FamilySecrets #TheSealedPapers