Kai Bird's new biography "American Scoundrel" examines Roy Cohn's profound influence on Donald Trump, tracing how the ruthless lawyer's tactics shaped Trump's approach to business, legal strategy, and politics across decades.
Cohn rose to prominence during the McCarthy era of the 1950s, serving as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist investigations. He became known for aggressive interrogation tactics, witness intimidation, and reckless accusations that destroyed reputations without evidence. After McCarthy's political collapse, Cohn reinvented himself as a New York City fixer and criminal defense attorney, representing mobsters, real estate moguls, and tabloid figures who needed aggressive legal representation.
Trump met Cohn in the 1970s when the developer was building his real estate empire in Manhattan. Cohn became Trump's lawyer, mentor, and close confidant for roughly two decades. Bird's biography documents how Cohn taught Trump a specific playbook for operating outside conventional rules: deny wrongdoing categorically, employ delay tactics to exhaust opponents, attack accusers publicly and viciously, file lawsuits as harassment tools, countersue aggressively, never admit defeat even when losing, sidestep financial obligations, and avoid creating documents that could serve as evidence.
This strategy contradicted conventional legal wisdom. Most lawyers advised clients to settle disputes quietly and document agreements carefully. Cohn operated differently. He treated litigation as psychological warfare. He believed admission of any kind weakened a client's position permanently. He taught Trump that fighting publicly, regardless of legal merit, conveyed strength to supporters and business associates.
Bird traces how these Cohn tactics persisted throughout Trump's business career and later his political career. In business, Trump faced dozens of lawsuits, many involving unpaid contractors and vendors. Rather than settle cleanly, Trump frequently denied liability, filed counterclaims, and dragged proceedings through courts for years. When lawsuits concluded against him, Trump often refused to acknowledge losing and continued disputing judgments.
The parallel to Trump's political conduct appears direct. During his presidency and afterward, Trump applied Cohn's playbook to challenges from Congress, the courts, and law enforcement. Trump denied misconduct related to Ukraine, the first impeachment, the Capitol riot, and classified documents. He sued to delay investigations. He attacked prosecutors, judges, and witnesses. He filed counterclaims. He used social media to fight publicly rather than through back-channel negotiations.
Bird's work positions Cohn as more than just a lawyer Trump employed. Rather, Cohn functioned as Trump's behavioral model and ethical template. Cohn demonstrated that defiance could substitute for defense, that aggressive counterattack could overwhelm legal vulnerabilities, and that maintaining a fighting posture mattered more than actual legal outcomes.
Cohn died in 1986, decades before Trump's presidential campaigns and legal troubles. Yet Bird argues that Trump's recent conduct reflects lessons learned directly from Cohn. The biography suggests understanding Trump requires understanding Cohn, the McCarthy-era operative whose tactics proved durable enough to shape American politics well into the 21st century.