-Michael, how are you doing?
-I'm doing great. How are you, Seth?
-I'm doing very well. We've talked to a lot of people
over the last six months who have been self-isolating,
but you are our first home-confinement guest.
And I want to talk a lot about the cont--
-I'm breaking new grounds for you.
-You are. You're a trailblazer.
I want to talk about the book's content,
but I'm also sort of fascinated by the process,
because you did write this book in prison.
Was that a conducive place to the writing process?
And, more importantly, did your fellow inmates know
you were working on a book?
-So, the answer to both questions is, yes.
It was conducive.
I was working at the sewer treatment plant.
And there was a lot of free time, believe it or not,
so I would put myself into the electric room
that had a small desk,
and, on a yellow pad, I would begin to write.
And at the end of each day,
I would sit down with a group of the -- my friends, inmates,
like Tony Meatballs and Andy Cucumbers
and Stevie and Herbie and a whole group of guys,
and we would get together in a cube.
Usually it was mine, cube 28.
And they would come for a reading,
and I would read them different parts of the book
that I was working on,
and it was just something that we did to pass our time.
-Do please, when you speak to him,
give Tony Meatballs my best.
And I would also want to ask --
I know you were worried that a manuscript like this, obviously,
a lot of people wanted to get their hands on it.
You were worried that it would leak.
Like, how do you protect something like that
when you're basically, you know, confined to a place
where you're not in charge of your own materials, really?
-You're not in charge of anything, to be honest with you.
So, there was a situation that took place.
I used to keep the manuscript under my mattress.
And, unfortunately, there was a little incident,
and I knew I was going to be taken to the SHU --
the solitary confinement, the segregated housing unit.
And I was concerned that the CO's,
most of whom are Trump supporters,
that somebody would get ahold of it, see what it was,
and then pass it along to somebody.
And, so, it was the day before Passover.
And outside was the rabbi. He had the fire pit.
And normally you burn
the chametz, the bread, the night before.
And I took my manuscript,
and I dropped it into the fire pit to everybody's anger,
but I did it anyway
because I had to get rid of the manuscript.
-I bet you're probably one of the few people
that has used Passover for that purpose, Michael.
A trailblazer in another way.
-Go, Passover. [ Laughs ]
-So, Michael, we -- Our show interacted with you
back in the early days of the Trump campaign
because we were in conversations about having him on as a guest.
And one of the things that you reached out --
-Seth, can you believe -- Seth, can you believe
that was five years ago? -I truly can't.
I can't decide if it feels like yesterday or 1,000 years ago,
though, because time is folding in on itself.
-For me, it doesn't seem the same.
Yeah, for me, it doesn't seem the same.
A lot's happened for me over five years.
-Yeah, exactly. You probably didn't picture yourself
working in a sewage treatment unit.
-Well, I went from one crap house to another.
-Very well-played. -Thank you.
-By the way, I'm shocked to hear
that working there you have a lot of downtime.
I guess that's one of the upsides
of working in a sewage treatment unit.
So -- But I remember you reached out.
One of the preconditions you had about --
Or one of Donald Trump's preconditions was that
I would have to apologize for jokes I made
at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
And I'm wondering if, in your time working for him,
you often had to reach out on behalf of his ego
when speaking on his behalf.
-On a regular basis.
It was unfortunately on a very regular basis.
And thank you for at least acknowledging that it was him
directing me to do it, not me deciding to do it.
-You -- You know, it's interesting you say that,
as well, because in the book, to your credit,
you do admit to taking a very active role.
You were not just a passive bystander.
You were, yes, following orders, but you knew they were
the wrong thing to do, and you did them anyway.
You speak about Trump supporters
and the sort of whole Trump world as being like a cult.
You're obviously not in that cult anymore,
but you sort of exited the cult
because of the legal situation you were in.
Had that broken differently, had you not had
those legal troubles, do you think it's possible
you would still be in the Trump cult?
-It's very possible.
I can't give you the answer to that
because I can only speak from fact.
And the fact of the matter is I was, for an interesting term,
excommunicated from the Trump cult,
not on my own volition, as you stated,
whether it was the legal proceeding
or Trump and his cronies
deciding that I should be the fall guy.
But it's very possible
that I would still have been in that cult.
I am -- It's the one thankful thing
that I am for everything that has happened.
It's given me an ability to amend with my wife,
my daughter, my son,
and actually the country, to make amends.
-When we come back after the break, I do want to talk
about some of the things that you sort of admit
to having a great amount of regret for now.
But I did -- I did appreciate that you admit to the fact
you did not have a "come to Jesus" moment here.
You were sort of kicked out,
and it was then that you reflected back.
And it is nice to read a book
where there aren't a ton of excuses.
And when we come back, we're going to talk more about that.
We'll be right back with more from Michael Cohen.