‘The Apprentice’: Who was Trump’s former lawyer, Roy Cohn?

Jeremy Strong’s performance, like the plot of the film itself, has been hailed by critics as the mastermind of The Apprentice, a new biographical film following Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) establishing his early career as a real estate tycoon under the guidance of lawyer Roy Cohn (Strong).

While audiences are all-too-familiar with the former president-turned-convicted felon (and presidential hopeful once more), younger audiences are likely unaware of Cohn’s role in shaping the man that Trump is today.

Who was Roy Cohn?

Roy Cohn (1927-1986) was a right-wing lawyer and prosecutor, who rose to public prominence in 1951, shortly after his graduation from Columbia Law School, where he served as Chief Counsel on the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under Senator Joseph McCarthy. Now known as “McCarthyism,” Cohn and McCarthy led an onslaught of investigations – later shown to be immoral, aggressive, and unfounded in nature – into accusations of communism towards federal employees and public figures.

Cohn was instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953, an American couple convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union, resulting in their execution by the state. Contemporary reviews of the prosecution view the trial’s findings as dubious at best, with Ethel’s brother, David Greenglass, stating Cohn had pressured him to lie under oath.

McCarthyism dubbed support of civil rights and homosexuality as being linked to communism, prompting a moral panic in American culture over certain activities in the belief they were “un-American”. It is with great irony that several people close to Cohn during his life confirmed that he was gay, having been described as “flamboyant” and having several known sexual relationships with men.

Known as the ‘Lavender Scare’, Cohn’s work with McCarthy resulted in several homosexual men being fired from their jobs because of their sexuality, with the lawyer acting as a key opponent to New York City’s first LGBT+ civil rights bill. One Studio 54 regular who frequently saw Cohn engaging in homosexual acts at the high-society parties described Cohn as living in “a closet with neon lights”.

Trump and Cohn’s business dealings, explained.

Cohn’s business relationship with Donald Trump began in 1971, when Cohn offered the future president an enthusiastic verdict on his chances of winning a racial discrimination case brought against him by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The case accused Trump of giving disparate quotes to prospective African-American buyers and renters, or according to some employees, outright being told they could not sell homes to Black buyers.

Cohn encouraged an ambitious – yet unsuccessful – $100 million countersuit ($778 million in 2024) against the DOJ, with the case ruling that Trump would not have to admit wrongdoing, so long as he publicly encouraged African-American tenants, and would be transparent about charges, in accordance with the Fair Housing Act.

Cohn’s legal prowess manipulated the verdict by portraying Trump’s housing policy as a concern over tenants on welfare, rather than on racial grounds. The two would subsequently enjoy a close friendship, with the pair frequenting social events together Cohn later introduced Trump to his friend Roger Stone, who would eventually become Trump’s future political consultant for the 2016 election.

Cohn died from complications of AIDS in 1986, although the then-disgraced lawyer always claimed he had liver cancer, due to the public association of the disease with homosexuality. Six weeks before his death, Cohn was disbarred by the New York State Supreme Court, citing various counts of fraud. Cohn’s friend (and future consultant to Trump) told The New Yorker in 2008 that Cohn’s “absolute goal was to die completely broke and owing millions to the IRS,” and that “he succeeded in that”.

The stark contrast between Cohn’s private and public personas has made him symbolic of capitalistic greed and the dark side of the law in modern history. Cohn’s sexuality stood in contrast to his willingness to systemically oppress fellow members of the LGBT+ community during the AIDS epidemic — an era which many historians and activists consider a genocide. This makes Cohn as a clear example of self-serving wickedness, one that the Republican Party’s fiercest critics would consider emblematic of the evils of conservatism.

Strong described Cohn as a “cancerous conundrum” , and a “demonic Peter Pan” to the Los Angeles Times. The actor went on to compare his new role to Iago, the antagonist of Shakespeare’s Othello, a cunning and manipulative figure who successfully masquerades his own private realities, using the protagonist to act as a foot soldier for his wicked deeds and desires.

Cohn’s personal life and reputation as a ruthless bulldog of a lawyer has made him subject to several portrayals in media prior to The Apprentice. Cohn was portrayed by Al Pacino in the HBO adaptation of the acclaimed play Angels in America, exploring the AIDS epidemic in Reagan’s America. Cohn – played by James Woods – was also the subject of the TV film Citizen Cohn.