Through all Trump's legal wars and woes, one lawyer's influence still holds sway

Attorney Roy Cohn, left, confers with red-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wisc., during Senate hearings in 1954.

In March of 2017, as clashes with the FBI director and attorney general were erupting just weeks into his presidency, Donald Trump was asking out loud: “Where’s my Roy Cohn?”

In December of 2020, with just weeks left in his term, Trump still had not had his question answered.

He was surrounded by lawyers. But none could play the role — or take the place — of the controversial counselor who decades earlier had changed his life.