HBO orders a documentary on Roy Cohn, Donald Trump's mentor

Deadline

The attack-dog lawyer went from serving as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Army–McCarthy hearings in 1954 to advising Trump in his rise to New York real estate magnate in the 1970s and 1980s. “The time has come for audiences to understand a man who — while hiding so much of himself from the world — has had a profound influence on our society, even to this day,” says director Ivy Meeropol, the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed after being found guilty for spying for the Russians. According to Deadline, the untitled project features "recently discovered audiotapes of candid discussions between Cohn and journalist Peter Manso, recorded at the height of Cohn’s career as a power broker in the rough-and-tumble world of New York City business and politics." Cohn was a key character in playwright Tony Kushner's Angels in America, portrayed by Nathan Lane on stage and Al Pacino in the 2003 HBO miniseries.