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‘Little to Be Admired’

The true nature of Mr. Cohen’s relationship with Mr. Trump has been hard to decipher amid the blizzard of news stories, court documents, presidential tweets and spin from defense lawyers for the two men.

Since April, when the F.B.I. raided Mr. Cohen’s offices, Mr. Trump has minimized Mr. Cohen’s importance to his company before he became president, belittling his role and calling him “weak.” And Mr. Cohen, who once had traded on his relationship with Mr. Trump and boasted that he would take a bullet for him, has turned on his former boss of 10 years, most notably implicating him in the hush-money scandal.

But when Mr. Cohen addressed the judge before he was sentenced, he delivered his first extensive on-the-record comments about President Trump since he pleaded guilty. While Mr. Trump has accused Mr. Cohen of essentially being a traitor, it was Mr. Cohen who spoke like a man not only betrayed but also tricked.

“I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the fateful day that I accepted the offer to work for a famous real estate mogul whose business acumen I truly admired,” Mr. Cohen told the judge. “In fact, I now know that there is little to be admired.”

He said he blamed himself for the conduct that had brought him before the judge. “I was weak for not having the strength to question and to refuse his demands,” he said of Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen seemed almost emboldened as he continued to speak openly about the man he said he had blindly served.

“Your Honor, this may seem hard to believe, but today is one of the most meaningful days of my life,” he said. “The irony is today is the day I am getting my freedom back as you sit at the bench and you contemplate my fate.”