President Donald Trump’s former consigliere Michael Cohen confirmed a bombshell WSJ report that he paid a tech firm $50,000 to rig online polls in his boss’s favor prior to the 2016 presidential elections.
Cohen responded to the WSJ report in a tweet on Thursday, saying he paid the tech company to rig the polls at the direction of his then-boss, Trump.
“As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.”
As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.
— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) January 17, 2019
According to the WSJ article, John Gauger, who owns RedFinch Solutions, showed up at Trump Tower in New York City in early 2015 expecting to pick up a check for $50,000.
Instead, he was met by Cohen who presented him with a Walmart bag containing $12,000 in cash and a boxing glove that Cohen claimed was worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter.
Cohen denies he paid Gauger in cash.
Gauger told the Wall Street Journal that he never got the rest of the $50,000 Cohen owed him. But in early 2017, records obtained by the WSJ shows Cohen received a $50,000 reimbursement from Trump’s company for the RedFinch work.
Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who now works as a fixer for Trump, told the Journal that Cohen lied to Trump and his company about the amount of cash he paid RedFinch.
“If one thing has been established, it’s that Michael Cohen is completely untrustworthy,” Giuliani told the Wall Street Journal.
Cohen, 52, plead guilty in 2018 to campaign financing violations for paying off two women who claimed they had sexual relations with Trump over a decade ago. Cohen is scheduled to testify next month before Congress prior to beginning his 3-year prison sentence.
According to the Journal, Cohen also instructed RedFinch to create a @WomenforCohen Twitter account in May. Tweets on the account described Cohen as a “sex symbol” and included glowing statements about Trump’s former fixer.
Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images
