Michael Cohen Reportedly Paid Thousands to Rig Polls in Trump’s Favor

President Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen is facing further scrutiny following reports that he offered a technology expert $50,000 to rig online polls in favor of Trump during the 2015 campaign season.

John Gauger, owner of RedFinch Solutions, LLC, and chief information officer at Liberty University, claims he was offered $50,000 for online services related to boosting Trump’s candidacy. Those services included manipulating two online polls in Trump’s favor and creating a faux Twitter account called “@WomenForCohen” that praised Cohen’s looks and character. Gauger claims that Cohen never delivered the full amount agreed upon for his services, and that he was instead handed a Walmart bag loaded with roughly $12,000 and a boxing glove “worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter.”

Cohen responded to the report via Twitter Thursday, claiming that his efforts were “at the direction of and for the sole benefit” of President Trump. The former attorney has made no attempts to deny the allegations against him, but does deny that he gave Gauger cash. “All monies paid to Mr. Gauger were by check,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

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

Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison for two violations of campaign finance law, tax evasion and lying to Congress, among other charges. None of these charges were connected with RedFinch.