Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 21: Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, exits federal court, August 21, 2018 in New York City. Cohen reached an agreement with prosecutors, pleading guilty to charges involving bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s former “fixer” Michael Cohen said Thursday that he paid the head of a small technology company thousands in 2015 to rig online polls at “the direction of and for the sole benefit of” Trump. Cohen was responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal that he paid John Gauger, the owner of RedFinch Solutions LLC, between $12,000 and $13,000 for activities related to Trump’s campaign, including “trying unsuccessfully to manipulate two online polls in Mr. Trump’s favor” and creating a Twitter account called “@WomenForCohen” that “praised (Cohen’s) looks and character, and promoted his appearances and statements boosting” Trump’s candidacy. In making the claim, Gauger told the paper he wasn’t fully paid for the work, though the Journal said Cohen was reimbursed $50,000 – the amount the two originally agreed on for Gauger’s services – by the Trump Organization. Gauger, according to the paper, also received a boxing glove “worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter” along with the cash payment. The paper said that Cohen denied paying Gauger in cash, instead telling the Journal that “all monies paid to Mr. Gauger were by check” and declining to comment further. The Trump Organization did not comment to the Journal. Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump, told the paper that the allegation that Cohen received more money than what he paid to Gauger shows he’s a “thief.” Later Thursday morning in a statement to CNN, Cohen said his actions were “at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald J. Trump. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.” CNN has reached out to the Trump Organization for response to Cohen’s claim. An attorney for Gauger said they would not comment further on the Journal’s story. The Journal said that Cohen’s reimbursement was made around the same time that he received a $130,000 reimbursement from Trump for expenses incurred during the 2016 election. CNN has previously reported that Cohen used the $130,000 as a hush money payment to a woman who allegedly had an affair with Trump, which Trump denies. Gauger told the paper that Cohen asked him in early 2014 to help Trump score well in a CNBC online poll of business leaders and a 2015 Drudge Report poll of potential Republican candidates. Gauger’s efforts for the CNBC poll were unsuccessful, according to the paper, and Trump ranked low in the Drudge Report poll. Cohen has publicly broken with Trump since cooperating with the Mueller investigation. He is expected to testify before the House Oversight Committee next month and is prepared to discuss topics related to hush money payments and aspects of the Trump Organization, including the roles of the President and his children, a source familiar with the matter has said. CNN’s Cristina Alesci contributed to this report.<doc-sep>In early 2015, a man who runs a small technology company showed up at Trump Tower to collect $50,000 for having helped Michael Cohen, then Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, try to rig online polls in his boss’s favor before the presidential campaign. In his Trump Organization office, Mr. Cohen surprised the man, John Gauger, by giving him both a blue Walmart bag containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in cash and, randomly, a boxing glove that Mr. Cohen said had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter, Mr. Gauger said. Mr. Cohen disputed that he handed over a bag of cash. “All monies paid to Mr. Gauger were by check,” he said, offering no further comment on his ties to the consultant. In a tweet on Thursday, Mr. Cohen said Mr. Trump knew he was trying to have the polls rigged. “What I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of [Mr. Trump],” Mr. Cohen wrote. “I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.” Michael Cohen: Full Coverage Highlights from The Wall Street Journal on Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, said of Mr. Cohen’s tweet: “My response will be a cleaned-up version of ‘Bullshit.’” “This is not true. The president did not know about this if it happened,” Mr. Giuliani said in an interview. Mr. Gauger owns RedFinch Solutions LLC and is chief information officer at Liberty University in Virginia, where Jerry Falwell Jr. , an evangelical leader and fervent Trump supporter, is president. Mr. Gauger said he never got the rest of what he claimed he was owed. But Mr. Cohen in early 2017 still asked for—and received—a $50,000 reimbursement from Mr. Trump and his company for the work by RedFinch, according to a government document and a person familiar with the matter. The reimbursement—made on the sole basis of a handwritten note from Mr. Cohen and paid largely out of Mr. Trump’s personal account—demonstrates the level of trust the lawyer once had within the Trump Organization, whose officials arranged the repayment. The Trump Organization declined to comment. Mr. Giuliani said: “The real takeaway from your story is, didn’t he steal $37,000?” The reimbursement was mentioned by federal prosecutors when they charged Mr. Cohen in August with eight felonies, including campaign-finance violations for arranging hush-money payments to an adult-film star and a Playboy model who allege Mr. Trump had extramarital sexual encounters with them. Prosecutors wrote in a charging document that when Mr. Cohen asked Trump Organization executives for a $130,000 reimbursement for a hush payment he made to Stephanie Clifford, the porn actress known as Stormy Daniels, he also scrawled a handwritten note asking for $50,000 he said he spent on “tech services” to aid Mr. Trump’s campaign. Prosecutors didn’t name the company providing those services, but people familiar with the matter say it was RedFinch. Mr. Cohen’s dealings with the company and Mr. Gauger haven’t previously been reported. Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations, tax evasion, lying to Congress and other charges. He was sentenced last month to three years in prison. None of the charges were connected to his interactions with Mr. Gauger and RedFinch. John Gauger, owner of IT firm RedFinch Solutions. Photo: Liberty University The episode further illustrates how the former self-described fixer for Mr. Trump, who incriminated the president in the hush payments, once operated in secret to advance his boss’s political fortunes. Mr. Cohen’s dealings involving Mr. Trump over the years, including during the 2016 presidential race, will be a focus of Mr. Cohen’s testimony at a Feb. 7 hearing before the House Oversight Committee. Mr. Gauger’s lawyer, Charles E. James Jr. of the firm Williams Mullen, said federal investigators interviewed Mr. Gauger about his interactions over six years with Mr. Cohen, from their first meeting in 2012 until last April, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Mr. Cohen’s home, office and hotel room. Mr. Gauger, who recounted those dealings to The Wall Street Journal, said that though Mr. Cohen promised him lucrative work for the presidential campaign, his activities related to Mr. Trump consisted of trying unsuccessfully to manipulate two online polls in Mr. Trump’s favor. During the presidential race, Mr. Cohen also asked Mr. Gauger to create a Twitter account called @WomenForCohen. The account, created in May 2016 and run by a female friend of Mr. Gauger, described Mr. Cohen as a “sex symbol,” praised his looks and character, and promoted his appearances and statements boosting Mr. Trump’s candidacy. When Mr. Cohen requested the $50,000 reimbursement for technology services, he didn’t tell Trump Organization executives what specific services were performed, and they didn’t ask, people familiar with the matter said. The reimbursement he obtained for the deal with Ms. Clifford and the technology work was paid to him over the course of a year and characterized by the Trump Organization as legal fees, though it didn’t pertain to any legal work he performed at the time, prosecutors said. Overall, Mr. Cohen was paid $420,000, mostly from Mr. Trump’s personal account, including $180,000 to reimburse him for Ms. Clifford and RedFinch, a $60,000 bonus, and another $180,000 to cover taxes he would owe because the money would be declared as income, according to prosecutors. Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, was sentenced to three years in prison last month. In court, he said his blind loyalty to President Trump led him “to take a path of darkness.” (Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images) Richard Hasen, an election-law expert and law professor at University of California, Irvine, said Mr. Cohen had an obligation to disclose the payment to RedFinch as an independent expenditure if it was for campaign-related work he didn’t discuss with the Trump campaign. Had he coordinated with the Trump camp, the campaign would have been required to report any unpaid-for work as an in-kind contribution. The connection between Messrs. Trump and Cohen and Liberty University dates at least to 2012, when Mr. Falwell invited Mr. Trump to give a speech and Mr. Cohen accompanied him.<doc-sep>Former attorney for President Trump, Michael Cohen, at Trump Tower in New York on January 12, 2017 Photo : Getty Images If you think that 2019 is already too weird to be real, strap in. It’s getting weirder by the day. Advertisement According to a strange new report in the Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, hired a small tech company called RedFinch Solutions to rig online polls in favor of Trump. And in the most bizarre twist, Cohen even paid to have a vanity Twitter account made called WomenForCohen which described the attorney as “strong” a “pit bull,” and, perhaps least convincing, a “sex symbol.” Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in November, which may effectively make President Trump an unindicted co-conspirator. Cohen has also reportedly talked with special counsel Robert Mueller about the plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow, a business deal that still hasn’t been sufficiently explored to discover if Trump is beholden to Russian interests. The fake pro-Cohen Twitter account is still active and has often retweeted accounts from Trump’s short-lived national security advisor Michael Flynn and Fox News personalities Diamond and Silk. The account would also frequently retweet Michael Cohen himself, like in this one from less than two months before the 2016 election, claiming that online polls are more accurate than polls conducted by CNN: But the story gets even weirder. According to the WSJ, the guy who operates the tiny tech company hired by Cohen, John Gauger, got stiffed on payment. Gauger also claims that the fraction of the money he was finally paid was only paid in cash that was stuffed inside of a Walmart shopping bag. Seriously. From the Wall Street Journal: In his Trump Organization office, Mr. Cohen surprised the man, John Gauger, by giving him a blue Walmart bag containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in cash and, randomly, a boxing glove that Mr. Cohen said had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter, Mr. Gauger said. Advertisement Gauger is also reportedly the CIO at Liberty University in Virginia, operated by Trump ally and morally confused sack of shit Jerry Falwell Jr. Falwell has been a champion of President Trump, despite Trump’s war on everything good. “Why have Americans been able to do more to help people in need around the world than any other country in history? It’s because of free enterprise, freedom, ingenuity, entrepreneurism and wealth,” Falwell told the Washington Post in an interview published earlier this month. Advertisement “A poor person never gave anyone a job. A poor person never gave anybody charity, not of any real volume. It’s just common sense to me,” Falwell continued, contradicting both the biblical stories of Jesus and mainstream Christianity. The Wall Street Journal points to two polls that were rigged by Gauger, including one on CNBC.com that predates Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2014 and claimed to rank America’s “top business leaders.” Another poll from February 2015 was featured on the Drudge Report. Gauger reportedly wrote computer scripts that would repeatedly vote for Trump, but may not have been great at his job. The Drudge Report poll only got Trump about 5 percent of the vote. Advertisement Gauger was reportedly supposed to receive $50,000 for his online poll rigging efforts—polls similar to the ones that both Trump and Fox News would often tout as proof that he was incredibly popular with Americans. Despite winning the election, Trump was actually less popular with Americans than candidate Hillary Clinton, judging by the 3 million more votes that she received. Ultimately, Cohen billed the Trump Organization for the full $50,000 despite only paying out the roughly $13,000 in cash to Gauger. And Trump’s current lawyer insists that this is evidence Cohen is a liar. Advertisement “If one thing has been established, it’s that Michael Cohen is completely untrustworthy,” Rudy Giuliani told the WSJ. To make things even more bizarre, Giuliani also claimed last night during an interview with CNN that he “never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign.” Yes, Giuliani’s new tactic is to say that there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia but not between President Trump himself and Russia. Advertisement Like I said, it’s only going to get weirder from here on out. [Wall Street Journal] Update, 10:25am: Michael Cohen just tweeted this from his personal account: Advertisement President Trump has yet to address the issue.<doc-sep>John Gauger, the Chief Information Officer for the controversial Liberty University, has been accused of rigging polls in favor of Donald Trump at the behest of the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. The allegations first appeared in a Wall Street Journal report on January 17. In addition, Gauger allegedly set up a Twitter account for Michael Cohen that was named, WomenForCohen. The account, which is still active, describes itself as, “Women who love and support Michael Cohen. Strong, pit bull, sex symbol, no nonsense, business oriented, and ready to make a difference!” In November 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations. There are reports that Cohen has been in co-operation with Robert Mueller’s investigation regarding Trump’s plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen has confirmed the accuracy of the Journal story, telling CNN, “What I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald J. Trump. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.” The president’s current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told the Journal in response to the story, “If one thing has been established, it’s that Michael Cohen is completely untrustworthy.” Michael Cohen will testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in February 2019. Here’s what you need to know: 1. Cohen Reached Out to Gauger Through Tech Company RedFinch Solutions The Wall Street Journal reports that Cohen hired Gauger through Gauger’s IT company RedFinch Solutions. The Journal report says that Gauger was not paid the agreed $50,000 for his work. Gauger says that he received a fraction of what he was owed, and that was paid in cash that was presented to Gauger in a Walmart plastic bag. That cash amounted to somewhere between $12,000 and $13,000. In addition to the cash, the Journal reports that Gauger was given a boxing glove that had previously been worn by a Brazilian MMA fighter. The article goes on to say that Gauger billed the Trump Organization for the $50,000. Cohen has denied the cash story and said that the money was paid to Gauger by check. The Journal story identifies two polls, one from CNBC in January 2014 that ranked the “top business leaders” in America. That poll was done before Donald Trump entered the presidential race in 2014. According to the poll, Trump was not in the top 100. In 2015, a Drudge Report poll was also allegedly rigged by Gauger. Although that poll only gave Trump 5 percent of the vote among other prospective Republican presidential nominees. Speaking to the Journal, Gauger’s lawyer, Charles James, said that Cohen had promised Gauger more work in the future with the Trump Organization, that promise was never fulfilled. 2. Gauger Was Hired by Liberty University in August 2012 An article on Liberty University’s website says that Gauger was hired by the school in August 2012. Gauger’s first role as the Director of Specialized Initiatives. That piece says that Gauger is a Liberty graduate, as part of the class of 2009. Gauger gained an M.B.A. and a B.S. in business from Liberty. The then-chief information officer, Matthew Zealand, said of Gauger, “John has consistently demonstrated a willingness and a drive to accomplish projects of any size. His collaborative spirit and ability to work well with a wide range of people has lead John to being the obvious candidate for this new role on my team. He has a positive energy and creative ability that has proven to be both effective and valuable to IT, and to Liberty University as a whole.” 2016 Liberty D4 Hockey – Featuring: John Gauger 2016-02-19T21:40:34.000Z According to Gauger’s LinkedIn page, he assumed the role of chief information officer and the vice president of analytics in September 2016. On that profile, Gauger says that he began RedFinch Solutions in February 2005. Among those who endorse RedFinch of their website is ABC’s “Shark Tank” shark, Barbara Corcoran. Corcoran is quoted as saying, “After our first meeting, I was firmly convinced RedFinch was our best option.” Gauger also says that he is the chief information officer for 4C Health Solutions, a hospital in Midlothian, Virginia. 3. Gauger Auditioned to Be on ‘Survivor’ in 2005 Where He Bragged About His ‘Uncanny Ability to Make Anyone Like Me’ John Gauger Survivor AuditionJohn Gauger auditions for Survivor, December 2005. Please message for media usage. 2007-02-02T17:30:56.000Z Heavy.com discovered an audition tape that Gauger made in 2005 for the TV series “Survivor.” Gauger says in the clip that he is a 24-year-old project manager from Lynchburg who has an “uncanny ability” to make anyone like him. Gauger said that despite this, if selected, he may be the most hated “Survivor” contestant of all time. Gauger says that he “lives life on the edge.” It’s not clear if the video is meant as a parody, as during on segment, Gauger runs with scissors. 4. Gauger’s Boss at Liberty University Is an Avowed Donald Trump Loyalist Jerry Falwell Jr.: I believe Trump has changedPresident of Liberty University Jerry Falwell Jr. spoke to CNN's Erin Burnett about President Trump's alleged affairs, saying he believes the President has changed "in a positive way." 2018-03-29T01:34:27.000Z Gauger’s boss at Liberty University is an avowed Donald Trump loyalist. In January 2019, Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of the school, told the Washington Post, “Why have Americans been able to do more to help people in need around the world than any other country in history? It’s because of free enterprise, freedom, ingenuity, entrepreneurism and wealth. A poor person never gave anyone a job. A poor person never gave anybody charity, not of any real volume. It’s just common sense to me.” Jerry Falwell Jr.: Evangelicals forgive TrumpJerry Falwell Jr., the President of Liberty University, defends President Trump amid allegations that Trump had a 2006 affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump, through his attorney, has denied the affair. 2018-01-25T12:00:55.000Z In October 2018, Falwell referred to Trump as a “moral person.” Two months earlier, Falwell said that evangelicals had stopped supporting Attorney General Jeff Sessions, not long after it was clear that Sessions and Trump were not seeing eye-to-eye. 5.<doc-sep>
Photo : Eduardo Munoz Alvarez ( Getty Images ) While many media outlets continue to refer to President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen as a fixer, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Cohen couldn’t fix shit. Everything Cohen allegedly “fixed” — including Stormy Daniels payment, the Russian real estate deals and his entire presidential partnership with silent partner Vladimir Putin — remains decidedly broken. And, like his pal Putin, not only did Cohen pay a techie to create bots and rig a poll to name Trump the greatest business leader of his time, it didn’t even work. Trump didn’t even make the top 100. Cohen then went back to the same man again—because if it didn’t work the first time, it only makes sense to go back to the same person for another go at it—to try and manipulate a poll to elevate Trump’s presidential campaign. This also didn’t work. In a scathing report by The Wall Street Journal, Cohen reportedly paid John Gauger, the owner of RedFinch Solutions LLC, between $12,000 and $13,000 for activities related to Trump’s campaign, including “trying unsuccessfully to manipulate two online polls in Mr. Trump’s favor.” But get this: Cohen also asked someone to create a Twitter account called “@WomenForCohen, ” calling him “Strong, pit bull, sex symbol, no nonsense, business oriented, and ready to make a difference!” And because Cohen is nothing if not a snake, he overcharged Trump for his services. That’s right Cohen only paid somewhere between $12,000 and $13,000 to allegedly r ig two online polls—which didn’t work— and then charged Trump $50,000 f or his work and then stiffed Gauger on the payments. From CNN: In making the claim, Gauger told the paper he wasn’t fully paid for the work, though the Journal said Cohen was reimbursed $50,000 — the amount the two originally agreed on for Gauger’s services — by the Trump Organization. Gauger, according to the paper, also received a boxing glove “worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter” along with the cash payment. The paper said that Cohen denied paying Gauger in cash, instead telling the Journal that “all monies paid to Mr. Gauger were by check” and declining to comment further. The Trump Organization did not comment. Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump, told the paper that the allegation that Cohen received more money than what he paid to Gauger shows he’s a “thief.” Cohen confirmed to CNN that the WSJ account of events was accurate adding that all of his actions were “at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald J. Trump. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.” According to the WSJ, Gauger claims that Cohen approached him in early 2014 to create a bot that voted for Trump in a CNBC online survey naming the top business leaders and a 2015 Drudge Report poll ranking potential Republican candidates. Gauger’s efforts for the CNBC and Drudge Report poll were unsuccessful. Trump only won 5 percent of the Drudge poll’s votes and finished out of the top 100 in the CNBC poll. Trump reportedly paid Cohen for his ineffective efforts around the same time that he was given $130,000 repayment for hush money paid to a woman who allegedly had an affair with Trump. While the poll-rigging proved unsuccessful, the WomenforCohen Twitter account is still active and claims that it’s just a bunch of “Women who love and support Michael Cohen” And the account has posts like this: It’s kind of amazing. Considering Cohen is going to prison for some three years let’s hope that this account lands him some pen pals.