I keep digging deeper

The saga of Michael Cohen keeps getting messier as we march toward his appearance before Congress next month, then his jail time beginning in March.

Today Cohen admitted that he paid a tech firm to rig polls for Trump. According to NBC News…

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, and fixer confirmed on Thursday that he paid a small tech firm to rig online polls before the 2016 presidential campaign got underway “at the direction of and the sole benefit of” Trump.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the payment and attempted poll manipulation. The Trump Organization declined to comment to the newspaper.

He tweeted right after.

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

Anything Cohen says has to be taken with a grain of salt but there are some really icky issues here that — if true — are big red flags.

According to the article, Cohen on behalf of Trump paid John Gauger, who runs RedFinch Solutions LLC about $13,000 in cash to make some polls look rosy for Trump back in 2015. However, Gauger was supposed to be paid $50,000 and claims he was stiffed.

Yet Cohen claims he paid RedFinch all in checks, not cash. Also, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump organization reimbursed Cohen for all $50,000 but Gauger of RedFinch never saw a dime of that additional $37,000.

What. A. Mess.

I have no idea if it is legal to pay a firm to puff up numbers to make you look viable anywhere in the country. I imagine polling firms do select questions that they know will highlight a candidate’s strong points and roll from there. Trump it seems would have always done decently in any poll due to just name recognition and the uniqueness of his punch you in the face massage.

All of this is just a damn cluster. Cohen was Trump’s go-to guy until the Feds pinched him and then he flipped and has been all over the board since.

Also is there any penalty for getting paid for services and then not paying the person who provides those services? Was there a contract? Are there checks for that?

I guess we will have to wait for the newly minted Democrat-led house to initiate another investigation and hopefully Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on that committee and asks all the questions about the stuff.

I can’t wait.

Check out my other post on Judge Blocks Citizenship Question For 2020 Census and check out my podcast Bourbon On The Rocks plus like Bourbon On The Rocks on Facebook and follow me on the twitters at IRISHDUKE2