Thursday, January 17, 2019

Michael “The Fixer” Cohen: The Gift That Keeps on Giving & Trump on Razor's Edge

Face-Off Staring Contest: Cohen Up by Ten Plus Points


Cohen Hired IT Firm to Rig Early CNBC, Drudge Polls to Favor Trump: Behind the scenes, Michael Cohen hired Red Finch Solutions, then allegedly stiffed it — and his boss

More from Reuters news, in part: Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, said he paid a firm to manipulate online polling data “at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald Trump.”

Cohen tweeted:As for the WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of Donald Trump. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.”

The attempts to influence the polls ultimately proved largely unsuccessful but does shed a new light on the tactics of the Trump campaign and Cohen’s role. While campaigning, Trump frequently referred to his polling numbers to help fuel his candidacy.

Recall that Cohen has been was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in making illegal hush-money payments to two women to help Trump’s campaign and then lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia in mid-late 2016. Cohen went on to say that Trump directed him to commit the campaign-finance violations, which Trump has denied.

More on this same story from USA Today: John Gauger, the owner of Red Finch Solutions and chief information officer at Liberty University, said Cohen offered him $50,000 to manipulate two news sites' polls, the WSJ reported, citing a government document and a person familiar with the matter. 

Gauger said Cohen handed him a Walmart bag loaded with about $12,000 in cash during a 2015 meeting at Cohen's Trump Organization office. Cohen also threw in a boxing glove he said was once worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter. But Cohen never paid Gauger the remainder of the promised $50,000, the WSJ also said. 

Related from one year ago (December 7, 2018): Here from TPM a very timely and good reminder of how critically important the Mueller investigation is and must continue, and at the end of day – the public has a right to see and read it – no ifs, ands, or buts.

Story extract from TPM:Michael Cohen is emerging as a pivotal figure with knowledge of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, a new court filing from special counsel Robert Mueller suggests.”

Boy, is that all now proving true.

My 2 cents: Cohen truly deserves jail time, but if he helps bring down Trump and that crooked family, then a shorter sentence I think is warranted, say 1-year in jail with a 4-year probation period. That seems fair and just to me.

This Trump-Cohen connection is revealing now that Cohen admits how he was duped and fooled and conned by Trump – that underscores how Trump worked with and fooled those who voted for him with their blind loyalty that to a large extent still continues today.

Now the damage of all that conniving is right in our national face.

Thanks for stopping by.

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