Cohen, the Journal reported, said he would pay John Gauger in exchange for rigging online polls to show wide support for Trump. A year later, Cohen asked Gauger to set up a Twitter account, @WomenForCohen, that described Cohen as “strong, pit bull, sex symbol, no nonsense, business oriented and ready to make a difference!”
When Cohen asked the Trump Organization for $130,000 to pay Stormy Daniels, the Journal reported, he also included a handwritten request for $50,000 to pay Gauger for “tech services.” But Gauger never got that money: Instead, Gauger told the Journal, Cohen provided renumeration in the form of a Walmart bag full of cash — roughly $13,000 — and a baseball glove that Cohen said had been worn by a famous Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter. (Cohen told the Journal that no such Walmart bag existed; he paid Gauger with a check.) (From Talking Points Memo, read it here.)
When Cohen asked the Trump Organization for $130,000 to pay Stormy Daniels, the Journal reported, he also included a handwritten request for $50,000 to pay Gauger for “tech services.” But Gauger never got that money: Instead, Gauger told the Journal, Cohen provided renumeration in the form of a Walmart bag full of cash — roughly $13,000 — and a baseball glove that Cohen said had been worn by a famous Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter. (Cohen told the Journal that no such Walmart bag existed; he paid Gauger with a check.) (From Talking Points Memo, read it here.)
No comment from me about @WomenForCohen but if you want to check it out, as I'm writing it's still live on Twitter, click here.
Kurt Eichenwald shared his thoughts:
1. Some time ago, I wrote one of the most important pieces of information in the Michael Cohen filings was the $50,000 given to him by the Trump Org as reimbursement for IT campaign expenses. Soon after, I heard, but could not confirm, this was connected to Jerry Falwell Jr. ...— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
2...the WSJ confirmed it and has the story today that Cohen paid money to Falwell's IT guy to rig online polling. So now that all the info is out there, time to discuss the significance. If you look at all of the pieces of information, the one hand you do not see involved is....— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
3....that of the Trump campaign itself. Cohen does the work, Trump Org pays the money, the payment of $13,000 in cash goes to Falwell's guy, the other $37,000 is...somewhere. Start with, there is NEVER an instance where a campaign pays large sums of cash for a legal act.....— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
Note: TO is the Trump Organization
4...cash leaves no trail. That is why it was used to finance the Watergate burglars. The checks cut by the Trump Organization to Cohen on behalf of the campaign - was TO serving as the slush fund for the Trump Campaign? If so, LOTS of expenditures connected to the company....— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
5...should have been reported as campaign-share expenditures. But there is no reason anyone would do a direct payment like that - TO to Cohen. And there is no reason why anyone would do a 3-step payment - TO to Cohen (converted to cash) to Falwell's guy. The way a lawful....— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
6...payment would have been done is check from campaign to Falwell's guy (if it was a legitimate expense.) All the go-betweens are only used for concealment. This is standard, seen-it-a-million-times, clumsy white-collar money laundering to hide an illicit act. The act....— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
7...here was to rig online polls, according to Cohen. Falwell's guy also engages in search engine optimization, so I have a feeling there will be more turning up about what was done here. Of course the big question now remaining is what happened to the other $37,000. What we do..— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
8...know is this: The Trump Organization gave Michael Cohen money to engage in illicit and possibly illegal behavior for campaign purposes. One of the checks was the Stormy Daniels payment. There are a few more suspicious elements of that payment (why would the total amount....— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
9...have been rounded up if this was not a knowingly illicit act? In other words, if there was to be a payment to Daniels, why not just have the Trump Org pay it rather than Trump Org to Cohen to Daniels, reimbursed as a campaign expense, then tens of thousands added to round...— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
10...up reimbursement for tax purposes, since Cohen would have to report on his taxes the reimbursement as not an expense reimbursement but as income). There is a LOT of conniving going on here, a LOT of the procedures of money transfer showing knowledge of guilt. People don't...— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
11...work so hard to cover payments for a lawful act.— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
So, Congress must ask - who told Cohen to pay cash to Falwell's guy? Where is the other $37,000? What other monies was the Trump Org paying on behalf of campaign? And how do they explain disguising expense reimbursement...
12...as compensation to Cohen. Again, that one fact - upping the reimbursement of the Stormy Daniels payoff to account for taxes since Cohen was reporting reimbursement as income - is key to establishing guilty mind of everyone involved - potentially Trump himself.— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 17, 2019
End
Michael Cohen himself spoke out too:
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
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