Cohen on poll rigging report: ‘What I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of’ Trump

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen on Thursday said that he acted at “the direction of and for the sole benefit of” President Trump after a Wall Street Journal report detailed how he hired a small polling firm to rig two online polls in the president’s favor.

{mosads}Cohen, who was sentenced last month to three years in prison for a series of crimes he committed while working for Trump, tweeted that he “truly regret[s]” his “blind loyalty” to the president, adding that Trump did not deserve his support.

“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,” Cohen wrote.

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 is accused in the Journal’s report by John Gauger, director of RedFinch Solutions LLC, of hiring Gauger’s firm to rig two online polls to show increased support for Trump, a plan Gauger says was unsuccessful.

Gauger also told the Journal that Cohen paid for RedFinch’s services with a Walmart bag full of $12,000 to $13,000 in cash, less than what was owed. The president’s former attorney denied that accusation in a statement to the newspaper, maintaining that he had paid for Gauger’s services by check.

Cohen was sentenced in December for multiple financial crimes, including campaign finance violations related to the 2016 election and his payments on behalf of the president to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, two women who threatened to come forward with stories of affairs with Trump in the final weeks of the election.