Michael Cohen reportedly gave a tech firm $12,000 and a boxing glove in a Walmart bag to try and rig polls in Trump's favor

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Michael Cohen reportedly gave a tech firm $12,000 and a boxing glove in a Walmart bag to try and rig polls in Trump's favor

Michael Cohen

Richard Drew/AP

Michael Cohen.

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  • Michael Cohen in early 2015 paid a small tech firm to try and rig two online polls to help then-candidate Donald Trump.
  • The president's former lawyer and fixer reportedly paid the Virginia-based firm with roughly $12,000 a boxing glove previously worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter carried in a Walmart bag.
  • In a tweet on Thursday, Cohen said he regretted doing this work and that he did so out of "blind loyalty to a man who doesn't deserve it."

Michael Cohen paid a tech firm to attempt to rig two online polls in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

The former personal lawyer and fixer for Trump also paid the firm to run a Twitter account, "Women for Cohen," to help elevate his public profile and present him as a "sex symbol."

This was revealed in a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday, which Cohen has since largely confirmed.

One of the most remarkable details in the report is the claim that Cohen paid the tech firm, the Virginia-based RedFinch Solutions LLC, with roughly $12,000 to $13,000 and a boxing glove carried in a Walmart bag.

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John Gauger, who owns RedFinch, told the Journal that Cohen told him the glove had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter.

Read more: Michael Cohen reportedly paid someone to run a Twitter account called @WomenForCohen that described him as a 'sex symbol'

Cohen has denied that he paid the firm in such a way, telling the Journal that all payments to Gauger were via check.

In a tweet on Thursday morning, Cohen said Trump was aware of his efforts to have the polls rigged.

Read more: The most bizarre tweets from 'Women for Cohen,' the Michael Cohen-funded account promoting him as a 'sex symbol'

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"As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS," Cohen said. "I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn't deserve it."

The president's former personal lawyer reportedly received a $50,000 reimbursement from Trump for his work with RedFinch.

Read more: Everything Michael Cohen told Mueller about the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia, according to the memo that could land Cohen a 'substantial' prison sentence

Cohen in December was sentenced to three years in prison over various crimes he's pleaded guilty to, including campaign finance violations linked to hush money payments to two women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump. The president's former personal lawyer said he made these payments at Trump's direction with the intention of influencing the election.

None of the crimes Cohen pleaded guilty to relate to his interactions with RedFinch.

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