Tag: bribes

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Swampity Swamp Swamp: ‘Donated’ Fireworks From Company That Lobbied White House On Tariffs

President Donald Trump's Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports.
Donald Trump

When someone does you a favor, it is appropriate to send a gift, I guess.

From ABC News:

President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports.

And last week, the same day the donation was announced, the company — Phantom Fireworks of Youngstown, Ohio — got what it wanted: Trump decided to hold off on his threatened $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks.

“This is another example of how private companies attempt use their money to influence the government by stroking the president’s ego,” said Jordan Libowitz with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Newsweek reports the owners of Phantom Fireworks, the largest consumer fireworks retailer in the country, are registered Democrats but voted in the 2016 Ohio Republican primary.

That said, they got their reprieve from tariffs, and are now donating to Trump’s ego rally.

You do the math.

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Michael Cohen Admits He Paid Tech Firm To Rig Online Polls For Trump

Michael Cohen

There’s a new revelation in the ever-unraveling saga of twists and turns behind the scenes of the 2016 Trump campaign today.

The Wall Street Journal (a conservative newspaper I’ll point out) is reporting that the Trump campaign paid a small IT company to rig online polling on websites like Drudge and CNBC in Trump’s favor.

And the company was paid by none other than Trump’s former ‘fixer,’ Michael Cohen.

The tech guy was, apparently, John Gauger, chief information officer at Liberty University in Virginia, where Trump supporter Jerry Falwell Jr. is president.

The WSJ‘s story is behind a firewall, but check this from CNN:

According to the paper, Cohen paid John Gauger, the owner of RedFinch Solutions LLC, between $12,000 and $13,000 for activities related to Trump’s campaign, including “trying unsuccessfully to manipulate two online polls in Mr. Trump’s favor” and creating a Twitter account called “@WomenForCohen” that “praised (Cohen’s) looks and character, and promoted his appearances and statements boosting” Trump’s candidacy.

In making the claim, Gauger told the paper he wasn’t fully paid for the work, though the Journal said Cohen was reimbursed $50,000 — the amount the two originally agreed on for Gauger’s services — by the Trump Organization. Gauger, according to the paper, also received a boxing glove “worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter” along with the cash payment.

The payment to Gauger was mentioned by prosecutors in Cohen’s charging documents.

https://twitter.com/MichaelCohen212/status/1085900900835778560