Wall Street Journal reports Cohen paid John Gauger to set up WomenForCohen account to promote him as a ‘pit bull’ and ‘sex symbol’

Michael Cohen is a sexy pit bull terrier with a fantastic smile, according to a Twitter account that it turns out was started at the instruction of one Michael Cohen.

Cohen – Donald Trump’s former friend, attorney and fixer, now flipper – hired an IT firm called RedFinch Solutions to manipulate an online CNBC poll about the country’s top 100 leaders, and later to run a sock-puppet Twitter account, @womenforcohen, to promote his sexual desirability, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Cohen began his working relationship with RedFinch in 2012, when the company’s owner, John Gauger, helped Cohen set up his Instagram account.

In 2014, Cohen reportedly asked Gauger to manipulate a CNBC poll asking people to identify the country’s top 100 business leaders. Cohen asked Gauger to write a script to repeatedly vote for Trump, according to the WSJ. His efforts were unsuccessful, as Trump did not finish even within the top 100, but it began a relationship in which Cohen would pay Gauger to engage in acts of online deception on behalf of himself and Trump.

In February 2015, before Trump had entered the presidential race, Cohen asked Gauger to manipulate another online poll, this a Drudge Report vote on potential Republican candidates. Trump eventually came fifth, with about 5% of the total votes.

Then, during the campaign, Cohen asked Gauger to create a Twitter account called @WomenForCohen. The account, which is still online though has not had a fresh post since 2016, claims in its bio to be run by “women who love and support Michael Cohen. Strong, pit bull, sex symbol, no nonsense, business oriented and ready to make a difference!”

The tweets make continual reference to Cohen as a #realman and #pitbull. Gauger maintains his company created all these tweets at the behest of Cohen.

Women For Cohen (@WomenForCohen) Love seeing #selfies of our number one! @MichaelCohen212 you look so handsome! #MAGA https://t.co/WwiZmjdXHL

Women For Cohen (@WomenForCohen) Haters can't handle knowing that women love a REAL man! #pitbull #realman https://t.co/y4FnjV1vGU

In one notable tweet the account claims Cohen looks “even more sexy” than a young Andy Garcia:

Women For Cohen (@WomenForCohen) You look even more sexy! But the closest doppelgänger for sure! #ourguy #awesome https://t.co/Gzh5sBR7Jl

Today, Cohen has admitted that he made at least some payments to Gauger, but claims he did so only at the behest of Trump. He tweeted “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 has not gone into details about individual payments and the Twitter account.

Gauger told the WSJ that Cohen never paid the $50,000 he was promised for his services. Instead, at a meeting at Trump Tower, Cohen handed Gauger “a blue Walmart bag containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in cash” as well as a boxing glove that Cohen claimed “had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter”. Cohen denies he ever paid Gauger cash and said in a statement “all monies paid to Mr. Gauger were by cheque”.