Former President Donald Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen, who is the prosecution witness in his hush money trial in New York City, admitted on oath that he stole from the Trump Organization in 2017.

According to the New York Times, the revelation came out when Cohen was asked by defense attorney Todd Blanche about an IT firm RedFinch, which reportedly he hired in 2016 to rig polls ahead of the 2016 election.

Trump had owed the company $50,000 and Cohen reportedly got a $50,000 reimbursement from the Trump Organization. However, he paid only half to the company.

He reportedly gave Red Finch a “brown paper bag” filled with cash totaling $20,000, as he testified.

“You did steal from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asked.

Cohen responded, “Yes, sir.”

The Monday admission by Cohen is seen as another hit to his credibility as a star witness in the case in which Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments made to conceal damaging information ahead of the 2016 election.

According to Cohen, Red Finch was hired back then to influence poll numbers involving “the most famous businessmen in, like, the last century.”

“Mr Trump’s name was on that list. At the beginning of this poll, he was polling at the very very bottom, and it upset him. He had me come to his office and he provided me a sheet of paper and he showed it,” he said.

According to Cohen, Red Finch was to “create an algorithm to ensure that Mr Trump would rise and rise in this poll” and reach “a number he wanted to finish.”