【中美创新时报2024 年 4 月 24 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）周二（23日），唐纳德·特朗普在法庭上度过了令人沮丧的一天，主持刑事审判的法官告诉辩护律师，他“失去了所有可信度”，而一名关键证人揭开了检察官所说的影响 2016 年大选的阴谋。《纽约时报》记者Jonah E. Bromwich、Ben Protess 和 Maggie Haberman对此作了下述详细报道。
证人是《国家询问报》的长期出版人戴维·佩克(David Pecker)，他将陪审员们带回了2015年在曼哈顿市中心的特朗普大厦与特朗普及其掮客举行的一次重要会议。
检察官称其为“特朗普大厦阴谋”，称佩克、特朗普和当时担任特朗普私人律师和掮客的迈克尔·科恩在会议上策划了一个阴谋，以掩盖特朗普竞选活动中隐现的性丑闻。
他们的努力导致佩克的小报购买并埋葬了两个有关特朗普的破坏性故事。科恩还购买了一名色情演员的沉默，这是针对前总统案件的核心交易。
在周二扣人心弦的证词中，佩克带领陪审员参加了会议，回忆起科恩和特朗普如何询问他和他的杂志（美国超市收银台的固定装置）可以做些什么“来帮助竞选”。该说法支持了检方的论点，即这些人不仅保护特朗普的个人声誉，还保护他的政治命运。
“我会成为你们的眼睛和耳朵，”佩克回忆道，他在解释小报“抓杀”的做法时告诉他们，在这种做法中，一家媒体购买了一个故事的版权，但从未发表过。
佩克的证词是在特朗普及其法律团队经历了一场惨痛的听证会之后做出的，检察官认为，特朗普多次攻击证人和陪审员，这些攻击主要是在社交媒体和他的竞选网站上发起的，对审判构成了威胁。他们敦促法官胡安·M·默查（Juan M. Merchan）判定特朗普藐视法庭，因为他们称特朗普有 11 项违反禁言令的行为，该禁言令禁止前总统攻击证人、检察官、陪审员和法庭工作人员及其亲属。
当特朗普的首席律师托德·布兰奇声称前总统试图遵守该命令时，默查表示他认为这种说法很荒谬，并用没有律师愿意听到的话回答：“你正在失去法庭的所有可信度。 ”
特朗普是首位面临刑事审判的美国总统，针对特朗普的案件以科恩向色情演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯支付 13 万美元封口费为中心。检察官称，他在 2016 年竞选期间按照特朗普的指示向丹尼尔斯付钱，以让她对她所说的与特朗普的性幽会保持沉默。
特朗普的律师在开场陈词中否认他的当事人与丹尼尔斯发生过关系，这与特朗普一贯的说法相呼应。
77 岁的特朗普如果罪名成立，将面临最高四年的监禁，他被指控犯有 34 项伪造商业记录罪，罪名是他在向科恩偿还 13 万美元款项时所采用的方式。每一项计数都反映了不同的虚假支票、分类帐和发票，据检察官称，特朗普用来掩盖报销的真实目的。
再次成为共和党推定候选人的特朗普在三个不同的城市面临另外三起刑事案件，指控他密谋推翻 2020 年选举的失败，并在不再担任总统后不当处理机密记录。但由于这些案件被推迟，曼哈顿案件可能是唯一在选举日之前进入审判的案件。
曼哈顿案仅进入第六天，就已成为媒体和政治奇观，特朗普对科恩和陪审团的竞选式攻击考验了法律体系的极限和法官的耐心。
陪审团在法庭外举行的禁言令听证会向特朗普展示了一个令人震惊的现实，因为他在被起诉期间试图夺回白宫：他的政治反应，以及定义特朗普时代的破坏规范的精神，经常与法律条文发生冲突。
检察官克里斯托弗·康罗伊 (Christopher Conroy) 告诉法官，该案的证人“有理由担心”受到前总统的“尖酸刻薄”。他连珠炮般地发表了曼哈顿检察官认为越界的言论，包括称科恩和丹尼尔斯为“卑鄙的人”，并转发了对陪审团的攻击。这件事发生在前一天晚上，一位已经就座的陪审员要求离开。
康罗伊说：“这里发生的事情正是该命令旨在防止的事情，被告并不关心。”
特朗普的律师托德·布兰奇辩称，特朗普的帖子不是针对个人的，也没有违反命令，因为他只是在回应“一系列政治攻击”。
但默查勃然大怒，恳求布兰奇坚持事实和法律。
“我需要知道什么是真实的，”默查说，强调了特朗普喜欢利用社交媒体传播谎言。
布兰奇的情况变得更糟，他似乎对法官感到困惑。有一次，默查称他的一个论点“愚蠢”。
检察官已要求默查对特朗普的每项言论处以 1000 美元的罚款，尽管康罗伊大声质疑，用大头照出售竞选商品的特朗普是否真的是在谋取牢狱之灾。这位法官的女儿一直是特朗普的目标之一，但他没有立即做出裁决。
针对特朗普的案件于周一开始，双方发表了开庭陈述，提供了特朗普和证据的对决愿景。一名检察官指控前总统策划了“犯罪阴谋和掩盖事实”。特朗普的律师宣称，“特朗普总统是无辜的”。
检方随后传唤了第一位证人佩克，佩克于周二返回证人席，进行第二天的证词。
周二，检方对佩克进行了大约 2.5 小时的审查，将他牢牢地置于特朗普的轨道上，作为他的长期粉丝和朋友，并成为 2016 年特朗普竞选活动的延伸。他与特朗普的亲密关系——以及他温和、近乎祖父般的情感——似乎增强了他的可信度。
“我会叫他唐纳德，”佩克回忆道，并补充说，他“多年来与特朗普先生关系很好”，并与特朗普一起创办了一本名为“特朗普风格”的杂志。
佩克描述了特朗普在担任《学徒》电视真人秀主持人期间与《国家询问报》之间的共生关系。特朗普会将节目的细节透露给该杂志，该杂志又会刊登有关参赛者的故事。
2015 年在特朗普大厦举行的关键会议之后，两者关系变得具有全国意义。
“我接到迈克尔·科恩的电话，告诉我老板想见我，”佩克向陪审团讲述道。
此后，科恩定期联系佩克，每周甚至每天都会联系。他们谈话的目的往往是保护特朗普免受负面报道的影响，包括一名门卫明显错误地声称特朗普有一个非婚生孩子。购买了该报道的佩克作证说，科恩告诉他“老板会非常高兴”压制该报道。
佩克后来还从一位前《花花公子》模特那里购买了一篇报道，这名模特说她与特朗普有染。佩克解释说，科恩“在竞选活动的各个方面都表现出色”。但是，在辩方可能抓住的一个细节中，他作证说，科恩不是竞选团队的雇员，而是特朗普的私人律师，他有时可能“将自己注入”竞选活动中。
特朗普的律师尚未对佩克进行盘问，但当他们盘问时，他们很可能会抓住科恩的描述。特朗普辩护的一个中心主题是将科恩描绘成一个叛徒和骗子，并让这位前总统远离最有问题的证据。
然而佩克的证词让特朗普直接陷入了他们的阴谋之中。有迹象表明，佩克至少知道他们的安排有问题，他指出他想对其保密。当检察官约书亚·斯坦格拉斯（Joshua Steinglass）询问原因时，佩克解释说，他不希望“泄露”他为竞选活动提供过帮助。
在审讯中，佩克承认，他不仅煽动有害的故事，还宣扬有益的故事。他解释说，科恩会给他提供有关特朗普共和党主要对手的信息，而《国家询问报》有时会“修饰”这些信息。
例如，该小报刊登了有关特朗普主要对手的报道，包括本·卡森、特德·克鲁兹和马可·卢比奥。检察官向陪审员阐明了这一点，并在屏幕上发布了几个耸人听闻的头条新闻：“唐纳德·特朗普因与肯尼迪合影而抨击特德·克鲁兹的父亲。刺客”，“笨手笨脚的外科医生本·卡森把海绵留在了病人的大脑里！” 并且，在一个具有讽刺意味的预兆时刻，“泰德·克鲁兹被色情明星羞辱了。”
佩克说，在特朗普大厦的会议上，他曾表示，他预计许多女性“会站出来试图推销她们的故事”，因为特朗普被称为“最合适的单身汉，和最漂亮的女人约会过”。
事实上，特朗普并不是一个单身汉。2005年，他与第三任妻子、现任妻子梅拉尼娅·特朗普结婚。
题图：周二，前总统唐纳德·特朗普在纽约市曼哈顿刑事法院出庭受审，因涉嫌掩盖封口费而受审。POOL/GETTY
附原英文报道：
Trump endures a rugged day in court as witness details ‘catch and kill’
By Jonah E. Bromwich, Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman New York Times,Updated April 24, 2024
NEW YORK — Donald Trump had a dismal day in court Tuesday as the judge presiding over his criminal trial told a defense lawyer he was “losing all credibility” and a key witness pulled back the curtain to expose what prosecutors called a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.
The witness was David Pecker, longtime publisher of The National Enquirer, and he transported jurors back to a crucial 2015 meeting with Trump and his fixer at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.
Prosecutors called it the “Trump Tower conspiracy,” arguing that Pecker, Trump and Michael Cohen, who was then Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, hatched a plot at the meeting to conceal sex scandals looming over Trump’s campaign.
Their effort led Pecker’s tabloids to buy and bury two damaging stories about Trump. Cohen also purchased the silence of a porn actor, a deal at the heart of the case against the former president.
In gripping testimony Tuesday, Pecker took the jurors inside the meeting, recalling how Cohen and Trump asked what he and his magazines — fixtures of American supermarket checkout lanes — could do “to help the campaign.” The account bolstered the prosecution’s argument that the men were protecting not just Trump’s personal reputation, but his political fortunes.
“I would be your eyes and ears,” Pecker recalled telling them, as he explained the tabloid practice of “catch and kill,” in which an outlet bought the rights to a story, only to never publish it.
Pecker’s testimony came after a bruising hearing for Trump and his legal team, as prosecutors argued that the trial is threatened by Trump’s repeated attacks on witnesses and jurors, mostly launched on social media and his campaign website. They urged the judge, Juan M. Merchan, to hold Trump in contempt over what they said were 11 violations of a gag order that bars the former president from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their relatives.
When Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, claimed that the former president was trying to comply with the order, Merchan signaled that he found that preposterous, replying with words that no lawyer wants to hear: “You’re losing all credibility with the court.”
The case against Trump, the first American president to face a criminal trial, centers on Cohen’s $130,000 hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say he paid Daniels at Trump’s direction during the 2016 campaign to keep her quiet about a sexual tryst she said she had with Trump.
Trump’s lawyer in his opening statement denied that his client had slept with Daniels, echoing what Trump has consistently said.
Trump, 77, who faces up to four years behind bars if convicted, is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records for the way in which he accounted for the $130,000 repayment to Cohen. Each count reflects a different false check, ledger and invoice that, according to prosecutors, Trump used to disguise the reimbursement’s true purpose.
Trump who is once again the presumptive Republican nominee, faces three other criminal cases in three different cities on charges that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election loss and mishandled classified records once he was no longer president. But with those cases delayed, the Manhattan case may be the only one that makes it to trial before Election Day.
The Manhattan case, in just its sixth day, has become a media and political spectacle as Trump’s campaign-style attacks on Cohen and the jury test the limits of the legal system and the judge’s patience.
The gag-order hearing, held with the jury out of the courtroom, demonstrated a jarring reality for Trump as he seeks to reclaim the White House while under indictment: His political reflexes, and the norm-busting ethos that has defined the Trump era, often clash with the letter of the law.
Witnesses in the case “rightly fear” being subjected to the former president’s “vitriol,” a prosecutor, Christopher Conroy, told the judge. He rattled off statements that Manhattan prosecutors believe crossed the line, including calling Cohen and Daniels “sleaze bags” and reposting an attack on the jury pool. That happened the night before a juror who had already been seated asked to be excused.
“What happened here was exactly what this order was meant to prevent, and the defendant doesn’t care,” Conroy said.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, argued that Trump’s posts were not personal and did not violate the order, because he was simply responding to “a barrage of political attacks.”
But Merchan bridled, imploring Blanche to stick to the facts and the law.
“I need to know what is true,” Merchan said, underscoring Trump’s penchant for using social media to spread lies.
It then got worse for Blanche, who appeared flummoxed by the judge. At one point, Merchan called one of his arguments “silly.”
Prosecutors have asked Merchan to fine Trump $1,000 for each statement, although Conroy wondered aloud if Trump, who has sold campaign merchandise with his mug shot, was actually angling for jail time. The judge, whose daughter has been among Trump’s targets, did not immediately rule.
The case against Trump commenced Monday, when both sides delivered opening statements that offered dueling visions of Trump and the evidence. A prosecutor accused the former president of orchestrating a “criminal conspiracy and a cover-up.” Trump’s lawyer proclaimed, “President Trump is innocent.”
The prosecution then called its first witness, Pecker, who returned to the stand Tuesday for a second day of testimony.
In about 2 1/2 hours of examining Pecker on Tuesday, the prosecution placed him firmly in Trump’s orbit, as a longtime fan and friend who became an extension of the 2016 Trump campaign. His closeness to Trump — and his gentle, almost grandfatherly affect — appeared to bolster his credibility.
“I would call him Donald,” Pecker recalled, adding that he had “a great relationship with Mr. Trump over the years” and that he had launched a magazine with him called “Trump Style.”
Pecker described a symbiotic relationship between Trump and The National Enquirer during the former president’s turn as a reality television host on “The Apprentice.” Trump would leak details of the show to the magazine, which in turn would run stories on the contestants.
The relationship took on national significance after the crucial 2015 meeting at Trump Tower.
“I received a call from Michael Cohen telling me that the boss wanted to see me,” Pecker recounted for the jury.
Afterward, Cohen routinely contacted Pecker, checking in weekly or even daily. The purpose of their conversations was often was to protect Trump from negative stories, including a door attendant’s apparently false claim that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock. Pecker, who purchased the story, testified that Cohen had told him “the boss would be very pleased” to have that story suppressed.
Pecker, who later also bought a story from a former Playboy model who said she had had an affair with Trump, explained that Cohen was “physically in every aspect of whatever the campaign was working on.” But, in a detail that the defense may seize on, he testified that Cohen, who was not a campaign employee but Trump’s personal lawyer, may have “injected himself” into the campaign at times.
Trump’s lawyers have not yet cross-examined Pecker, but when they do, they are likely to seize on that description of Cohen. A central theme of Trump’s defense is to portray Cohen as a renegade and a liar, and to distance the former president from the most problematic evidence.
Yet Pecker’s testimony placed Trump directly in the middle of their conspiracy. And in a sign that at least Pecker knew that their arrangement was problematic, he noted that he wanted to keep it “confidential.” When a prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, asked why, Pecker explained that he did not want it to “leak” that he helped the campaign.
Under questioning, Pecker acknowledged that he did not merely spike detrimental stories but promoted helpful ones. Cohen, he explained, would feed him information about Trump’s Republican primary opponents, and The National Enquirer would sometimes “embellish” them.
The tabloid, for example, ran stories about Trump’s primary opponents, including Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The prosecutors illustrated the point for jurors, posting several lurid headlines on screens: “Donald Trump Blasts Ted Cruz’s Dad for Photo with J.F.K. Assassin,” “Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson left Sponge in Patient’s Brain!” and, in a moment of ironic foreshadowing, “Ted Cruz Shamed by Porn Star.”
At the Trump Tower meeting, Pecker said, he had indicated that he expected many women “would come out to try to sell their stories” about Trump, because he was known as “the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women.”
Trump was not, in fact, a bachelor. He had married his third and current wife, Melania Trump, in 2005.
