特朗普封口费案最终陪审员就座，开庭陈词定于周一

【中美创新时报2024 年 4 月 20 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）周五（19日），唐纳德·特朗普封口费案的审判中，最终陪审员就座，一名上诉法官驳回了这位前总统最近提出的停止此案的提议，因为法庭上忙碌的一天为周一开始的开庭陈词奠定了基础。美联社记者JENNIFER PELTZ、MICHAEL R. SISAK、JAKE OFFENHARTZ 和 ALANNA DURKIN RICHER对此作了下述报道。

纽约人组成的小组最终确定了对美国前总统的首次刑事审判，律师们花了几天时间询问了数十名潜在陪审员，询问他们是否可以在特朗普2016年当选前建立了房地产帝国的城市公正地评判特朗普。 

这次审判将特朗普的法律问题推入他与总统乔·拜登激烈竞争的核心，特朗普的对手可能会利用不讨人喜欢和淫秽的证词来证明这位共和党推定候选人不适合再次担任三军统帅。

与此同时，特朗普将起诉作为政治口号，将自己塑造成受害者，同时兼顾刑事被告和总统候选人的双重角色。

法官胡安·默查恩 (Juan Merchan) 表示，律师将于周一早上发表开庭陈词，然后检察官开始陈述案件，指控特朗普担心掩盖负面报道会损害他 2016 年的竞选活动。他不认罪，并表示这些故事是假的。

尽管之前多次尝试推迟审判均以失败告终，但特朗普的一名律师在陪审团就座数小时后出现在上诉法院，辩称默查恩仓促地选择了陪审团，特朗普无法在曼哈顿得到公平的审判。

律师克利福德·罗伯特 (Clifford Robert) 表示：“我谨表示，认为在这段时间内能够找到公正的陪审团是站不住脚的。”

玛莎·迈克尔法官在简短听证会几分钟后就拒绝了这一请求。

回到审判法庭后，默查恩对特朗普的律师施压要求重新审视一连串的审前裁决感到沮丧。

“在某些时候，你需要接受法院的裁决，”默查恩说。 “没有什么其他需要澄清的了。没有什么可以反驳的了。我们将于周一早上发表开场陈词。本次审判即将开始。”

陪审团就座后不久，紧急救援人员赶到法院外的一个公园，一名男子在那里自焚。官员称，这名男子拿出宣扬阴谋论的小册子，将其散布在公园各处，然后将自己浇在易燃物质中并自焚。 周五下午，他的情况危急。

特朗普这一周一直安静地坐在法庭上，律师们向潜在陪审员施压，要求他们表达对他的看法，以寻找任何妨碍他们审理此案的偏见。在诉讼间歇期间，他在社交媒体或走廊里的电视摄像机上强烈谴责此案，称其为出于政治动机的“政治迫害”。

他周五在社交媒体上写道：“这次审判是一场漫长、被操纵的耐力竞赛，面对的是那些想要摧毁我们国家的肮脏、邪恶的人。”

在五天的陪审团遴选过程中，数十人因表示不相信自己能够做到公平而被从陪审团名单中除名。其他人则对必须在媒体过度关注下对如此重大的案件做出裁决表示焦虑，尽管法官裁定陪审员的名字只有检察官、特朗普及其法律团队知道。

周四，一名被选为陪审团成员的女性被解雇，因为她对自己的身份公开后从朋友和家人那里收到的信息表示担忧。周五，另一名妇女在接受检察官询问她是否有能力仅根据法庭上提供的证据来决定案件时泪流满面。

“我现在感到非常紧张和焦虑，”这位女士说。“我很抱歉。我也不希望有这样感觉的人来评判我的案子。我不想浪费法庭的时间。”

随着周五更多潜在陪审员受到讯问，特朗普似乎在辩护席上倾身，在一些文件上乱写乱画，并与他的一位律师交换了笔记。他偶尔会振作起来，盯着陪审席，包括当一位未来的陪审员说他自愿为希拉里·克林顿的竞选活动“投票”时。那个人后来被原谅了。

特朗普在周五的诉讼程序开始前对记者发表讲话，痛斥检察官指控他违反的禁言令。默查恩已安排下周就检察官的要求进行辩论，要求特朗普认定特朗普藐视法庭，并因他在社交媒体上发布的帖子而罚款，他们认为特朗普违反了对潜在证人言论的限制。

“禁言令必须取消。人们可以谈论我，而且我有禁言令，”特朗普说。

周五，默查恩还听取了关于检察官要求特朗普在封口费案中出庭作证的情况下提起他之前的法律纠纷的争论。特朗普曾表示他想作证，但他没有被要求这样做，而且随时可以改变主意。

曼哈顿检察官表示，他们想就特朗普最近的民事欺诈审判等案件向特朗普提出质询，法官发现特朗普多年来对自己的财富撒谎，该案导致了 4.54 亿美元的判决。他正在对该判决提出上诉。默查恩表示，他将在未来几天对此事做出裁决。

此次审判的重点是特朗普的前律师兼私人经纪人迈克尔·科恩 (Michael Cohen) 向色情演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯 (Stormy Daniels) 支付了 13 万美元，以防止她在 2016 年竞选的最后几天声称与特朗普发生性接触。

检察官表示，特朗普在公司向科恩报销时掩盖了内部记录中付款的真实性质。科恩于 2018 年承认联邦指控，预计将成为检方的明星证人。

特朗普否认与丹尼尔斯发生性关系，他的律师辩称，向科恩支付的费用是合法的法律费用。

特朗普面临 34 项伪造商业记录的重罪指控。如果罪名成立，他可能会被判处最高四年的监禁，但目前尚不清楚法官是否会选择将他关进监狱。特朗普几乎肯定会对任何定罪提出上诉。

特朗普涉及四起刑事案件，但尚不清楚其他案件是否会在 11 月大选前接受审判。上诉和法律纠纷导致其他三起指控特朗普密谋推翻 2020 年选举结果和非法囤积机密文件的案件被拖延。

题图：前总统唐纳德·特朗普周五在纽约曼哈顿刑事法院接受审判，罪名是涉嫌掩盖支付封口费。 SPENCER PLATT/GETTY

附原英文报道：

Final jurors seated for Trump’s hush money case, with opening statements set for Monday

By JENNIFER PELTZ, MICHAEL R. SISAK, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER The Associated Press,Updated April 19, 2024 

NEW YORK (AP) — The final jurors were seated Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and an appellate judge rejected the former president’s latest bid to halt the case as a hectic day in court set the stage for opening statements to begin Monday.

The panel of New Yorkers who will decide the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president took final shape after lawyers spent days quizzing dozens of potential jurors on whether they can impartially judge Trump in the city where he built his real estate empire before being elected in 2016.

The trial thrusts Trump’s legal problems into the heart of his hotly contested race against President Joe Biden, with Trump’s opponent likely to seize on unflattering and salacious testimony to make the case that the presumptive Republican nominee is unfit to return as commander in chief.

Trump, meanwhile, is using the prosecution as a political rallying cry, casting himself as a victim while juggling his dual role as criminal defendant and presidential candidate.

Judge Juan Merchan said lawyers will present opening statements Monday morning before prosecutors begin laying out their case alleging a scheme to cover up negative stories Trump feared would hurt his 2016 campaign. He has pleaded not guilty and says the stories were false.

Despite the failure of repeated previous attempts to delay the trial, a Trump attorney was in an appeals court hours after the jury was seated, arguing that Merchan rushed through jury selection and that Trump cannot get a fair trial in Manhattan.

“To think an impartial jury could be found in that period of time, I would respectfully submit, is untenable,” attorney Clifford Robert said.

Justice Marsha Michael denied the request just minutes after a brief hearing.

Back in the trial court, Merchan expressed frustration as Trump’s lawyers pressed to revisit a litany of pretrial rulings.

“At some point, you need to accept the court’s rulings,” Merchan said. “There’s nothing else to clarify. There’s nothing else to reargue. We’re going to have opening statements on Monday morning. This trial is starting.”

Just after the jury was seated, emergency crews responded to a park outside the courthouse, where a man had set himself on fire. The man took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories and spread them around the park before dousing himself in a flammable substance and setting himself aflame, officials said. He was in critical condition Friday afternoon.

Trump has spent the week sitting quietly in the courtroom as lawyers pressed potential jurors on their views about him in a search for any bias that would preclude them from hearing the case. During breaks in the proceedings, he has railed against the case on social media or to TV cameras in the hallway, calling it a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

“This Trial is a Long, Rigged, Endurance Contest, dealing with Nasty, Crooked People, who want to DESTROY OUR COUNTRY,” he wrote Friday on social media.

Over five days of jury selection, dozens of people were dismissed from the jury pool after saying they didn’t believe they could be fair. Others expressed anxiety about having to decide such a consequential case with outsized media attention, even though the judge has ruled that jurors’ names will be known only to prosecutors, Trump and their legal teams.

One woman who had been chosen to serve on the jury was dismissed Thursday after she raised concerns over messages she said she got from friends and family when aspects of her identity became public. On Friday, another woman broke down in tears while being questioned by a prosecutor about her ability to decide the case based only on evidence presented in court.

“I feel so nervous and anxious right now,” the woman said. “I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t want someone who feels like this to judge my case either. I don’t want to waste the court’s time.”

As more potential jurors were questioned Friday, Trump appeared to lean over at the defense table, scribbling on some papers and exchanging notes with one of his lawyers. He occasionally perked up and gazed at the jury box, including when one would-be juror said he had volunteered in a “get out the vote” effort for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That man was later excused.

Trump spoke to reporters before Friday’s proceedings got underway, lambasting a gag order that prosecutors have accused him of violating. Merchan has scheduled arguments for next week on prosecutors’ request to hold Trump in contempt of court and fine him for social media posts they say defy limits on what he can say about potential witnesses.

“The gag order has to come off. People are allowed to speak about me, and I have a gag order,” Trump said.

Merchan also heard arguments Friday on prosecutors’ request to bring up Trump’s prior legal entanglements if he takes the witness stand in the hush money case. Trump has said he wants to testify, but he is not required to and can always change his mind.

Manhattan prosecutors have said they want to question Trump about, among other cases, his recent civil fraud trial that resulted in a $454 million judgment after a judge found Trump had lied about his wealth for years. He is appealing that verdict. Merchan said he would rule on the matter in the coming days.

The trial centers on a $130,000 payment that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, made to porn actor Stormy Daniels to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public in the final days of the 2016 race.

Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of the payments in internal records when his company reimbursed Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018 and is expected to be a star witness for the prosecution.

Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He could get up to four years in prison if convicted, though it’s not clear that the judge would opt to put him behind bars. Trump would almost certainly appeal any conviction.

Trump is involved in four criminal cases, but it’s not clear that any others will reach trial before the November election. Appeals and legal wrangling have caused delays in the other three cases charging Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election results and with illegally hoarding classified documents.