试图证明他们的封口费刑事案件知情人士告诉美国广播公司新闻网(ABC News)，针对前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)，纽约州检察官预计将依靠几名证人，这些证人现在或曾经是特朗普核心圈子的成员，包括他的长期助理萝娜·格拉夫、他的前椭圆形办公室主任马德琳·韦斯特胡特和长期信任的助手霍普·希克斯。
消息人士称，曼哈顿地区检察官办公室的检察官预计还将传唤曾在特朗普集团会计部门工作的黛博拉·塔拉索夫(Deborah Tarasoff)、特朗普集团前财务总监杰弗里·麦康奈尔(Jeffrey McConney)以及特朗普的前律师、所谓的“中间人”迈克尔·科恩。消息人士称，麦康奈尔预计也将为特朗普辩护作证。
出席听证会的其他特朗普前助手调查此案的大陪审团消息人士称，预计不会被传唤为审判证人，包括特朗普的长期顾问凯莉安·康威。
据韦斯特胡特的律师杰森·赖特(Jason Wright)称，曼哈顿地区检察官传唤韦斯特胡特作证。韦斯特胡特曾在特朗普总统任期的头两年半担任他的行政助理。他告诉ABC新闻，韦斯特胡特不知道她何时或是否会被传唤到证人席上。
检察官尚未公开发布证人名单，消息人士警告称，在定于4月15日开始的审判之前，传唤某人作证的决定可能会有所改变。曼哈顿地区检察官办公室的一名女发言人拒绝就潜在证人向ABC新闻发表评论。其他潜在证人的律师要么拒绝置评，要么没有回复置评请求。
特朗普已经拒不认罪一份34项罪名的起诉书指控他伪造商业记录封口费付款科恩在2016年总统大选前几天向成人电影女演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯求婚。
特朗普上个月表示:“发生这种事情是一种耻辱。“这是一个本可以在三年半前提出的案件，他们决定现在就在选举期间等待，这样我就不能参加竞选了。”
消息人士称，美国媒体公司(American Media Inc .)前高管大卫·派克(David Pecker)也有望出庭作证，《国家询问报》(National Enquirer)主编迪伦·霍华德也可能成为控方证人。检察官称，在特朗普首次竞选总统期间，这两人在“抓捕并杀害”有关特朗普的负面报道的“阴谋”中发挥了不可或缺的作用。
检察官在一份文件中指控称:“(佩克)同意为被告的竞选活动提供帮助，称他将在竞选活动中充当‘耳目’，寻找有关被告的负面报道，并在报道发表前提醒(科恩)。”
特朗普的律师在最近的法庭文件中抨击了包括科恩在内的检方证人的可信度。
“科恩不是一个说真话的人，他是一个连环骗子，”辩护律师在2月份的一份动议中写道，该动议认为法官应该限制科恩、丹尼尔斯和其他人的证词。
特别顾问杰克·史密斯正在领导对川普的联邦调查机密文件的处理以及他推翻2020年选举结果，也在依靠特朗普的一些最亲密的助手、顾问和盟友来构建这两起刑事案件。这两起案件的起诉书都是利用特朗普执政末期身边人士的话构建的。
在纽约州的案件中，消息人士还表示，丹尼尔斯和凯伦·麦克道戈预计也将在审判中作证。丹尼尔斯是前《花花公子》模特，曾从AMI获得15万美元的版权费。特朗普否认与麦克杜格尔和丹尼尔斯都有婚外情。
“我完全准备好了。我已经准备好了，“丹尼尔斯告诉美国广播公司的“观点”上个月。“我喜欢有一天我能面对他说出我的真相。“
迪诺·萨朱丁，前门卫付了3万美元保持沉默据知情人士透露，购物后声称特朗普与一名建筑员工有一个爱子，是该案的潜在证人，但预计不再会在审判中作证，但这一说法后来被推翻。
在一个上月裁决曼哈顿法官胡安·默克姆为包括丹尼尔斯、麦克杜格尔和萨朱丁在内的证人作证扫清了道路，因为他们的行为“直接源于2015年在特朗普大厦举行的会议，在那次会议上，佩克、科恩”和特朗普同意了“抓捕并杀害”计划。
“围绕这些个人的证据和证词与事件的叙述密不可分，是陪审团的必要背景，”Merchan写道。
Witnesses in Trump's hush money trial likely to include former members of his inner circle, sources say
To try to prove theircriminal hush money caseagainst former President Donald Trump, prosecutors in New York are expected to rely on several witnesses who are or were part of Trump's inner circle, including his longtime assistant, Rhona Graff, his former director of Oval Office operations, Madeleine Westerhout, and longtime trusted aide, Hope Hicks, sources familiar with the case told ABC News.
The sources said prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office are also expected to call Deborah Tarasoff, who worked in the Trump Organization's accounting department, and Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization's former controller, as well as Trump's former attorney and so-called "fixer," Michael Cohen. McConney is also expected to testify in Trump’s defense, sources said.
Other former Trump aides who appeared before thegrand jury that probed the caseare not expected to be called as trial witnesses, including Trump's longtime adviser Kellyanne Conway, the sources said.
Westerhout -- who also served as Trump's executive assistant for the first two-and-a-half years of his presidency -- was subpoenaed to testify by the Manhattan district attorney, according to her lawyer Jason Wright. He told ABC News that Westerhout does not know when or if she will be called to the witness stand.
Prosecutors have not publicly released a witness list, and the sources cautioned the decision to call someone to testify is subject to change before the trial, which is set to begin April 15. A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to comment to ABC News about the prospective witnesses. Lawyers for the other potential witnesses either declined to comment or did not return requests for comment.
Trump haspleaded not guiltyto a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with ahush money paymentCohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election.
“It's a disgrace that it can happen," Trump said last month. "This was a case could have been brought three and a half years ago, and they decided to wait now just during the election so that I won't be able to campaign.”
Former American Media Inc. executive David Pecker is also expected to testify, and National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard could also be a prosecution witness, sources said. Both played an integral role in what prosecutors say was a "scheme" to "catch and kill" negative stories about Trump during his first campaign for president.
"[Pecker] agreed to help with the Defendant's campaign, saying that he would act as the 'eyes and ears' for the campaign by looking out for negative stories about the Defendant and alerting [Cohen] before the stories were published," prosecutors alleged in a filing.
Attorneys for Trump have hammered at the credibility of prosecution witnesses, including Cohen, in recent court filings.
"Cohen is not a truth teller, he is a serial liar," defense lawyers wrote in a February motion to argue that the judge should limit testimony from Cohen, Daniels and others.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the federal probes into Trump'shandling of classified documentsand his efforts to overturn theresults of the 2020 election, is also relying on some of Trump's closest aides, advisers and allies to build those two criminal cases. The indictments in both of those cases are structured using the words of people around Trump during his waning days in office.
In the New York case, the sources also said both Daniels and Karen McDougal -- a former Playboy model who received a $150,000 payment from AMI for rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump -- are also expected to testify at trial. Trump has denied having affairs with both McDougal and Daniels.
"I'm absolutely ready. I've been ready," Danielstold ABC's "The View"last month. "I relish the day that I get to face him and speak my truth."
Dino Sajudin, a former doorman who waspaid $30,000 to stay quietafter shopping claims, later discredited, that Trump had a love child with a building employee, was a prospective witness in the case but is no longer expected to testify at the trial, according to sources familiar with the matter.
In aruling last month, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan cleared the way for witnesses including Daniels, McDougal and Sajudin to testify because their actions "flow directly from the 2015 meeting at Trump Tower where Pecker, Cohen" and Trump agreed to the catch-and-kill scheme, the judge said.
"[T]he evidence and testimony surrounding these individuals is inextricably intertwined with the narrative of events and is necessary background for the Jury," Merchan wrote.
