上周二，美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普在曼哈顿市中心的一家法庭呆了一整天后，这起案件的主要证人之一封口费刑事案件反对他的人在社交媒体上直播谈论审判，数千人收听了直播。
“特朗普2024?”特朗普的前律师兼“中间人”迈克尔·科恩说，他现在是这起刑事案件的核心人物。“更像特朗普20-24年。”
根据美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)观看的科恩数小时的直播节目，科恩在等待出庭作证时讨论了特朗普、正在进行的审判以及已经在抖音晚间直播中进行的证词。这些直播似乎通过观众的捐款为他带来了经济利益。
虽然这一承诺似乎没有与任何法院命令相冲突，但专家表示，这损害了该案中一名重要证人已经受损的可信度。
“我会很愤怒，”美国广播公司新闻撰稿人、前佐治亚州检察官克里斯·蒂蒙斯说。“作为一名检察官，你最不希望证人在法庭以外的场合谈论案件。”
此前在曼哈顿地区检察官办公室工作的辩护律师杰里米·萨兰德(Jeremy Saland)告诉ABC新闻，科恩的行为很可能只会有利于特朗普的辩护。
萨兰德说:“我毫不怀疑特朗普团队正在审查、倾听和观察他们能做的任何事情，他们理所当然地要在法庭上将其武器化，以摧毁他的可信度。”
“如果我是控方，我现在就在电话里说，‘马上停止你正在做的事情，’”萨兰德补充道。“我不能强迫你，但为了你自己，你需要停下来，因为在法庭上对你来说会变得更糟。你在损害这个案子。”
“一个月后见”
特朗普在之后接受审判拒不认罪一份34项罪名的起诉书指控他伪造商业记录以隐瞒一笔封口费付款科恩为了提高自己在2016年总统大选中的竞选前景而对成人电影女演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯说的话。
科恩周一在给美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中表示，他将停止对特朗普和“这件事”发表评论。
“我不是这一刑事案件的被告，也不是Merchan法官禁言令的对象。唐纳德是，”科恩告诉美国广播公司新闻。“尽管如此，出于对法院和检察官的尊重，我选择停止评论特朗普和这件事;我已经做到了。”
这份声明呼应了科恩上周三在社交媒体上公开宣布的内容，科恩多年来一直在批评特朗普，当时他说，他将在X上“停止发布任何关于这位前总统的信息”，直到他在正在进行的审判中出庭作证。
“一个月(或更久)后见，”科恩在X上写道，正式名称为Twitter。
据多位知情人士透露，检方对这一举措感到满意。
但就在几个小时后，科恩开通了他的抖音账户，与数千名观众进行了直播，并简要谈论了川普和罗茜·欧唐内的审判。
在安东内尔表示她希望“我们将作为一个国家站出来对抗(特朗普)，起诉将会继续进行，他将为他所做的所有恐怖行为负责”后，科恩一度表示，“我将不再过问他，直到我最终与他面对面，我是证人，可以提供真实的证词。”
地方检察官办公室拒绝置评。
虽然他周四晚上的直播对川普或审判的关注度要低得多，但科恩经常主持长达数小时的抖音直播，在那里他讨论审判和前总统，并与数千名观众互动，这些观众向他提问，有时还捐款。
早些时候，起诉特朗普的检察官承认，他们的证人有“一些包袱”，他们试图在陪审团选择期间剔除那些可能对此有问题的人。
“你会保持开放的心态吗?”斯坦尼格拉斯问未来的陪审员，警告他们，他们将听取以前可能撒过谎或被判过罪的人的证词。许多人说他们会。
唐纳德·特朗普的律师试图将科恩的可信度作为辩护的一个核心方面，向陪审团描述他是一个“痴迷于”特朗普的罪犯——并且受到特朗普下台的经济动机的驱使。特朗普的律师托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)专门向陪审团讲述了科恩的庭外陈述，称在特朗普受审前夕，科恩说他对此感到“精神兴奋”。
“他的整个财政生计都取决于特朗普总统的毁灭，”布兰奇在开场声明中说。“你不能依靠迈克尔·科恩的话就对川普总统做出严肃的决定。”
“我只会说实话”
科恩的流经常看起来像一个发烧的梦——特朗普的一次性固定器在对他的前老板进行人身攻击和在用户给他送礼物后用手做出心形之间波动。
本周，他还详细介绍了他是如何根据前《国家询问者》出版商大卫·派克的证词来看待审判的，他作证说，在2016年大选前夕，作为他、特朗普和科恩之间协议的一部分，他抓住并杀死了关于特朗普的负面报道。
科恩说:“根据我今天从人们那里听到的一切，大卫·佩克基本上证实了我六年来一直在说的话。”他说他一直在关注CNN和MSNBC的报道。“如果我提供我的证词，并且证实了他的证词，那就这样，这个循环就开始结束了。然后你有霍普·希克斯，你有基思·戴维森，你有斯托米，你有凯伦·麦克道戈...全面推广，对吗?这就是将要发生的事情。”
周二晚上，在科恩讨论他即将到来的可能证词时，一名抖音用户送给科恩一个“骑士头盔”，价值199抖音硬币。这份礼物将一个卡通头盔戴在科恩的头上，促使他在继续说下去之前中途短暂停顿，
“最终会发生的是这将是我的一天...科恩说:“我会带着头盔和长矛去那里，坐在证人席上，说出真相。”。
抖音平台的一个核心功能是允许像科恩这样的用户通过允许观众在观看时捐赠“礼物”来赚钱。根据该平台的网站，在流媒体结束后，观众捐赠的礼物可以变成“钻石”，以“从我们这里获得报酬，如金钱或虚拟物品”。
关于收入的信息只有抖音账户持有人知道，所以不清楚科恩在他的信息流上赚了多少钱。抖音的一名代表告诉ABC新闻，“创作者可以通过直播赚取的金额可能会有很大差异，观众有一系列虚拟礼物可供选择。”
根据这家社交媒体公司的网站，“你越频繁地直播并与观众互动，收集钻石和赚钱的机会就越多。通过收集钻石，你可以从抖音获得金钱或虚拟物品的报酬。”
当被美国广播公司询问时，科恩没有具体说明他在这些流媒体上赚了多少钱。
前检察官蒂蒙斯表示，科恩在社交媒体上的经济利益尤其成问题。
“提供庭外陈述是一回事，这很糟糕，”蒂蒙斯说。"获得报酬可能是灾难性的."
蒂蒙斯说:“任何时候，如果证人涉及金钱，那都是一件坏事，因为陪审团会认为这个人在法庭上说这些话是因为他们有经济动机，而不是真相的动机。”。
在周二晚上的节目中，科恩还讨论了未决问题禁言令裁决就在法官就此问题举行听证会几小时后。
科恩说:“随着禁声令——前几天唐纳德又一次出现，他走出法庭，走进那个小笼子，那是他属于的地方，像动物一样在f -笼子里。”
周二上午，曼哈顿地区检察官的律师主张负责封口费案件的法官以藐视法庭罪起诉这位前总统，因为他在该案中多次违反有限的禁言令，部分是基于他对科恩的攻击。
检察官本月强调了特朗普在社交媒体上发布的七个例子，其中提到了可能的证人科恩或丹尼尔斯;他的竞选网站两次转发关于科恩的信息;还有一个例子，特朗普暗示“卧底自由主义活动分子”试图渗透到案件的陪审团中。
“不会无聊”
目前尚不清楚是什么促使科恩周三公开宣布他将不再在社交媒体上谈论特朗普，但特朗普的前经纪人似乎注意到他的收视率因此下降。
周二晚上，当科恩指责特朗普并讨论审判的最新进展时，他的收视率在2000到3000之间徘徊。但在周三，在他表示不再讨论该试验后，他的直播计数降至800以下。
“哇，这是一个低的——我想知道为什么?”科恩说周三晚上。"周三是个重要的电视之夜还是什么?"
到了周末，他又回来讨论这次审判，并于周五、周六和周日晚上再次在抖音直播。
在周五的节目中，科恩重申了他所谓的“对自己的承诺”，即不讨论特朗普或正在进行的审判——但片刻之后，他抨击特朗普将特朗普的顾问之一鲍里斯·埃普希廷(Boris Epshteyn)带到审判现场。爱普施泰因没有正式参与封口费的案子。
科恩说:“比如，(特朗普)带来了鲍里斯·爱普施泰因(Boris Epshteyn)。“为什么?谁他妈的知道。鲍里斯一生中从未审理过案件。所以，现在他突然变成什么了，法律顾问?是的，这绝对是你想要的。”
科恩随后称赞特朗普的辩护律师苏珊·内切莱斯(Susan Necheles)和托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)作为律师拥有“出色的赔偿”，然后质疑布兰奇为什么决定接手此案。
然后，他与一名观众争论，这名观众评论说，在审判期间，“陪审团看起来很无聊”，然后大肆宣传他自己潜在的即将到来的证词。
“为什么你会说陪审团很无聊?你在吗?”科恩说。“有一点我可以向你保证，当我走上那一摊时，不会有无聊。这一点我可以向你保证。”
“所以，不要太担心这个陪审团。科恩说，他们将根据证据，根据法官给陪审团的指示，简单明了地做正确的事情。短暂停顿后，他补充说，“与其他案件没有什么不同。”
Michael Cohen is cashing in on the Trump trial with TikTok livestreams -- and it could be a problem
After former President Donald Trump spent the day in a courtroom in downtown Manhattan last Tuesday, one of the star witnesses in thecriminal hush money caseagainst him went live on social media to talk about the trial as thousands listened.
"Trump 2024?" said Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney and "fixer" who is now a central figure in the criminal case. "More like Trump 20-24 years."
As he awaits his turn to take the witness stand, Cohen has discussed Trump, the ongoing trial, and the testimony already underway during nightly livestreams on TikTok which appear to be earning him financial benefit through viewers' donations, according to hours of his streams viewed by ABC News.
And while the undertaking doesn't appear to run afoul of any court order, experts say it hurts the already-blemished credibility of an essential witness in the case.
"I'd be furious," said ABC News contributor and former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons. "As a prosecutor, the last thing you want your witness to do is to be talking about the case in a forum other than the courtroom."
Jeremy Saland, a defense attorney who formerly worked in the Manhattan district attorney's office that is now bringing the case, told ABC News that Cohen's actions are only likely to benefit Trump's defense.
"I have no doubt that Team Trump is scrutinizing and listening and watching whatever they can, and they are rightfully going to weaponize it in a court of law to tear down his credibility," Saland said.
"If I'm the prosecution, I'm on the phone right now saying, 'Stop what you are doing -- right now,'" Saland added. "I can't make you, but you need to stop for your own sake because it's going to get worse for you in that courtroom. And you are compromising the case."
'See you in a month'
Trump is on trial afterpleaded not guiltyto a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of ahush money paymentthat Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
In a statement to ABC News on Monday, Cohen said he would cease commenting on Trump and "this matter."
"I am not the defendant in this criminal matter and am not the subject of Judge Merchan's gag order. Donald is," Cohen told ABC News. "Nevertheless, I elected, out of respect to the court and the prosecutors, to cease commenting on Trump and this matter; which I have done."
The statement echoed what Cohen -- who has been criticizing Trump for years -- publicly announced last Wednesday on social media, when he said that he would "cease posting anything" about the former president on X until after he takes the stand in the ongoing trial.
"See you in a month (or more)," Cohen wrote on X, formally known as Twitter.
It was a move that prosecutors were pleased with, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
But just a few hours later, Cohen fired up his TikTok account, went live with thousands of viewers, and briefly talked about Trump and the trial with Rosie O'Donnell.
"I'm washing my hands of him until I end up seeing him face to face, and I am a witness on the stand to provide truthful testimony," Cohen said at one point after O'Donnell said she hoped "we will as a nation stand up to [Trump] and the indictments will follow through and he will be held accountable for all of the horrors that he has done."
The district attorney's office declined to comment.
While his livestream on Thursday night was considerably less focused on Trump or the trial, Cohen has frequently hosted hours-long TikTok livestreams where he discusses the trial and the former president, and engages with thousands of viewers who ask him questions and sometimes make monetary donations.
Early on, the prosecutors bringing the case against Trump acknowledged that their witnesses have, as they put it, "some baggage," and they attempted during jury selection to weed out those who may have a problem with that.
"Will you keep an open mind?" Steinglass asked the prospective jurors, warning them they would hear from individuals who may previously have lied or been convicted of a crime. Many said they would.
Donald Trump's attorneys have sought to eviscerate Cohen's credibility as a central aspect of their defense, describing him to the jury as a criminal who is "obsessed" with "getting" Trump -- and is financially motivated by Trump's downfall. Trump attorney Todd Blanche specifically told the jury about Cohen's out-of-court statements, saying that on the eve of Trump's trial Cohen said he had a "mental excitement" about it.
"His entire financial livelihood depends on President Trump's destruction," Blanche said in his opening statement. "You cannot make a serious decision about President Trump by relying on the words of Michael Cohen."
'I'll just tell the truth'
Cohen's streams often seem like a fever dream -- with Trump's one-time fixer fluctuating between personal attacks on his former boss and making heart shapes with his hands after a user sends him a gift.
This week he also detailed how he saw the trial playing out in light of testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who testified that, in the runup to the 2016 election, he caught and killed negative stories about Trump as part of an agreement between him, Trump and Cohen.
"From everything that I heard from people today, well, David Pecker is basically is corroborating what I have been saying for six years," said Cohen, who said that he's been following the coverage by watching CNN and MSNBC. "And if I give my testimony and it corroborates his, well there you go, the circle starts closing. Then you got Hope Hicks, you got Keith Davidson, you have Stormy, you have Karen McDougal ... all the way across the board, right? And that's what will happen."
At one point on Tuesday night, in the middle of Cohen discussing his upcoming possible testimony, a TikTok user gifted Cohen a "Knight Helmet," which cost 199 TikTok coins. The gift placed a cartoon helmet on Cohen's head, prompting him to stop briefly mid-sentence before continuing,
"Ultimately what will happen is it will be my day ... I'll go there with my helmet, my spear, and I'll sit my ass in that witness stand and I'll just tell the truth," Cohen said.
A core feature of TikTok's platform allows users like Cohen to monetize their livestreams by allowing viewers to donate "gifts" as they watch. After the stream ends, the gifts donated by viewers can be turned into "diamonds" to "obtain a reward payment from us, such as money or virtual items," according to the platform's website.
MORE: Hidden world of 'catch-and-kill' tabloids spotlighted in Trump's hush money trial
Information about revenue is only available to the TikTok account holder, so it's unclear how much money Cohen is making on his streams. A representative for TikTok told ABC News that "the amount a creator can earn by going LIVE can vary greatly, and viewers have a range of virtual gifts to choose from."
According to the social media company's website, "The more often you go LIVE and engage with your audience, the more opportunities to collect diamonds and make money. By collecting diamonds, you may be able to obtain a reward payment in money or in virtual items from TikTok."
Cohen did not specify how much he has made on the streams when asked by ABC News.
Timmons, the former prosecutor, said the financial benefit of Cohen's social media presence is particularly problematic.
"It's one thing to be providing out-of-court statements -- that's bad," Timmons said. "Getting paid for them can be disastrous."
"Anytime there's money involved with a witness it's a bad thing, because the jury is going to think this person is saying these things in court because they have a financial motive, not a motive of the truth," said Timmons.
On Tuesday night's stream, Cohen also discussed the pendinggag-order rulingagainst the former president, just hours after the judge held a hearing on the issue.
"With the gag order -- the other day Donald once again, he comes out, comes out of the courtroom and goes right into that little cage, which is where he belongs, in a f------ cage like an animal," said Cohen.
On Tuesday morning, lawyers for the Manhattan district attorney argued for the judge overseeing the hush money case to hold the former president in contempt for repeatedly violating the limited gag order in the case, based in part on attacks he's made against Cohen.
Prosecutors highlighted seven instances this month in which Trump made a social media post mentioning likely witnesses Cohen or Daniels; two instances when his campaign website reposted information about Cohen; and one instance where Trump suggested that "undercover liberal activists" are trying to infiltrate the case's jury.
'There will be no boredom'
It's unclear what prompted Cohen to publicly announce on Wednesday that he would no longer talk about Trump on social media, but Trump's former fixer appeared to notice that his viewership dropped as a result.
On Tuesday night, as Cohen railed against Trump and discussed the latest developments in the trial, his viewership hovered between 2,000 and 3,000. But on Wednesday, after he said he would no longer discuss the trial, his livestream count dropped below 800.
"Wow, it's a low one -- I wonder why?" Cohen said Wednesday night. "Is Wednesday, like, a big TV night or something?"
By the weekend, he was back to discussing the trial, going live on TikTok again on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night.
On Friday's stream, Cohen reiterated what he called his "pledge to myself" not to discuss Trump or the ongoing trial -- but moments later, he slammed Trump for bringing Boris Epshteyn, one of Trump's advisers, to the trial. Epshteyn is not officially involved in the hush money case.
"For example, [Trump] brought Boris Epshteyn," Cohen said. "Why? Who the f--- knows. Boris has never tried a case in his life. So, now all the sudden what is he, a legal adviser? Yeah that's definitely what you want."
Cohen then praised Trump's trial attorneys Susan Necheles and Todd Blanche for having "excellent reparations" as lawyers before questioning why Blanche decide to take on the case.
He then sparred with a viewer who commented that the "jury looked bored" during the trial, before hyping up his own potential upcoming testimony.
"Why would you say that the jury is bored? Were you there?" Cohen said. "One thing I can assure you, when I hit that stand, there will be no boredom. That I can promise you."
"So, don't worry so much about this jury. They are going to do the right thing based off the evidence, based off the judge gives the jury instructions, plain and simple," Cohen said, before adding after a brief pause, "No different than any other case."
