经过数周的小报阴谋、性丑闻和名人八卦后，唐纳德·特朗普的第12天刑事封口费审判发生了一个明显更干燥的转变——虽然证词可能没有几天前那么引人入胜，但它可能包括了迄今为止最重要的内容。
特朗普集团的两名长期雇员周一就他们在2017年向迈克尔·科恩支付一系列款项中扮演的角色作证，陪审员首次看到了与这些交易相关的涉嫌伪造的商业记录。
特朗普因涉嫌伪造商业记录以隐瞒一笔封口费付款他当时的律师迈克尔·科恩为了在2016年总统大选中提升自己的竞选前景，与成人电影女演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯做了一对。前总统否认了所有不当行为。
在周一恢复作证之前，法官胡安·马尔康发现特朗普第10次违反他的有限禁言令，犯有刑事藐视罪，并提出了他最激动人心的威胁，即因未来的违法行为而监禁这位前总统。
以下是审判第12天的要点。
特朗普再次被判藐视法庭，面临牢狱之灾
法官胡安·马尔康(Juan Merchan)发现特朗普再次违反了他的有限禁言令，这一禁令阻止特朗普针对证人、陪审员和其他涉案人员。法官发出了最激动人心的威胁，如果他继续无视法院的规定，他将把这位前总统投入监狱。
“看来1000美元的罚款起不到威慑作用，”Merchan说。“今后，本法庭将不得不考虑判处监禁。“
“特朗普先生，我最不想做的事情就是把你送进监狱，”Merchan直接对特朗普说。“你是美国前总统，也可能是下一任总统。”
4月22日，在审判开始后，特朗普在接受“真实美国之声”采访时对该案的陪审团发表了评论，他发现特朗普违反了禁言令。
此前，默沙东早些时候发现特朗普藐视此前九次违反审判的限制禁言令，特朗普每次违反禁令都要支付1000美元。
科恩支付文件线索成为焦点
陪审员第一次有机会看到和听到检察官声称被虚假归档的所有34份商业记录-发票、支票和总账条目，这些记录切中了地区检察官案件的核心。
特朗普集团的退休财务总监杰弗里·麦康奈尔(Jeffrey McConney)和该公司的应付账款主管黛博拉·塔拉索夫(Deborah Tarasoff)就他们在2017年向迈克尔·科恩支付12笔款项以偿还斯托米·丹尼尔斯的封口费中所扮演的角色作证。
该过程包括关于交易、工资单、支票、发票和账户细节的内部信件，每张发票都标记为“法律费用”——特朗普的前经纪人兼律师科恩(Cohen)12笔35，000美元交易的所有文件记录。
唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)2017年入主白宫，塔拉索夫作证说，他们将如何通过联邦快递(FedEx)将支票送到华盛顿特区，供总统签署。
“即使他在华盛顿时，也没有其他人有权签署这些支票?“一名检察官问道。
“没错，”塔拉索夫说。
作为调查的一部分，陪审团看到了带有特朗普熟悉的锯齿状签名的支票。
科恩的付款是报销还是法律费用?
检察官努力表明，向科恩支付的款项是对他在2016年大选前向斯托米·丹尼尔斯的律师支付13万美元以收买她保持沉默的补偿。
陪审员们看到了一份会计文件，其中有特朗普组织的长期首席财务官艾伦·魏斯塞尔伯格的“小鸡刮刮乐笔记”，麦康奈尔称之为“小鸡刮刮乐笔记”——特朗普组织将分12期向科恩支付的款项的算术，其中包括对“报销”的引用。
但特朗普的律师埃米尔·博夫(Emil Bove)在对麦康奈尔的交叉询问中简明扼要地证明了他的当事人是无辜的:科恩是一名律师，他获得了法律费用。
“迈克尔·科恩是律师吗?”Bove问道。
“好吧，”麦康奈尔嗤之以鼻。“当然，是的。”
“特朗普集团支付给律师的费用是法律费用，对吗?“Bove问道。
“是的，”麦康奈尔说。
Bove还试图将“法律费用”术语的使用界定为特朗普集团“过时”的内部支付系统的结果，类似于从支付选项的“下拉菜单”中进行选择。
检察官表示，他们的案件还需要两周时间
周一下午诉讼结束前，法官Merchan问检察官他们在日程安排上做得如何。
检察官约书亚·斯坦因格拉斯说，该州的案件可能还需要两周时间，或多或少。
接下来是辩方的陈述，然后是州政府的反驳。
4 big takeaways from Day 12 of Trump's hush money trial
After weeks of tabloid intrigue, sex scandals and celebrity gossip, Day 12 of Donald Trump'scriminal hush money trialtook a decidedly drier turn -- and while the testimony might not have been as riveting as days prior, it included perhaps the most consequential content to date.
Two longtime employees at the Trump Organization testified Monday about their role in executing a string of payments to Michael Cohen in 2017, and jurors for the first time saw the allegedly falsified business records associated with those transactions.
Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of ahush money paymenthis then-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.
Before testimony resumed Monday, Judge Juan Merchan found Trump in criminal contempt for a 10th violation of his limited gag order -- and leveled his most stirring threat to incarcerate the former president for future infractions.
Here are the top takeaways from Day 12 of the trial.
Trump again found in contempt, threatened with jail
Judge Juan Merchan found Trump in criminal contempt for yet again violating his limited gag order that prevents Trump from targeting witnesses, jurors and others involved in the case -- and the judge leveled his most stirring threat to throw the former president in jail if he continues to flout the court's rules.
"It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent," Merchan said. "Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sentence."
"Mr. Trump, the last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan said, directly addressing Trump. "You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well."
Merchan found that Trump violated the gag order when he made remarks about the case's jury on April 22 during an interview on Real America's Voice, after the trial had started.
The ruling comes after Merchan earlier found Trump in contempt for nine previous violations of the trial's limited gag order, for which Trump paid $1,000 for each violation.
Cohen payment paper trail comes into focus
Jurors for the first time had an opportunity to see and hear about all 34 business records that prosecutors claim were falsely filed -- the invoices, checks, and general ledger entries that cut to the core of the district attorney's case.
In painstaking detail, Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization's retired controller, and Deborah Tarasoff, the company's accounts payable supervisor, testified about their role in the issuing twelve payments to Michael Cohen in 2017 in repayment for Stormy Daniels' hush payment.
The process included internal correspondence about the transactions, paystubs, checks, invoices, and account details with each invoice marked as "legal expense" -- every piece of the paper trail for twelve transactions for $35,000 to Cohen, Trump's former fixer and attorney.
Donald Trump was in the White House by 2017, and Tarasoff testified about how they would send checks to Washington, D.C., by FedEx, for the president to sign.
"Even when he was in D.C., no one else had authority to sign the checks?" a prosecutor asked.
"That's right," Tarasoff said.
As part of this line of inquiry, the jury saw checks bearing Trump's familiar jagged signature.
Was Cohen payment a reimbursement or legal expense?
Prosecutors worked to show that the payments to Cohen were reimbursements for the $130,000 he transmitted to an attorney for Stormy Daniels to buy her silence ahead of the 2016 election.
Jurors saw an accounting document with longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg's "chicken scratch notes," as McConney called them -- arithmetic for a payment the Trump Organization would make in 12 installments to Cohen, which including a reference to a "reimbursement."
But Emil Bove, an attorney for Trump, made a concise case for his client's innocence during his cross-examination of McConney: Cohen was a lawyer, and he was paid legal fees.
"Michael Cohen was a lawyer?" Bove asked.
"OK," McConney scoffed. "Sure, yes."
"And payments to lawyers by the Trump Organization are legal expenses, right?" Bove asked.
"Yes," McConney said.
Bove also sought to frame the use of the "legal expense" nomenclature as the result of the Trump Organization's "antiquated" internal payment system, akin to selecting a choice from a "drop down menu" of payment options.
Prosecutors say their case should take 2 more weeks
Before proceedings concluded Monday afternoon, Judge Merchan asked prosecutors how they were doing on scheduling.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said the state's case will likely take another two weeks, give or take.
That will be followed by the defense's case, and then the state's rebuttal.
