经过两天的戏剧性的证词在斯托米·丹尼尔斯，对唐纳德·特鲁姆普的封口费审判以一系列有条不紊的羁押证人结束。
在此之前，周五开始结束对前白宫助理马德琳·韦斯特胡特的交叉询问，她对前总统进行了热情的评价，并表示她觉得他因担心家人而受到封口费爆料的伤害。
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。
诉讼将于周一恢复，届时该州的明星证人科恩预计将出庭作证。周五诉讼结束前，他因在社交媒体上对该案发表评论而受到法官胡安·马尔康的指责。
以下是试验第15天的三大收获。
前白宫助手因辩护得分
玛德琳·韦斯特胡特在上午的证词中表示，唐纳德·特朗普对2018年《华尔街日报》报道的向丹尼尔斯支付封口费的报道“非常不安”，并补充说“我的理解是他知道这将对他的家人造成伤害。”
对于特朗普的辩护律师来说，这是一个重要的时刻，他们一再试图框定特朗普压制有关他的负面故事的动机，以此作为保护他的家人的手段-而不是他的竞选活动。
在另一个有利于特朗普的证词中，韦斯特胡特描述他是一个签署了“大量文件”的人-包括“委员会、声明、行政命令、备忘录、信件”-并经常在处理其他任务时签署这些文件。
“有时他不审查支票就签字?“辩护律师苏珊·内切尔斯问道。
“是的，”韦斯特胡特说，这可能削弱了检察官的论点，即特朗普会敏锐地意识到签署支票给科恩，偿还他向丹尼尔斯支付的封口费。
监管证人为科恩的证词创造了条件
在韦斯特胡特之后，一队在押证人轮流站在证人席上，介绍证据为迈克尔·科恩的证词做准备。
他们包括一个AT一名&T员工，一名威瑞森员工，和两名来自地方检察官办公室的律师助理，他们就与此案有关的电话记录和业务记录作证。
律师助理乔治亚·朗斯特里特(Georgia Longstreet)就是其中之一，他指导陪审员浏览了斯托米·丹尼尔斯的前代理人和美国媒体公司(American Media Inc .)一名编辑之间的短信，内容涉及丹尼尔斯和特朗普的代表在选举日之前几周进行的封口费谈判。
科恩周一出庭前遭到指责
周五庭审结束前，法官马科姆要求检察官指示迈克尔·科恩停止在社交媒体上对川普或该案发表评论。
特朗普的律师托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)认为，法官应该“像特朗普总统一样”限制科恩，他指的是禁止特朗普谈论案件中的证人和陪审员的有限禁令。
相反，Merchan说，“我会指示人们与科恩先生沟通，法官要求他不要再就此案发表任何声明。”
“那来自板凳，”他补充道。
科恩的名字和声音已经在证词的前三周反复出现，但在周一，陪审员预计将直接看到这个国家案件的核心人物。
他们是否认为他可信可能会决定审判的结果。
3 big takeaways from Day 15 of Trump's hush money trial
After two days ofdramatic testimonyfrom Stormy Daniels, the hush money trial of Donald Trump finished up the week with a businesslike string of custodial witnesses.
Before that, Friday started with the conclusion of the cross-examination of former White House aide Madeline Westerhout, who spoke glowingly of the former president and said she felt he was hurt by hush money revelations due to concerns for his family.
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.
The proceedings will resume Monday, when Cohen, the state's star witness, is expected to take the stand. He earned a rebuke from Judge Juan Merchan before proceedings ended on Friday for commenting about the case on social media.
Here are three big takeaways from Day 15 of the trial.
Ex-White House aide scores points for defense
During her morning testimony, Madeline Westerhout said Donald Trump "was very upset" with a 2018 Wall Street Journal story that reported on the hush-money payment to Daniels -- adding that "my understanding is he knew it would be hurtful to his family."
It was an important moment for Trump's defense counsel, who have repeatedly sought to frame Trump's motive in suppressing negative stories about him as a means to protect his family -- not his campaign.
In another moment of testimony favorable to Trump, Westerhout described him as someone who signed a "tremendous amount of documents" -- including "commissions, proclamations, executive orders, memos, letters" -- and often signed them while handling other tasks.
"Sometimes he would sign checks without reviewing them?" defense attorney Susan Necheles asked.
"Yes," Westerhout said, possibly undermining prosecutors' contention that Trump would have been keenly aware of signing the checks to Cohen reimbursing him for the hush payment to Daniels.
Custodial witnesses set the stage for Cohen's testimony
After Westerhout, a parade of custodial witnesses took short turns on the stand, introducing evidence to set the stage for Michael Cohen's testimony.
They included an AT&T employee, a Verizon employee, and two paralegals from the district attorney's office, who testified about phone logs and business records associated with the case.
Among them was paralegal Georgia Longstreet, who guided jurors through text messages between Stormy Daniels' former agent and an editor at American Media Inc. regarding the hush payment negotiations between Daniels' and Trump's representatives in the weeks before Election Day.
Cohen earns rebuke ahead of Monday appearance
Before court wrapped on Friday, Judge Merchan asked prosecutors to instruct Michael Cohen to cease making comments about Trump or the case on social media.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued that the judge should restrain Cohen "the same way President Trump is," referring to the limited gag order the prohibits Trump from speaking about witnesses and jurors in the case.
Instead, Merchan said, "I would direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case."
"That comes from the bench," he added.
Cohen's name and voice have already come up repeatedly in the first three weeks of testimony -- but on Monday, jurors are expected to get a firsthand look at the man at the heart of the state's case.
Whether they find him credible could dictate the outcome of the trial.
