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Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer,
迈克尔·科恩，特朗普总统的前私人律师和铲屎官，
pleaded guilty to to eight federal charges involving $1. 4 Million dollars of tax evasion.
承认了联邦法院对其涉嫌逃税140万美元的8项指控。
But that wasn’t all:
然而，这还不算完：
"Mr. Cohen pled guilty to two campaign finance charges.
“科恩先生还承认了两项有关竞选财务的指控。
What he did was he worked to pay money to silence two women
他具体的罪责为他曾花钱让两名女性噤声，
who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign and to the candidate and the campaign."
因为两人有他觉得会对特朗普2016年的选举活动及其候选人不利的消息。”
It was a stunningly direct admission,
他的认罪显得直接得惊人，
given that Cohen and the president previously told several conflicting stories about these payments.
鉴于他和总统此前曾就这些付款行为发表了几款相互矛盾的说辞。
"Did you know about the 130,000 dollar payment to Stormy Daniels?" "No."
“您知道他曾支付斯托米·丹尼尔斯13万美元的佣金一事吗？”“不知道”
First, Trump said he didn’t know anything about his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paying of Stormy Daniels, but then the story changed.
特朗普先是说他对他的律师迈克尔·科恩付钱给斯托米·丹尼尔斯一事一无所知，但随后情况就发生了变化。
"Michael would represent me and represent me on some things.
迈克尔是我的代表，他在很多事情上都是我的代表。
He represents me — like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal he represented me."
他代表我 - 就像这场疯狂的斯托米·丹尼尔斯交易一样他也是代表着我的意思。”
And Rudy Giuliani, changed that story again:
而鲁迪·朱利亚尼让这个故事再次发生了转折：
"Having something to do with paying some Stormy Daniels woman $130,000? I mean, which is going to turn out to be perfectly legal.
“与支付什么斯托米·丹尼尔斯女士13万美元一事有关？我的意思是，这种做法最后将是完全合法的。”
See, the crux of the Stormy Daniels scandal was never the alleged extramarital sex between a porn star and the president.
明白没，斯托米·丹尼尔斯丑闻的症结从来都不同于色情明星与总统之间所谓的婚外性行为。
It was the money.
这个问题的症结在于钱。
Congress passed a series of campaign finance and ethics laws in the 1970s, prompted by Watergate, and Nixon’s resignation.
由于发生了水门事件和尼克松辞职两件事，国会在20世纪70年代通过了一系列关于竞选财务和道德的法案。
The intent was threefold: to prevent corruption, to make government open and transparent, and to limit influence from special interests.
其意图有三个：防止腐败，使政府公开透明，同时限制来自特殊利益的影响。
It was these laws that were violated when, in late October 2016, Cohen delivered $130,000 dollars of hush money to Stephanie Clifford — better known as Stormy Daniels.
2016年10月下旬，科恩向斯蒂芬妮·克利福德，也就是斯托米·丹尼尔斯支付13万美元的封口费这一做法违反的就是这些法律。
Campaign finance laws limit contributions and require candidates report them to the Federal Election Commission.
竞选财务法律对竞选捐款的数额是有限制的，而且，这些款项候选人是要向联邦选举委员会汇报的。
But this money was never properly reported.
但科恩这笔钱从来没有得到妥善汇报。
Cohen originally argued that he didn’t need to report it, because "it was not a campaign contribution."
科恩一开始辩解称这笔钱他是不需要报道的，因为“这不是竞选捐款。”
But from the beginning it was hard to argue that the money wasn’t, on some level, being used to influence the outcome of the election.
然而，一起头，你就很难说这笔钱，至少从某种程度上来说，不是用来影响选举结果的。
For one, the timing of the payment is extremely relevant,
首先，这笔钱的付款时间和选举时间是高度关联的，
it came just weeks before the general election, and on the heels of perhaps the Trump campaign’s biggest scandal:
它就发生在大选几周前，紧跟着可以说是特朗普竞选活动期间最大的丑闻：
"And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything."
"成了明星她们就会允许你那么做，你就可以为所欲为了。"
"Whatever you want?"
“随便做什么都可以？”
"Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
“随便做什么都可以，摸她们下体都可以。”
At the time, campaign finance experts say that the timing raised questions, and it strongly suggests it was related to the election.
当时，竞选财务专家表示付款时间引发了人们的诸多疑问，而且这一时间也强烈暗示了它与选举有关。
Cohen also negotiated the payment using his Trump business email, another campaign finance violation.
科恩在对这笔钱进行协商时使用的也是他的特朗普商业邮箱，此举也违反了竞选财务法规。
Cohen already pleaded guilty, but what does this actually mean for Trump?
科恩已经认罪，但这对特朗普来说究竟意味着什么呢？
Well first, it’s worth noting that sadly, the Trump campaign’s failure to disclose isn’t unique.
首先，值得注意的是，说来遗憾，特朗普不进行财务公开这一做法并不特殊。
More than one third of candidates running in primaries on June 5 didn't file on time or make public their financial disclosures.
6月5日参加初选的候选人中有超过三分之一没有按时提交或公开其财务状况。
So, while a formal complaint was filed in January 2018, the FEC is both notoriously slow, and historically gridlocked when it comes to acting on such cases.
因此，虽然联邦法院2018年1月就已提出正式指控，但联邦选举委员会在处理这类指控时不仅慢得要命，而且从历史来看都是停滞不前的。
According to one analysis by the Center for Public Integrity,
根据公共诚信中心的一项分析，
it is very likely that the FEC won’t rule on the complaint until after the 2020 presidential election,
在2020年总统大选结束之前，FEC都很可能不会对指控作出裁决，
so it’s possible Trump wouldn't even be president by the time they make their call.
所以，等委员会做出裁决时，特朗普可能都已经不是总统了。
The most likely end result, if one is ever reached that finds Trump’s campaign at fault, is a fine.
最终,最有可能的结果，如果结果真的发现特朗普竞选作假的话，就是罚款。
And fine amounts are only small fractions of what campaigns spend in elections.
而罚款的数额跟竞选费用比起来简直就是九牛一毛。
In 2016 --- when Trump ran --- the average fine was close to $20,000.
2016年——也就是特朗普竞选那年——委员会的平均罚款还不到2万美元。
By comparison, Trump spent $322 million on his campaign.
相比之下，特朗普竞选的费用则高达3.22亿美元。
And politicians regularly just ignore these fines.
而且，政客们通常都会忽视这些罚款。
They face very few consequences.
他们面临的后果是少之又少。
The FEC has failed to collect $1.3 million dollars in fines from more than 160 candidates or committees.
160多个候选人和委员会欠下的130万美元的罚款竞选委员会现在都还没收上来。
In fact, campaign finance violations are far more likely to be enforced through criminal investigations, like the one that centered on, and ultimately felled, Cohen.
事实上，违反竞选财务的行为更有可能通过刑事调查来强制执行，例如以科恩为中心并最终将其推下台的调查。
That may be the reason that Trump and his lawyers have been so cavalier about the scandal.
这可能也是特朗普和他的律师对丑闻如此傲慢的原因。
But now that Cohen, who once said he’d take a bullet for Trump, has pleaded guilty, that attitude may change.
然而，曾经说自己为了特朗普连命都可以不要的科恩已经认罪了，特朗普等人的态度便可能会有所转变。
Cohen is likely going to jail for these crimes.
科恩可能会因这些罪行入狱。
But the biggest unanswered question is whether the President, is also accountable for them.
然而，最大的疑问是，总统是否也跟这些罪行有关？
Just after the guilty plea was announced, Cohen’s lawyer took to twitter, writting he " testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime...
科恩认罪之后，科恩的律师在推特上发文写道，他“发誓证明是唐纳德·特朗普指使他犯下的罪行……
If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?"
如果那些交易对迈克尔·科恩来说是罪行，那它们凭什么就不是唐纳德·特朗普的罪行呢？”
