美国国家公共电台 NPR LISTEN: How Michael Cohen Protects Trump By Making Legal Threats

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

We have some exclusive reporting now on Donald Trump¹'s personal lawyer Michael Cohen and his history of making legal threats to solve problems for his boss. For the first time, you're about to hear Cohen makes such threats on tape. Cohen is facing legal peril² of his own now. This has included an FBI raid of his home, his office - also a civil lawsuit³ brought by porn star Stormy Daniels. And that is where NPR's Tim Mak begins this story.

TIM MAK, BYLINE⁴: In October, 2016, weeks before election day, Michael Cohen arranged for Stormy Daniels to sign a nondisclosure agreement. The deal - in exchange for a $130,000, she wouldn't talk about the allegation that she had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump in 2006. The president denies this allegation. But Trump has admitted there was a nondisclosure agreement to buy Daniels's silence. Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tells NPR that she was coerced⁵ into signing the agreement.

MICHAEL AVENATTI: In October of 2016, Michael Cohen made threats against my client Stormy Daniels as it related to pressuring her to enter into the NDA and accept the $130,000 payment.

MAK: But Avenatti offered NPR no further details when pressed. He has said before she was not physically⁶ threatened by Cohen, but serious consequences were raised. In a court filing aimed at invalidating the NDA, Avenatti also said that in January 2018, as details emerged about the agreement in the press, Cohen used, quote, "intimidation⁷ and coercive tactics" to force Daniels into signing a statement denying she ever had sex with Trump. Cohen's attorneys declined multiple requests for comments from NPR. Making legal threats on Trump's behalf has been typical for Cohen. He's a lawyer. But Cohen is often called a fixer, who cleans up issues for his boss before they become problems. Sam Nunberg was a political adviser⁹ close to Trump in the earliest days of the campaign. He says Trump cultivated an aggressive environment within The Trump Organization, where Cohen worked under the title of special counsel.

SAM NUNBERG: He was supposed to say and act the way Donald wanted him to act. Michael had even expressed sometimes regret that he did certain things or had to send nasty emails or give nasty phone calls to certain reporters that he personally liked because it was at the direction of Donald.

MAK: Michael Caputo is another former Trump campaign aide.

MICHAEL CAPUTO: He's an attorney. And he knows what he's talking about. And I think while he might push the bounds of propriety¹⁰ in some people's eyes, Michael sees the line and doesn't cross it. He's a high-wire walker, in that kind of respect. I mean, he's out there dealing¹¹ with the porn star in a very difficult situation. I think, I would run away from that myself. But Michael Cohen has great courage.

MAK: No target was too big. Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly put tough questions to Trump at a Republican presidential debate. Cohen later retweeted someone who had written, quote, "we can gut¹² her." Kelly discussed the incident nearly two years later on NBC News with Cohen attorney David Schwartz.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEGYN KELLY TODAY")

MEGYN KELLY: I'm telling you, in response to that allegation, that I received death threats, that I had security guards following me around and that my old boss called Michael Cohen directly to say, if Megyn Kelly gets killed, it's not going to help your client Donald Trump get elected.

DAVID SCHWARTZ: But he was trying...

KELLY: And Michael Cohen didn't care.

MAK: No target was too small either - like a college student who pranked the presidential candidate and says Cohen threatened to sue him and get him expelled. Cohen's legal threats have generally been done in private and stayed that way. But in 2015, when I was reporting for The Daily Beast, an online news outlet¹³, Trump's campaign was in ascendancy¹⁴. I started writing about a 1993 biography of Trump written by a former Newsweek reporter. According to the book, the president's first wife Ivana claimed in a sworn deposition¹⁵ during divorce proceedings¹⁶ that Trump had raped¹⁸ her. As the book was coming out, she said she didn't mean rape¹⁷ in a criminal or literal sense and has since praised the president. Trump has called the claim false. When I reached out to campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks on this matter, I got an angry call back from Cohen. His first tactic⁸ was to try and convince me not to run the story. But he did so by falsely claiming that spousal rape was not a crime. This is the first time that audio is being aired.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MICHAEL COHEN: You're talking about Donald Trump. You're talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual, who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that, by the very definition, you can't rape your spouse¹⁹.

MAK: Cohen's effort to prevent the story from being written didn't end with that false claim.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COHEN: Mark my words for it. I will make sure that you and I meet one day over in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don't have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know. Do not even think about going where I know you're planning on going. And that's my warning for the day.

MAK: Michael, besides the warning, do you have a substantive²⁰ comment that I can include in my piece that reflects your views on this?

COHEN: I have no views because there's no story.

MAK: The legal threats continued.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COHEN: So I'm warning you. Tread very [expletive] lightly because what I'm going to do to you is going to be [expletive] disgusting. Do you understand me? Don't think you can hide behind your pen because it's not going to happen.

MAK: Look. I'm...

COHEN: I'm more than happy to discuss it with your attorney and with your legal counsel because, [expletive], you're going to need it.

MAK: He also talked about past lawsuits²¹, like one against Univision. The Spanish-language network dropped Trump's Miss USA pageant²² because of his disparaging²³ comments about Mexican immigrants.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COHEN: I think you should go ahead, and you should write the story that you plan on writing. I think you should do it because I think you're an idiot, alright. And I think your paper is a joke. And it's going to be my absolute pleasure to serve you with a $500 million lawsuit, like I told I did to Univision.

MAK: Cohen never filed a lawsuit against me or The Daily Beast. But after The Daily Beast published the story, Cohen's remarks caused internal tension among Trump's team. Here's Sam Nunberg.

NUNBERG: Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks were pushing for Michael to be fired. And Trump was seriously considering it.

MAK: Cohen later apologized publicly for the spousal rape remark. Then once Trump was elected, Cohen found himself on the outside looking in. Here's Nunberg.

NUNBERG: Nobody was screwed over more by Donald than Michael Cohen. Michael has been extremely loyal to Donald. He was there from the very beginning. And Donald treated him like garbage at the end.

MAK: Now Cohen is at a crossroads. Does he flip²⁴ and protect himself by discussing with prosecutors²⁵ the private information he has from working with Trump for so many years? Or does he remain silent? Here's Michael Caputo again.

CAPUTO: First of all, the president values loyalty²⁶. He's quite famous for it now. Michael Cohen exhibited that loyalty long before I arrived on the scene in Trump Tower. He was always defending the president, always looking out for his best interests. And I saw that in some of the most remarkable²⁷ loyalty that I've ever seen in the workplace.

MAK: The strength of that loyalty will determine the next chapter in the saga²⁸ between the president of the United States and his personal lawyer. Tim Mak, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARTIN FONDSE AND ERIC VLOEIMANS AND MATANGI QUARTET'S "RONZIO DEL POMERIGGIO")

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

3 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

7 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

8 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

9 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

10 propriety   

n.正当行为；正当；适当

参考例句：

• We hesitated at the propriety of the method.我们对这种办法是否适用拿不定主意。
• The sensitive matter was handled with great propriety.这件机密的事处理得极为适当。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

13 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

14 ascendancy   

n.统治权，支配力量

参考例句：

• We have had ascendancy over the enemy in the battle.在战斗中我们已占有优势。
• The extremists are gaining ascendancy.极端分子正逐渐占据上风。

15 deposition   

n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物

参考例句：

• It was this issue which led to the deposition of the king.正是这件事导致了国王被废黜。
• This leads to calcium deposition in the blood-vessels.这导致钙在血管中沉积。

16 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

17 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

18 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

19 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

20 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

21 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

22 pageant   

n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧

参考例句：

• Our pageant represented scenes from history.我们的露天历史剧上演一幕幕的历史事件。
• The inauguration ceremony of the new President was a splendid pageant.新主席的就职典礼的开始是极其壮观的。

23 disparaging   

adj.轻蔑的，毁谤的v.轻视( disparage的现在分词 )；贬低；批评；非难

参考例句：

• Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and disparaging. 一天天过去，哈里代的评论越来越肆无忌惮，越来越讨人嫌，越来越阴损了。 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡
• Even with favorable items they would usually add some disparaging comments. 即使对好消息，他们也往往要加上几句诋毁的评语。 来自互联网

24 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

25 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

26 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

27 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

28 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。