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Later that evening, Trump’s lawyers Jay Sekulow and Rudy Giuliani left a message for the President—
当晚晚些时候，特朗普的律师杰伊·塞库洛和鲁迪·朱利安尼给总统留了言——
they didn’t want to take Trump away from monitoring his Secretary of State’s negotiations
他们不想转移特朗普对监督国务卿
over the release of three Americans from North Korea,
就三名美国人从朝鲜获释一事展开的谈判的注意力，
so they said it wasn’t urgent.
所以他们才说这件事并不紧急。
At around 8:30 p.m., Trump got on the phone.
晚上8点半左右，特朗普接了电话。
“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump told his lawyers,
“这件事我根本不知道啊，”特朗普告诉他的两位律师，
and after about 15 minutes spent going over the details, Giuliani told TIME, Trump signed off.
在花了大约15分钟的时间讨论细节后，特朗普签署了该协议，朱利安尼接受本刊采访时表示。
“It doesn’t involve him,” Giuliani said. “Nobody’s concerned about it.”
“此事与他无关，”朱利安尼说。“没人关心这个问题。”
Giuliani denies that the company was used for payouts on Trump’s behalf.
朱利安尼否认该公司是用来以特朗普的名义支出巨额款项的。
Cohen did not respond to TIME’s requests for comment.
在本刊邀请他对此发表评论时，朱利安尼没有做出任何回应。
In the perverse pay-to-play world that Washington has become,
在华盛顿这个已经变成了一个不正常的付费游戏世界的地方，
it’s not clear that any of the Essential Consultants transactions were illegal.
“必要咨询”的所有这些交易是否违法目前还不清楚。
It’s common for powerful corporations to hire Washington insiders to influence government decisions:
实力强大的公司雇佣华盛顿内部人士左右政府决策这种事很常见：
Fortune 500 companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year on efforts to revise pending rules or regulations,
《财富》500强那些公司每年都会花数亿美元修订悬而未决的规章制度，
halt or shape new legislation, and otherwise sway lawmakers to serve their interests.
叫停或改变新颁布的法律，或者说服立法人员为他们服务。
Nor do the documents make clear whether Cohen,
那些文件也没有清楚地表明，
who is reportedly under federal investigation for possible bank fraud and violation of election laws,
科恩——据报道，目前他正因为涉嫌银行欺诈和违反选举法在接受联邦调查——
was simply enriching himself without Trump’s knowledge.
做这些是否只是为了背着特朗普中饱私囊。
Cohen reportedly used the company to pay for his own luxury expenses, like a Mercedes-Benz and private club dues.
据报道，科恩曾利用该公司为自己的奢侈消费，如奔驰和私人俱乐部会费买单。
Cohen did not respond to TIME’s requests for comment,
科恩没有回应本刊提出的让他对此发表看法的请求，
but on May 9 his attorney filed court papers challenging portions of Avenatti’s account.
不过，5月9日时，他的律师向法院提交了质疑阿文纳蒂的部分陈述的文件。
But in the larger sense, the payments to and from the President’s personal lawyer may well be damaging to Trump on a number of fronts.
然而，从广义上讲，总统私人律师往来的款项很可能会从许多方面给特朗普造成不良影响。
They validate the continuing Justice Department probe
（比如，）它们不仅证实了司法部正在进行的调查，
and raise a host of questions that any prosecutor in the nation would feel compelled to answer:
还提出了一系列国内任何检察官都会觉得有必要回答的问题：
Was Trump aware of payments made on his behalf?
特朗普知道以他的名义支付的那些款项吗?
Did he know where the money came from?
他知道那些钱是从哪儿来的吗?
Did he do anything in return, either in a personal or an official capacity?
他有没有以个人或官方的身份做出过任何回报?
Moreover, the revelations underscore Trump’s disregard for presidential ethics,
此外，这些披露也突显了特朗普并不在意总统应有的德行，
despite his campaign pledge to drain the swamp.
尽管他在竞选时曾承诺要清除这片沼泽。
They threaten to erode Trump’s grip on supporters who don’t much care about Russia but may have less patience for influence peddling.
这些爆料还可能削弱特朗普的民众支持率，那些支持者虽然不怎么关心俄罗斯，但对兜售影响力这件事可能就没那么耐心了。
Democrats certainly hope so.
民主党人对此当然是求之不得了。
“This investigation has completely metastasized,” says Zac Petkanas, a Democratic strategist who is tracking the investigation.
“这次调查彻底扩散开了，”跟踪这次调查的民主党策略师扎克·佩特卡纳斯表示。
“It has many different heads, and not all of them are Russian heads.”
“这次调查涉及很多头绪，但并不是所有头绪都跟俄罗斯有关。”
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
