美国国家公共电台 NPR Rick Gates, Battered In Cross-Examination, Ends Testimony In Paul Manafort Trial

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The prosecution¹'s star witness in the case against former Trump² campaign chairman Paul Manafort got hammered by the other side yesterday. During cross-examination, Rick Gates revealed that he had lied and embezzled³ from his former business partner. Today, the government got its chance to undo⁴ some of that damaging testimony⁵. NPR's national Justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been covering Manafort's trial on tax and bank fraud charges. She was in the courtroom in Alexandria, Va., today. And she joins us now. Hey, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE⁶: Hey, Ailsa.

CHANG: So how did prosecutors⁷ do today in trying to rehabilitate⁹ Rick Gates from some of the pain the defense¹⁰ inflicted¹¹ on cross-examination?

JOHNSON: Yeah. The government needed to kind of restore some sense of credibility to Rick Gates today. And they had him go through some essential elements of his testimony. Today, from the witness stand, Rick Gates reiterated¹² that he engaged in financial hijinks at Paul Manafort's direction. And he pointed¹³ out you didn't have to be an accountant to know that Cyprus, where these men held many foreign bank accounts, is a foreign country. And of course that should have been disclosed on their tax returns.

Gates also testified when the FBI first approached Manafort and Rick Gates years ago to ask about some money that had been looted from Ukraine, Manafort had Gates meet with a Ukrainian businessman to give him a heads-up. Now, as for the money that Gates embezzled by padding his expense accounts, Gates testified today the Ukrainians are the ones who paid those bills, not Paul Manafort.

CHANG: Now, Gates has spent more than nine hours on the witness stand over the past three days, right? I mean, who did he help more over those (laughter) nine hours, the prosecution or the defense? What's your opinion?

JOHNSON: Denting¹⁴ Rick Gates' credibility was the chief goal of the Manafort trial strategy. In fact, it may be the entire Manafort trial strategy. Today, they once again brought up his extramarital affairs - not just one, but defense lawyer Kevin Downing claimed that Gates had four of them today in court. He appeared to be barred from introducing more about that by that judge. Of course, the defense is trying to make this whole case about one witness.

But the prosecutors had several accountants testify, had a bookkeeper testify that Paul Manafort was savvy¹⁵, very involved with his money. Today, prosecutors introduced emails from Paul Manafort himself directing people in Cyprus to transfer money from what he called my accounts there. That evidence flowed in throughout the morning. And the jury took close - took careful notes in their black-and-white composition notebooks. They were paying a lot of attention to the government case today.

CHANG: So a lot of evidence beyond the testimony of Rick Gates. Now, the government called an additional witness today. Tell us who that was.

JOHNSON: Yeah. The jury heard from two additional witnesses. The first was an FBI forensic¹⁶ accountant. She traced the money from those foreign bank accounts in Cyprus and other places and into the accounts of some of the vendors¹⁷ where Paul Manafort racked up big bills. Remember the landscapers, the cars...

CHANG: Uh-huh (laughter).

JOHNSON: ...The designer clothing? This was all income the prosecutors say should have been reported on Paul Manafort's taxes. We literally¹⁸ followed the money, Ailsa, all afternoon as prosecutors tried to put together the whole picture.

The jury also heard from a 34-year veteran of the Internal Revenue Service. He said he looked at all these financial statements and tax returns. He found several payments were made directly to Paul Manafort's wife, Kathleen. One payment went to pay a bill for a cosmetic¹⁹ dentist. That was new. The point is Manafort could control where the money went, and it was his money. And he should have reported those foreign accounts on his taxes.

CHANG: And really quickly, what's the atmosphere been like in the courtroom as the prosecution's been approaching the end of this case?

JOHNSON: Very tense. The judge again clashed with prosecutors today in front of the jury and outside. The judge has been rushing these prosecutors. Prosecutor⁸ Greg Andres said, we've been focused sharply for quite some time. He said, Judge, you're not saving time. You're making this case longer. The judge did not appreciate that. He said, judges should be patient. They made a mistake when they confirmed me. Don't try my patience. This is very unusual because these are seasoned prosecutors.

CHANG: That's NPR's national Justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Thanks, Carrie.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.

1 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

2 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。

3 embezzled   

v.贪污，盗用（公款）( embezzle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The clerk embezzled a thousand pounds from the bank where he worked. 那个职员在他工作的银行里贪污了一千英镑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cashier embezzled ＄ 50,000 from the bank. 出纳员盗用了银行5万美元。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

5 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

6 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。

7 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。

8 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

9 rehabilitate   

vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造

参考例句：

• There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
• He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

12 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 denting   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的现在分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• Dad gave me a rocket for denting his car. 因为我撞坏了我父亲的车，为此他痛骂了我一顿。 来自互联网
• Because titanium isextremely strong, it is resistant to scratching, denting, and bending. 由于钛isextremely强，可耐刮伤，凹陷，和弯曲。 来自互联网

15 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

16 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

17 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

18 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

19 cosmetic   

n.化妆品；adj.化妆用的；装门面的；装饰性的

参考例句：

• These changes are purely cosmetic.这些改变纯粹是装饰门面。
• Laughter is the best cosmetic,so grin and wear it!微笑是最好的化妆品，所以请尽情微笑吧！