特朗普一名助理认罪 两人被提起公诉

Robert Mueller filed the first charges of his investigation into Russian links to Donald Trump’s election team, indicting the president’s former campaign manager and striking a plea deal with an ex-aide who attempted to broker meetings with senior officials in Moscow.

罗伯特•米勒(Robert Mueller)在他对唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)竞选团队通俄嫌疑展开的调查中提出首批刑事控罪，把总统的前竞选经理告上法庭，并和一名曾尝试安排与莫斯科高级官员的会面的前助理达成认罪协议。

The charges against Paul Manafort, who headed the Trump campaign from June to August 2016, and George Papadopoulos, a campaign adviser who was arrested in July but has since agreed to co-operate, mark the most serious legal threat to the president since Mr Mueller was appointed special counsel in May.

保罗•马纳福特(Paul Manafort，见文首照片)曾在2016年6月至8月执掌特朗普竞选活动。乔治•帕帕多普洛斯(George Papadopoulos)曾是竞选顾问，在今年7月被捕，但后来同意合作。针对这两个人的刑事指控，标志着自今年5月米勒被任命为特别检察官以来总统面对的最严重法律威胁。

Although the 31-page indictment against Mr Manafort, who was charged along with business partner Richard Gates, focused mainly on the Republican operatives’ work in Ukrainian politics before joining Mr Trump’s team, Mr Papadopoulos has provided a detailed account of his work to secure damaging information about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton form Russian sources.

马纳福特和他的商业伙伴理查德•盖茨(Richard Gates)一起面对刑事指控。虽然针对马纳福特的31页刑事起诉书主要聚焦于这名共和党操盘手在加入特朗普团队之前参与乌克兰政治的活动，但帕帕多普洛斯已经全盘交代了自己的工作：从俄罗斯消息来源获取有损民主党竞选对手希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)的信息。

According to a charge sheet filed with his guilty plea, Mr Papadopoulos worked with a London-based academic who claimed to have connections to President Vladimir Putin’s family. “They [the Russians] have dirt on her,” the professor told Mr Papadopoulos in April 2016, according to the documents. “The Russians had emails on Clinton . . . they have thousands of emails.”

根据和他的认罪协议一起提交的控罪书，帕帕多普洛斯与一位常住伦敦的学者合作，此人声称与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)的家庭有联系。根据法律文件，这名教授在2016年4月告诉帕帕多普洛斯，“他们(俄罗斯方面)掌握着对她不利的材料……俄罗斯人有希拉里的电邮……他们有数以千计的电子邮件。”

Mr Papadopoulos attempted to pass on the leads to top Trump campaign officials and to set up a meeting between the Republican candidate and Mr Putin, the charges allege.

控罪书称，帕帕多普洛斯试图把这些线索交给特朗普竞选团队高官，并安排特朗普和普京会晤。

The charges against Mr Papadopoulos mark the second documented incident in which Trump campaign aides met Russia-linked operatives and discussed working with Moscow to secure information damaging to Mrs Clinton.

针对帕帕多普洛斯的指控标志着第二起有记载的事件，说明特朗普竞选团队助理曾会晤与俄罗斯相关的人员，并讨论与莫斯科合作，以获取有损希拉里的信息。

In July, Mr Trump’s eldest son released emails showing he and other top campaign officials, including Mr Manafort and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, met Russian lobbyists after being promised similar compromising information.

今年7月，特朗普的长子披露电子邮件，显示他和其他竞选团队高官，包括马纳福特和特朗普的女婿贾里德•库什纳(Jared Kushner)，在被承诺有望获得类似的对希拉里不利的信息后，曾会晤俄罗斯游说者。

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, denied that the charges signalled any co-ordination between Moscow and the Trump camp¬aign. “Today’s announcement has not¬h¬ing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity,” she said. She des¬cribed Mr Papadopoulos as holding an “extremely limited, volunteer position”.

白宫新闻秘书萨拉•哈克比•桑德斯(Sarah Huckabee Sanders)否认这些指控表明了莫斯科方面与特朗普竞选团队之间有任何协调。“今日的宣布与总统毫无关系，与总统的竞选团队或竞选活动毫无关系。”她表示。她形容帕帕多普洛斯只是担任“极其有限的、志愿性质的职位”。

The three indictments revealed the twin track approach taken by Mr Mueller in his investigation, with the former FBI director aggressively targeting senior Trump officials while simultaneously cultivating junior aides as sources who can aid the inquiry. Both Mr Manafort and Mr Gates pleaded not guilty at a court appearance in Washington.

三份刑事起诉书显示了米勒在调查中采取的双轨方式，这位联邦调查局(FBI)前局长积极追查特朗普手下的高官，同时对初级助理展开攻心战，争取让他们成为配合调查的证人。马纳福特和盖茨在华盛顿出庭时都不认罪。

Mr Manafort turned himself in to the FBI’s Washington field office early yesterday after he and Mr Gates were accused of funnelling $75m through unreported offshore accounts.

马纳福特昨日一早向FBI华盛顿分局自首，此前他和盖茨被控通过未报告的离岸账户转移7500万美元。

Mr Manafort, 68, is accused of laundering $18m, while Mr Gates is accused of transferring $3m from the accounts from 2006 to 2015, when they served as “unregistered agents” for Viktor Yanukovich, the Ukrainian leader who was ousted in a 2014 revolution. Mr Trump seized on the fact charges focus on Mr Manafort’s Ukrainian work.

现年68岁的马纳福特被控洗钱1800万美元，而盖茨被指控在2006年至2015年期间从上述账户转移300万美元，在此期间他们是乌克兰领导人维克托•亚努科维奇(Viktor Yanukovich)的“未登记代理人”;亚努科维奇在2014年的一场革命中被推翻。特朗普抓住了起诉书聚焦于马纳福特在乌克兰承接的业务这个事实。

“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

“对不起，但这是几年前的事情，在保罗•马纳福特成为特朗普竞选团队一员之前。”特朗普在Twitter上写道。