美国国家公共电台 NPR--More details are being reported on why the FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago

More details are being reported on why the FBI searched Trump¹'s Mar-a-Lago

Transcript²

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post about a Trump employee reportedly told federal agents about moving boxes at Mar-a-Lago at direction of ex-President Trump.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

There are new revelations about what led up to the Justice Department's August search of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. That's according to reporting from The Washington Post.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

A witness told authorities that the former president told them to move classified material from the resort to his private residence after he got a subpoena³ for the documents. And security camera footage reportedly corroborated⁴ that account. This all came before the FBI search of Trump's residence and private club, where investigators⁵ were looking for evidence of possible crimes.

FADEL: Devlin Barrett is one of the reporters who broke that story, speaking to people familiar with the investigation⁶. And he joins us now. Good morning, Devlin.

DEVLIN BARRETT: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So let's start with how important this evidence is in the Justice Department's investigation.

BARRETT: So the folks I've spoken to describe it as very important parts of the evidence they gathered. You know, exactly how damaging it is, I think that's something that needs to be seen in the totality of all the evidence. And there's still more things we'd like to know. But it's been described to me as clearly very important to investigators.

FADEL: And within what we do know, what does it tell us about the case?

BARRETT: I think it tells us a couple things - one, that there is at least one witness who says Donald Trump told them directly to do something that is of concern to investigators, specifically move boxes at a key time in the investigation. Two, it tells us that there is important videotape evidence that buttresses⁷ at least part of that account. And one of the things we've known about this case for some time is that the videotape evidence is quite important, but we weren't really sure exactly why. This tells us the why that videotape evidence is important.

FADEL: Yeah. And how reliable is this witness? And you report in your story that the witness' statements changed dramatically when agents reinterviewed them multiple times, right?

BARRETT: Right. And that can happen sometimes in cases.

FADEL: Yeah.

BARRETT: And it's certainly not fatal to credibility, but it can be an issue. And, I think, one of the things that we have yet to understand is, how problematic does the Justice Department and the FBI think that significant change is to their case and their investigation?

FADEL: Do you know anything about the employee's relationship to the former president, exactly what that relationship was or is?

BARRETT: Well, what's been described to us is that this person worked underneath⁸ Donald Trump and took instructions from them. And that was a regular part of their job. So I think this person certainly is in a position to know what some of those conversations were. But I think there's a lot more to understand about the exact parameters⁹ of the relationship.

FADEL: And what has the Trump camp said about this.

FADEL: So a Trump spokesperson told us that - when we asked for comment, they didn't really get into the specifics of what we were reporting. But they did say that, you know, this investigation has been part of a political attack by the Biden Justice Department, and argued that the Justice Department is treating Trump differently than past presidents have been treated on questions of documents. And to be clear, the National Archives has pushed back quite hard against any suggestion that what's at issue in the Trump case also existed for other presidents and other sets of documents.

FADEL: Devlin Barrett, thank you for your time.

BARRETT: Thank you.

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 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

4 corroborated   

v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 )

参考例句：

• The evidence was corroborated by two independent witnesses. 此证据由两名独立证人提供。
• Experiments have corroborated her predictions. 实验证实了她的预言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 buttresses   

n.扶壁，扶垛( buttress的名词复数 )v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Flying buttresses were constructed of vertical masonry piers with arches curving out from them like fingers. 飞梁结构，灵感来自于带拱形的垂直石质桥墩，外形像弯曲的手指。 来自互联网
• GOTHIC_BUTTRESSES_DESC;Gothic construction, particularly in its later phase, is characterized by lightness and soaring spaces. 哥特式建筑，尤其是其发展的后期，以轻灵和高耸的尖顶为标志。 来自互联网

8 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

9 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。