美国国家公共电台 NPR--Jury selection has begun in the Trump Organization's tax evasion trial

Jury selection has begun in the Trump¹ Organization's tax evasion² trial

Transcript³

In a New York City courtroom, jury selection began Monday in the trial of the Trump Organization. The Manhattan district attorney has charged the company with criminal tax fraud.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In a New York City courtroom, the trial of the Trump Organization is getting underway.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Donald Trump's family business is charged with a scheme to avoid paying taxes through off-the-books benefits paid to top employees.

INSKEEP: Ilya Marritz was on the scene for NPR for the first day of jury selection. Good morning.

ILYA MARRITZ, BYLINE⁴: Good morning.

INSKEEP: What was the spectacle like?

MARRITZ: First off, this is state court in downtown Manhattan, so grandeur⁵ mixed with grime, echoey hallways - think television legal dramas.

INSKEEP: (Mimicking chime). Sorry. I was doing the "Law & Order" signal there.

MARRITZ: That's right. All kinds of criminal defendants⁷ and their lawyers pass through in an average day. Stepping inside Judge Juan Merchan's courtroom, something you might notice is there is no one to sit in the defendant⁶'s chair. And that's because this trial is of two Trump business entities⁸ and not a person.

INSKEEP: Because Donald Trump himself is not in any way charged.

MARRITZ: Correct. But there are a bunch of lawyers there who are representing the Trump businesses. And what we saw Monday in court was a group of about 130 Manhattanites who are potential jurors. There were people from all walks of life filling every bench, every square inch of every seat in the room. And maybe the size of the jury pool says something about how laborious⁹ it's going to be to whittle¹⁰ this group down to 12 jurors plus alternates. Donald Trump is not popular in New York, but he is famous.

INSKEEP: Oh, the idea is to try to find a dozen people who don't already have some strong opinion about Donald Trump. How close did the judge get to finding 12?

MARRITZ: Not close. The court got through an initial round of general questions with 18 possible jurors. They included a bartender, a hospital administrator¹¹ and an unemployed¹² person. And they were asked if they consume a lot of news and what kind. Tuesday - today, we will pick up with that same group of 18. And each legal team is going to have a chance to question them more closely. They'll be looking for anything they might not like in these jurors' history or their personal views. Judge Juan Merchan said he's hopeful we could get this whole process done by the end of the week and start opening statements next week. We will see.

INSKEEP: Whenever the opening statements come, what do you watch for?

MARRITZ: Any and every mention of Donald Trump the person, even though he is not a defendant. For instance, prosecutors¹³ say they can prove that Trump personally signed tuition checks as a form of unreported compensation for his chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. Weisselberg's grandkids were in private school. And Weisselberg is going to be a star witness. I was in court in August when Weisselberg pled guilty to his role in this scheme. He was a co-defendant. And I left the courthouse really wondering what the upshot of that agreement was going to be.

Weisselberg pledged at the time to testify truthfully. And if he doesn't, he might get a hefty jail sentence. But at the same time, he has stayed loyal to Trump. He didn't flip¹⁴ on the former president. In fact, he's still collecting a paycheck from the Trump Organization. And I think both the defense¹⁵ and prosecution¹⁶ may see Weisselberg in some way as their witness and someone who can help them. So for Weisselberg, that will be a thin rope to walk.

INSKEEP: OK. So hopefully, they're taking taxes out of the paycheck he's still getting from the Trump Organization. But what kind of secrets might he have?

MARRITZ: He knows the Trump Organization inside out. He's worked there for decades. He could really decode¹⁷ a lot of the documents that are the basis for this case. And I should just add, we know that Donald Trump is paying close attention. He posted about this proceeding¹⁸ twice on Monday, calling it - what else? - a highly partisan¹⁹ Democrat²⁰ witch hunt.

INSKEEP: Ilya Marritz, thanks so much.

MARRITZ: You're very welcome.

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 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

3 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。

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 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

6 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

7 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

8 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

9 laborious   

adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅

参考例句：

• They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
• Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。

10 whittle   

v.削（木头），削减；n.屠刀

参考例句：

• They are trying to whittle down our salaries.他们正着手削减我们的薪水。
• He began to whittle away all powers of the government that he did not control.他开始削弱他所未能控制的一切政府权力。

11 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

12 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

13 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。

14 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。

15 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。

16 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。

17 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

18 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

19 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

20 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。