美国国家公共电台 NPR--The FBI conducted a search at ex-President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida

The FBI conducted a search at ex-President Trump¹'s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida

Transcript²

Trump announced the news himself — calling the FBI action unnecessary and attacking it as politically motivated — even though he appointed the FBI director, Chris Wray.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The FBI has conducted a search at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in southern Florida.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Trump announced the news himself, calling Monday's FBI action unnecessary and attacking it as politically motivated, even though he appointed the FBI director, Chris Wray.

MART?NEZ: NPR national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson is following this story. Carrie, what do we know about the FBI activity at former President Trump's house?

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE³: We know that FBI agents conducted a search at Trump's property in Florida yesterday morning, but the public didn't find out about it until Trump issued a statement last night. We're also told the search took several hours, and Trump was not in Florida at the time. The search seems to relate to an ongoing⁴ investigation⁵ of how classified documents wound up at Mar-a-Lago instead of with the National Archives. The Justice Department started investigating this in February, after the Archives said about 15 boxes of material from the Trump White House wrongfully ended up in Florida.

MART?NEZ: It sounds like a pretty big step for federal agents to search the residence of a former president. So what would they have to do legally to make that work?

JOHNSON: Well, it's safe to say the highest levels of the Justice Department would have had to sign off on this. A spokeswoman for Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Attorney General Merrick Garland had no comment. But because this involves a search warrant, a judge would have been involved, too. Judges don't approve these kinds of searches without probable cause that a crime's been committed by someone and that there's evidence in the place they want to search. Now, it's not a slam dunk that someone will eventually face criminal charges, but this is a very serious action from the Justice Department, a step they would not have taken lightly. As for the White House and the Biden administration, an official there told me they had no advance notice of this search.

MART?NEZ: Now, you mentioned that there's been a probe of those classified materials that found their way to Florida. It's gotten less attention - a lot less attention than the Capitol riot investigation. So what has the Justice Department said about the classified documents this year?

JOHNSON: Yeah, Attorney General Merrick Garland basically confirmed there was classified material in the Mar-a-Lago boxes at a press conference back in February. Garland, at that time, said DOJ would look at the facts and the law. At the time, a former prosecutor⁶ told me it would have been a gross departure for DOJ not to investigate here. But presidents typically have a lot of leeway to decide what's classified and what's not. So there may be something else going on that's still not public.

One former justice official and longtime defense⁷ lawyer told me last night it could be more information, something very sensitive, in these papers, like related to foreign relations or nonpublic documents involving January 6, rather than a simple paperwork violation⁸. But at this point, we just don't know.

MART?NEZ: Now, Democrats⁹ on Capitol Hill have been pushing the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump, but the attorney general has been very careful here. Why did this search happen now?

JOHNSON: A, it's hard to explain the timing¹⁰ without knowing exactly what the FBI has been looking for. It's true that AG Merrick Garland and Deputy AG Lisa Monaco have been exceedingly careful, moving too slowly for many critics on January 6, for example. But we do know the grand jury in Washington has heard from top advisers¹¹ to former Vice¹² President Mike Pence and that it wants to hear from Trump's White House counsel, too. That all seems to relate to the Capitol riot. Now investigators¹³ are literally¹⁴ knocking on Trump's door with respect to national security secrets. This is a monumental step for a Justice Department that's been really careful throughout the administration.

MART?NEZ: NPR national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Carrie, thanks.

JOHNSON: Happy to be here.

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 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。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。

8 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

9 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

11 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

12 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

13 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》

14 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。