美国国家公共电台 NPR--Trump asks court to appoint a third party to review records seized in FBI search

Trump¹ asks court to appoint a third party to review records seized in FBI search

Transcript²

NPR's A Martinez talks to former Justice Department official David Laufman about former President Donald Trump's request for a special master to review materials seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Former President Donald Trump has asked for the appointment of a special master to review the materials seized by the FBI from his Florida home. Trump's lawyers also want to block investigators³ from any further review of the documents until that special master is appointed. A letter leaked by Trump's legal team, which the National Archives has now released publicly, confirms that highly classified material was being stored at Mar-a-Lago. Joining us now is David Laufman. He's an attorney who formerly⁴ led the Justice Department's counterintelligence section from 2014 to 2018. David, I mentioned a special master. So what is a special master? What does this person do?

DAVID LAUFMAN: Well, a special master is an individual - commonly an attorney; it could be a former judge - who is usually appointed by courts in cases where attorney-client-privileged material is demonstrably at risk. For example, in the prosecution⁵ of Michael Cohen in New York - Michael Cohen was former President Trump's personal lawyer. But that's pretty improbable here, given that what's at issue are federal government records. In any event, the Department of Justice has told the former president that it is using a - what's called a filter team of agents to identify any truly attorney-client-privileged material to prevent it from coming into the hands of the investigative team. And this procedure, the filter procedure was approved by the magistrate⁶ judge.

MART?NEZ: And David, this is really Donald Trump's first move in this legal battle over the FBI search of his home. Why do you think he wants a special master to be appointed?

LAUFMAN: You know, I think it's prominently a further attempt to undermine public confidence in the independence and integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI, part of his narrative⁷ of attack on our government institutions. And secondly⁸, I think he just wants to delay this process as long as he can.

MART?NEZ: And that would be what would happen if a special master is appointed, possibly?

LAUFMAN: If a special master were appointed, then, you know, he or she would be given some time in which to review the records that the government has obtained through the production by the Trump team to Mar-a-Lago and what the government has recovered from the search. And they would sift⁹ through materials to determine if anything is truly privileged or not.

MART?NEZ: If this stretches out, though, would our national security be at risk at all, considering what we know already?

LAUFMAN: Well, I'd like to think that the documents that present a risk to national security are already safely back in the government's hands. It is beyond stunning¹⁰ that back in January, the National Archives received highly classified documents - not just documents classified at the top secret, not just documents that are sensitive compartmented information, but also special access program materials, which are among the very most restricted types of classified materials because they implicate¹¹ very sensitive collection platforms.

MART?NEZ: So with Donald Trump considering another presidential run, how would the DOJ weigh its next steps possibly?

LAUFMAN: You know, I think they have made clear they are conducting a criminal investigation¹². They have told the court, the magistrate, they are conducting a criminal investigation. I think they are committed to seeing it through. And so what's probably happening now is that they are continuing a classification review of all the classified documents that were recovered. There is a damage assessment¹³ taking place. That's what the government has indicated. These are all standard procedures in an investigation involving the willful retention¹⁴ of classified materials in an unauthorized location, which is prohibited by Section 793 of the Espionage¹⁵ Act.

MART?NEZ: That letter written by the National Archives to Trump's legal team back in May that's now become public, what's the significance of that?

LAUFMAN: Well, the significance is that they indicated that there were over 100 documents that they had received that were marked classified, over 700 pages, including special access program material and top-secret code word information. But the other thing that is kind of stunning about this is that it took almost a year. The government tried to resolve this problem consensually with Mr. Trump and his representatives for more than a year until the first grand jury subpoena¹⁶ was issued in May of 2022. So contrary to Mr. Trump's narrative that the government is some kind of a bull in a china shop, they could not have more gradually and through accommodation efforts tried to resolve this consensually before they had to resort to compulsory¹⁷ process, through grand jury subpoena or ultimately a search warrant.

MART?NEZ: David, quickly, was their process too gradual, too respectful?

LAUFMAN: Well, you know, it's hard to have visibility into what was happening in the background. I could understand why they would want to err¹⁸ in an abundance of caution and giving the former president every opportunity to resolve this shy of compulsory process. But we are where we are now, and I think they're going to see it through.

MART?NEZ: That's David Laufman, attorney who used to lead the Justice Department's counterintelligence section. David, thank you.

LAUFMAN: 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 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》

4 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

5 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。

6 magistrate   

n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官

参考例句：

• The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
• John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。

7 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

8 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

9 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

10 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

11 implicate   

vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌

参考例句：

• He didn't find anything in the notebooks to implicate Stu.他在笔记本中没发现任何涉及斯图的东西。
• I do not want to implicate you in my problem of the job.我工作上的问题不想把你也牵扯进来。

12 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。

13 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

14 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

15 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

16 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。

17 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

18 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。