美国国家公共电台 NPR--Former RNC communications director discusses Congressman-elect George Santos' scandal

Former RNC communications director discusses Congressman-elect George Santos' scandal

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks to Republican political consultant² Douglas Heye about the deceptions³ of Rep.-elect George Santos and the response from the GOP.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A new Congress takes office this week. And the big changes include a new majority in the House. Republicans very narrowly took charge in the fall election. But their early effort to set the agenda has been overshadowed by a fight over who gets to be speaker. And there's also the story of one newly elected Republican lawmaker.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: George Santos this morning facing yet even more questions about his background as yet another...

JERICKA DUNCAN: Dozens of his constituents⁴ held a demonstration⁵ in the congressional district today. They called on that New York Republican to resign. He's been under fire for lying...

ANDREA FUJII: Telling local Republican leaders that he will not seek reelection in 2024 as his background comes under even more fire.

CHARLES LAVINE: As we stand here today watching this slow George Santos train wreck⁶.

INSKEEP: Santos seems to have misled his constituents about his religion, about his education, about his work history and about a claim that several of his employees of a company of his were killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida, among other things. Doug Heye is following all of this. He's a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. Good morning.

DOUGLAS HEYE: Good morning. Good to be with you, Steve.

INSKEEP: How has this news affected⁷ his Republican colleagues in the House, if at all?

HEYE: Well, it's affected them in that they are bewildered by all of this. And it's not one lie, it's the sequential - almost by the day, a new shoe that's dropping that it's very difficult for them to keep up with and not your typical embellishment. These aren't embellishments. He didn't say that he graduated top of his class. He's made things up whole cloth in ways that is almost breathtakingly brazen⁸ that you don't see from politicians typically.

INSKEEP: Are House Republicans forced to think of him just as one vote that they're going to need? Kevin McCarthy needs votes for speaker. Republicans will need that vote for other things very soon.

HEYE: Well, certainly for the speaker vote. And what's interesting about the way that Congress operates is Santos is going to be - unless he decides not to, he's going to be on the House floor. And he will be voting for speaker. You know, as we focus on all of the lies and the storytelling and all of this that have happened with Santos, and some obviously potentially criminal aspects, he was duly elected by his constituents or his - will be his constituents.

So he has every right to be on the House floor and make that vote for speaker. And there's nothing that Congress can do that can prevent him from that. What they can do is potentially - and this is a very rare thing, much like having multiple votes for who will be the speaker. They can try and expel him after the fact. That's where the House Ethics⁹ Committee and a vote potentially by the House - by the body of the House, the entire House of Representatives, will happen. But that happens after the fact and after the speaker vote.

INSKEEP: Yeah. And when you think about the ethics committee, they - I don't want to say they take their time, but it takes time. He could spend his whole congressional term waiting on the result of that potentially.

HEYE: Absolutely. Now, we may see a member of Congress bring a motion on the floor after there is a speaker vote to expel him. No idea what's going to happen on that yet. But that's where this falls in two lines. One are, you know, what he said about his background, his religion, his ethnicity. All of this - a lot of it is, obviously, completely false. And then the things that we see in his campaign finance reports and so forth¹⁰ that open him up to criminal and ethic's - with a capital E, meaning the House Ethics Committee - jurisdiction¹¹. That's where he has very real problems. The rest of it is, you know, what we follow in politics where there may not be consequences. The legalities, what he's filed on his ethics, on - excuse me, his financial disclosures and things like that, that gets very real in violations¹² of law. And that's where Congress may act.

INSKEEP: I want to ask about the speaker's race here. Republicans just have a few votes over 218, which is majority. Democrats¹³ are not going to vote for Kevin McCarthy. I believe there are nine Republicans who signed a letter just this past weekend saying they're not ready to vote for Kevin McCarthy. And if that's true, the numbers don't add up. Do you think McCarthy is going to be speaker?

HEYE: I think he's more likely than anyone else to win that race. And this is - we focus so often, perhaps too much, on politics being a horse race. But it's true in this case. And Kevin's the odds-on favorite. That odds-on favorite doesn't always win the race. But he's in a better position to do so than anyone. And what Kevin is doing right now is he's going back to his old job of being the whip for House Republicans to get the new job of House speaker.

INSKEEP: How would it affect the public depending on who becomes House speaker? Would we see different legislation out of this House?

HEYE: Legislation? No. But how House Republicans operate could be potentially different. And this is what we're seeing with these nine Republicans is, you know, it tends sometimes to be an almost nothing-is-good-enough caucus¹⁴. So for Kevin, he has to get enough of them to say this is good enough to support him to be speaker.

INSKEEP: Doug Heye is a former communications director with the Republican National Committee. Pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much.

HEYE: Thanks so much.

1 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。

2 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

3 deceptions   

欺骗( deception的名词复数 )； 骗术，诡计

参考例句：

• Nobody saw through Mary's deceptions. 无人看透玛丽的诡计。
• There was for him only one trustworthy road through deceptions and mirages. 对他来说只有一条可靠的路能避开幻想和错觉。

4 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

6 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

9 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

10 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

11 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

12 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

13 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》

14 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。