美国国家公共电台 NPR--Manhattan's district attorney weighs potential charges against former President Trump

Manhattan's district attorney weighs potential charges against former President Trump¹

Transcript²

The man who will decide whether to indict³ a former president is Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney. If arrested, Trump called for protests. Bragg said his office wouldn't be intimidated⁴.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

We take a look today at the man who decides whether to indict a former president.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

His name is Alvin Bragg. He is the Manhattan district attorney - so, New York City. He famously declined to move forward with a prosecution⁵ in one of the many cases against one-time President Donald Trump. But his office is investigating a different case, and Trump at least claims he will be indicted⁶ on Tuesday. He called for protests.

Now the former president's predictions have often been unreliable, to say the least. But the DA did say his office will not be intimidated.

FADEL: So let's get to know the DA. NPR's Ilya Marritz covers Trump legal matters and is with me now. Good morning.

ILYA MARRITZ, BYLINE⁷: Good morning.

FADEL: So who is Alvin Bragg?

MARRITZ: Alvin Bragg Jr. is 49 years old. He grew up in Harlem. He's a graduate of Harvard Law. And he worked for the Justice Department and the New York attorney general before deciding in 2021 to run for Manhattan DA. He promised to reduce incarceration⁸ and be fairer to Black and brown people. And he won. And he became Manhattan's first African American DA.

FADEL: And what are some of the significant markers in his tenure⁹ so far?

MARRITZ: Well, you know, right off the bat, he ran into a rocky start. He had some pretty serious public relations problems. The first incident was around a document known as the Day 1 letter. It said prosecutors¹¹ should not seek jail time for defendants¹² for a range of offenses¹³, from jumping subway turnstiles to, in some cases, robberies and assaults. It wasn't exactly a surprise, but it fed fears about street crime, and there was an uproar¹⁴, and he was forced to backtrack on some of those policies. And I think it showed how being an elected prosecutor¹⁰, you really have to be so attentive¹⁵ to public opinion and the press.

The other issue had to do with Trump. When Bragg was sworn in, he inherited a long-running investigation¹⁶ of Trump. Prosecutors were presenting evidence to a grand jury that could have resulted in Donald Trump being charged over allegedly lying to banks and tax authorities. Bragg did not move forward with that case, and the two lawyers leading it quit. And there was an outcry when that happened.

FADEL: Yeah. Didn't one of those lawyers publish a book laying out the disagreement?

MARRITZ: That's right. And I just want to say this is incredibly rare, for a former prosecutor to do what Mark Pomerantz did. He spoke¹⁷ publicly and in detail on an investigation that was still going on in the DA's office. Last month, Bragg pushed back. He said he looked at the evidence, and he wasn't convinced.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALVIN BRAGG: Mark Pomerantz's case simply was not ready. So I said to my team, let's keep working.

FADEL: Which brings us to today. Now, Bragg is building a possible case around the hush¹⁸ money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. What does Bragg's history and character tell us about how he might handle this?

MARRITZ: People who know him personally say Bragg is decent. He's thoughtful. He has taught Sunday school for about 15 years. I wanted to know his relationship to risk because a lot of legal observers think the case he could be building may be difficult to win. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty for his role in the hush money payments, which amounted to a federal campaign finance violation¹⁹. But New York state law may be a difficult fit.

So I put that to Danya Perry. She's a former federal prosecutor who counts Bragg as a friend.

DANYA PERRY: Some of the legal theories, as much as we can see from the outside in, do appear to be novel. But I do give him credit for starting from scratch, building his own case and making sure that he feels comfortable with it.

FADEL: So what's next in the case?

MARRITZ: If the grand jury does indict Trump, the logistics of bringing him in for fingerprinting²⁰ for an arraignment²¹ will be an enormous test of Bragg's ability to coordinate²² with the former president, his lawyers, the Secret Service and the police. There are security concerns, including for Bragg and his staff. Trump has always said he is innocent, and he's been lobbing abuse at the DA on social media all weekend.

FADEL: NPR's Ilya Marritz. Thank you.

MARRITZ: You're 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 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 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。

4 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

7 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。

8 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

9 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

10 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。

11 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。

12 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

13 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

14 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

15 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

16 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。

17 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

18 hush   

int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静

参考例句：

• A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
• Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去！

19 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。

20 fingerprinting   

v.指纹( fingerprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Institutions from banks to pawnshops are fingerprinting to authenticate transactions. 从银行到当铺，都在使用指纹识别对交易进行验证。 来自互联网
• In addition, a digital fingerprinting algorithm based on binary codes is described. 介绍了一种二进制指纹编码方案。 来自互联网

21 arraignment   

n.提问，传讯，责难

参考例句：

• She was remanded to juvenile detention at her arraignment yesterday. 她昨天被送回了对少年拘留在她的传讯。 来自互联网
• Wyatt asks the desk clerk which courthouse he is being transferred to for arraignment. 他向接待警员询问了马宏将在哪个法庭接受传讯。 来自互联网

22 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。