美国国家公共电台 NPR--Other countries have prosecuted their leaders. What took the U.S. so long?

Other countries have prosecuted¹ their leaders. What took the U.S. so long?

Transcript²

Former President Donald Trump³ may be the first U.S. president to face criminal charges, but he's hardly alone on the global stage.

Plenty of other democracies have prosecuted their current or former leaders.

Two former French presidents, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, were convicted of corruption⁴ after their time in office. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was found guilty of tax fraud in 2012 (though, over a decade later, was acquitted⁵ of several charges stemming from a 2010 sex-for-hire case).

In South Korea, which has a long history of prosecuting⁶ its former leaders, former President Lee Myung-bak's 17-year jail sentence for corruption was cut short when he got a presidential pardon last year. The previous year, a court upheld a 20-year jail sentence for former President Park Geun-hye over the corruption scandal that led to her impeachment⁷ in 2017.

Argentina's current vice⁸ president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, was found guilty of corruption in December, in a case dating back to her time as president. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now in his sixth term, is facing three corruption cases. And Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was reelected three years after he was released from prison on corruption charges.

Closer to home, former President Richard Nixon resigned on the brink⁹ of impeachment in August 1974, only to receive a blanket pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford¹⁰, a month later. Former President Bill Clinton was impeached¹¹ in the fall of 1998 after he was accused of giving false testimony¹² to a grand jury, but never faced prosecution¹³.

The U.S. is entering unprecedented¹⁴ territory, as University of Washington political science professor James D. Long tells Morning Edition.

"We've allowed a lot of bad behavior and looked the other way with presidents and previous administrations, and I think now this really is the first time that it appears a president or former president may be held to account for actions that they did before, during or after being in office," he says.

A New York grand jury indicted¹⁵ Trump for his alleged¹⁶ role in covering up hush¹⁷ money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential election campaign.

Trump is also under scrutiny¹⁸ in additional investigations¹⁹ that could bring charges of their own, from a Georgia probe into 2020 election interference to a pair of U.S. Justice Department investigations into his actions around Jan. 6 and his handling of classified documents.

The hush money case may not be related to some of the bigger issues of Trump's presidency²⁰, as the alleged events happened before his election. But Long says the fact that someone already spent time in jail for it — Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen — shows that it's still significant.

And, he says, it may even be seen as a more legitimate²¹ case because Trump can't argue that he took those particular actions in the course of his presidential duties.

"It might be weird²² because it isn't from potentially his time in office, and I think perhaps there's a greater appetite for allowing presidents to have more leeway when they're serving in office and the actions they may have to take as president than what they did before or after," Long explains. "So in that way it actually might be more of a serious thing for at least some of the public."

Long spoke²³ to Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep about why the U.S. hasn't taken this step until now and what we might see next.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I think the case for looking the other way has always been that at any one moment, looking at what a president's done, pursuing a prosecution could be more traumatic. ... Certainly that was sort of the thinking of Gerald Ford when he pardoned Richard Nixon. So then the question is, well, if you keep looking the other way over a long period of time, do you eventually develop sort of a moral hazard where any president could reasonably think they could get away with something if they look at what their predecessors²⁴ may have gotten away with?

On how this case differs from the other Trump investigations

The potential cases that the DOJ has been looking at related to January 6th and the Mar-a-Lago documents ... because those were things that he did do as president and in his eyes, at least, he was doing it because he was president. And the president has to have certain ability to conduct themselves in a way that no other citizen has to worry about who's not president, that I think one of his defenses there could be, "Well, this is what I had to do because I was president." But he won't have that defense²⁵ insofar as we understand what the charges in Manhattan will be.

On why prosecution doesn't necessarily end political careers

Our intuition is that when leaders, heads of state, former heads of states, are accused of doing things, indicted, perhaps even found guilty, that that would be a negative for them politically.

But in a lot of ways we can think of it as rallying their base. If they can make the case that the prosecution has been overzealous, or that they've been targeted for any specific reason or that their supporters have been targeted sort of en masse by having the person at the top targeted, I think it can be a rallying political cry that helps to generate a lot of support. So I think it's not necessarily politically damaging always, although whether or not it's politically damaging for Trump is yet to be seen.

The audio interview was edited by Amra Pasic and John Helton.

1 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

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 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。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

6 prosecuting   

检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师

参考例句：

• The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
• Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。

7 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

8 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。

9 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

10 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

11 impeached   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

• Elected officials can be impeached. 经过选举产生的官员可以被弹劾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The judge was impeached for taking a bribe. 这个法官被检举接受贿赂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

13 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。

14 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

15 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。

16 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

17 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！

18 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

19 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

20 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

21 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

22 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

23 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。

24 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 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。