美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Has Faced Many Lawsuits. Will Litigation Influence His Presidency?

Trump¹ Has Faced Many Lawsuits³. Will Litigation Influence His Presidency⁴?

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President-elect Donald Trump on Friday agreed to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits claiming that his real estate seminar known as Trump University cheated thousands of customers. Trump says he doesn't have time to deal with the suits now that he's headed to the White House. But he faces numerous other suits that could distract from his work as president. Here's NPR's Jim Zarroli.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE⁶: Over the past three decades, Donald Trump has been involved in a lot of lawsuits. USA Today found that he's been named as a plaintiff or defendant⁷ in more than 4,000 suits. Stephen Gillers is a professor at NYU Law School.

STEPHEN GILLERS: The number of lawsuits that may now be in existence I think are way ahead of anything we might ever again expect of any president of the United States.

ZARROLI: There are suits over branding, contract disputes and tax issues. He's sued journalists, political groups and a former Miss Pennsylvania. Bill Maher offered $5 million to anyone who could prove Trump's father wasn't an orangutan.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BILL MAHER: The color of his hair...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

MAHER: ...And color of an orange orangutan is the only two things in nature of the same color.

ZARROLI: Trump submitted his birth certificate and then sued Maher, demanding the $5 million. He later dropped the suit. University of Virginia law professor Saikrishna Prakash has proposed that Congress pass a law delaying lawsuits while a president is in office.

SAIKRISHNA PRAKASH: The problem that we face with Mr. Trump is that he has got so many lawsuits that he could very well be distracted from taking care of the nation's business by a concern with his personal finances.

ZARROLI: But as Prakash acknowledges, there's a problem.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

FORMER PRES BILL CLINTON: If is means is and never has been, that is not - that's one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.

ZARROLI: During his presidency, Bill Clinton had to deal with a sexual harassment⁸ lawsuit² by Paula Jones. His lawyers argued that the suit would distract him from his work as president. The Supreme⁹ Court unanimously ruled that the case could go forward, which ultimately led to Clinton's impeachment¹⁰.

PRAKASH: The court predicted it wouldn't really disrupt the president or take too much of his time. And I suppose that was possible in that case, but they turned out to be totally wrong.

ZARROLI: Prakash says there's a precedent¹¹ for delaying suits. A law allows members of the armed forces to be protected temporarily against many civil suits. The Trump Organization declined to comment about that idea, but Stephen Gillers says delaying a suit against a president would be wrong.

GILLERS: If a plaintiff is suing Trump, he or she has a right to a day in court. And making that person wait four years or three years or two years for relief is simply unacceptable.

ZARROLI: Gillers notes that the Supreme Court in the Paula Jones case allowed presidents to delay suits for short periods, to take foreign trips, for example. And they aren't required to testify in court, which takes time. They can do so through depositions¹². So Gillers says presidents can usually make time to deal with suits.

GILLERS: Yes, it's a distraction¹³, but the president, although president 24 hours a day, seven days a week, does do other things. He does have a private life. And so he simply has to factor this in to his private life.

ZARROLI: Gillers does point out that the Paula Jones ruling applied¹⁴ only to federal courts. Though they probably won't, state courts can make life a lot more difficult for a president. But as with so much about the Trump presidency, the outcome is unpredictable. And Americans could one day see their president testifying in a court trial. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

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 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

3 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

6 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。

7 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

8 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

9 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

10 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。

11 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

12 depositions   

沉积（物）( deposition的名词复数 )； （在法庭上的）宣誓作证； 处置； 罢免

参考例句：

• The safety problems are more severe for low-pressure depositions because the processes often use concentrated gases. 对于低压淀积来说安全性问题更为突出，因为这种工艺通常使用高浓度的气体。
• The chief method is to take depositions of parties and witnesses. 主要的方法是录取当事人和证人的宣誓证言。 来自口语例句

13 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

14 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。