美国国家公共电台 NPR For Trump Presidency, Old Ethics Laws Meet New Money-Making Methods

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

As President-elect Donald Trump¹ prepares for his inauguration², the federal ethics³ laws are showing their age. They were written for an earlier time, when rich politicos invested in commodities like paper or just stocks and bonds. Now there are questions about how well those ethics laws cover a president who makes his fortune from international real estate and personal branding. Here's NPR's Peter Overby.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE⁴: To be sure, some of the ethics laws apply to the incoming president.

LARRY NOBLE: He is still subject to bribery⁵ laws. He's subject to the Stock Act, which prohibits insider trading.

OVERBY: Larry Noble is general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, which supports anti-corruption laws. What doesn't apply to precedents⁶ is the federal conflict of interest law. So, for example, Trump can own a golf resort while he also shapes the tax, environmental and labor⁷ laws that could affect his golf profits. Noble says Trump could follow the example of other presidents, that is voluntarily put his holdings into a blind trust. Trump has said he'll give control of his holdings to his children, a less than blind arrangement. Here he is on FOX News earlier this month.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP: They're going to run it. They're going to run it. Hopefully they're going to run it properly. I'm sure they're going to run it properly, but I'm not going to do deals.

OVERBY: Now, you might ask, why isn't there a conflicts law for the president? One argument is that such a law would violate the Constitution. Congress cannot pass a law that restricts a president's decision making authority. In 1989, a presidential commission was assigned to set ethics standards for all federal officials. But with the Constitution's separation of powers...

JAN BARAN: We quickly came to the conclusion that that was not possible for both constitutional and practical reasons.

OVERBY: This is ethics attorney Jan Baran, who was on the commission. So today there are conflict of interest rules for most government employees, but not the president. And here's another problem with the ethics laws. They were written to cover 20th century wealth, which typically came from stocks and bonds, paper that could be turned over to a trust. But Trump derives⁸ much of his fortune from his very name, which he licenses⁹ on properties all over the world. That's not uncommon¹⁰ these days, think of Oprah or Ralph Lauren. That kind of wealth can't be put into a blind trust. Jan Baran says new laws are not needed for this kind of wealth. Presidents just need to do the right thing.

BARAN: It will require presidents going forward to figure out how to impose rules on themselves.

OVERBY: But others argue a new approach is necessary. Norm Eisen says it lies in a clause that's already in the Constitution.

NORM EISEN: You could expressly frame the ethics laws around the prohibition¹¹ on receiving foreign government cash or benefits of any kind.

OVERBY: Eisen is a clean government advocate at the Brookings Institution. He's talking about the Constitution's Emoluments¹² Clause. Basically it says government officials cannot take gifts - emoluments - from foreign officials. Eisen says the Founding Fathers left room for an expansive interpretation¹³.

EISEN: We capture with the very broad language intangible things like the value of Mr. Trump's name.

OVERBY: Democrats¹⁴ will be pushing for this new interpretation when Congress comes back. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

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 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

3 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。

4 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。

5 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

6 precedents   

引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例

参考例句：

• There is no lack of precedents in this connection. 不乏先例。
• He copied after bad precedents. 他仿效恶例。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 derives   

v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• English derives in the main from the common Germanic stock. 英语主要源于日耳曼语系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derives his income from freelance work. 他以自由职业获取收入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

10 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

11 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

12 emoluments   

n.报酬，薪水( emolument的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The emoluments of this profession is not satisfactory. 此行业的报酬不令人满意。 来自辞典例句
• Emoluments connected with this position include free education for the children. 与这职务有关的酬劳包括为子女提供免费教育。 来自互联网

13 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

14 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》