美国国家公共电台 NPR As Mueller Picks Up Pace, Capital Roils With Talk Of Pardons And Firing

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This week, special prosecutor¹ Robert Mueller picked up the public pace of his investigation² into Russian interference in the presidential election. He rolled out two indictments³ and also revealed a potentially important plea agreement. Now, all of this led to reports that President Trump⁴ is considering firing Mueller or perhaps pardoning the targets of this investigation. Let's hear more now from NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁵: The indictments charge that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business partner violated the federal law requiring Americans to register and disclose activities undertaken as agents of a foreign power and that they then sought to cover up their activities by laundering⁶ millions of dollars in profits and failing to pay taxes on those hidden profits. Separately, a former foreign policy adviser⁷ to the campaign pled guilty to lying to federal investigators⁸ about meetings with a Russian agent who promised, quote, "dirt on Hillary Clinton." Trump tweeted furiously as the legal actions were unveiled, railing about the fixation on this story by the press and, by implication, the prosecutor. His rage provoked speculation⁹ that he might seek to abort¹⁰ the investigation by firing Mueller or pardoning Manafort and others to prevent them from making a deal and somehow implicating¹¹ Trump or his family in colluding with the Russians. The White House denied that the president was considering firing Mueller, quote, "at this time." And as for potential pardons that would stymie¹² the investigation, well, listen to this exchange with reporters called into the Oval Office for a photo-op.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Are you going to pardon Manafort?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Mr. President, what's your reaction to...

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

TOTENBERG: In short, the president did not answer the question. So what are the limits of his pardoning power? Would such pardons be grounds for impeachment¹⁴? Indeed, would firing Mueller be grounds? The Constitution gives the president the broad power to grant pardons, quote, "for offenses¹⁶ against the United States except in cases of impeachment." That means he can pardon anyone charged with a federal crime but not state crimes. And he can't prevent his own impeachment by pardoning himself. Indeed, he can pardon a person for past actions, even if that individual has not yet been charged.

So in the current circumstance, President Trump could pardon any of the individuals under scrutiny¹⁷ in the Russian probe. And that would deprive special prosecutor Mueller of his ability to pressure witnesses. Experts say there is nothing anyone could do to invalidate such pardons. A presidential pardon cannot be undone¹⁸. But constitutional scholar Cass Sunstein, author of a new book on impeachment, notes that the framers of the Constitution in the Virginia ratification¹⁹ debate discussed whether abuse of the pardon power would be an impeachable²⁰ offense¹⁵. And James Madison explicitly²¹ said it would be.

CASS SUNSTEIN: If the president counsels crimes personally or participates in crimes personally and then exercises the pardon power so as to shelter the people who engaged in those crimes, the Virginia debate is very clear - that is an impeachable offense.

TOTENBERG: Not all pardons constitute an impeachable offense, he cautions - pardoning a campaign official who have evades taxes, for instance, or launders²² money may amount to ugly favoritism, but it isn't a wanton abuse of power. Sunstein adds, however, if a president were to pardon someone who's worked with the Russian government to find dirt on a political opponent...

SUNSTEIN: That's traitorous²³. That's a betrayal of the principles for which the American Revolution was fought and for which our founding document was signed.

TOTENBERG: And, says Sunstein, if the president were to instead fire the special prosecutor after previously²⁴ firing the FBI director...

SUNSTEIN: If that happened, all bets are off.

TOTENBERG: Maybe. But 43 years ago, in a less politically polarized time, only 7 out of 17 Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach¹³ Richard Nixon. A week later, Nixon released what came to be known as the smoking gun tape. His support all but vanished, and he resigned. As Michigan State University professor Brian Kalt observes...

BRIAN KALT: It's not a coincidence that no president has ever been impeached²⁵ by a House controlled by his party.

TOTENBERG: Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF JIMI HENDRIX SONG, "BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN")

1 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。

2 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。

3 indictments   

n.（制度、社会等的）衰败迹象( indictment的名词复数 )；刑事起诉书；公诉书；控告

参考例句：

• A New York jury brought criminal indictments against the founder of the organization. 纽约的一个陪审团对这个组织的创始人提起了多项刑事诉讼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These two indictments are self-evident and require no elaboration. 这两条意义自明，无须多说。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 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。

6 laundering   

n.洗涤（衣等），洗烫（衣等）；洗（钱）v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的现在分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入）

参考例句：

• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering. 洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was charged with laundering money. 他被指控洗钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

10 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

11 implicating   

vt.牵涉，涉及（implicate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. 他站在被告席上，什么都招认，什么人都咬。 来自英汉文学
• No one would have had me get out of the scrape by implicating an old friend. 无论什么人都不能叫我为了自己摆脱困难便把一个老朋友牵累到这案子里去。 来自辞典例句

12 stymie   

v.妨碍，阻挠

参考例句：

• Companies have been stymied by the length of time it takes to reach an agreement.由于耗时过长，各公司一直未能达成协议。
• Relief efforts have been stymied in recent weeks by armed gunmen.最近几周的救援工作一直受到武装分子的阻挠。

13 impeach   

v.弹劾；检举

参考例句：

• We must impeach the judge for taking bribes.我们一定要检举法官收受贿赂。
• The committee decided to impeach the President.委员会决定弹劾总统。

14 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。

15 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

16 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

17 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。

18 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

19 ratification   

n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• The treaty is awaiting ratification.条约正等待批准。
• The treaty is subject to ratification.此条约经批准后才能生效。

20 impeachable   

adj.可控告的，可弹劾的

参考例句：

• 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
• The government officer committed an impeachable offence. 那位政府官员犯了可能招致弹劾的罪行。 来自辞典例句

21 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

22 launders   

v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的第三人称单数 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入）

参考例句：

• This fabric launders well. 这种织品经洗耐用。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This linen launders well. 这亚麻布经洗。 来自互联网

23 traitorous   

adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的

参考例句：

• All traitorous persons and cliques came to no good end. 所有的叛徒及叛徒集团都没好下场。
• Most of the time I keep such traitorous thoughts to myself. 这种叛逆思想我不大向别人暴露。

24 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

25 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》