美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Uses Twitter To Criticize FBI, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe

 

LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. Lulu Garcia-Navarro is off for the holidays. I'm Lauren Frayer.

President Trump¹ is celebrating Christmas in Florida, but Washington is still clearly very much on his mind. He took a few moments out of his break to take aim at a frequent target of his lately, the FBI. NPR's justice reporter Ryan Lucas has been following this and joins us now. Hey, Ryan.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE²: Good morning.

FRAYER: Trump's been going after one man in particular, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. What can you tell us about McCabe?

LUCAS: Well, McCabe is a career FBI official. He's been at the bureau for more than 20 years. He rose up through the ranks, worked a number of mob cases in New York City early on in his career before he shifted more to counterterrorism work. He's held senior positions at the Washington field office, at FBI headquarters in Washington. He was named deputy director by James Comey in January of 2016. This is the No. 2 position at the bureau. So McCabe was overseeing domestic and international investigations⁴, which gave him a central role, of course, into the biggest and most high-profile cases of late. That would be the Clinton email server investigation³ and the Russia probe. He also, you may remember famously, stepped in as acting⁵ director after Comey was fired in May. And McCabe is expected to retire early next year when he's eligible⁶ for his full pension, and that's been the plan for some time.

FRAYER: So why is Trump then taking aim at McCabe on Twitter like he is?

LUCAS: Well, it's part of the president's broader pattern of negative remarks that he's laid at the doorstep of the FBI. And you may remember how a few weeks ago he said that the FBI's reputation was in tatters and the worst in history. And this really ties back into McCabe's role overseeing the Clinton and Russia investigations. Trump has criticized the FBI over its handling of the Clinton probe. He frequently asks why the bureau and the Justice Department aren't taking a closer look at that matter. In his tweet on Saturday, Trump also alluded⁷ to political donations that McCabe's wife took. When she unsuccessfully ran for a Virginia State Senate seat, she received around $500,000 in political donations from a political organization tied to Governor Terry McAuliffe, who was a longtime Clinton friend.

FRAYER: So she ran as a Democrat⁸.

LUCAS: That's right. Yes. Now, the FBI says McCabe cleared everything with ethics⁹ folks at the bureaus. Everything was above board. And also McCabe didn't become deputy director until after that election. But still, Republicans have suggested that it may have tainted¹⁰ McCabe's decision-making in the Clinton probe. And all of this, of course, is part of a broader pattern from the president and his allies of, you know, disparaging¹¹ remarks directed at the FBI and the Justice Department, alleging¹² political bias¹³ in the upper ranks of the bureau in particular and by extension, of course, with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team conducting the Russia investigation.

FRAYER: And it's not just the president who's criticizing him. He's facing a lot of pressure from Republicans on the Hill, as well. Is that right?

LUCAS: That's very much so. McCabe was dragged up to Capitol Hill twice last week. He spent around eight hours testifying behind closed doors for the House Intelligence Committee. That was about Russia. And he spent a little more than eight hours with the House Oversight¹⁴ and House Judiciary Committees a few days later talking about the Clinton matter.

Now, there's one thing in particular that Republicans want to talk to McCabe about, and that's a senior FBI agent by the name of Peter Strzok, who's been in the news a lot. He worked on both the Mueller probe and the Clinton investigation, and he sent highly charged, politically charged text messages about Trump. Now, Strzok was removed from the Russia investigation, but those text messages have given Republicans a lot of ammunition¹⁵ for their allegations of political bias.

FRAYER: With about 30 seconds left, what sort of effect does all of this criticism from the president, from Republicans on the Hill have on the FBI?

LUCAS: Well, it's not a position that the bureau wants to be in. It was in the middle of the political fight in 2016, and that's continued into 2017. And there's a lot of pressure from Republicans to clean house in the senior ranks at the FBI. That's made life difficult for Christopher Wray. But one source has told me that there's not a lot of appetite at the bureau to bend to that pressure and dump McCabe before he's set to retire.

FRAYER: That's NPR justice reporter Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thank you.

LUCAS: Thank you.

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 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

7 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

8 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

9 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。

10 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 disparaging   

adj.轻蔑的，毁谤的v.轻视( disparage的现在分词 )；贬低；批评；非难

参考例句：

• Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and disparaging. 一天天过去，哈里代的评论越来越肆无忌惮，越来越讨人嫌，越来越阴损了。 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡
• Even with favorable items they would usually add some disparaging comments. 即使对好消息，他们也往往要加上几句诋毁的评语。 来自互联网

12 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

13 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

14 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

15 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。