美国国家公共电台 NPR A Day After Cohen Guilty Plea, Trump Contradicts His Former Personal Lawyer

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The White House is publicly downplaying yesterday's extraordinary developments, where we saw guilty verdicts and guilty pleas for two former close associates of President Trump¹. But as our correspondent at the White House is hearing today, in reality there's growing concern about what all this could mean for the president. We start our coverage² with NPR's Sarah McCammon. Hey, Sarah.

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE³: Hey, Ailsa.

CHANG: So tell us what Trump is saying today about Manafort and Cohen.

MCCAMMON: Well, he spoke⁴ out not long ago about Cohen specifically and insisted that Trump himself has done nothing wrong here. Cohen of course told prosecutors⁵ that the president illegally directed him to arrange payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump in an effort to avoid fallout in the 2016 election. Trump of course denies those affairs. And in an exclusive interview today with Ainsley Earhardt of Fox News, Trump contradicted Cohen. He insisted he only knew about the payments after the fact.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FOX & FRIENDS")

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Later on, I knew - later on. But you have to understand, Ainsley, what he did. And they weren't taken out of campaign finance. That's a big thing. That's a much bigger thing. Did they come out of the campaign? They didn't come out of the campaign. They came from me.

MCCAMMON: In that interview airing on Fox News tomorrow, Trump insisted that because the money came from him and not the campaign, it couldn't be a campaign finance violation⁶. But he's really missing the point here. The larger issue is whether the money was meant to influence the election because, if so, that has lots of implications for how the money is reported. And that's what got Cohen into trouble.

CHANG: And how is the White House answering questions about that larger issue, that missing point?

MCCAMMON: Well, press secretary Sarah Sanders held a briefing today, and she was asked about this. She wouldn't answer questions about the payments and basically stuck to her talking points. And she took issue with a question about whether Trump had lied to the American people months ago when he originally said that he knew nothing about those payments.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: Look. Again, I think that's a ridiculous accusation⁷. The president in this matter has done nothing wrong, and there are no charges against him.

MCCAMMON: And Sanders was asked about what the president believes should count as a campaign contribution. She declined to discuss that and said just because Cohen made a deal with prosecutors doesn't mean anything regarding the president.

CHANG: OK. So it sounds like they are trying quite hard to downplay any potential damage to the president. But behind the scenes, does it feel like a different story?

MCCAMMON: Right. A little bit. I mean, publicly they're insisting the president's done nothing wrong. He continues to call the Russia investigation⁸ a witch hunt. A White House source acknowledged to me the president is frustrated⁹ with the investigation, as he's said publicly. But overall, they're projecting a belief that the Russia investigation is unfairly targeting him and people close to him.

Privately¹⁰, though, I'm hearing from sources close to the White House that there is real concern, or at least a sense that there should be. And I would expect at least some Republicans to make this an issue heading into the November midterms. Some of them will try to make the case that voting for Democrats¹¹ is voting essentially¹² to impeach¹³ the president.

CHANG: Now, this morning the president tweeted praise for former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. He said he felt very badly for his conviction yesterday. Are there any signals yet that President Trump could be considering a pardon for Manafort?

MCCAMMON: The White House is being careful about this. You're right. The president expressed sympathy for Manafort and his family after those felony convictions, tweeted that he has such respect for a brave man. So far the White House, though, isn't saying a lot about a possible pardon for Manafort. Sarah Sanders was asked about it today. She said she hadn't been aware of any discussion so far about that. But she also did not come out definitively¹⁴ and say, no pardon for Manafort. So we'll see.

CHANG: We'll see. NPR's Sarah McCammon at the White House. Thanks, Sarah.

MCCAMMON: Thanks.

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 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

3 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。

4 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。

5 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

6 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

7 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

8 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。

9 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

11 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》

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

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 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网