美国国家公共电台 NPR Rob Goldstone On His Infamous Russia Email: 'I Had No Idea What I Was Talking About'

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Let's go inside a Trump¹ Tower meeting room now and take a look at that now infamous² June 2016 meeting between high-level Trump campaign officials and a delegation³ from Russia. NPR's Miles Parks has been talking with the British-born music publicist who helped set up that meeting. He has a book out today, which is called, "Pop Stars, Pageants⁴ & Presidents: How An Email Trumped⁵ My Life."

ROB GOLDSTONE: To be really honest, I have no idea what I was talking about.

MILES PARKS, BYLINE⁶: That's Rob Goldstone. He was a publicist who today lives in Hoboken, N.J. He wrote what he calls maybe the most famous email in history to Donald Trump Jr. You've read it or at least heard about it. The Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton and wanted to give it to the Trump campaign. Goldstone wrote that the crown prosecutor⁷ of Russia had met with the father of his client, Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, and Goldstone says Emin asked him to send Trump Jr. an email. Even though Goldstone says he didn't have any details about what incriminating information he was promising⁸, he tried to get more information from Emin before he reached out to Trump Jr., but his client wouldn't elaborate.

GOLDSTONE: I pushed one more time, and when there was no response, I said, you know this is a really bad idea and nothing good can come from this.

PARKS: He says that wasn't because he knew about the potential consequences. It is illegal for a foreign country to provide anything of value to a campaign, but Goldstone said he had a bad feeling because he was just a music publicist. He had once toured Australia following Michael Jackson. But he says he didn't know anything about politics. History, though, had been made. Trump Jr. responded, if it's what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer. So after Emin and Trump Jr. talked on the phone, Goldstone was then recruited to set up an in-person meeting - June 9, 2016, Trump Tower.

GOLDSTONE: I ended up sitting next to Jared Kushner. I was opposite the Russian delegation, as I call them. And Manafort and Don Jr. were sitting at the head of the table.

PARKS: Goldstone says Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya didn't have dirt on Hillary Clinton. What she did was launch into a convoluted⁹ presentation that attempted to tie an alleged¹⁰ tax fraud scheme to the Democrats¹¹. After she was interrupted and asked to get to the point, she pivoted¹² to talk about American sanctions on Russia and counter-sanctions from Russia that made it so Americans couldn't adopt Russian children. Donald Trump Jr. talked about the presentation on Fox News last summer.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOX NEWS BROADCAST)

DONALD TRUMP JR: And there was, you know, some small talk. I don't even remember what it was. It just was sort of nonsensical, inane¹³ and garbled¹⁴ and then quickly went on to, you know, a story about Russian adoption¹⁵ and how we could possibly help. And, really, that's where we shut it down.

PARKS: But the meeting, which by all accounts was about 20 minutes long, has had a lasting¹⁶ effect. It's become a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigates whether any Americans conspired¹⁷ with the Russian campaign to influence the 2016 election. Even if the Russians didn't provide information that was considered useful by the Trumps¹⁸, they did provide a political tip. Goldstone has testified before a grand jury as part of that investigation¹⁹, and he's also answered questions from three different congressional committees. He's a crucial piece of the Russia puzzle, even though he says he didn't know anything about a grander scheme by Russia to affect the election. In the email Goldstones sent, however, he specifically says that the information he wants to provide Trump Jr. is, quote, "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." He now says he was just bloviating in an attempt to get Trump Jr.'s attention.

GOLDSTONE: It came from the mind that is Rob Goldstone, but it's based on very specific things. Look, I have been in Moscow with Donald Trump during Miss Universe. I had seen how people reacted to him. I never met a person in Russia that didn't say, Trump? We love Trump. It was all Trump.

PARKS: The president and his family have repeatedly changed their story on the Trump Tower meeting. At first, they said it was only about adoption. Then they acknowledged it was to get information on an opponent, which Trump tweeted last month was, quote, "totally illegal." As for Goldstone, he says his publicist work these days is nearly impossible because he's better-known than most of his clients.

Miles Parks, 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 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

3 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

4 pageants   

n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会

参考例句：

• It is young people who favor holding Beauty pageants. 赞成举办选美的是年轻人。 来自互联网
• Others say that there's a fine line between the pageants and sexual exploitation. 其他人说，选美和性剥削之间只有非常细微的界线。 来自互联网

5 trumped   

v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去分词 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• That woman trumped up various baseless charges against him. 那个女人捏造种种毫无根据的罪名指控他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several of his colleagues trumped up a complaint to get him removed from the job. 他的几位同事诬告他，使他丟掉了工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 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。

8 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

9 convoluted   

adj.旋绕的；复杂的

参考例句：

• The snake slithered through a convoluted path.蛇在羊肠小道上爬行。
• The policy is so convoluted even college presidents are confused.这项政策太令人费解，甚至连大学校长们也是一头雾水。

10 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

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 pivoted   

adj.转动的，回转的，装在枢轴上的v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的过去式和过去分词 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开

参考例句：

• His old legs and shoulders pivoted with the swinging of the pulling. 他一把把地拉着，两条老迈的腿儿和肩膀跟着转动。 来自英汉文学 - 老人与海
• When air is moving, the metal is pivoted on the hinge. 当空气流动时，金属板在铰链上转动。 来自辞典例句

13 inane   

adj.空虚的，愚蠢的，空洞的

参考例句：

• She started asking me inane questions.她开始问我愚蠢的问题。
• Such comments are inane because they don't help us solve our problem.这种评论纯属空洞之词，不能帮助我们解决问题。

14 garbled   

adj.（指信息）混乱的，引起误解的v.对（事实）歪曲，对（文章等）断章取义，窜改( garble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He gave a garbled account of what had happened. 他对所发生事情的叙述含混不清。
• The Coastguard needs to decipher garbled messages in a few minutes. 海岸警卫队需要在几分钟内解读这些含混不清的信息。 来自辞典例句

15 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

16 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

17 conspired   

密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。
• Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

18 trumps   

abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• On the day of the match the team turned up trumps. 比赛那天该队出乎意料地获得胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Every time John is late getting home he trumps up some new excuse. 每次约翰晚回家都会编造个新借口。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 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。