美国国家公共电台 NPR Top Mueller Prosecutor Stepping Down In Latest Clue Russia Inquiry May Be Ending

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene in Culver City, Calif. Good morning. NPR has learned new information suggesting that the special counsel's Russia investigation¹ is done. A key prosecutor², Andrew Weissmann, is leaving the office. He helped build the case against former Trump³ campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort was sentenced yesterday to serve 7 1/2 years in prison. Now with us to walk through her exclusive reporting, here is NPR national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.

Good morning, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE⁴: Good morning, David.

GREENE: So let's start with what you've learned about Robert Mueller's legal team. This long process might be coming to an end here, it sounds like.

JOHNSON: Yeah, nearly two years long - it's the strongest sign yet the special counsel is done investigating. It's that a prominent lawyer on the team, Andrew Weissmann, is leaving the special counsel unit and the Justice Department. Two sources are telling me Weissmann's leaving to go teach and do some scholarship at New York University. And they say he wouldn't be leaving unless the Russia investigation was complete. I'm hearing, also, to expect more signs of wrapping up in the next two weeks maximum.

Remember, David, the lead FBI agent assigned to this probe started a new job in Virginia this month. And other lawyers have been moving off the team, too. But Andrew Weissmann was, in some ways, aside from Robert Mueller, the most well-known. He's been attacked by conservative talk radio hosts. And he was called a killer⁵ by Steve Bannon, one of Trump's former advisers⁶, who also called him the LeBron James of money laundering⁷ investigations⁸.

GREENE: The thinking being that, I mean, once the important work is done, you're going to let your investigators⁹ move on, even if you're putting the finishing touches on the report or whatever is happening.

JOHNSON: That's exactly right. And we're seeing more high-level departures by the day.

GREENE: So the prosecutor you're talking about, Andrew Weissmann, I mean, really played a central role in the case against Paul Manafort. And we're seeing a lot of news in that case over the past 24 hours with the sentencing. What exactly is happening?

JOHNSON: Yeah, David. Last week, the judge in Virginia basically said Paul Manafort had led an otherwise blameless life aside from his financial crimes. Yesterday, the judge in Washington, D.C., Amy Berman Jackson, had a lot more criticism for Paul Manafort. She sentenced him to serve almost four years in prison. Add that to the time Manafort got in Virginia last week; it totals up to about 7 1/2 years in prison total.

The D.C. judge, Amy Jackson, was not buying Paul Manafort's remorse¹⁰. She basically said he used other people's money to support his own lifestyle - too many houses for one family to enjoy, too many suits for one man to wear. She also said Manafort spent his whole life spinning. He treated the legal process the same way. She said courts are one place where facts still matter. And she said saying I'm sorry I got caught is not an effective plea for leniency¹¹ - very tough language from this D.C. judge.

GREENE: Tough language, indeed. I mean, we should say the first federal prison term Manafort was given, a lot of people criticized it for not being long enough. Different reaction to this one?

JOHNSON: You know, it's been mixed. Some former prosecutors¹² say, in all, 7 1/2 years seems about right for Paul Manafort. Some Democrats¹³ on Capitol Hill were saying it was too lenient¹⁴. And of course, Paul Manafort's allies are continuing to say that he never should have been prosecuted¹⁵ in the first place for some of this and he would not have been prosecuted if not for his work with President Trump on the 2016 campaign.

GREENE: What about the idea of a presidential pardon, Carrie Johnson? I mean, that seems to be looming¹⁶ over a case like this. Isn't that possibility why prosecutors in New York have moved to bring their own charges against Manafort?

JOHNSON: Indeed. Paul Manafort's lawyer, Kevin Downing, told people outside the courthouse yesterday there was no collusion, which the judge had explicitly¹⁷ said was not one of her findings. The judge suggested that Paul Manafort's lawyer, Downing, was actually speaking to another audience. And President Trump, shortly after the sentencing, said he feels very badly for Paul Manafort. He said he hasn't given a pardon for Manafort any thought.

But clearly, state prosecutors - the Manhattan district attorney, Cy Vance - has. And that's why he slapped Paul Manafort with 16 charges only an hour or so after this federal sentencing concluded. And the key point there, David, is that a president cannot pardon someone on state charges, only federal charges.

GREENE: And just coming back full circle - Carrie, we might not know exactly if the special counsel's investigation is over. Will there be a clear end moment that we, the public, will know or maybe not?

JOHNSON: At some point, the attorney general of the United States, Bill Barr, is going to have to come out and make a statement about this.

GREENE: OK. So we'll learn something. Exclusive reporting this morning from NPR's Carrie Johnson - we appreciate it, Carrie.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

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 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

6 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

7 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》

8 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。

9 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》

10 remorse   

n.痛恨，悔恨，自责

参考例句：

• She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
• He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。

11 leniency   

n.宽大（不严厉）

参考例句：

• udges are advised to show greater leniency towards first-time offenders.建议法官对初犯者宽大处理。
• Police offer leniency to criminals in return for information.警方给罪犯宽大处理以换取情报。

12 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。

13 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》

14 lenient   

adj.宽大的，仁慈的

参考例句：

• The judge was lenient with him.法官对他很宽大。
• It's a question of finding the means between too lenient treatment and too severe punishment.问题是要找出处理过宽和处罚过严的折中办法。

15 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

16 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

17 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