美国国家公共电台 NPR McConnell To Move Impeachment Trial Forward Without Democrats

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has the votes to start the impeachment¹ trial without hashing out the terms with Democrats². McConnell confirmed yesterday he is abandoning attempts to reach an agreement with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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MITCH MCCONNELL: We're going to get started in exactly the same way that a hundred senators agreed to 20 years ago. What's good for President Clinton is good for President Trump³.

MARTIN: The announcement comes after weeks of disagreement about how to hold the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump - specifically, whether to call any new witnesses. NPR's congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell is in the studio with us this morning. Hi, Kelsey.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE⁴: Good morning.

MARTIN: So what are the consequences of McConnell's announcement?

SNELL: Well, it signals that he is confident that he has the votes not only to get this trial started but likely to move forward with things as he wants them to work. So he wants to establish these rules and kind of set up a framework for what this trial looks like, in part because he never really wanted to agree to these witnesses. Democrats said that they actually believe that he never wanted to agree to calling new witnesses, though he says it'll be something they'll address further along the line. It shows that he believes he has Republicans all together.

MARTIN: That means we're not going to see John Bolton, who said that he would come.

SNELL: It's not totally clear that we won't see John Bolton, but it looks like that means that the witnesses will come down to individual questions later on once the trial has begun. And when it's an individual question, it's a question of a 51-vote question in the Senate, so 51 senators have to agree to bring a witness in. And that means that Democrats, if they want to bring somebody in, have to convince four Republicans to join their side, and that is a big, difficult ask.

MARTIN: We've got tape from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday, who was talking about this.

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CHUCK SCHUMER: They were afraid to say yes because they know Donald Trump will be furious at them.

SNELL: Right, and that is what Democrats keep saying, is they now believe that it is much more difficult for them to get witnesses. That's why they wanted an agreement upfront, and that's part of why they were so dismayed when McConnell said that this was not, you know, part of his plan.

MARTIN: So what's the timeline? When can we see the trial start?

SNELL: It's not totally clear because it's still up to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate, and she has not made clear that that is happening anytime soon. So this could stretch out for several more weeks before we even really know when things will begin.

MARTIN: All right. We have to talk about this - today is also the day top intelligence and national security officials are going to brief members of Congress about the drone strike that killed Iran's top commander, Qassem Soleimani. Do we have any sense of what that's going to look like?

SNELL: Well, it's a really large venue⁵ for these briefers to be coming in, to be talking to huge groups of members of Congress, all of the House members on one side and all of the Senators on the other. So it's not really a great venue for really detailed⁶ conversations, and that's actually something that members on both sides have complained about over the years. So it may not be a very detailed conversation, very in-depth investigation⁷ into what has happened here...

MARTIN: They may not hear the intelligence that they're using as justification⁸...

SNELL: And that's part of why there have been requests for additional briefings and more follow-ups, so that Congress can stay on top of what has happened and what may be coming in the future.

MARTIN: So overnight, Iran retaliated⁹ - more than a dozen missile attacks on these two bases that house U.S. troops in Iraq. So does President Trump at this point have to get approval from Congress in order to now up the ante, do anything in response?

SNELL: Technically¹⁰, Trump is supposed to inform and consult with Congress at every possible moment, but that hasn't happened so far, and then, you know, it really is not often that Congress reasserts their power to ask for that. So we are expecting the House to vote on a War Powers Resolution to kind of reassert some of those powers, but we don't know when, and Democrats are still talking about that.

MARTIN: OK. NPR's congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell for us. Thank you.

SNELL: Thank you.

1 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。

2 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》

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 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

7 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。

8 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

9 retaliated   

v.报复，反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• When he once teased her for her inexperience, she retaliated. 有一次，他讥讽她没有经验，她便反唇相讥。 来自辞典例句
• The terrorists retaliated by killing three policemen. 恐怖分子以杀死三名警察相报复。 来自辞典例句

10 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。