美国国家公共电台 NPR 美国司法部撤销对前国家安全顾问弗林诉讼（在线收听）

Yesterday, the Department of Justice reversed one of the most high-profile cases in the Mueller investigation. Michael Flynn served as President Trump's first national security adviser. He pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. Now, the DOJ is dropping its case against him, and let's talk this through with NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas. Hi, Ryan.

昨天，美国司法部撤销穆勒调查中最引人注目的案件之一。迈克·弗林曾担任特朗普总统的首位国家安全顾问。他两次承认在其与俄罗斯接触方面向联邦调查局（FBI）撒谎。现在，司法部决定撤销对他的起诉，下面我们来连线NPR新闻的司法记者瑞安·卢卡斯，了解详细情况。你好，瑞安。

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Good morning.

瑞安·卢卡斯连线：早上好。

GREENE: Feel like a lot has happened in the world since we last talked about Michael Flynn. Can you just remind us what his story is?

格林：感觉自从我们上次报道迈克尔·弗林之后，世界上发生了很多事。你能提醒一下我们他的案件吗？

LUCAS: Right. The FBI began investigating Flynn back in 2016 as part of the broader Russia investigation. FBI interview — FBI agents interviewed him at the White House in January of 2017, and in that interview, Flynn lied to them about conversations he had had with the Russian ambassador to the United States. A few weeks later, Flynn left the administration for allegedly lying to the vice president about those talks with the Russian envoy. Then in late 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to a single count of making false statements to the FBI. The case against him was part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, and Flynn went on to cooperate extensively with Mueller's team in that investigation.

卢卡斯：好。联邦调查局从2016年开始调查弗林，这是更广泛的通俄门调查的一部分。2017年1月，联邦调查局探员在白宫对弗林进行问讯，当时在涉及他与俄罗斯驻美国大使的谈话这一问题上，他向联邦调查局撒了谎。几周以后，弗林因涉嫌在与俄罗斯特使对话这一问题上向副总统撒谎而离开特朗普政府。随后在2017年末，弗林就向联邦调查局特工作出虚假陈述认罪。他的这起案件是特别检察官罗伯特·穆勒调查的一部分，之后弗林继续与穆勒团队在这项调查中展开广泛合作。

GREENE: OK, so given all of that, what is the Justice Department's reasoning now to drop the case?

格林：好，鉴于此，司法部现在有何理由撤销此案？

LUCAS: Well, earlier this year, Attorney General William Barr brought in the U.S. attorney for Missouri, Jeff Jensen, to take a look at the Flynn case from top to bottom. And what the department says in its filing to the court yesterday is that after reviewing everything closely, it came to the conclusion that continuing Flynn's prosecution wouldn't be in the interest of justice. Now, this decision revolves around the interview that I mentioned earlier that Flynn had with the FBI, the interview where he lied to the agents. The department now says that after looking at some newly discovered documents and declassified information, it concluded that that interview was unjustified, that there was no legitimate investigative basis for it. Basically, it says that interview never should have taken place. It also says that Flynn's lies about his talks with the Russian ambassador weren't material to the investigation, an investigation that was seeking to determine the nature of Flynn's relationship with Russia, of course.

卢卡斯：今年早些时候，司法部长威廉·巴尔委派密苏里州检察官杰夫·詹森彻底调查弗林案。司法部在昨天提交法院的文件中表示，经过仔细审查，司法部得出结论，继续起诉弗林不符合司法利益。这项决定与我早前提到的联邦调查局对弗林进行的问讯有关，当时弗林向探员撒谎了。现在司法部表示，在查看一些新发现的文件和解密信息之后，司法部认为那次问讯不合理，没有合法的调查依据。基本上来说，司法部称，那次问讯就不应该进行。司法部还表示，弗林在他与俄罗斯大使谈话一事上撒谎对调查并不重要，当然，这项调查旨在确定弗林与俄罗斯关系的性质。

GREENE: So to what extent is the FBI facing some questions here? I mean, could this be a significant moment for the FBI and its reputation?

格林：现在联邦调查局面临何种程度的问题？我是想问，这对联邦调查局及其声誉来说是否是重要时刻？

LUCAS: Well, certainly for Flynn and his supporters, they view this as vindication of their long-running allegations of misconduct by the FBI, their allegations that bad actors in the FBI were out to get Flynn from the very beginning, that this was all part of a setup. That's in part why Flynn and his case have become, really, a central element of attacks against the Mueller investigation. President Trump has certainly pushed that view. Now, critics of the Justice Department's decision here point out that Flynn did, as you mentioned, twice stand up in court before a judge and plead guilty to lying about these very conversations with the Russian ambassador.

卢卡斯：当然，就弗林及其支持者而言，他们认为这证明了他们长期以来对联邦调查局不当行为的指控是正确的，他们认为联邦调查局中的害群之马从一开始就想把弗林抓起来，这是圈套的一部分。这在某种程度上解释了为何弗林及其案件会成为攻击穆勒调查的核心因素。特朗普总统显然推动了这一观点。对司法部这一决定提出批评的人士指出，如你所说，弗林曾两次在法庭上，在法官面前承认其在与俄罗斯大使谈话一事上撒谎。

GREENE: Well, I mean, you mentioned the Mueller investigation. The attorney general, Bill Barr, has been a vocal critic of that investigation to say the least. What role did he play in this decision?

格林：你提到了穆勒调查。司法部长威廉·巴尔一直公开批评该调查，至少可以这样说。那他在这项决定中扮演了什么角色？

LUCAS: So the outside prosecutor who reviewed the Flynn material decided, after going through everything, that the case should be dropped. He says that he briefed Attorney General Bill Barr on that decision and that Barr agreed. Now Barr told "CBS News" last night that it was ultimately his decision to drop this case. Here's a bit of what he said.

卢卡斯：在全盘调查后，审查弗林材料的外部检察官决定撤销此案。他表示，他向司法部长威廉·巴尔汇报了这一决定，巴尔同意了。巴尔昨晚接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻采访时表示，是他最终决定撤销这起案件。下面来听一下他的原话。

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WILLIAM BARR: I want to make sure that we restore confidence in the system. There's only one standard of justice.

威廉·巴尔：我想确保我们恢复对这个体系的信心。正义只有一种标准。

LUCAS: Now, for many former prosecutors and critics of Barr, this move does the exact opposite of restoring confidence in the justice system. Critics point to this decision as another instance of Barr putting his thumb on the scales for a friend of the president. And instead of restoring confidence in the justice system, for many, this actually deepens concerns about the politicization of the Department under Bill Barr's leadership.

卢卡斯：对许多前检察官和巴尔的批评者来说，此举的作用与恢复人们对司法体系的信心完全相反。批评人士指出，这一决定是巴尔为总统的朋友而将大拇指放在天平上（意指偏袒）的另一个例证。对许多人来说，这不会恢复人们对司法体系的信心，反而会加深人们对威廉·巴尔领导下的司法部政治化的担忧。

GREENE: NPR's justice correspondent Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks a lot.

格林：以上是NPR新闻的司法记者瑞安·卢卡斯带来的报道。瑞安，非常感谢你。

LUCAS: Thank you.

卢卡斯：谢谢。