VOA慢速--特朗普的电话让参议院投票变得困难

President Donald Trump¹ and President-elect Joe Biden are campaigning in Georgia Monday ahead of the Senate runoff elections there. Both of the state's Senate seats are open after indecisive results following voting on November 3.

This second and final election Tuesday will decide which political party controls the United States Senate for the next two years. Republicans only need to win one seat to have a majority. Democrats³ have to win both to control the Senate with Vice⁴ President-elect Kamala Harris as the body's tie-breaking vote.

The election follows the release of audio recordings⁵ in which President Trump pressures Georgian election officials to overturn the presidential election results in the state.

On Saturday, The Washington Post was the first news organization to report and post a recording⁶ of Trump's hour-long phone call with Brad Raffensperger. He is Georgia's Secretary of State and its top election official.

Trump, who has refused to accept his defeat, repeatedly asked Raffensperger to change Georgia's election results. "All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have," Trump said. "Because we won the state."

Raffensperger said on the phone call, "President Trump, we've had several lawsuits⁷, and we've had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions⁸. We don't agree that you have won."

Trump confirmed the conversation on Twitter Sunday. His tweet repeated claims of voter fraud. Raffensperger, a member of Trump's own Republican Party, answered on Twitter: "Respectfully, President Trump: What you're saying is not true. The truth will come out."

The state of Georgia had counted its votes three times before confirming Biden's win by 11,779 votes. The victory gave Biden the state's 16 Electoral College votes. Biden officially won the presidency¹⁰ with 306 electoral votes over 232 for Trump. Only 270 electoral votes are needed to win.

Efforts to overturn Biden elections

Trump's effort to overturn results of the November 3 presidential elections went beyond his phone call to Georgia officials.

Since Nov. 4, the Trump campaign and supporters have disputed election results, launching more than 50 legal actions. None saw success in court.

December 8 is known as the safe harbor deadline. On that day, all 50 American states and Washington, DC had certified¹¹ electors who would vote for the winner of the presidential election. On Dec. 14, the 538 members of the Electoral College confirmed 306 votes for Joe Biden as the country's next president.

American laws say the U.S. Congress cannot dispute any electors named by the safe harbor deadline. However, Trump has asked 12 Republican senators and nearly 100 Republican members of the House of Representatives to reject the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, the day Congress meets to declare the winner.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted² Cruz of Texas launched an effort in support of Trump's request.

Hawley wrote that he could not confirm the electoral college results on Jan. 6. Some states, in his words, "failed to follow their own state election laws." He singled out Pennsylvania as one of those states.

Republican Pat Toomey represents Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate. He said in a statement, a "defining feature of a democratic republic is the right of the people to elect their own leaders. The effort by Senators Hawley, Cruz, and others to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in swing states like Pennsylvania directly undermines this right."

Toomey added that the claims of fraud were found to be unsupported by evidence. "But the evidence is overwhelming that Joe Biden won this election," he said.

Former defense¹² chiefs' opinion

In an extraordinary move, all 10 living former U.S. defense secretaries from Republican and Democratic administrations shared their view on the presidential election in The Washington Post. They wrote, "The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute¹³, has arrived."

The 10 defense chiefs include former Vice-President Dick Cheney and the two men who served under Trump, James Mattis and Mark Esper. They also said the military does not have any part to play in the process.

The Constitution states that a newly-elected president's term begins on Jan. 20. Joe Biden is expected to be sworn in on that day at noon to become the 46th president of the United States.

Words in This Story

respond - v. to say or write something as an answer

contention⁹ - n. belief, opinion or idea that is argued or stated

fraud - n. the crime of using dishonest methods to take something

swing state - n. a state that sees election results changing from one part to another and back

undermine - v. to make something weaker or less effective

overwhelming - adj. very great in number, effect or force

formal - adj. done in an official and usually public way

prescribe - v. to make something an official rule

noon - n. the middle of the day; 12 o'clock in the day time

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 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 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》

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

8 contentions   

n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点

参考例句：

• Direct tests on individual particles do not support these contentions. 对单个粒子所作的直接试验并不支持这些论点。 来自辞典例句
• His contentions cannot be laughed out of court. 对他的争辩不能一笑置之。 来自辞典例句

9 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

10 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

11 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。