美国国家公共电台 NPR Top White House Lawyer Donald McGahn Sits At The Center Of Controversy

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The top lawyer in the White House has a challenging job in ordinary times. These are not ordinary times. Four months into the Trump¹ administration, White House counsel Donald McGahn has had to contend with high-profile court cases, national security threats and a special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. NPR's justice correspondent Carrie Johnson joins us in the studio.

Carrie, thanks so much for being with us.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE²: My pleasure, Scott.

SIMON: Tell us about Don McGahn, if we could. He was the campaign's lawyer, right?

JOHNSON: He was. He built a career here in Washington representing a lot of politicians on campaign finance and ethics³ issues. One of his more prominent clients was Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, a Texan better known as The Hammer.

SIMON: The Hammer.

JOHNSON: And Don McGahn was a bit of a hammer himself. He led the Federal Election Commission under President George W. Bush, and liberals on the commission have criticized him for trying to grind that oversight⁴ work to a halt. Don McGahn's also kind of an iconoclast⁵. He played guitar in a band influenced by heavy metal and has a little bit longer hair than you'd see on most establishment Republicans these days.

SIMON: You spoke⁶ with lawyers from both political parties about Don McGahn. What are some of the things you've heard?

JOHNSON: Well, they've been kind of critical of his performance so far. They talk a lot about the executive orders on - President Trump's travel ban, trying to limit travel from - for people from six majority-Muslim countries. Those have been blocked by the courts. Also this past week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions significantly narrowed another of the president's executive orders, this one on sanctuary⁷ cities. Then, Scott, there have been problems with vetting⁸, vetting high-level people in the White House, most notably⁹ former national security adviser¹⁰ Michael Flynn, who's now under investigation¹¹ for undisclosed meetings and payments from people in Russia and Turkey.

And then, Scott, there's been a lot of concern about how Don McGahn has been policing contacts between the White House and the Justice Department. In past administrations, there's been a desire to protect the independence of law enforcement. But we know from Donald Trump's own statements that he had several chats and communications with James Comey, the FBI director he later fired. Comey has written memos¹² about those conversations. We think those memos are likely to be evidence in whatever investigation the special counsel is doing on Russia and why James Comey was fired by the president.

SIMON: President Trump hired a personal attorney this week, presumably to give him advice about the Russian investigation. Are others in the White House lawyering up?

JOHNSON: A lot of people. In fact, two sources told me this week Don McGahn is going to need a lawyer himself. He's likely to be a witness in whatever investigation there is moving forward in Russia. Even if these folks have no legal jeopardy¹³, it's really expensive and distracting for them to need legal advice. This happened under President Bill Clinton and President Ronald Reagan. It's likely to drag on for a long time.

SIMON: Don McGahn, to be sure, has defenders¹⁴ in Washington, D.C., who are very impressed by him. Aren't they?

JOHNSON: Yeah. You know, there's been a lot of praise in some circles for the people he's hired to work in the White House, the young lawyers working underneath¹⁵ him - seven former Supreme¹⁶ Court clerks, graduates from Ivy¹⁷ League law schools at the top of their game. And then there's this. It's hard to tell from outside the Oval Office whether Don McGahn is giving President Donald Trump all the right legal advice and President Donald Trump is just ignoring him.

One lawyer told me this week, it'd be shocking if Don McGahn hasn't been advising the president to stop tweeting derogatory comments about judges, to stop issuing veiled threats against his former FBI Director James Comey. The thinking is this president, who comes from the world of real estate and construction, doesn't have a lot of respect for lawyers and thinks he knows best.

SIMON: NPR's justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Thanks so much for being with us.

JOHNSON: You're welcome.

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 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。

3 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

4 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

5 iconoclast   

n.反对崇拜偶像者

参考例句：

• Cage was an iconoclast.He refused to be bound by western musical traditions of harmony and structure.凯奇是个反传统的人，他拒绝接受西方有关和声和结构的音乐传统的束缚。
• But he shows little sign of being an iconoclast.但他表现出他是一个信念很强的人。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

8 vetting   

n.数据检查[核对，核实]v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的现在分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• Scripts had to be submitted to Ministry of Information officials for vetting. 必须把脚本提交给信息部官员审查。 来自互联网
• Their purpose in clicking deeper into a site is one of vetting. 他们深入点击网站的目的是一种诊疗。 来自互联网

9 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

10 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

11 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。

12 memos   

n.备忘录( memo的名词复数 )；（美）内部通知

参考例句：

• Big shots get their dander up and memos start flying. 大人物们怒火中烧，备忘录四下乱飞。 来自辞典例句
• There was a pile of mail, memos and telephone messages on his desk. 他的办公桌上堆满着信件、备忘录和电话通知。 来自辞典例句

13 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

14 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。