美国国家公共电台 NPR--DOJ reveals more evidence of obstruction in Mar-a-Lago probe

DOJ reveals more evidence of obstruction² in Mar-a-Lago probe

Transcript³

The Justice Department pushed back on claims from former President Donald Trump⁴. And the DOJ provided new evidence about possible obstruction of the probe into top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The Justice Department is pushing back hard against what it calls baseless accusations⁵ from former President Donald Trump.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Yeah, his supporters have been pressing for more explanations of an FBI search of Trump's home, and the Justice Department obliged. Prosecutors⁶ provided a 36-page court filing, which details efforts to hide sensitive documents that belong to the United States. The Justice Department says Trump's lawyers signed a sworn statement claiming Trump had given up all the documents, but numerous sources told the FBI otherwise. And the search showed the sources were correct. The court filing includes a photo showing top-secret documents on the floor at Mar-a-Lago, which seem to have been kept with Trump's collection of framed magazine covers.

FADEL: NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been following the story, and she's here now to talk more about it. Hi, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE⁷: Hi, Leila.

FADEL: So, Carrie, you were up late waiting for this court filing from the Justice Department. We know prosecutors are looking for violations⁸ of laws, including mishandling of classified information and obstruction of justice. What new details did they provide?

JOHNSON: There's important and striking new information about obstruction of justice. We knew there was a back-and-forth between Trump and the National Archives, and Trump and the Justice Department, for many months. But DOJ says Trump lawyers attested⁹ they did a diligent¹⁰ search in Florida this summer. Prosecutors say they later learned that was not the case. They have evidence that some materials were removed from the storage room at Mar-a-Lago, along with other efforts to obstruct¹ the probe despite the subpoena¹¹. DOJ says that casts some serious doubt on Trump's claims that he was cooperating. And they say the papers the FBI found were mixed in with all kinds of personal effects. They shared that photo of secret documents on the carpet at Mar-a-Lago next to a framed cover of Time magazine.

FADEL: Now, this all came out as part of a legal fight over whether to appoint a special master to review these papers. What's the Justice Department saying about that?

JOHNSON: The federal prosecutors say there's no reason for the judge to appoint an independent special master to review these documents from the search. They say there's no legal basis for that move. Trump is the former president, and the law clearly states he does not control these records. Maybe more important, some of these documents are top-secret and higher-level classification. DOJ says it's essential for them and the intelligence community to review the papers and assess risks to national security since they were stored for more than a year at this Florida resort. We're talking about papers that are so classified that DOJ says some of its own prosecutors and agents needed higher security clearances¹² just to review these documents.

FADEL: Now, Trump's allies have argued, well, he had the authority to declassify¹³ these documents. How will that factor in to the courtroom action this week?

JOHNSON: Yeah, Trump's lawyers and a former Pentagon aide to Trump, Kash Patel, have said Trump had the power to declassify papers. But the Justice Department in this filing says the Trump legal team never told them that happened. And in fact, the lawyers acted this summer as if it didn't happen, as if there were no declassification¹⁴ of these papers.

FADEL: Now, we've learned a lot more about this investigation¹⁵, in part because Trump was asking for an independent review. What are the next steps now?

JOHNSON: Trump's going to get a chance to respond. Then both sides are due in court in Florida for a hearing Thursday. DOJ made very clear it thinks this request for a special master has no legal basis, but the judge signaled over the weekend she might be inclined to bring in a special master. We're going to find out later this week if these court papers have changed her mind.

FADEL: NPR's Carrie Johnson, thanks.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.

1 obstruct   

v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物

参考例句：

• He became still more dissatisfied with it and secretly did everything in his power to obstruct it.他对此更不满意，尽在暗里使绊子。
• The fallen trees obstruct the road.倒下的树将路堵住了。

2 obstruction   

n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物

参考例句：

• She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
• The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 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。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 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。

7 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。

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 attested   

adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓

参考例句：

• The handwriting expert attested to the genuineness of the signature. 笔迹专家作证该签名无讹。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Witnesses attested his account. 几名证人都证实了他的陈述是真实的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

11 subpoena   

n.（法律）传票；v.传讯

参考例句：

• He was brought up to court with a subpoena.他接到传讯，来到法庭上。
• Select committees have the power to subpoena witnesses.特别委员会有权传唤证人。

12 clearances   

清除( clearance的名词复数 )； 许可； （录用或准许接触机密以前的）审查许可； 净空

参考例句：

• But I can't get to him without clearances. 但是没有证明我就没法见到他。
• The bridge and the top of the bus was only ten clearances. 桥与公共汽车车顶之间的间隙只有十厘米。

13 declassify   

v.撤销保密

参考例句：

• These reports were only declassified last year.这些报告去年才被撤销了密级。
• Does the president have the power to declassify information?总统有权利解密相关信息吗？

14 declassification   

n.不再当机密文件处理，从机密表删除

参考例句：

• Technology of GCD is the combination of grid computing and declassification. 网格密码破解技术 (GCD)是网格计算理论和密码暴力破解需求的结合。 来自互联网
• Its essential is how to determine the reasonable allocating among all parts of the declassification system. 该问题的实质就是如何确定到解系统各部分的合理配置关系。 来自互联网

15 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。