美国国家公共电台 NPR Feds Charge Russian Student, Linked To NRA, With Conspiracy

Feds Charge Russian Student, Linked To NRA, With Conspiracy¹

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Just hours after the meeting between President Trump² and Vladimir Putin, the Justice Department had a surprise. Authorities charged a Russian graduate student with carrying out an influence campaign here in the U.S. NPR national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson is following that story and is here in the studio to discuss it. Hi, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE³: Hi, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Tell us about this graduate student. What do we know about her and what she was allegedly doing here in Washington?

JOHNSON: Her name is Maria Butina. She entered the U.S. in August 2016 on a student visa to study international relations at American University here in Washington. But the Justice Department says she was actually working for Russia, writing articles in conservative publications, setting up meetings between Russians and Americans, attending the National Prayer Breakfast, and our colleague Tim Mak has reported, cozying up to the National Rifle Association.

The goal here was to get close to Republican officials and influence American policy toward Russia. She's accused of one count of conspiracy to violate the law known as FARA, the Foreign Agent Registration⁴ Act.

SHAPIRO: So if she was acting⁵ on behalf of the Russian government, she should have registered. She didn't register. If this was a conspiracy, it involved more than one person. Who are the other people likely involved?

JOHNSON: No one else was named by their actual name in these court filings. But a U.S. person was described as sending an email that he had a very private line of communication between the Kremlin and others in the Republican Party right before the election. Sources tell me that's Paul Erickson, a longtime Republican operative who's been linked to Butina. And he is not charged in these court papers, but I'm told the investigation⁶ into him continues, not just on this front but also into his finances.

These documents also describe a Russian official - a member of the legislature, an official at the Central Bank who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury⁷ Department in 2018. Those same sources tell me that's Aleksandr Torshin, who's made a lot of visits to the U.S., tweeted a lot about the NRA. The court papers say Butina often reported back to Torshin about her activities via email and Twitter.

SHAPIRO: And what does Maria Butina have to say about all this?

JOHNSON: Well, her lawyer Robert Driscoll says she looks forward to clearing her name. He says these charges are overblown. Butina was arrested on Sunday here in D.C., but FBI agents searched her apartment many months ago in April. This investigation's been going on for a while. She's being held right now without bond in the D.C. jail, and she's due back in court in D.C. Wednesday for a detention⁸ hearing.

SHAPIRO: Now these charges come just a few days after this bombshell Friday news conference where the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, announced charges against 12 Russians who were involved in the campaign to hack⁹ Democrats¹⁰ during the 2016 election. Is there any connection between these cases?

JOHNSON: Well, this case today against Maria Butina is being handled by federal prosecutors¹¹ in the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. and the Justice Department's National Security Division, not the special counsel Robert Mueller, who's investigating other forms of Russian election interference.

The Justice Department didn't address the timing¹² of this new charge today. The documents only went out after the summit between President Trump and Putin had ended. People can draw their own conclusions, I guess, about the timing.

I did call the special counsel's office today to see if Robert Mueller had any reaction to the criticism from both Trump and Putin of his investigation. As expected, Ari, there was no comment from the Mueller camp...

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: As usual.

JOHNSON: ...I guess, as usual.

SHAPIRO: It sounds like Maria Butina was a rather public figure, going to the National Prayer Breakfast, meeting with officials from the NRA. Are Americans who interacted with her over those periods going to be nervous now about potentially having been involved in what they may or may not have known was a conspiracy?

JOHNSON: This investigation is ongoing¹³ by the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. and federal national security prosecutors based at the Justice Department in Washington. The fact that other people were identified in the documents as Person 1 or Person 2 means the investigation continues. We're going to have to see where it all leads.

SHAPIRO: NPR national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson. Thanks, Carrie.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.

1 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

2 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。

3 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。

4 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 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。

7 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

8 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

9 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

10 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》

11 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。

12 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

13 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。