美国国家公共电台 NPR How Rick Perry Became A Key Figure In The Trump Impeachment Probe

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

One of the key people involved in the impeachment¹ inquiry² is Rick Perry, the U.S. secretary of energy. It was Perry who urged President Trump³ to make that July phone call to Ukraine's president. In that call, Trump asked the Ukrainians to investigate Joe Biden. Then, a whistleblower filed a complaint. And here we are.

But how did the energy secretary become a key figure in the impeachment probe? NPR special correspondent Melissa Block has the story.

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE⁵: Back before he was energy secretary, before he attempted to cha-cha his way through "Dancing With The Stars"...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOD BLESSED TEXAS")

LITTLE TEXAS: (Singing) God Blessed Texas.

BLOCK: ...Before Rick Perry ran for president twice and in a debate famously couldn't remember the federal departments he had promised to eliminate...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RICK PERRY: I would do away with the education, the...

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Commerce.

PERRY: ...Commerce. And let's see. I can't - the third, sorry. Oops.

BLOCK: And you can't make this up. That last department Perry wanted to ax but couldn't remember, it was the Energy Department, which he now heads. Anyway, before all of that, Rick Perry rose to become the longest serving governor of Texas.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: I, Rick Perry, do solemnly swear...

BLOCK: Fourteen years in office.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: ...So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Congratulations, Governor.

PERRY: Thank you, sir.

SCOTT BRADDOCK: They used to call him the rascal⁶ from Haskell because he was from Haskell County, Texas.

BLOCK: That's Scott Braddock, editor of the Texas political newsletter the Quorum⁷ Report. He's covered Rick Perry for many years.

BRADDOCK: He grew up not exactly dirt-poor, but not far from it.

BLOCK: The son of tenant⁸ farmers in tiny Paint Creek⁹, Texas, Perry became a master politician, expert at cultivating relationships.

BRADDOCK: He took being a wheeler-dealer basically to the level of an art form. Perry was somebody who would always figure out the way to get what he wanted.

BLOCK: And at first it might've seemed absurd that what Rick Perry wanted was to join the Trump administration. After all, during his second presidential run in 2015, Perry scorched¹⁰ his opponent. He called Trump's candidacy a cancer on conservatism and a barking carnival¹¹ act.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: A toxic¹² mix of demagoguery and mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued.

BLOCK: But apparently¹³, all was forgiven after the election.

DEIRDRE DELISI: Well, you know, feelings change about people all the time.

BLOCK: That's Deirdre Delisi, former chief of staff to then-Governor Perry. She worked on four of his campaigns and remains¹⁴ a confidante.

DELISI: He was asked to serve his country, and as he has done so many other times, he agreed to serve his country. And he did a great job.

BLOCK: As energy secretary, Rick Perry has pretty much flown under the radar¹⁵ up until now, avoiding scandal. He's focused on opening global markets to U.S. oil and gas. At a news conference earlier this month in Lithuania, he described his dealings this way.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: I'm a Texas governor - former governor. And I know how to sell stuff. And my job is to go sell, first off, American product.

BLOCK: That's the Perry trademark¹⁶, says Scott Braddock of the Quorum Report.

BRADDOCK: He was always real good at selling Texas. Governor Perry's slogan was Texas is open for business. And I think that he wanted to bring that to the national stage and to the international stage - that we're open for business.

BLOCK: Specifically, the business of liquefied natural gas or, as Rick Perry's Energy Department has dubbed¹⁷ it, freedom gas. It's a growing U.S. export, and Ukraine is a potentially huge market. Historically, Ukraine has depended heavily on natural gas from Russia. So if the U.S. could replace Russian gas with U.S. gas, that would be a big win for American companies and for U.S. foreign policy.

Ukraine is a critical counterweight to Russian influence in the region. But Ukraine has also been notorious for corruption¹⁹, especially in the energy sector²⁰. And that has stifled²¹ Western investment. So for years, U.S. administrations have pressed Ukraine to root out corruption. It was in this context that Rick Perry headed to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in May of this year.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STATE ANTHEM²² OF UKRAINE")

UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR²³: (Singing in Ukrainian).

BLOCK: He was leading the U.S. delegation²⁴ to the inauguration²⁵ of the newly elected President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. According to the whistleblower's complaint, Vice²⁶ President Mike Pence was supposed to head that delegation, but President Trump instructed Pence to cancel his trip and Perry went in his place. Also with Perry were the other members of the trio who called themselves the Three Amigos - Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, then the U.S. special representative for Ukraine.

Within days of leaving Kyiv, those three amigos were back in the Oval Office meeting with President Trump. They told him Zelenskiy was a reformer, and they wanted Trump to call him. Rick Perry was asked about this on his visit to Lithuania this month.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: Absolutely. I asked the president multiple times, Mr. President, we think it is in the United States' and in Ukraine's best interest that you and the president of Ukraine have conversations, that you discuss the options that are there. So absolutely, yes.

BLOCK: But Trump wasn't having it. Here's how Rick Perry described what happened next in an interview on the podcast "The Journal," which is produced by Gimlet and The Wall Street Journal.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: The president's like, eh, you know, until I'm comfortable that these guys have straightened up their act. And so what does straighten up their act mean? And the president said, visit with Rudy.

BLOCK: Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer who had been on a crusade for months, alleging²⁷ that Ukraine colluded with Democrats²⁸ in the 2016 election. So as Rick Perry told Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Puko, he did what Trump told him to do. He called Giuliani.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: And I called. And we had never had a conversation before. I called Mayor Giuliani and said, OK, tell me what's going on here. We're trying to get these folks in to meet so that we can move forward with some good economic development, sell them gas. And the president just ain't interested in talking.

And as I recall the conversation, he said, look; the president is really concerned that there are people in Ukraine that tried to beat him during his presidential election. He thinks they're corrupt¹⁸.

BLOCK: As Perry recounted that phone call, Giuliani insisted that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered³⁰ in the 2016 election and that it did so to hurt Trump. That's a conspiracy³¹ theory that has been debunked³². One thing that was not mentioned, Perry told The Wall Street Journal, the name Biden.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: Never - not in one conversation, not from the president, not from Gordon Sondland, not from Kurt Volker, not from anybody on the Zelenskiy team - did I ever hear the name Biden - never. Not once.

BLOCK: And remember; that's at the heart of the impeachment inquiry. Democrats want to know whether Trump tried to force a foreign power to interfere²⁹ in the 2020 election. Was Trump telling the Ukrainians, unless you agree to dig up dirt on my opponent Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company - unless you do that, you won't get your invitation to the White House and we'll hold your military aid hostage? Rick Perry has said repeatedly that he didn't know of any such quid pro⁴ quo, but Democrats in Congress aren't convinced.

JIM HIMES: First of all, can we please see your emails and your texts so that we can know if what you just said is true?

BLOCK: That's the Democratic Congressman³³ Jim Himes of Connecticut. He sits on the House Intelligence Committee, which is leading the impeachment inquiry.

HIMES: That's the core question. And, of course, since Rick Perry was very much at the center of the communication with the Ukrainians and presumably with the president, all of our questions would pertain³⁴ to the extent that he observed U.S. policy being sidelined in favor of the president's personal political agenda.

BLOCK: House Democrats have subpoenaed³⁶ a raft of documents and communications from Secretary Perry about the Ukraine affair. The Energy Department has refused to comply with that subpoena³⁵. Yesterday, speaking outside the White House, Perry called the impeachment investigation³⁷ a charade³⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: I'm not going to participate. The White House has advised us not to participate. My general counsel has told me not to participate in what they consider to be an unprecedented³⁹ effort to try to use an inquiry in an unlawful way.

BLOCK: There's another wrinkle to all this, and it has to do with Ukraine's state-controlled behemoth oil and gas company Naftogaz, which has widely been seen as a playground for Ukraine's oligarchs, rife⁴⁰ with corruption.

BLOCK: In this Naftogaz corporate⁴¹ video, the words transparency, open markets and new rules to tackle corruption flash on the screen in English. We know now that two Republican donors⁴² who are business associates of Rudy Giuliani were trying to install new management at Naftogaz as they were trying to get lucrative⁴³ gas contracts funneled⁴⁴ their way. Their names? Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. They've now been arrested and pleaded not guilty to charges of campaign finance violations⁴⁵.

One question is, was the energy secretary, Rick Perry, also trying to engineer a shake-up of Naftogaz senior leadership to benefit private interests in the U.S.? When he was asked directly about this by reporters in Lithuania - did you push for changes to the board of Naftogaz? - Perry answered this way.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: The government of Ukraine did, in fact, ask us for, you know, who are the people that can help come and modernize⁴⁶?

BLOCK: Perry said he gave the Ukrainians the names of American energy experts who could advise them. But he denied reports that he was trying to force an overhaul⁴⁷ of the Naftogaz board.

So where does all of this leave Rick Perry as he heads for the exit at the Energy Department?

DELISI: I don't think he's in trouble, and I don't think he's troubled. And certainly, no conversation I've had with him has made me believe that.

BLOCK: That's the take of Perry's longtime former aide Deirdre Delisi. But editor Scott Braddock with the Quorum Report sees things differently.

BRADDOCK: Interesting that Perry, who had done such a good job, was there from the beginning with Trump, you know, a member of the Trump administration who had kept his nose clean all the way until now with no even whiff of a scandal, and now he's caught up in the thing - the thing that is leading to this impeachment movement in Washington. Very ironic⁴⁸.

BLOCK: For his part, Rick Perry's swan song to his colleagues at the Energy Department came in the form of a highly produced, four-minute-long farewell video.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PERRY: I thank President Trump for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm so glad that I said yes.

BLOCK: The video's title - "The Coolest Job I've Ever Had."

Melissa Block, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF GOLD PANDA'S "TRANSACTIONAL RELATIONSHIP")

1 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

2 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

3 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。

4 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

5 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。

6 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

7 quorum   

n.法定人数

参考例句：

• The meeting is adjourned since there is no quorum.因为没有法定人数会议休会。
• Three members shall constitute a quorum.三名成员可组成法定人数。

8 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

9 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

10 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

11 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

12 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

13 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

16 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

17 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

19 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

20 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

21 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

22 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

23 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

24 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

25 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

26 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。

27 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

28 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》

29 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

30 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

31 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。

32 debunked   

v.揭穿真相，暴露( debunk的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His theories have been debunked by recent research. 最近的研究揭穿了他的理论的真相。
• Some advertising slogans should be debunked. 某些夸大的广告用语应予揭露。 来自《简明英汉词典》

33 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

34 pertain   

v.(to)附属，从属；关于；有关；适合，相称

参考例句：

• His remark did not pertain to the question.他的话同这个问题不相干。
• It does not pertain to you to instruct him.你不适合教训他。

35 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。

36 subpoenaed   

v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The court subpoenaed her to appear as a witness. 法庭传唤她出庭作证。
• The finance director is subpoenaed by prosecution. 财务经理被检查机关传讯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

37 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。

38 charade   

n.用动作等表演文字意义的字谜游戏

参考例句：

• You must not refine too much upon this charade.你切不可过分推敲这个字谜。
• His poems,despite their dignity and felicity,have an air of charade.他的诗篇虽然庄严巧妙，却有猜迷之嫌。

39 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

40 rife   

adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的

参考例句：

• Disease is rife in the area.疾病在这一区很流行。
• Corruption was rife before the election.选举之前腐败盛行。

41 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

42 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

43 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

44 funneled   

漏斗状的

参考例句：

• The crowd funneled through the hall. 群众从走廊中鱼贯而过。
• The large crowd funneled out of the gates after the football match. 足球赛后大群人从各个门中涌出。

45 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。

46 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

47 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

48 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。