美国国家公共电台 NPR Impeachment To Hang Over Trump Trip Overseas, Just As It Did For Clinton

Impeachment¹ To Hang Over Trump² Trip Overseas, Just As It Did For Clinton

NOEL KING, HOST:

There is an old saying in this country - politics ends at the water's edge. At the moment, that feels kind of out of date, and here's why. President Trump will be in London for a NATO meeting this week at the same time that the House Judiciary Committee holds its first impeachment hearing. NPR's White House correspondent Tamara Keith looks back at the last impeachment and what President Trump could learn from it.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE³: It was September 1998. Clinton White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart remembers waking up in the ambassador's residence in Dublin, Ireland, to unwelcome news from back home.

JOE LOCKHART: There were rumors⁴ going around that Joe Lieberman was going to go to the floor of the Senate and make a statement about impeachment.

KEITH: He didn't know what the conservative Democratic senator from Connecticut was going to say, but he knew it wasn't going to be good. Lockhart was waiting for President Clinton to come downstairs for a breakfast meeting - and dreading⁵ it.

LOCKHART: Among the staff, we were all basically trying to figure out who was going to tell him.

KEITH: Lockhart says they expected a blowup. But instead, Clinton told them...

LOCKHART: I know this is going to happen. You know, don't try to talk him out of it. Just tell him to say what he thinks. And you know, we all kind of sat there stunned⁶ that he was so stoic⁷ about it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOE LIEBERMAN: I rise today to make a most difficult and distasteful statement.

KEITH: Lieberman did speak his mind, even as Clinton was in Ireland to tout⁸ the historic peace agreement with Northern Ireland he had helped broker⁹ earlier that year.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LIEBERMAN: After seven months of denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, the president admitted that his, quote, "public comments about this matter gave a false impression."

KEITH: As President Clinton's impeachment drama unfolded, going overseas gave him little refuge from the political storm. It's a taste of what President Trump can expect this week as he meets with foreign leaders while the House Judiciary Committee debates the fate of his presidency¹⁰. Clinton was in the Middle East when that same committee, then led by Republicans, passed a fourth article of impeachment.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROBIN¹¹ CARLE: Mr. Chairman, there are 20 ayes and 16 noes.

HENRY HYDE: And the article is agreed to.

KEITH: The next day...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Good afternoon. Please shut off cellphones, beepers.

KEITH: At a press conference standing¹² next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Clinton delivered opening remarks focused entirely¹³ on peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: To be a partner in the pursuit of a lasting¹⁴ comprehensive peace.

KEITH: The first question went to an Israeli journalist, who turned straight to impeachment.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: Mr. President, what is your reaction to the decision of the Judiciary Committee of the House yesterday? Do you intend to resign as did President Nixon?

KEITH: Clinton said it was expected - preordained.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CLINTON: And now it is up to the members of the House of Representatives to vote their conscience on the Constitution and the law, which I believe are clear. And I have no intention of resigning. It's never crossed my mind.

KEITH: Then it was time for an American journalist, who also asked about impeachment. When the next Israeli question was about impeachment again, Netanyahu jumped in.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: I think the president has come here on a very clear voyage of peace, and I believe that it would be appropriate also to ask one or two questions on the peace process. I would like to know the answers, too.

KEITH: And so it went. There was no escape. Impeachment hung over everything. On the flight home, Lockhart says the president and his top foreign policy advisers¹⁵ were weighing a military strike on Iraq.

LOCKHART: There was this striking dichotomy on the plane where, in the front, there was a group of people, including the president, on a secure teleconference trying to figure out, you know, when and if to launch this attack on Iraq. And in the back, we were doing a vote count of, you know, how many people were coming out against us.

KEITH: Much like Clinton, President Trump's entire time in office has been clouded by investigations¹⁶, which means that even as impeachment looms¹⁷ over his trip to London, it won't be Trump's first foreign trip overshadowed by bad headlines back home. It's something all modern presidents have had to deal with to varying degrees. Ari Fleischer was President George W. Bush's first press secretary.

ARI FLEISCHER: It just comes with the territory. Some of those issues spike¹⁸ a little higher. It's a high spike these days.

KEITH: One difference between Trump and his predecessors¹⁹ is President Trump regularly vents²⁰ on Twitter. This is a reflection of different styles as well as different political calculations about moving public opinion. So there's no question, Fleischer says, that Trump will find a way to weigh in from London.

FLEISCHER: He has to do his job, travel, do the things presidents are supposed to do. And he'll have every ability to fire back, counterpunch, punch and counterpunch again. And my biggest fear with President Trump - and I've said it a million times - sometimes he counterpunches so hard, his follow-through hits himself in the nose.

KEITH: Trump's brand has always included grievance²¹ and taking the fight to his opponents. And that's just as true in London as it is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Tamara Keith, NPR News.

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 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 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dreading   

v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was dreading having to broach the subject of money to her father. 她正在为不得不向父亲提出钱的事犯愁。
• This was the moment he had been dreading. 这是他一直最担心的时刻。

6 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

7 stoic   

n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者

参考例句：

• A stoic person responds to hardship with imperturbation.坚忍克己之人经受苦难仍能泰然自若。
• On Rajiv's death a stoic journey began for Mrs Gandhi,supported by her husband's friends.拉吉夫死后，索尼亚在丈夫友人的支持下开始了一段坚忍的历程。

8 tout   

v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱

参考例句：

• They say it will let them tout progress in the war.他们称这将有助于鼓吹他们在战争中的成果。
• If your case studies just tout results,don't bother requiring registration to view them.如果你的案例研究只是吹捧结果，就别烦扰别人来注册访问了。

9 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

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 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

15 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

16 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

17 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

19 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。

21 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。