美国国家公共电台 NPR--Trump claims on social media that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday

Trump¹ claims on social media that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday

Transcript²

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Matthew Galluzzo, a former prosecutor³ in the Manhattan district attorney's office, about what to expect if ex-President Trump is indicted⁴ in a case involving hush⁵ money.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We do not know what the Manhattan district attorney is about to do. We do know that his office has been investigating Donald Trump for the payment of hush money years ago. And the former president claims on social media that he expects to be indicted on Tuesday. He called for protest, which prompted District Attorney Alvin Bragg to say his office will not be intimidated⁶, whatever they do. Matthew Galluzzo is watching all this. He is a former prosecutor in that Manhattan DA's office and joins us this morning from Connecticut. Welcome.

MATTHEW GALLUZZO: Good morning.

INSKEEP: I guess we'll remind people, in this case, there were payments to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who said she had an affair with Trump and was being asked to hush it up. What facts about that case would be of interest to prosecutors⁷?

GALLUZZO: Sure. Well, I think the most important aspect for the prosecutor's perspective is why the business records were falsified as they were because as you know, the - Mr. Cohen did not report those as hush money payments but reported those as a different kind of expense for the organization. And that would be either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the reasons for doing it.

INSKEEP: Oh, yeah. Michael Cohen, that's the president's former attorney who arranged this payoff. And it's interesting what you're saying. There's a payment of hush money, paying someone to be silent. It sounds like you can do that. That's legal. But it's actually covering up the payment itself that would be the falsifying business record, saying where the money came from and went. Is that right?

GALLUZZO: That's exactly right. It's the false entry with an intent to defraud⁸ or an intent to commit some other crime, which in this case might have been related to laws about campaign finance.

INSKEEP: Now, Trump and his supporters, of course, are describing this as a political prosecution⁹. Let's just try to put it in context. Is it frequent, is it common that someone is prosecuted¹¹ for falsifying a business record?

GALLUZZO: Well, yes and no. It's not uncommon¹² to be prosecuted for falsifying business records. It's pretty uncommon to be prosecuting¹³ an ex-president for falsifying hush money payments. I think that's unprecedented¹⁴.

INSKEEP: OK.

GALLUZZO: So yes and no.

INSKEEP: Well, I guess you would want to be able to say that even though he is a former president, he's being treated like anybody else. I will note the payoff was seven years ago. Is it reasonable that investigators¹⁵ are still pursuing this seven years later?

GALLUZZO: Well, the reason for it really is because he was president in that interim¹⁶ period. And, you know, we have a general policy of not prosecuting presidents for any sorts of crimes while they're sitting as president. There's going to be an interesting argument about the statute¹⁷ of limitations because a misdemeanor is supposed to expire in two years and a felony in five. And arguably, both of those statute of limitations have passed. It's going to be an argument that he was living outside of New York state, and so we have extra time to prosecute¹⁰ him.

INSKEEP: OK. So a couple of questions quickly about Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DA. First, how do you assess his efforts so far to show he is being evenhanded and nonpolitical?

GALLUZZO: Well, he has at least invited Donald Trump to testify in the grand jury. We've heard that. And so he's giving him that opportunity and at least trying to present himself as being fair-minded and giving him a chance to put his defense¹⁸ in front of the grand jury. But otherwise, I mean, I guess he's - we're going to see what happens after the indictment¹⁹ comes down. We're going to see what he's charged with. And we'll see how he pursues the case after that.

INSKEEP: Does Bragg have some credibility? Because there was an earlier case in which some people in his office apparently²⁰ wanted to prosecute Donald Trump, and Bragg said, I've looked at this - the evidence isn't there. I'm not going to go forward with this.

GALLUZZO: I'm not sure that's going to matter to the people that Donald Trump is speaking to about this, to his base, you know, whether or not he dismissed an earlier case. They may just see that as further proof that there's nothing there. But maybe.

INSKEEP: When you hear Bragg say, we will not be intimidated by these threats of protests or whatever else, do you find that credible²¹? You think that he will go ahead and do what he feels he needs to do?

GALLUZZO: I think he will. I think if he gets his indictment from the grand jury, I don't think he's going to dismiss it just because, you know, there are protesters in the streets. I know he's had communications with local law enforcement about, you know, providing extra security at the courts and for the prosecutors and for everyone else involved. And so it seems that he's not going to let that influence his decision.

INSKEEP: Former New York prosecutor Matthew Galluzzo, thanks very much for your insights.

GALLUZZO: Thank you.

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 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。

3 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

4 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

5 hush   

int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静

参考例句：

• A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
• Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去！

6 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 defraud   

vt.欺骗，欺诈

参考例句：

• He passed himself off as the managing director to defraud the bank.他假冒总经理的名义诈骗银行。
• He is implicated in the scheme to defraud the government.他卷入了这起欺骗政府的阴谋。

9 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

10 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

11 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

12 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

13 prosecuting   

检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师

参考例句：

• The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
• Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。

14 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。

15 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

17 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

18 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

19 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

20 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。

21 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？