美国国家公共电台 NPR--Steve Bannon prepares to face New York fraud charges

Steve Bannon prepares to face New York fraud charges

Transcript¹

New York State is charging former Trump² White House advisor³ Steve Bannon with fraud related to the We Build the Wall charity. Bannon raised funds from donors⁴ and he's accused of skimming funds.

AMART?NEZ, HOST:

Former Trump White House adviser⁵ Steve Bannon is preparing to face New York state charges that he defrauded⁶ donors to the nonprofit group We Build the Wall. The move comes just months after Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena⁷ by the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. NPR's Andrea Bernstein joins us now to discuss the new case.

Andrea, so what's this case about?

ANDREA BERNSTEIN, BYLINE⁸: So this case is expected to be similar to a previous federal case that Bannon was indicted⁹ on but never tried on because Trump pardoned Bannon before that could happen. That case was involving this nonprofit, We Build the Wall, which was collecting private donations to build a piece of the border wall. And Bannon and others were accused of, basically, skimming money from the donors for personal use for things like travel and credit card debt and the like. In that case, there were three codefendants. Two pleaded guilty. One had a mistrial. A person familiar with the New York case confirms he'll turn himself in tomorrow, which will make him a member of a large and growing group of former top Trump associates in trouble with the law.

MART?NEZ: How did it happen that state prosecutors¹⁰ get the case?

BERNSTEIN: So in the last 24 hours of his presidency¹¹, former President Trump pardoned Bannon. Soon after that, the Manhattan DA and the New York attorney general began looking into whether there were victims or criminal activity in Manhattan. We know from past practice they don't bring a case unless they believe they have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. That, of course, would be tested in this case with the jury.

MART?NEZ: And this has me wondering if there's a question of double jeopardy¹² here because of the previous federal indictment¹³ that led to Trump's presidential pardon of Steve Bannon.

BERNSTEIN: So Bannon probably will argue that there is an issue of double jeopardy. In a statement that he released last night, he's already accused the DA of bringing, quote, "phony charges." Previously¹⁴, the Manhattan DA - excuse me. Previously, the Manhattan DA was told he could not prosecute¹⁵ former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, who had his own case. But that was different because he had already been convicted at trial of fraud and pleaded guilty to conspiracy¹⁶ against the United States and money laundering¹⁷. In this case, Bannon never went to trial, so it's untested.

MART?NEZ: Is there, though, a connection between this case and the contempt of Congress case?

BERNSTEIN: Well, there is in the sense that Bannon has very clearly acted as if the rule of law does not apply to him. And it's concerning because he was seeking a pardon for the fraud case at the same time that he was communicating with the White House privately¹⁸ and publicly, encouraging people to protest what he said was a falsely - was a fraudulent election. So it's all wrapped up together because he was very clearly trying to get a private benefit from Trump at the same time that he was involved in this very public activity, which he refused to testify about and was subsequently convicted of committing a federal crime in Washington, D.C., for refusing to comply with that committee.

MART?NEZ: All right. That's NPR's Andrea Bernstein.

Thanks a lot, Andrea.

BERNSTEIN: Thank you.

1 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。

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 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 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》

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 defrauded   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He defrauded his employers of thousands of dollars. 他诈取了他的雇主一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He defrauded them of their money. 他骗走了他们的钱。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 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。

9 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。

10 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。

11 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。

12 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

13 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。

14 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

15 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？

16 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。

17 laundering   

n.洗涤（衣等），洗烫（衣等）；洗（钱）v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的现在分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入）

参考例句：

• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering. 洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was charged with laundering money. 他被指控洗钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。