美国国家公共电台 NPR Rudy Giuliani Subpoenaed By House Intel Committee In Impeachment Inquiry

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

House Democrats¹ have subpoenaed³ President Trump⁴'s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. And we are also learning tonight that the president may have asked foreign governments to help a Justice Department investigation⁵ into the origins of the Russia investigation.

NPR justice reporter Ryan Lucas is in the studio with us, and I hope you're going to shed more light on both these developments. Hey, Ryan.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE⁶: Hello there.

KELLY: Start with Giuliani. Why has he been subpoenaed? What do House Democrats want to know?

LUCAS: So the House Intelligence Committee issued this subpoena². The committee says it's looking into credible⁷ allegations that Giuliani acted as an agent of the president in a scheme to advance the president's own personal political interests by abusing the power of the office of the president. The subpoena is not for testimony⁸ at this point. This is for records.

What lawmakers want is all documents related to Giuliani's contacts with Ukrainians, so basically anything related to his efforts to dig up information tied to the allegations that he's made against Joe Biden and Biden's son Hunter. And it's, of course, those allegations that President Trump himself raised in his phone call with the Ukrainian president when Trump urged Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. And it's that call and those actions that, of course, are the subject of the House Democrats' impeachment⁹ inquiry¹⁰.

KELLY: OK. And you said, Ryan, they are looking into whether Giuliani was involved in some scheme to advance his own...

LUCAS: Right.

KELLY: ...Personal political interests. What does Giuliani say?

LUCAS: Well, Giuliani has been the public face pushing these allegations against Biden and his son for some months. I've spoken with Giuliani a number of times recently, including today. Giuliani says he first got word of the allegations against Biden about a year ago. He's met with former Ukrainian prosecutors¹¹ and others since then to follow up with his own investigative efforts.

One big meeting in that took place in early August in Spain. That's where Giuliani met with Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser¹² to Ukraine's president. Giuliani gave Yermak information about the Bidens' alleged¹³ improprieties and said that it should be fully¹⁴ investigated. Now, we have to say that Giuliani's allegations against the Bidens are unproven.

KELLY: Right.

LUCAS: Public evidence actually rebuts¹⁵ it.

Giuliani says that this meeting in Spain was facilitated by Kurt Volker. At that time, Volker was the U.S. special representative to Ukraine under the State Department. Volker resigned on Friday. He's going to sit down for an interview with investigators¹⁶ on the Hill later this week.

KELLY: OK, a lot of names to keep track of here, but let me pause you on that last one, Kurt Volker, who you said worked for the State Department, at least until Friday. Why would he have been involved in helping¹⁷ set up a meeting between the president's personal lawyer, Giuliani, and the Ukrainian government?

LUCAS: Right. Volker's role at the State Department was to help support Ukraine and its development, its democratic reforms. There's been a lot of negative news about Ukraine over the past year-plus - its corruption¹⁸, its general struggles. The conservative media here in the United States has picked up on that, and Giuliani has certainly picked up on that.

The Ukrainian government reached out to Volker and asked him to put them in touch with Giuliani. It's my understanding that Volker did so in part because that would give the Ukrainians a chance to show Giuliani on their own that the new Ukrainian government had the right priorities, that they were the good guys, so to speak - so, in a sense, giving Ukraine a chance to kind of correct the record with somebody who has the ear of the president.

KELLY: And that meeting you mentioned was at the initiative of the Ukrainian government, just to...

LUCAS: Right.

KELLY: OK. So to this other story today that has to do with Australia and reports that President Trump pushed the prime minister of Australia to help William Barr - U.S. Attorney General William Barr - in the Justice Department's review of the origins of the Russia investigation. Just walk us through what's happening here.

LUCAS: Right. It's a complicated story, but we've known for a long time that the U.S. attorney John Durham is looking into the beginnings of this Russia investigation. The New York Times first reported today that Trump pressed Australia's prime minister to help Barr with that probe. The Justice Department now says in a statement that it was Barr who asked the president to contact foreign countries to put Barr and Durham in touch with the appropriate officials.

Now, this is unusual. There are lots of other channels through which such requests can be made, say, the director of national intelligence or the State Department. Having the president make the request takes it up a level. But, of course, it also raises questions about the president's motivations because he has a personal political interest in the outcome.

KELLY: Yes, he does.

That's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Thanks very much.

LUCAS: Thank you.

1 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》

2 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。

3 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》

4 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。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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？

8 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

9 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。

10 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。

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 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。

13 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

14 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

15 rebuts   

v.反驳，驳回( rebut的第三人称单数 )；击退

参考例句：

16 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》

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 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。