美国国家公共电台 NPR Whistleblower Offers To Field Written Questions About Call Trump Says Was 'Perfecto'

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

The whistleblower whose complaint prompted the impeachment¹ inquiry² into President Trump³ is making Republicans an offer. This person, who is still anonymous⁴, is willing to answer written questions from House Republicans. Meanwhile, President Trump is calling for the whistleblower's identity to be exposed. NPR's Bobby Allyn has been reporting on all of this. He's in the studio now. Hey, Bobby.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE⁵: Hey, Noel.

KING: OK, so let's start with the offer. What is on the table here?

ALLYN: OK, so I talked to Mark Zaid. He represents the whistleblower. And he told me that the whistleblower has agreed to answer questions from Republicans. Now, if you've been following along very closely, you know that this is not the first time the offer has been extended. Written testimony⁶ from the whistleblower was on the table once before, but what's really different this time is the questions and answers wouldn't have to involve Democrats⁷, who, of course, control the committees that are leading the investigation⁸. So this is a direct channel of communication now open to Republicans. And the lawyer says the whistleblower will answer these questions under oath - so under penalty of perjury⁹ - just as long as the individual's identity is not in danger of being revealed.

KING: OK, this is a really interesting offer. Does it seem like Republicans are going to take the whistleblower up on it?

ALLYN: So the offer has been sent to Representative Devin Nunes. He's the ranking Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee. And we haven't yet heard from his office, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested on CBS's "Face The Nation" yesterday that written testimony might not satisfy Republicans.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FACE THE NATION")

KEVIN MCCARTHY: When you're talking about the removal of the president of the United States, undoing¹⁰ democracy, undoing what the American public had voted for, I think that individual should come before the committee. He could come down to the basement, but he needs to answer the questions.

ALLYN: And this is a good place to note that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has said that investigators¹¹ might not need to hear from the whistleblower - because remember, the whistleblower's account was a secondhand account. And they now have heard from people who were on the call. So the whistleblower is no longer critical to the investigation, at least according to Schiff.

KING: So in the meantime, amid all of this, President Trump still really wants to know who this person is. Yesterday, he said, quote, "The whistleblower should be revealed because the whistleblower gave false stories," end quote. There are some things standing¹² in the way of this, though, including federal law, right?

ALLYN: Yeah, that's right. So federal law does protect the whistleblower's identity. That's kind of the point of the whistleblower law that, you know, is allowing this whistleblower to come forward anonymously¹³. But that has not stopped a lot of speculation¹⁴, especially on conservative media. Rush Limbaugh, online conservative publications and elsewhere, you know, really trying to out this individual. An individual's name has been out there. It's not been confirmed anywhere. And the whistleblower's lawyers have not confirmed any of these reports. They also haven't denied any of the reports.

But here's what we do know - that this whistleblower is from the intelligence community. And that's basically it. Trump is trying to change that, though. Trump really wants this person's name to be outed. In fact, Trump said yesterday to reporters that if the media reveals who this whistleblower is, it would be, quote, "a public service." So I called up Yale law professor Harold Koh. He was the State Department's legal adviser¹⁵ during the Obama administration. And he described the president encouraging people to out the whistleblower as disgusting.

HAROLD KOH: If the net result of passing the Whistleblower Protection Act is that you're singling somebody out for punishment, retaliation¹⁶ and persecution¹⁷, then Congress ought to take action to impose penalties on those people who do those kinds of things.

ALLYN: So as a country, we find ourselves in a unique position right now, right? So many Republicans are trying to unmask this individual in order to challenge the whistleblower's motivations. At the same time, we've had a parade of witnesses who have corroborated¹⁸ much of the whistleblower's account of President Trump's July 25 call with Ukraine's president - a call, I will say, that the president yesterday described as quote, "perfecto."

KING: NPR's Bobby Allyn. Thanks, Bobby.

ALLYN: Thank you.

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 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

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 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。

7 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》

8 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。

9 perjury   

n.伪证；伪证罪

参考例句：

• You'll be punished if you procure the witness to commit perjury.如果你诱使证人作伪证，你要受罚的。
• She appeared in court on a perjury charge.她因被指控做了伪证而出庭受审。

10 undoing   

n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭

参考例句：

• That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
• This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。

11 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》

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 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

14 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

15 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。

16 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

18 corroborated   

v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 )

参考例句：

• The evidence was corroborated by two independent witnesses. 此证据由两名独立证人提供。
• Experiments have corroborated her predictions. 实验证实了她的预言。 来自《简明英汉词典》