川普称针对法官的言论乃外界曲解其意思

AS IT IS 2016-06-08 Trump¹: Comments About Judge Were 'Misconstrued' 川普称针对法官的言论乃外界曲解其意思

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said his comment about a federal judge was “misconstrued” as an attack against people of Mexican heritage.

The presumptive Republican nominee² issued a statement after criticism from both Republicans and Democrats³. He added that, “while this lawsuit⁴ should have been dismissed, it is now scheduled for trial in November. I do not intend to comment on this matter any further.”

Trump has repeatedly said U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel cannot rule fairly in the case because of his “Mexican heritage.”

People who paid money to take real estate courses at Trump University are suing Trump for fraud. They claim they did not receive the education they paid for and have demanded their money back.

The billionaire real estate developer denies the fraud allegations. He says many Trump University customers were happy with the classes they paid for and gave the program positive reviews.

Trump says Curiel has a “conflict of interest” in the case because the judge’s parents were born in Mexico. The candidate has called Curiel “a Mexican,” even though he was born and raised in the Midwestern U.S. state of Indiana.

Trump has explained that Curiel is biased⁶ against him because of his proposal to build a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border to stop illegal immigration. He has also said that if elected, he would begin to deport⁷ millions of illegal immigrants.

Trump has called on Curiel to withdraw from the case so that another judge can take over.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday he “absolutely disavows” Trump’s “unacceptable” remarks about the judge. He asked Trump to reject the comments.

“I regret those comments he made. Claiming a person can’t do the job because of their race is sort of like a textbook definition of a racist⁸ comment.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan talks to reporters during an event to discuss the Republican Party's anti-poverty plan in Washington, D.C., June 7, 2016.

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, from Nebraska, tweeted his opposition⁹ to Trump’s views. “Saying someone can't do a specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of 'racism,’” Sasse said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press he “could not disagree more” with what Trump said.

“This is a man who was born in Indiana. All of us came here from somewhere else. Almost all Americans are either near-term immigrants like my wife - who came here at age 8 not speaking a word of English - or the rest of us, whose ancestors were risk-takers, who got up from wherever they were and came here and made this country great.”

Two of Trump’s former rivals in the presidential race – Ohio Governor John Kasich and Florida Senator Marco Rubio – were also critical.

Kasich tweeted that Trump was “flat out wrong” and urged him to “apologize to Judge Curiel & try to unite this country.”

Rubio agreed. “There shouldn’t be any sort of ethnicity, religious or racial tests for what kind of judges should hear what kinds of cases,” he said. “It’s wrong and I hope he (Trump) stops.”

Other Republican leaders also publicly criticized Trump’s comments. They include Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

On the Democratic side, Congressman¹⁰ Filemon Vela wrote an open letter criticizing Trump’s "ignorant anti-immigrant opinions." He said the candidate’s statements on a border wall and his attacks on Curiel "are just plain despicable.”

Vela added: “Mr. Trump you are a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it….”

Trump stepped up his verbal attacks on Curiel after the judge ordered the release of sealed documents relating to the Trump University case.

Trump was asked if he would also reject a Muslim judge because of his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely,” he said.

Words in This Story

misconstrued – v. to interpret someone’s words or actions wrongly

sue – v. take someone to court to resolve a legal dispute

fraud – n. a crime using dishonest methods to take money or valuables from others

real estate – n. property involving buildings and land

review – n. an expression of someone’s opinions

conflict of interest – n. when a person is in a position to gain personal benefit from an official job or position

biased – adj. having or showing bias⁵ or prejudice

literal – adj. representing exact words in writing or speech

ancestors – n. members of a person’s family from past times

ignorant – adj. lacking knowledge or information

despicable – adj. very bad or unpleasant

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 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 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》

4 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

7 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

8 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。