美国国家公共电台 NPR To Boost Trump Wiretap Claims, White House Leans On Unlikely Source

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Congress is seeking evidence to support President Trump¹'s claims that the Obama administration tapped his phones during his campaign. Trump has offered no such proof. His aides have pointed² to news articles, including an apparent scoop³ by Heat Street. It's a new political site founded by a colorful British reporter. NPR's David Folkenflik has more.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE⁴: Trump managed to pack a lot of unsubstantiated accusations⁵ in his tweets. Trump claimed then President Obama ordered Trump be wiretapped at Trump Tower at the height of the elections - claims for which Trump offered no evidence. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wasn't sure about the details but wasn't backing down.

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SEAN SPICER: I think the president made it clear yesterday that he wants Congress to go in and look at this. I think there is substantial reporting out there from individuals and from sources.

FOLKENFLIK: Spicer's shop pointed to articles from press outlets⁶ - among them, a posting on Heat Street by Louise Mensch.

LOUISE MENSCH: I was delighted, at first, over the weekend to see Donald Trump admitting, as I thought, my FISA warrant story, but he added in this detail about a wiretap, which I was sort of surprised to see.

FOLKENFLIK: So let's break that down. Back in November, the evening before the election, Mensch wrote that the FBI sought and was granted a secret warrant by a judge who oversees⁷ national security proceedings⁸ to examine possible financial and banking⁹ offenses¹⁰ involving figures in the Trump campaign with ties to Russia - no mention of wiretaps. Mensch also reported that a broader request by the FBI had been rejected back in June.

MENSCH: I was the only person to report this for some time. Two months after I published my story, two other stories appeared in quick succession.

FOLKENFLIK: The BBC and The Guardian¹¹ later confirmed much of Mensch's report and built on it. Mensch won't say on which side of The Atlantic her sources can be found. She does report that American authorities relied on friendly foreign agencies. And it may not be a coincidence that only British reporters have confirmed the story.

New York Times public editor Liz Spayd, a kind of in-house critic, wrote skeptically on coverage¹² from The Times before the election that held the FBI had found no links between Trump's camps and the Russians. Spayd says Mensch's report caught her eye.

LIZ SPAYD: You know, I think she makes a somewhat reasonable argument that she has been a strong backer of U.S. intelligence - U.K. intelligence for a long period of time. And that is a clear way to gain sources.

FOLKENFLIK: Mensch's own story has had many chapters. She was a bestselling author of books for young adults and romantic novels. She became a conservative member of the British parliament. As an aside, she's also married to the manager of such groups as Metallica and the Red Hot Chili¹³ Peppers. In Parliament, Mensch once interrogated¹⁴ media-magnate Rupert Murdoch over a series of scandals at his London tabloid¹⁵ newspapers.

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MENSCH: Is it not the case, sir, though, that you in fact are the captain of the ship? You are the chief executive officer of News Corp - the global corporation?

FOLKENFLIK: Murdoch objected that his corporation was so large he could hardly know all that was happening.

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MENSCH: This terrible thing happened on your watch. Mr. Murdoch, have you considered resigning?

FOLKENFLIK: Yet she voted against condemning¹⁶ Murdoch and his son James. And they hired her later on when she left parliament, first as a columnist¹⁷, and then she created Heat Street in New York City for News Corp. Lately, it's been plenty hot.

MENSCH: So, you know, my phone's been blowing up. My email's been blowing up. My direct messages on Twitter have been blowing up. And I'm just not answering any of them because who knows what's in them. But I did wonder why the White House was wasting an entire day on trying to make it seem like I or even The New York Times have reported out a wiretap on Trump Tower.

FOLKENFLIK: A reminder¹⁸ - no mention of wiretapping. Another key point - while Rupert Murdoch supports Trump, Mensch openly opposes him. Trump's aides are relying on the reporting of a writer who thinks the man in the Oval Office should be impeached¹⁹. David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS SONG, "SNOW")

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 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

4 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。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

8 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

9 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

10 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

11 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

13 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

14 interrogated   

v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询

参考例句：

• He was interrogated by the police for over 12 hours. 他被警察审问了12个多小时。
• Two suspects are now being interrogated in connection with the killing. 与杀人案有关的两名嫌疑犯正在接受审讯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

16 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

18 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

19 impeached   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

• Elected officials can be impeached. 经过选举产生的官员可以被弹劾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The judge was impeached for taking a bribe. 这个法官被检举接受贿赂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》