美国国家公共电台 NPR As Trump Continues Mar-A-Lago Trips, Watchdogs Want To Know Who's Joining Him

 

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For the seventh time since taking office, President Trump¹ will spend this weekend at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Government watchdog groups want a federal court to force the Trump administration to release a list of visitors to that resort as well as to the White House and Trump Tower. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE²: Trump likes to call it the Winter White House. Although of the Trump Organization owns it, Mar-a-Lago is a private club with about 500 dues-paying members. Over the last few months, in addition to beach and tennis privileges, members have had a front-row seat to important presidential deliberations.

Trump says he ordered last week's missile strike on Syria while having dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. The Palm Beach Daily News reports other guests were nearby, including Boston Celtics great John Havlicek, who was celebrating his birthday with friends. Two nights later, Trump was chatting with club members and guests, including billionaire and political activist³ David Koch, who was there with his brother, Bill.

The head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics⁴ in Washington, Noah Bookbinder, says although it's a private club, Americans have a right to know who's visiting Mar-a-Lago while the president is there.

NOAH BOOKBINDER: If anything, it's more important to know who's there because you don't have the usual protections and procedures that you have with the White House.

ALLEN: During the Obama administration, the White House posted online logs of the people who visited the White House, a practice that began after a series of lawsuits⁵ filed by CREW. So far, the Trump administration hasn't made any White House visitor logs available. CREW and other groups have filed Freedom of Information requests for the visitor logs since Trump took office. This week, they took their requests to federal court in New York and extended it to include visitor logs for Mar-a-Lago and Trump's Manhattan residence, Trump Tower.

JONATHAN WACKROW: They're asking for something that does not exist.

ALLEN: Jonathan Wackrow is a former Secret Service official. He says the visitor logs for the White House are part of a complex system that includes background checks and personal data. That kind of information, he says, isn't gathered at other places the president stays, like Mar-a-Lago.

WACKROW: It's a private facility. It's a temporary location where the president goes to, so even the security posture⁶ there is set up on an ad hoc basis based upon presidential travel.

ALLEN: Wackrow says the Secret Service screens for weapons and other direct threats to the president but otherwise is not involved in admitting guests at Mar-a-Lago. Bookbinder with CREW says given Trump's ongoing⁷ use of Mar-a-Lago and the important meetings taking place there, the administration needs to begin maintaining and releasing visitor logs.

BOOKBINDER: It needs to be treated essentially⁸ the same way that the White House treats its records. And so if it's not already happening, they need to very quickly come up with a policy to make sure that it does start happening.

ALLEN: Wackrow says maintaining the visitor access system at the White House costs the Secret Service millions of dollars each year and is not easily replicated⁹ at Mar-a-Lago, Trump Tower or other places the president stays. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

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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 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。

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

5 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

6 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

7 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 replicated   

复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
• The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。