美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Blasts 'Total Witch Hunt' After FBI Raids His Longtime Attorney's Office

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

We learned late this afternoon that federal agents have gone into the office of President Trump¹'s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen. This was confirmed by Cohen's attorney. President Trump called the raid a disgraceful situation. NPR's Ryan Lucas is covering this and joins us now.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE²: Hi there.

KELLY: All right, you've got your hands on a statement from Michael Cohen's attorney confirming this FBI raid. What does the statement say?

LUCAS: Well, Cohen's lawyer is a man by the name of Stephen Ryan. And in this statement - provided some greater detail as to what exactly transpired³ today. So he says the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York executed a number of search warrants against Cohen today. This would have been in New York. He says that federal agents seized what he called privileged communications between Cohen and his clients. Remember here that one individual that Cohen works with is of course President Trump.

KELLY: Sure.

LUCAS: And interestingly, Ryan says that he was advised that the raids are in part, quote, "a referral by the Office of the special counsel." That's Robert Mueller. He says that these...

KELLY: So the Russia probe.

LUCAS: Well...

KELLY: Maybe.

LUCAS: Maybe - we don't know yet. There's a lot of stuff to clear up here. So Cohen's attorney, Stephen Ryan, said these raids were inappropriate and unnecessary. He says the tactics are wrong, says that Cohen has cooperated completely with the government and government investigators⁴, that he's provided documents and has sat for depositions⁵. At the moment, the U.S. Attorney's Office is not commenting. So the only confirmation⁶ that we have, of course, is from Cohen's attorney.

KELLY: Is this one statement. Michael Cohen, of course, has worked for Trump for many years from well before his, you know, election as president and ascension to the White House. Michael Cohen knows a lot. I mean, remind us of the background here.

LUCAS: Well, as you said, Cohen has worked for the president for a long time. It's a very close relationship. Cohen has actually been quoted in the press at one point as saying that he misses the sort of daily interaction that he used to have with President Trump - longtime personal lawyer for the president, worked for The Trump Organization as well, almost seems to act as a fixer for the president.

He's been, you know, tied up in a lot of business affairs as well as kind of personal business of the president over the years. And, of course, he's tied into the Russia investigation⁷ through his work for The Trump Organization and talks that were ongoing⁸ in late 2015, early 2016 about a possible Trump Tower in Moscow. That deal ultimately collapsed⁹.

KELLY: Now, the reason Michael Cohen has been in the headlines a lot recently is a totally different thing. This is the Stormy Daniels matter, the allegations of an affair between Stormy Daniels, adult film actress, and President Trump, allegations that the president has denied. But is there a sense that this raid today has anything to do with that matter?

LUCAS: Right now there's not a lot of clarity as to what exactly it relates to. It could be the Stormy Daniels threat. It could be something tied up with the special counsel's Russia investigation. It could be something else. We don't know at this point. The FBI has not commented on this. There's been no comment from the U.S. Attorney's Office. And of course in Stephen Ryan's statement - that's Michael Cohen's lawyer - there wasn't clarity as to what exactly it was tied to.

So that will hopefully become clearer over time. But there are a lot of various threats here. You mentioned Stormy Daniels, of course the alleged¹⁰ $130,000 payment that Michael Cohen made to her. And that, of course, is tied up in the courts now.

KELLY: The question that's also on my mind is the why question. Michael Cohen's lawyer says Cohen has been cooperating. He's handed over thousands of documents already. If that's true, why would the FBI need to do a raid?

LUCAS: Well, there may have been concerns about potential destruction of evidence. If this is indeed about attorney-client privileged communications, that takes us to another level. Various possibilities here, but there's not - again, not a lot of clarity at this point. Hopefully more details will come out as the evening and days of this week proceed.

KELLY: And we shall wait for you to bring them to us. That's NPR's Ryan Lucas reporting on this FBI raid today targeting President Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Thanks a lot.

LUCAS: Thank you.

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 transpired   

（事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生

参考例句：

• It transpired that the gang had had a contact inside the bank. 据报这伙歹徒在银行里有内应。
• It later transpired that he hadn't been telling the truth. 他当时没说真话，这在后来显露出来了。

4 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》

5 depositions   

沉积（物）( deposition的名词复数 )； （在法庭上的）宣誓作证； 处置； 罢免

参考例句：

• The safety problems are more severe for low-pressure depositions because the processes often use concentrated gases. 对于低压淀积来说安全性问题更为突出，因为这种工艺通常使用高浓度的气体。
• The chief method is to take depositions of parties and witnesses. 主要的方法是录取当事人和证人的宣誓证言。 来自口语例句

6 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

7 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。

8 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。

9 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

10 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