美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Pledged To Take On The NRA; Now He's Speaking At Group's Annual Convention

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Even going by the standards of this crazy news environment we are in, this has been quite an eventful week for President Trump¹.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Right. He shook up his legal team.

GREENE: Yeah. He admitted to reimbursing² his lawyer Michael Cohen for $130,000 in hush³ money that was paid to an adult film star.

MARTIN: And today the president addresses the National Rifle Association.

GREENE: That conference is going on in Dallas, Texas. And there are 20 acres of displays of firearms and hunting accessories awaiting the president when he arrives to speak at lunchtime. Let's bring in NPR White House reporter Ayesha Rascoe, who is covering this.

Hi, Ayesha.

AYESHA RASCOE, BYLINE⁴: Hi.

GREENE: So this is not a new thing. President Trump was at the NRA last year. But do we expect in this current environment and what we've seen with the anger, the activism after the shooting in Parkland, Fla., is his message going to be different somehow?

RASCOE: I'm not sure that his message will fundamentally be different. He may make some reference to the Parkland shooting and to the idea that we need to make sure maybe that guns do not get into the wrong hands. But ultimately, the NRA was an early backer of President Trump, and that's really stuck with him. And the White House has said that he's going to talk about support for the Second Amendment⁵ and for gun rights.

GREENE: Although at one point - I mean, his agenda has stuck close to the NRA. But there was a point when President Trump was calling out lawmakers for being afraid of the National Rifle Association, saying, quote, "they hold less power over me." So it's sort of hard to figure out exactly what his message is with this organization.

RASCOE: Well, after Parkland, he did seem like he wanted to do something big and felt like maybe he needed to shake up what had been going on to stop these mass shootings. And so he did come out and say that he supported age limits for buying long guns and - or raising age limits and also even flirted⁶ with universal background checks. But ultimately, the rhetoric⁷ was not matched up with policy. And so when they made their proposals, they were pretty much in line with what the NRA wanted.

GREENE: So one thing we're following today, there are going to be protesters outside this convention. And they seem to want to call attention to the NRA and its ties to Russia. Can you remind us about that?

RASCOE: Well, so the NRA has acknowledged that it accepts foreign donations. But it says it does not use them for election work. There have been some reports that the FBI is investigating whether a Russian banker with Kremlin ties illegally funneled⁸ money to the NRA to aid Donald Trump's campaign.

GREENE: Let me just ask you about some other White House news before I let you go. Stormy Daniels and the president's personal attorney Michael Cohen - there was that $130,000 hush payment in exchange for her silence about an alleged⁹ affair. The president's new lawyer - he goes on TV on Fox, Rudy Giuliani, says that Trump repaid Cohen, which seemed to throw the White House staff for a loop, it sounds like. So what exactly - where's the president on this right now?

RASCOE: Well - so the president followed up on Rudy Giuliani's kind of announcement or reveal by tweeting yesterday that, yes, he had reimbursed¹⁰ his attorney Michael Cohen. He had done it through these monthly retainer fees. He said that this arrangement or signing these nondisclosure agreements and making these payments are not unusual for rich and famous people. But it did catch the White House staff off guard. The White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders says she didn't learn that President Trump had reimbursed Michael Cohen for that payment until the Giuliani interview.

GREENE: Oh, she found out about it watching television (laughter)?

RASCOE: Yes (laughter).

GREENE: So it sounds like the big central question now is whether that payment violated campaign finance law in some ways. Is that right?

RASCOE: Yes. So that's the big question. And the question is, did they do this to influence the election? And if they did, then that can open up the idea that this was an illegal campaign contribution and also that maybe it wasn't properly reported.

GREENE: OK. White House reporter Ayesha Rascoe on a very busy day for us. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

RASCOE: 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 reimbursing   

v.偿还，付还( reimburse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• All banking charges outside Korea and reimbursing are for account of beneficiary. 所有韩国以外的用度及偿付行用度由受益人承担。 来自互联网
• A reimbursing bank's charges are for the account of the issuing bank. 然而，如果费用系由受益人承担，则开证行有责任在信用证和偿付授权书中予以注明。 来自互联网

3 hush   

int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静

参考例句：

• A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
• Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去！

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 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

6 flirted   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She flirted her fan. 她急速挥动着扇子。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• During his four months in Egypt he flirted with religious emotions. 在埃及逗留的这四个月期间，他又玩弄起宗教情绪来了。 来自辞典例句

7 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

8 funneled   

漏斗状的

参考例句：

• The crowd funneled through the hall. 群众从走廊中鱼贯而过。
• The large crowd funneled out of the gates after the football match. 足球赛后大群人从各个门中涌出。

9 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

10 reimbursed   

v.偿还，付还( reimburse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Any out-of-pocket expenses incurred on the firm's business will be reimbursed. 由公司业务产生的开销都可以报销。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Employees are reimbursed for any legal fees incurred when they relocate. 员工调往异地工作时，他们可以报销由此产生的所有法律服务费用。 来自《简明英汉词典》