美国国家公共电台 NPR As Impeachment Inquiry Moves Forward, Questions Around Pompeo Continue To Swirl

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

What did Mike Pompeo know, and when did he know it? Questions turn (ph) around the secretary of state in the impeachment¹ investigations². Did he know, as witnesses testified, that President Trump³ demanded political favors from Ukraine before he would release the military aid approved by the U.S. Congress? Why did he take days to reveal he was on the line during that July 25 phone call between President Trump and President Zelenskiy? Does he really believe Ukraine, not Russia, interfered⁵ in the 2016 U.S. elections? He's a West Point man who said during the 2016 Republican primaries...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE POMPEO: You know, Donald Trump the other day said that, quote, "If he tells a soldier to commit a war crime, the soldier will just go do it." He said, "They'll do as I tell them to do." We've spent 7 1/2 years with an authoritarian⁶ president who ignored our Constitution. We don't need four more years of that.

SIMON: How did that man become one of President Trump's most vociferous⁷ champions? When Mike Pompeo was nominated for secretary of state, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas told the Senate...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TOM COTTON: When Mike Pompeo speaks, the world will know the secretary of state speaks for the president.

SIMON: Peter Roskam is a former Republican congressman⁸ from Illinois who served in the House with Mike Pompeo.

PETER ROSKAM: I think he's got incredible intellectual capacity and the ability to take in a lot of information and operate well in a collegial environment. And he's not a hand-wringer, and he's not a cowboy.

SIMON: Mike Pompeo grew up in Orange County, Calif., finished first in his 1986 West Point class. He was a platoon leader of a U.S. Infantry⁹ Division in Germany, an editor of The Harvard Law Review, then joined a prestigious¹⁰ Washington, D.C., law firm, which he left in 1997 to head for Kansas and open an aircraft parts manufacturing firm with three West Point classmates, Koch Industries. The Koch brothers, major Republican donors¹¹, invested in the company, which Mike Pompeo left to run for Congress in 2010.

JIM MCLEAN: The Koch brothers really got politically active what he was getting into politics.

SIMON: Jim McLean, managing director of public radio's Kansas News Service, says Pompeo's career began to rise with the House hearings into the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi.

MCLEAN: He was pretty much a nonentity¹³, politically speaking, on the national scene up to that point. And frankly¹⁴, he was overshadowed even here in Kansas politically. But in those Benghazi hearings, you know, he really did take on a lead role as inquisitor. And there was, you know, some very famous confrontations¹⁵ with Hillary Clinton during those hearings.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

POMPEO: Were you aware that our folks were either wittingly or unwittingly meeting with Al-Qaida on the ground in Benghazi, Libya, just hours before the attack.

HILLARY CLINTON: I know nothing about this, Congressman.

POMPEO: I think that's deeply disturbing. I think the fact that your team was meeting...

CLINTON: I'm sorry. Which team is this is, Mr...

POMPEO: ...It would have been...

NANCY MCELDOWNEY: It was a personal tragedy. It was a political tragedy, but it did not have to become the kind of domestic controversy¹⁶ that it was turned into by none other than Mike Pompeo and Jim Jordan.

SIMON: Nancy McEldowney was a career diplomat¹² and director of the Foreign Service Institute, who now teaches at Georgetown.

MCELDOWNEY: They refused to join the consensus¹⁷ with the congressional investigatory committee and wrote their own addendum¹⁸. And there are some very important words that they used in this report that I think - it's worth remembering. They talked about a State Department seemingly more concerned with politics than protecting its own people.

SIMON: When President Trump came into office, he appointed Mike Pompeo director of the CIA. And he often personally delivered the daily security briefing to the president. Ambassador McEldowney says many State Department officers were heartened when Mike Pompeo replaced the highly unpopular Rex Tillerson.

MCELDOWNEY: People thought at least his close relationship with the president and his experience as a military officer would help his leadership of the State Department. So initially¹⁹ there was a positive feeling, a hopefulness that Pompeo would turn around the disruption of the Tillerson time.

SIMON: There are critical questions about how Secretary Pompeo disclosed that he was on the line for President Trump's phone conversation with Ukraine's President Zelenskiy on July 25. Congress had approved military aid for Ukraine, but the money hadn't been released. President Trump told Ukraine's president, I would like you to do us a favor, though. When Secretary Pompeo was asked by reporters about the call that set off the whistleblower's report, he told them...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

POMPEO: So, Matt, I haven't had a chance to actually read the whistleblower complaint yet. I read the first couple of paragraphs and then got busy today. But I'll ultimately get a chance to see it. If I understand it right, it's from someone who had second-hand²⁰ knowledge.

SIMON: And it wasn't for almost a week until he acknowledged.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

POMPEO: As for, was I on the phone call? I was on the phone call.

SIMON: Former Congressman Peter Roskam says he doesn't believe Mike Pompeo deceived the public.

ROSKAM: No, I'm convinced that he was forthright²¹ and direct with the American public. And he's been forthright and direct, I think, at every turn up and down.

SIMON: Well, wasn't there that week when he sort of just evaded²² the question with reporters?

ROSKAM: Yeah, but that's different than deception²³. And I think that there is an ability to communicate in ways that are effective and impactful and timing²⁴. But I think it would - his communications would pass the threshold - and honorable under any standard.

SIMON: Questions have also been raised about why the secretary of state didn't defend U.S. diplomats²⁵ from political attack - as exemplified by President Trump's ridicule²⁶ of Marie Yovanovitch, who was relieved of her post in Ukraine.

Nancy McEldowney, the former ambassador who's now at Georgetown, says...

MCELDOWNEY: He allowed Yovanovitch to be - first be smeared²⁷ and then to be fired. He did not stop that. And that has had such a poisonous impact on other diplomats throughout the service.

SIMON: What about the argument, Ambassador, that, you know, in the end, the president gets to set foreign policy. And if he decides to hold up aid to Ukraine, he can do it. If he decides to relieve an ambassador, he can do it.

MCELDOWNEY: That's exactly right. But there's one element that you don't touch on there that is the key missing thing. It's one thing to have powers that you can execute. It's another to abuse them.

SIMON: Impeachment hearings could lead to a Senate trial, where Democrats²⁸ will want Secretary Pompeo to testify. He was one person who may have been deeply involved in all aspects of President Trump's approach to Ukraine.

Susan Glasser of The New Yorker says that lawmakers will want to ask Mike Pompeo...

SUSAN GLASSER: What did he know about the withholding²⁹ of nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated aid to Ukraine? When did he know it? What direct conversations, if any, did he have with the president? Rudy Giuliani says that everything he did was carried out with the knowledge of the State Department. Is that, in fact, the case? I mean, I could go on (laughter).

SIMON: But even as Secretary Pompeo has not testified in Congress about the controversy over U.S. aid to Ukraine, he's made time to do interviews with local Kansas media. His fans' speculation³⁰ that - before any impeachment trial begins, Mike Pompeo may plan to leave Washington, D.C., as he has before and run for the Senate in Kansas. Jim McLean of the Kansas News Service says impeachment, Ukraine and quid pro⁴ quo could sound a long way off.

MCLEAN: The initial stories that have been written about how Kansans would view Pompeo's alleged³¹ role in whatever took place relative to Ukraine and the cover-up and all those issues. So far, at least, people seem to say, well, you know, that's what's happening in D.C., and I'm - nobody's really sure to what extent that would affect a candidacy here in Kansas.

SIMON: Just this week at the NATO summit, President Trump told reporters he might ask his secretary of state to return to Kansas to try to win a seat that would help Republicans keep control of the U.S. Senate.

Susan Glasser of The New Yorker points out Mike Pompeo is tied his political fortunes to Donald Trump, and he has to hold on tight.

GLASSER: His power and his currency comes from being as close as he can - allied³² with Trump and his policy preferences. And Pompeo has really defined himself as there never, ever being any daylight between himself and Trump.

SIMON: But it's precisely³³ Mike Pompeo's closeness to this president that makes him a crucial figure in the investigations and impeachment to come.

1 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

2 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

3 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。

4 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

5 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

7 vociferous   

adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的

参考例句：

• They are holding a vociferous debate.他们在吵吵嚷嚷地辩论。
• He was a vociferous opponent of Conservatism.他高声反对保守主义。

8 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。

9 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

10 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

11 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

13 nonentity   

n.无足轻重的人

参考例句：

• She was written off then as a political nonentity.她当时被认定是成不了气候的政坛小人物。
• How could such a nonentity become chairman of the company? 这样的庸才怎么能当公司的董事长？

14 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

15 confrontations   

n.对抗，对抗的事物( confrontation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At times, this potential has escalated into actual confrontations. 有时，这一矛盾升级为实际的对抗。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• These confrontations and uncertainties were bing played out for the first time on a global scale. 所有这一切对抗和不稳定，第一次在全球范围内得到充分的表演。 来自辞典例句

16 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

17 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

18 addendum   

n.补充，附录

参考例句：

• This is an addendum to the book.这是本书的附录。
• Six parts and one addendum are separated in the paper.论文由六章和一个附录组成。

19 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

20 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

21 forthright   

adj.直率的，直截了当的 [同]frank

参考例句：

• It's sometimes difficult to be forthright and not give offence.又直率又不得罪人，这有时很难办到。
• He told me forthright just why he refused to take my side.他直率地告诉我他不肯站在我这一边的原因。

22 evaded   

逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出

参考例句：

• For two weeks they evaded the press. 他们有两周一直避而不见记者。
• The lion evaded the hunter. 那狮子躲开了猎人。

23 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

24 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

25 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

27 smeared   

弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上

参考例句：

• The children had smeared mud on the walls. 那几个孩子往墙上抹了泥巴。
• A few words were smeared. 有写字被涂模糊了。

28 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》

29 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

30 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

31 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

32 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

33 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。