PBS高端访谈:剖析特朗普的财务披露文件

 　　The voluntary financial disclosure form released Friday shows the Trump¹ Organization and Mr. Trump himself earned $529 million in total revenue and income from early 2016 through his first three months as president.

　　Among the highlights, the president says his assets are worth at least $1.4 billion and that he's retained ownership of most of them.

　　The president's Florida golf club, Mar-a-Lago, made $37.2 million from January 2016 through this spring, up from $29.8 million the year before.

　　Keep in mind, following Mr. Trump's election, Mar-a-Lago doubled its initiation² fee to $200,000.

　　The Trump Organization earned $20 million in income related to its Washington, D.C. hotel that opened last October.

　　Overseas, for the first time, Trump reported $100,000 income from the Trump Tower in Kolkata, India.

　　He also reported $5 million from his new hotel-and-condominium tower in Vancouver, Canada.

　　For more analysis of these financial revelations, I'm joined by "Washington Post" reporter Amy Brittain. So, what do we learn from this?

　　I mean, I think the big takeaway in looking at the form is that this is like truly an unprecedented³ situation with the president,

　　choosing to hold on to this vast wealth, even as he's entered the office of the White House.

　　So, if you look at his form and the main change is that he has moved the majority of his business into a trust, which is controlled by his sons, Don Jr. and Eric.

　　But that trust has kind of come under criticism in recent months because it's been revealed that President Trump can have access to that trust at any time.

　　So, in the financial disclosure form, are we seeing changes from what was filed before?

　　Well, immediately, you know, critics are looking at the forms to say, hey, is he profiting off of the office of the presidency⁴, right?

　　So, you can look at the profits from Mar-a-Lago, from his different hotels around the world and you can certainly see an increase in the revenue that's brought in at Mar-a-Lago.

　　I think the most telling form to compare that to is the one that he filed in 2015, which was at the beginning of his candidacy.

　　And in that form, he reported about $15 million in revenue from Mar-a-Lago from the proceeding⁵ period, and now, he's reporting more than $37 million.

　　There was also reporting a little earlier this week about the type of influence that may or may not exist, say,

　　for example, some of the people that have been buying his condominiums have been buying them through LLCs

　　and it's actually difficult for anyone to see who's purchasing, whether it's an individual, whether it's a foreign government.

　　Definitely. I mean, exceedingly difficult to track the underlying⁶ buyers of properties that are purchased through LLCs,

　　and that's one of the limitations of this form. You know, this is not the same as looking at a tax release.

　　We also have Democrats⁷, Democratic attorney generals in Maryland, D.C.,

　　nearly 200 other Democratic members and the Citizens of Responsibility in Ethics⁸ in Washington are all suing Trump because they still think that there is a violation⁹ of the emoluments¹⁰ clause,

　　saying that his businesses and how he owns them still violates the Constitution.

　　Yes. I mean, the hotel in D.C. has become the center of this controversy¹¹.

　　And you can look at it as new form and you can see that that hotel has brought in about $20 million since its opening in October.

　　What the attorney general's lawsuit¹² last week, they were alleging¹³ that, look, they are calling there an unprecedented constitutional violation and the scope of it,

　　because they are saying that there is no meaningful divide between his business empire and the office of the presidency.

　　Is there something that the White House has said after this release of information?

　　This is something that's going to happen every quarter. Have they made comments on the way to characterize the information that the Office of Government Ethics just released?

　　Well, I mean, I think they are quick to say that look, this is voluntary.

　　He's made an effort to put this out in the first year of his presidency, you know,

　　they are saying that this is an effort that he did not necessarily have to do this year, he could have waited until the next year if he wanted to release his financial statement.

　　Amy Brittain of "The Washington Post", thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. undefined

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 initiation   

n.开始

参考例句：

• her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
• It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

6 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

7 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》

8 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。

9 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

10 emoluments   

n.报酬，薪水( emolument的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The emoluments of this profession is not satisfactory. 此行业的报酬不令人满意。 来自辞典例句
• Emoluments connected with this position include free education for the children. 与这职务有关的酬劳包括为子女提供免费教育。 来自互联网

11 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。

12 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

13 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。