美国国家公共电台 NPR 特朗普解雇美国国务院督察长 或是在保护蓬佩奥不被查（在线收听）

This is weekend edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.

这里是NPR新闻周末版。我是斯科特·西蒙。

The Trump administration is ousting the inspector general of the State Department. News broke of Steve Linick's firing late last night. Democrats are trying to sound an alarm. Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls it part of a dangerous pattern of retaliation against patriotic public servants. NPR's Michele Kelemen has been following the story. Michele, thanks for being with us.

特朗普政府解雇了美国国国务院督察长。昨天深夜传出史蒂夫·利尼克被解雇的消息。民主党人正试图发出警报。众议院议长南希·佩洛西称这是报复爱国公务员的危险模式。NPR新闻的米歇尔·克莱门一直在追踪这起事件。米歇尔，谢谢你和我们连线。

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Nice to be here, Scott.

米歇尔·克莱门连线：我很高兴，斯科特。

SIMON: How did this play out last night?

西蒙：这在昨晚是怎样发生的？

KELEMEN: So President Trump sent a letter to Pelosi saying it's vital that he have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general and that that's no longer the case with the State Department's inspector general. He did not give any reason for this. When I asked the State Department to comment, I received a statement saying that the department is happy to announce that Stephen Akard, a Trump administration political appointee at the department, will be taking over the inspector general's office. The State Department didn't even mention the longtime IG, Steve Linick, or say why he's being asked to leave. But some members of Congress —— at least, Democrats — are speaking out and demanding answers.

克莱门：特朗普总统致信佩洛西称，至关重要的一点是，他要对督察长人选抱有最充分的信任，如今这位督察长已不再是那么回事。他没有给出任何理由。在联系美国国务院希望他们就此评论时，我收到了一份声明，称国务院很高兴宣布特朗普政府在国务院的政治任命公职人员斯蒂芬·阿卡德将接管督察长办公室。国务院甚至都没有提到任职多年的督察长史蒂夫·利尼克，或他被要求离职的原因。但部分国会成员——至少民主党人——正在公开要求答案。

SIMON: The Democrats contend, in a nutshell, that this firing fits a pattern. Also recently let go were the principal deputy inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, the intelligence community inspector general, the chairman of that federal panel created by Congress to oversee management of the coronavirus relief package.

西蒙：简而言之，民主党人认为这次解雇符合一种模式。最近的一系列解雇都符合这种模式，比如美国卫生和公众服务部首席副监察长、情报部门监察长以及国会成立的负责监管冠状病毒救助计划的联邦小组主席。

KELEMEN: Right. And so, you know, I — we saw Senator Ben Cardin, for instance, who's on the Foreign Relations Committee, calling this latest one just another example of the White House efforts to purge the administration of every last independent watchdog. Those were his words in a tweet today. We don't know a whole lot, as I said, about why Steve Linick is let go. Eliot Engel, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that he's learned that the inspector general had actually opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, so Engle said this could be an unlawful act of retaliation.

克莱门：好。举例来说，我们看到外交关系委员会成员、参议员本·卡丹称这次解雇是白宫努力清除独立监管机构的又一个例证。这是他今天在推特上发表的言论。如我所说，我们不太清楚史蒂夫·利尼克遭解雇的原因。众议院外交事务委员会主席埃利奥特·恩格尔表示，他了解到，督察长利尼克实际上已经对国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥展开调查，因此恩格尔称，这可能是一种非法的报复行为。

SIMON: What do we know about that investigation?

西蒙：我们对这项调查有何了解？

KELEMEN: The IG's office says that it can't confirm or deny any specific investigation. The State Department wouldn't comment. But one Democratic aide told me that the office was looking into reports that Pompeo and his wife used a State Department employee to perform personal tasks. Now, last year, I should note, the — CNN did a report about security agents complaining that they had, in effect, become "Uber Eats with guns." That was a quote from that piece.

克莱门：督察长办公室表示，他们不能证实或否认任何具体调查。国务院不予置评。但一名民主党助手告诉我，督察长办公室正在调查有关蓬佩奥及其妻子让国务院职员执行个人任务的举报。我应该指出，去年CNN报道称，安全人员投诉他们实际上已经成为“配枪的快递小哥”。这是引用那篇报道的原话。

SIMON: What do we know about Mr. Linick?

西蒙：我们对利尼克有何了解？

KELEMEN: Well, he's been on the job since 2013. He was appointed by President Obama. He seems to be pretty well-respected. He did do a couple of recent reports about Trump political appointees at the State Department retaliating against career public servants. One of those reports blasted the assistant secretary for international organizations, a man who has — sorry — a man who has since left that job. Another report was critical of Brian Hook, who's Pompeo's point person on Iran, for his handling of a personnel matter involving an Iranian American career civil servant. So Linick was taking these allegations of political retribution pretty seriously at a time when President Trump and his allies often talk about what they call a deep state at the State Department.

克莱门：他从2013年开始担任督察长。他由奥巴马总统任命。他似乎饱受尊敬。他最近确实撰写了几篇涉及特朗普在国务院的政治任命公职人员报复职业公务员的报告。其中一份报告抨击了负责国际组织的助理国务卿，之后那位男国务卿就离职了。另一份报告对蓬佩奥任命的伊朗问题特别代表布莱恩·胡克进行了批评，因为其对涉及一名伊朗裔美国职业公务员的个人事务处理不当。因此，利尼克非常认真地对待这些政治报告的指控时，特朗普总统及其盟友则经常谈论美国国务院的“隐形政府”。

SIMON: NPR's diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen, thanks so much for being with us today.

西蒙：以上是NPR新闻的外交记者米歇尔·克莱门带来的报道，非常谢谢你和我们连线。

KELEMEN: Thank you.

克莱门：谢谢。