弗林被解职,“通俄”丑闻继续发酵

The White House is facing mounting pressure to explain the relationship between President Donald Trump and the Kremlin, after Michael Flynn was fired as national security adviser following claims that he may have illegally discussed sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to Washington.

白宫正受到越来越大的压力，要求其解释唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)总统与克林姆林宫之间的关系。此前迈克尔?弗林(Michael Flynn)被解除国家安全顾问一职，原因是他可能非法地与俄罗斯驻华盛顿大使讨论了制裁问题。

The abrupt ousting of Mr Flynn after 24 days in the White House role has intensified the focus on the Trump administration’s ties to Russia and made it impossible for the White House to convince sceptics that all is smooth inside the West Wing.

在白宫任职仅24天的弗林突遭解职，加剧了外界对特朗普政府与俄罗斯关系的关注，而且使白宫再也无法说服持怀疑态度的人士相信其内部运作一切正常。

Mr Flynn was fired on Monday as scrutiny mounted into claims that he discussed US sanctions against Russia in calls with the Russian ambassador before Mr Trump’s inauguration — a possible breach of a 1799 law — and then misled Mike Pence, vice-president, about the calls. US media reported that the justice department had warned the White House weeks ago that this made Mr Flynn susceptible to blackmail.

弗林周一遭解职之际，各方对他所面临的指控越来越关注，他被指在特朗普就职之前就与俄罗斯大使在电话通话中讨论了美国对俄制裁问题（此举可能触犯了1799年生效的一部法律）、后来又在电话内容上误导了副总统迈克?彭斯(Mike Pence)。据美国媒体报道，美国司法部几周前就警告白宫，这使得弗林容易受到要挟。

Sean Spicer, White House spokesman, on Tuesday said Mr Trump had concluded that there was no legal issue, but that he was angry that Mr Flynn had not been honest about the calls. Asked if the president had told Mr Flynn to discuss sanctions with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, he replied: “No, absolutely not.”

白宫发言人肖恩?斯派塞(Sean Spicer)周二表示，特朗普已得出结论认为，这件事不存在法律问题，但他对弗林在电话内容上的不诚实非常生气。在被问及是不是总统授意弗林与俄罗斯大使谢尔盖?基斯利亚克(Sergey Kislyak)讨论制裁问题时，他回答说：“不，绝对不是。”

“The level of trust between the president and General Flynn had eroded to a point where he felt he had to make a change,” said Mr Spicer. “The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for General Flynn’s resignation.”

“总统与弗林中将之间的信任水平已受到侵蚀，以至于他觉得必须做出改变，”斯派塞说，“这一情况导致的不断演变和遭侵蚀的信任水平，以及其他一系列有问题的事例，是总统要求弗林中将辞职的原因。”

Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said reports that the White House had been briefed weeks ago raised “deeply troubling questions” and said the public needed to know whether Mr Flynn had been asked to make the calls. Roy Blunt, a Republican member of the committee, said investigators should pursue the case until “nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned”.

美国参议院情报委员会(Senate intelligence committee)的民主党头号人物马克?华纳(Mark Warner)说，有关白宫几周前就已得到通报的报道，带来了“令人深感不安的问题”，他表示，公众需要知道弗林是不是奉命打了那些电话。该委员会的共和党成员罗伊?布伦特(Roy Blunt)说，调查人员应追查此案，直至“没人怀疑有任何细节被遗漏”。

Russian politicians said Mr Flynn’s exit did not bode well for the turnround in bilateral relations desired by Moscow. “Even the readiness for dialogue with the Russians is seen as a thought crime by the hawks in Washington,” said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament. “Russophobia has infected even the new administration.”

俄罗斯政界人士表示，弗林出局对于莫斯科渴望的双边关系转向不是好兆头。“即使是与俄罗斯进行对话的意愿都被华盛顿鹰派视为思想犯罪，”俄罗斯联邦议会上院外交事务委员会主席康斯坦丁?科萨切夫(Konstantin Kosachev)说，“恐俄症甚至已经传染到了新政府。”

Congressional aides in Washington said the new revelations about Mr Flynn would likely spur further investigations by Congress, intelligence agencies, and law enforcement. “People can smell blood in the water and want to do more,” said one senior Republican congressional aide. “It’s not like many Republicans are defending him.”

在华盛顿，美国国会的助理们表示，关于弗林的最新爆料很可能会促使国会、情报机构和执法部门展开进一步调查。一位资深共和党国会助理表示：“人们能闻到水里的血腥气，想要采取更多行动。反正没有多少共和党人在为他辩护。”

The Trump administration’s ties to Russia are the subject of separate investigations by the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees. “This is just one more reason to keep digging,” said a former FBI official.

特朗普政府与俄罗斯的关系是联邦调查局(FBI)和参众两院情报委员会发起的其他调查的焦点。FBI一名前官员表示：“这是继续挖掘的又一个原因。”

FBI officials have been baffled by Mr Flynn’s conduct, the former official said, noting that the former intelligence operative must have known that his calls would be overheard by US spy agencies. “He’s got to know that the Russian side of the calls are covered. What did he think was going to happen?” the ex-FBI official said. “Everybody in the bureau was like, ‘this guy’s got to be out of his frickin’ mind.’”

这名前官员还说，FBI官员们对弗林的行为感到困惑，指出身为前情报人员的弗林，肯定知道自己的电话会被美国间谍机构窃听。上述FBI前官员表示：“他必然知道俄方一侧的电话会被窃听。他以为会怎样？局里每个人都觉得，‘这家伙肯定脑子不正常。’”