白宫国家安全顾问涉与俄官员进行违法谈话
Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, is facing mounting pressure over claims he may have broken the law by discussing US sanctions against Russia with a Moscow official before the US president’s inauguration.
唐纳德?特朗普(Michael Flynn)的国家安全顾问迈克尔?弗林(Michael Flynn)面临着越来越大的压力，原因是他可能在美国总统就职之前就与莫斯科方面的一名官员讨论了美国对俄制裁问题，从而触犯了法律。The White House has been forced on to the back foot after the former general went from denying discussing sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington to saying he could not recall if the issue was addressed in conversations.
白宫已被迫采取守势，因为这位退役中将说话前后不一：先是否认自己曾与俄罗斯驻华盛顿大使讨论制裁问题，后来又说他不记得在谈话中是否提到了这个问题。The Washington Post reported last week that US officials were concerned that Mr Flynn might have been signalling to the Kremlin that the Trump administration would adopt a softer stance on Russia than the Obama administration. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the issue to determine what the two men discussed.
《华盛顿邮报》上周报道，美国官员们担心弗林可能在向克里姆林宫发出信号，表明特朗普政府将对俄罗斯采取比奥巴马政府更柔和的立场。联邦调查局(FBI)正在调查此事，以确定两人究竟讨论了什么。
Pressed by reporters on Friday, Mr Trump said he had no knowledge of the issue, but would “look into” the reports. Stephen Miller, a White House policy adviser, was conspicuous in not defending Mr Flynn when he was sent to advocate for the administration on the Sunday political talk television shows.
特朗普在上周五被记者们追问时表示，他对这件事一无所知，但会“看一看”相关报道。白宫政策顾问斯蒂芬?米勒(Stephen Miller)在代表特朗普政府参加周日的电视政治谈话节目时，令人瞩目地没有维护弗林。Mr Miller dodged a question, saying it was “sensitive”, which is typically not the kind of language the White House uses when it wants to defend an official under attack. Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey who was once a contender for a senior role in the Trump administration, told CNN that Mr Flynn should talk to Mr Trump and Mr Pence to “make sure that they are completely accurate about what went on”.
米勒回避了一个问题，称其“敏感”，这不是白宫在捍卫一名受到攻击的官员时常用的措辞。新泽西州共和党州长、一度是特朗普政府高级职位角逐者的克里斯?克里斯蒂(Chris Christie)对有线电视新闻网(CNN)表示，弗林应该同特朗普和彭斯交谈，“确保他们完全准确地了解发生了什么情况”。Democrats have criticised the White House over the allegation that Mr Flynn may have contravened the Logan Act. The 1798 law bars private citizens from engaging in foreign policy, although nobody has been successfully prosecuted. The White House did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
对于弗林可能违反了《罗根法》(Logan Act)的指控，民主党人对白宫提出批评。美国在1798年通过的这部法律禁止私人参与外交政策，尽管还没有人被依照该法成功地提起公诉。白宫昨日没有回应记者的置评请求。While such allegations would be damaging for any White House, the issue has taken on more significance because of concerns among Democrats — and some hawkish Republicans — that Mr Trump intends to remove, or weaken, sanctions on Russia that were imposed because of the conflict in Ukraine. Mr Trump has been critical of several US allies, but he has defended Russian president Vladimir Putin on multiple occasions.
此类指控会损害任何一届行政当局，但这件事格外重大，因为民主党人——还有一些鹰派共和党人——都担心特朗普有意取消或削弱因乌克兰冲突而实施的对俄制裁。特朗普曾对美国的多个盟国发表批评，却已在多个场合为俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔?普京(Vladimir Putin)辩护。“As with so many other aspects of the Trump presidency, this is unpreceden-ted. Flynn is badly damaged, whether he stays or goes,” said Larry Sabato, a politics expert at the University of Virginia. “The worst part is that Flynn’s vulnerability — his cosiness with Putin and Russia — was well known to Trump before his appointment. So it’s a self-inflicted wound that underlines again the suspicions about Russia’s influence in Trump’s election and administration.”
“就像特朗普总统任期的其他许多方面一样，这是史无前例的。弗林无论留下还是走人，他都已严重受损，”弗尼吉亚大学(University of Virginia)政治专家拉里?萨巴托(Larry Sabato)表示。“最糟糕的一点是，弗林的弱点——他与普京和俄罗斯的亲近——特朗普在任命他之前就非常清楚。所以说这是一个自我造成的伤口，再次突显了人们对俄罗斯在特朗普当选和他的行政当局中发挥影响的疑虑。”
