評論
打印
Are Trump's taxes a national-security risk?
特朗普的稅收政策威脅到國家安全了嗎？
One of the fastest ways to be denied a security clearance, intelligence officials will tell you, is to carry a load of debt.
要論放棄安全許可最快的方式，情報官員的答案是，背負沉重的債務算是其一。
And then there's President Donald Trump.
其次便是特朗普總統。
A recent New York Times report alleges that Trump has $421 million of debt, most of it coming due over the next four years.
《紐約時報》最近的一篇報道稱，特朗普已經欠下了4.21億美元的債務，其中大部分都將在未來四年內到期。
For a sitting President, such financial exposure is more than embarrassing, former intelligence officials and ethics lawyers say.
就一位在位總統而論，這樣的財務缺口堪稱極其丟臉，前情報官員和道德律師表示。
"These are legitimate counter-intelligence security concerns.
“這些都是合理的反情報安全擔憂。
I would be shocked if agencies of the United States government were not doing what they could to monitor the President's connection to foreign governments" to ensure U.S. interests aren't compromised, says Mark Zaid,
我會十分震驚，如果美國政府機構沒有盡其所能監控總統與外國政府的聯系”，以確保沒有損害到美國利益的話，馬克·扎伊德說。
a D.C. attorney specializing in national security, who represents federal whistle-blowers.
扎伊德是華盛頓特區專門從事國家安全事務，代表聯邦告密者 的一名律師。
It is not clear where Trump will turn when the loans come due; American banks are reportedly unwilling to loan him money.
貸款到期后特朗普會向何方求助目前尚不清楚；據報道，美國的銀行都不愿借錢給他。
But if the dates reported by the Times are accurate,
但如果《紐約時報》報道的日期無誤，
"a second term for President Trump would result in increased vulnerability—and thus, potentially, risk,"
“特朗普連任成功的話，美國的財務將變得更加脆弱——可能還會因此陷入更大的風險，”
says Robert Cardillo, former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
美國國防情報局前副局長羅伯特·卡迪羅說。
Such a situation could make Trump an even more attractive target for foreign actors with deep pockets—and their own U.S. policy interests—and add a new dimension to his interactions with countries where he has previously pitched business ventures.
屆時，特朗普將成為財力雄厚的外國勢力——以及他們自己的，牽涉美國政策的利益——眼中更為誘人的目標，他與之前他曾投放過商業項目的國家的互動也將增加新的維度。
This would look less like traditional foreign influence and more like "personal financial pressure (that) could adversely affect U.S. national-security decisions," Cardillo says.
如此一來就不太像傳統的外國干涉，而更像是“可能對美國國家安全決策產生不利影響的個人財政壓力了，”卡迪羅說。
Trump, who broke a 40-year tradition among presidential candidates by refusing to release his tax returns in the 2016 election and has for years tried to block legal efforts to obtain them, has called the report "totally fake news."
打破了40年來的總統候選人傳統，拒絕在2016年大選中公布自己的納稅申報單，多年來還一直試圖阻止執法部門獲取這些納稅申報單的特朗普稱，《紐約時報》的報道是“徹頭徹尾的假新聞”。
He has long claimed he can't release his tax information because it's under audit;
長期以來，他一直聲稱他無法公布自己的稅務信息，因為審計工作還未完結，
the IRS has said nothing is preventing him from doing so.
國稅局表示，妨礙特朗普公開稅務信息的阻力并不存在。
Any defensiveness only makes Trump more vulnerable, say some experts.
特朗普的任何辯白都只會讓他顯得更加脆弱，一些專家表示。
"His continued efforts to hide his financial circumstances and lie about (them) would constitute a potential national-security threat,"
“他一再隱瞞自己的財務狀況，對(此)謊話連篇，他的這些行為是有可能對國家安全構成威脅的，”
says John Sipher, a retired 28-year veteran of the CIA's National Clandestine Service.
在中情局國家秘密服務局工作了28年的退休老兵約翰·西弗說。
"The fact that criminal or foreign intelligence groups might become aware of Trump's lies would provide them unacceptable leverage."
“罪犯或外國情報組織可能會意識到特朗普在撒謊，他們可能因此拿到美國無法接受的籌碼。”
Trump's debt raises red flags, says Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush Administration.
曾在喬治·W·布什政府擔任白宮首席倫理律師的理查德·佩因特表示，特朗普的債務已經點亮了危險信號。
"We don't know how bad it is."
“我們只是不知道，情況到底有多糟。”
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
