康涅狄格州参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔和马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦将这些捐款描述为一种影响力兜售行为。
Sens.
国会民主党人正要求获取更多关于唐纳德·特朗普总统白宫宴会厅项目私人捐赠者的信息。此前《华盛顿邮报》上周的报道披露了该项目的主要捐助者。
Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) and Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) described the donations as a form of influence peddling. Congressional Democrats are pressing for more information about private donors to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project following a Washington Post report last week that revealed the project’s major contributors.
“这些捐款都带有‘付费参与’的色彩，因为其中大多数企业和个人在联邦政府面前都有待办事项，”布卢门撒尔周二在接受采访时说。“我们想知道这些捐款可能在多大程度上损害了公共利益。”布卢门撒尔是参议院常设调查小组委员会的民主党首席议员，他表示，如果民主党在中期选举中赢得参议院控制权，他打算对宴会厅筹款活动进行更深入的调查。
“The donations all have the appearance of pay-to-play because most of these corporations and individuals have issues before the federal government,” Blumenthal said in an interview Tuesday. “We want to know how the public interest may have been compromised by these donations.”Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said he intends to investigate the ballroom fundraising more deeply if his party takes control of the Senate in the midterm elections.
“我们显然正在为一项更广泛、更深入的调查奠定基础，并可能动用传票权，”他说。
“We’re clearly laying the groundwork for a broader and more intensive investigation with possible use of subpoena power,” he said.
《华盛顿邮报》的报道披露了此前未公开的宴会厅捐助者，这些人在特朗普政府任下从监管决定、政府合同以及——其中一例——对一名家庭成员的赦免中获益。
The Post report revealed previously undisclosed contributors to the ballroom who have benefited under the Trump administration from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member.
普通的政治捐款要求公开披露，并受竞选财务规则约束。宴会厅的捐款由一个非营利组织募集，然后输送给政府，并进入一个由总统直接控制的白宫账户。
Ordinary political giving requires public disclosure and is subject to campaign finance rules. The ballroom donations are collected by a nonprofit organization and then channeled to the government and into a White House account the president directly controls.
独立专家和学者对该安排可能带来的影响力收买和被迫捐款表示担忧。
Independent experts and scholars have expressed alarm at the potential the arrangement has for influence buying and coerced giving.
布卢门撒尔周二致函的捐赠者包括EchoStar和Dish Network的联合创始人查理·埃尔根，以及科技公司思科系统、Salesforce和ServiceNow。
The donors Blumenthal sent letters to on Tuesday include Charlie Ergen, co-founder of EchoStar and Dish Network, as well as tech firms Cisco Systems, Salesforce and ServiceNow.
他要求提供信息的其他对象还包括：空间站开发商Vast Space、加密货币交易所Kraken、游说人士兼特朗普顾问杰森·米勒，以及特朗普赦免的一名银行家的女儿伊莎贝拉·埃雷拉。
Among the others he requested information from are Vast Space, a space-station developer; Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange; Jason Miller, a lobbyist and Trump adviser; and Isabela Herrera, the daughter of a banker pardoned by Trump.
《华盛顿邮报》周二试图联系这位参议员信函的收件人。埃根旗下Dish Network的一位发言人拒绝置评。其他人周二晚间均未作出回应。
The Post attempted to contact recipients of the senator’s letters on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Ergen’s Dish Network declined to comment. Others did not respond Tuesday evening.
布卢门撒尔此前曾给几十位捐赠者致函，要求提供类似信息，这些捐赠者的名单已由白宫披露或见诸媒体报道；他还向一些参与该项目筹款、设计和建设的公司及组织发出了类似信函。
Blumenthal had previously written several dozen letters requesting similar information from donors who had been disclosed by the White House or in media reports, as well as to some companies and organizations involved in the project’s fundraising, design and construction.
“巨型企业、大型科技公司和富有的内部人士正拿出数千万美元为特朗普总统的面子工程买单，我们难道要相信这是出于他们的善心吗？这看起来像是一个赤裸裸的‘金钱换权力’骗局，亿万富翁和企业购买影响力，而美国家庭买单，”沃伦说。其他高层民主党人也呼吁采取行动。国会主要共和党领袖尚未就舞厅捐赠者名单公开置评。
“Giant corporations, big tech firms, and wealthy insiders are handing over tens of millions of dollars to fund President Trump’s vanity project, and we’re supposed to believe it’s out of the goodness of their hearts? This looks like a blatant pay-to-play scheme where billionaires and corporations buy influence while American families pay the price,” Warren said. Other top Democrats also called for action. Leading congressional Republicans have not commented publicly on the ballroom donor list.