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Untold amounts of foreign money are secretly flowing into America's political bloodstream.
大量不知情的外国资金正在秘密进入美国政治。
The danger to democracy of foreign money in U.S. elections is that it's really a fundamental attack on American democracy and self-governance.
大选中外国资金对民主的威胁是，这是对民主和自治的根本性攻击。
Recently, prosecutors charged associates of President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani
近期，检察官指控特朗普律师朱利安尼的伙伴，
with funneling $1 million in foreign money from an unidentified Russian businessman to U.S. candidates.
原因是从一名身份不明的俄国商人手中转移100万美金给候选人。
The criminal charges arose amid a Congressional impeachment inquiry of the president for allegedly pressuring Ukraine
该犯罪指控来自针对特朗普的弹劾调查，他被指向乌克兰施加压力，
to investigate Trump's political rival Joe Biden. Two of the men, Ukrainian-born Lev Parnas and Belarus-born Igor Fruman,
让他们调查政敌拜登，乌克兰的列夫·帕纳斯以及乌克兰的伊戈尔·弗鲁曼，
allegedly worked with Giuliani on this effort to pressure Ukraine as well.
这二人被指和朱利安尼合作，向乌克兰施压。
Meanwhile, an American political operative pledged guilty to illegally funneling money
同时，一名美国政治特工就转移资金一事认罪伏法，
from a Saudi tycoon to President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.
他从一名沙特大亨手中向奥巴马转钱，为了2012年连任选举。
To stem the flow of foreign money, transparency advocates are calling for an end to legal
为了阻止外国资金流动，呼吁透明的人士要求终结非法的，
but hidden donations to political action groups, like the National Rifle Association.
隐蔽性的捐助，比如向美国全国步枪协会等政治行动组织转钱。
The NRA admitted last year it accepted donations from Russia but said they only used domestic funds in U.S. election spending.
去年，该协会承认收取来自俄罗斯的捐助，但称他们的选举开销只用了国内资金。
The more this information that's sort of hidden behind closed doors, the less accountability we're going to have in U.S. politics
隐藏在背后的信息越多，我们对美国政治的责任就越少，
and the greater the opportunities become for foreign money and foreign influence to sneak in and affect U.S. elections.
那么外国资金和外国势力就更有机会渗透，影响美国大选。
But forcing the disclosure of donors to groups that advocate politically would do more harm than good, say privacy defenders.
隐私保护者认为，迫使揭露那些向拥有政治主张的组织捐助的捐助人，此举会适得其反。
We have documented evidence of people being fired from their jobs, or companies not really wanting to fire them
我们有人员被解雇的书面证据，或者是一些公司不希望解雇他们，
but feeling they had to because they were being boycotted or harassed. We have evidence of people being in some cases physically attacked.
但感觉不得不这么做，因为他们遭到了抵制或是骚扰，我们还有证据表明一些人遭到了身体攻击。
The 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision that unleashed unlimited spending by nonprofit organizations divides transparency and privacy advocates.
在2010年的公民联合案中，最高法院的决定是不再对非营利组织的开支进行限制，此规定让透明和隐私保护者产生了分歧。
But both sides agree more could be done to crack down on foreign nationals illicitly
但两方都同意我们需要在打击外国人上更加努力，
channeling contributions through American shell companies and other means.
他们通过美国的空壳公司或其它手段捐款。
Brian Padden, VOA News Washington
布莱恩·派登，VAO新闻，华盛顿报道
