特朗普接管委内瑞拉石油收入的行为背后，隐藏着一个潜在的、随时可能引发宪法危机的隐患。
Buried inside President Trump’s takeover of Venezuela’s oil revenue is a ticking constitutional time-bomb.
几个月来，国会中的民主党议员一直就特朗普如何利用其金融体系来控制委内瑞拉的资产提出质疑。然而，尽管多次举行听证会，财政部长斯科特·贝森特仍拒绝向国会提供关于这些石油收入及其他资产的详细账目信息；特朗普政府通过一系列难以追踪的银行账户来管理和处置这些资产，但国会或相关宪法条款并未赋予其这样的权力。
For months, congressional Democrats have been asking questions about Trump’s financial system for controlling Venezuelan assets. But despite repeated hearings, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not give Congress a basic accounting of the billions in Venezuelan oil money and other assets that the Trump administration has been collecting and managing through a series of elusive bank accounts.
这一安排始于特朗普下令美军将前委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗及其妻子西莉亚·弗洛雷斯从他们的卧室中带走，并将他们带到美国接受审判（指控他们犯有刑事罪行）。随后，马杜罗的副总统德尔西·罗德里格斯被任命为临时总统，并获得了美国政府的承认。
Nor is there clear constitutional or congressional authority for any of this. The arrangement began after Trump ordered the U.S. military to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their bedchamber, bringing them to the U.S. to await trial on alleged criminal violations.
今年1月，特朗普宣布委内瑞拉将向美国输送多达5000万桶石油，他表示：“这些石油将由我掌控，以确保它们能用于造福委内瑞拉和美国人民！”白宫随后通过一项行政命令正式确认了这一安排，明确指出这些石油仍属于委内瑞拉的主权财产，并要求财政部以“保管和管理的身份”来处置这些资金，同时必须遵循国务卿马可·卢比奥的分配指示。
Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was installed as interim Venezuelan president and later recognized by the U.S. government. After announcing in January that Venezuela would turn over up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., Trump stated that the oil “will be controlled by me … to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!”
美国财政部外国资产控制办公室的网站目前告知向委内瑞拉付款的各方，应将资金存入一个名为“外国政府存款基金”的账户。在收到付款指令前，存款人必须向美国国务院提供交易各方、所依据的合同、发票、金额、币种、付款日期以及授权该交易的 具体许可证等信息。如果不满足这些要求，财政部似乎可以拒绝受理存款。
The White House formalized the arrangement on January in an executive order stating that the funds remain Venezuelan sovereign property while directing the Treasury Department to hold them in a “custodial and governmental capacity” and to follow the disbursement instructions of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The website of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s now instructs parties making payments to Venezuela to deposit the money instead into something called the “Foreign Government Deposit Funds” account. Before receiving payment instructions, a depositor must provide the State Department with information about the parties, the underlying contract, invoices, the amount, the currency, the payment date and the specific license authorizing the transaction.
今年1月，鲁比奥告诉参议院外交关系委员会，约5亿美元的收入已存入卡塔尔境内一个据称归委内瑞拉所有、但由美国控制的银行账户。他补充说，其中3亿美元已转给委内瑞拉政府，用于发放公共部门工资，另有2亿美元仍留存在一个短期账户中。鲁比奥还表示，财政部与委内瑞达达成了一项书面协议，用于审查委内瑞拉的预算申请。
Treasury can apparently reject a deposit if those requirements are not satisfied. In January, Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that approximately $500 million in proceeds had been deposited into a bank account in Qatar that was allegedly owned by Venezuela but controlled by the U.S. He added that $300 million had been transferred to the Venezuelan government to meet public-sector payroll, while another $200 million remained in a short-term account. Rubio also said that Treasury had a written agreement with Venezuela for reviewing its budget requests.
随后在6月，鲁比奥表示，委内瑞拉的收入实际上被存放在一个遭财政部冻结的花旗银行账户中，并聘请毕马威审计支出情况。迄今为止，国会和公众仍未获知该账户的账号、余额、银行协议、授权签字人名单以及逐笔交易明细。
Then, in June, Rubio stated that the Venezuelan revenue was instead being held in a Treasury-blocked Citibank account, with KPMG engaged to audit expenditures. To date, the account number, its balance, the banking agreement, the list of authorized signatories, and a transaction-by-transaction ledger have not been disclosed to Congress or the public.
伊利诺伊州民主党众议员肖恩·卡斯滕与马里兰州民主党参议员克里斯·范·霍伦一道，已在两次国会听证会期间并通过多封函件，要求贝森特提供政府实施该行动的法律依据、与委内瑞拉达成的书面协议，以及有关这些账户和资金处置情况的基本信息。
Alongside Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) has asked Bessent at two congressional hearings and through multiple letters for the administration’s legal authority for the operation, the written agreement with Venezuela, and rudimentary information about the accounts and the disposition of the money.
在9月15日众议院金融服务委员会的听证会上，当卡斯滕询问哪家美国银行持有这些资金时，贝森特避而不答。在卡斯滕提醒他鲁比奥已经点名花旗银行后，贝森特承认花旗银行参与其中，但拒绝确认被扣押资金的数额。至于这些账户是否仅涉及石油收益，贝森特表示：“这是许多委内瑞拉资产。”令人震惊的是，他无法确认这些钱没有流向美国个人。
When Casten asked at a Sept. 15 House Financial Services hearing which U.S. bank was holding the funds, Bessent demurred. After Casten reminded him that Rubio had already named Citibank, Bessent agreed that Citibank was involved, but would not confirm the amount being held. As to whether the accounts involved only oil proceeds, Bessent stated: “It is many Venezuelan assets.”Astonishingly, he could not confirm that the money was not flowing to U.S. persons.
该行政命令为这一行动提供的法律依据主要依赖于《国际紧急经济权力法》，该法赋予总统在宣布国家紧急状态期间监管、冻结和控制涉及外国财产的交易的权力。但《宪法》第一条赋予国会财政权，该法或任何其他联邦法律都没有授权如此大规模的权利攫取。
The executive order’s legal justification for this operation rests largely on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives presidents authority to regulate, block and control transactions involving foreign property during a declared national emergency. But Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, and nothing in the act or any other federal law authorizes such a colossal power grab.
毕竟，该行政命令不仅仅是冻结委内瑞拉财产。它还声称要建立一个全面的体系，用于收取委内瑞拉石油收益和其他委内瑞拉资产，并赋予鲁比奥权力，决定如何处理其为存放这些资产而设立的“托管”账户。
The executive order doesn’t just freeze Venezuelan property, after all. It also purports to create a comprehensive system for the collection of Venezuelan oil proceeds and other Venezuelan assets, and to give Rubio the power to decide what to do with the “custodial” accounts it creates for holding them.
简而言之，政府在收取和控制另一个国家的主权资产，而财政部长却继续拒绝向国会交代资金所在位置、账户持有人身份、所付款项的性质和金额，或收款个人或实体的身份。特朗普把这一切当作可自由支配的行政资金。
In short, the government is collecting and controlling another country’s sovereign assets while the Treasury secretary continues to deny Congress an accounting of the location the money, the identity of the account holder, the nature and amount of the payments being made or the identities of the people or entities receiving them. Trump is treating it all as a discretionary executive fund.
当然，委内瑞拉临时政府有强大的经济动机予以合作。它需要获得其石油收入和其他资产，以支付政府工作人员工资并维持运转。与此同时，特朗普继续违反国际法，对委内瑞拉渔民实施致命打击。这里的问题不是委内瑞拉。而是特朗普。
Of course, Venezuela’s interim government has a powerful economic incentive to cooperate. It needs access to its oil revenue and other assets to pay government workers and keep functioning. Meanwhile, Trump continues to conduct lethal strikes on Venezuelan fisherman in violation of international law. The problem here isn’t Venezuela. It is Trump.
金伯利·韦尔目前是荷兰人文与社会科学高等研究院的主题小组协调员和研究员，著有《如何解读宪法——以及为何要解读》、《关于投票你需要知道的事——以及为何要知道》和《如何像律师一样思考——以及为何要这样思考》。
Kimberly Wehle is currently a thematic group coordinator and fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences and author of “How to Read the Constitution — and Why,” as well as “What You Need to Know About Voting — and Why” and “How to Think Like a Lawyer — and Why.“