距离选举日还有四周，联邦调查局本周在社交媒体上发布了一段选举季视频，毫不掩饰地赞美该局陷入困境的局长卡什·帕特尔。然而，这并不是视频引发争议的原因。
With four weeks until Election Day, the FBI released a campaign-season video to social media this week that was decidedly unsubtle in its glorification of Kash Patel, the bureau’s troubled director. That was not, however, what made the video controversial.
虽然联邦调查局表面上是非政治性的，但这段于周二发布的两分钟剪辑还谴责了“民主社会主义领袖”，并点名批评了一系列知名民主党人，其中包括密歇根州的阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德，他恰好是全国最受关注的参议院选举之一的民主党提名人。
Though the FBI is ostensibly apolitical, the two-minute clip, posted Tuesday, also condemned “democratic socialist leaders” and called out a series of prominent Democrats by name including Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, who just happens to be the Democratic nominee in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.
该局的广告恰逢多个州的提前投票窗口开启，随后又将进步的刑事司法政策斥为“彻底失败”，这显然符合共和党的说法，但并没有得到证据的支持。
The bureau’s ad, which happened to be released as the early voting window started to open in several states, went on to condemn progressive policies on criminal justice as a “complete failure,” which is certainly in line with Republican Party talking points but isn’t exactly bolstered by evidence.
《新共和》的一篇报道补充说：“联邦法律明确禁止使用政府资金进行竞选目的的党派政治信息传播和宣传。对民主党候选人的极度不准确的攻击广告完全符合上述三类行为——而且讽刺的是，联邦调查局最新的宣扬法律与秩序的视频很可能违反了联邦法律。”随后出现了意想不到的情况：视频发布两天后，联邦调查局在未作解释的情况下将其下架。
A report in The New Republic added, “Federal law clearly prohibits the use of government funds for campaign purposes partisan political messaging, and propaganda. A wildly inaccurate attack ad against a Democratic candidate would more than count under all three of these categories — and it’s more than a little ironic that the FBI’s latest video preaching law and order likely violated federal law.”And then something unexpected happened: Two days after the video was posted, the FBI took it down without explanation.
最好不要对这些事态过度解读。但至少目前看来，联邦调查局已经听取了关于其违反联邦伦理法的投诉并采取了行动。
It’s probably best not to read much into the developments. But at least for now, it appears the FBI heard the complaints that the bureau was running afoul of federal ethics laws and acted.
《国会山报》引用了同意该视频违反选举法的专题专家的观点。报告中写道：“尽管该视频并未直接引导观众支持或反对某位候选人，但其传达的‘候选人的政策已经失败’以及‘美国民众因此陷入危险’的信息，实际上是在反对这些候选人当选，违反了《哈奇法案》，”华盛顿公民责任与道德组织（CREW）主席兼首席执行官唐纳德·谢尔曼在该社交媒体平台上写道，“该视频将埃尔-赛义德称为‘进步派民主党人、参议员候选人’，明显涉及选举活动。他并非现任政府官员，将他提及的唯一目的，就是为某位党派候选人的成功或失败摇旗呐喊——这显然违反了《哈奇法案》。”
The Hill cited subject-matter experts who agreed the video ran afoul of electioneering laws. From the report: “Although the video does not direct viewers to vote for or against a candidate, its message that the candidates’ policies ‘failed’ and ‘Americans were left exposed’ is advocacy against their election that violates the Hatch Act,” Donald Sherman, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), wrote on the social platform“The video’s mention of El-Sayed as ‘Progressive Democrat, Senate Nominee’ clearly invokes the election. He is not a current gov’t official & his inclusion has no other purpose than to advocate for success or failure of a partisan candidate — a clear Hatch Act violation.”
竞选法律中心道德事务主管德尔安妮·马斯科补充道：“如果你在毫无必要、煽动性的方式下提及政党，尤其是在选举临近时，并且以攻击某个政党的方式呈现，那么这就属于政治活动，你必须意识到这可能会如何违反《哈奇法案》……这件事不符合《哈奇法案》的规定，本不应让任何人感到惊讶。”目前，联邦调查局尚未就该视频或其从社交媒体平台上的下架发表任何评论。我隐约觉得，这件事恐怕还远未结束。
Delaney Marsco, director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, added, “If you are referencing political parties in a gratuitous way, in an inflammatory way, if it’s made close to an election, if it’s framed as an attack on a political party, that’s going to be political activity, and you need to be aware of how that’s going to run afoul of the Hatch Act. … It shouldn’t shock anyone that this is not compliant with the Hatch Act.”For now, the FBI has not commented on the video or its removal from social media platforms. I have a hunch we haven’t heard the last of this one.
帖子标题：卡什·帕特尔的联邦调查局删除了一段看起来非常像选举季广告的视频 MS NOW
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