特朗普在一份长篇Truth Social帖子中为堪萨斯州参议员罗杰·马歇尔（共和党）辩护，称在一份报告揭露他起诉了数百名未付医药费的患者后，这位参议员在法律上有义务追讨债务，否则他自己可能面临刑事指控。特朗普在周一的帖子中称赞这位前产科妇科医生，并指责他的民主党挑战者亚当·汉密尔顿将此事作为他在11月大选中的攻击点。
President Trump defended Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) after a report revealed that he sued hundreds of patients for unpaid medical bills, claiming the senator was legally obligated to pursue the debts or risk facing criminal charges himself. In a lengthy Truth Social post on Monday, Trump praised the former obstetrician-gynecologist and accused his Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton, of using the controversy against him ahead of November’s election.
他写道：“罗杰是我最喜欢的参议员之一——他绝对很伟大，是个很棒的人，因为法律要求他向患者追讨欠款，所以他被冤枉了。”他写道：“如果他不提出这些要求，他就会违法，并面临刑事责任和逮捕。”实际上，没有任何联邦或州法律要求医生因未付医药费而起诉患者，也没有法律要求债务催收人向法官申请逮捕令，以对未出庭的被告采取行动。
“Roger is one of my favorite Senators — He is absolutely GREAT, a wonderful person, given a 'bum rap' because he was mandated by Law to request money owed from patients,” Trump wrote. “If he didn’t make these requests, he would be breaking the Law, and subject to criminal liability and arrest.”There is no federal or state law requiring doctors to sue patients over unpaid medical bills, nor is there such a law requiring debt collectors to request arrest warrants from judges for defendants who do not show up to court.
《纽约时报》9月的一项调查发现，马歇尔在其数十年的医生生涯中，其医疗机构曾因未付账单起诉超过700名患者，其中一些债务低至101美元。根据《纽约时报》审查的记录，在这些案件中，有81名患者因未出庭被逮捕。马歇尔的律师在13起案件中寻求逮捕令，但尚不清楚这些患者是否最终被拘留。特朗普还为这些逮捕行为为马歇尔辩护，认为法官而非参议员应对执行法院命令负责。
A September investigation by The New York Times revealed that Marshall's medical practice sued more than 700 patients over outstanding bills during his decades-long career as a physician, including some debts as low as $101. Patients were arrested in 81 of those cases after missing court appearances, according to the records reviewed by the Times. Marshall’s attorneys sought arrest warrants in 13 cases, though it was unclear whether those patients were taken into custody. Trump also defended Marshall over the arrests, arguing that judges, rather than the senator, were responsible for enforcing court orders.
“法官因患者多次未出庭而下达逮捕令，这不是罗杰·马歇尔的错——这是法律，”他写道。堪萨斯州法律允许法官在被告未出庭时发出逮捕令，但律师没有义务申请此类令状。《纽约时报》发现，马歇尔的律师多次针对未出庭的患者申请逮捕令。
“A judge ordering a patient’s arrest for not showing up to court many, many times is not Roger Marshall’s fault — IT IS THE LAW,” he wrote. Kansas law allows judges to issue arrest warrants when defendants fail to appear in court, but attorneys are not required to request them. The Times found that Marshall’s lawyers repeatedly sought warrants against patients who missed court dates.
史蒂夫·约翰逊是马歇尔的律师，经常代表该参议员处理债务案件。他在向《时代》杂志发表的声明中表示，这些逮捕令是必要的，以确保债务人出庭。他问道：“如果被告只在他们想出庭时才出庭，而没有任何后果，法院将无法完成任何工作。”约翰逊还告诉该媒体，马歇尔本人并未参与申请逮捕令或扣押患者工资的决定。然而，他表示，马歇尔对未付的医疗账单设定了年利率18%。
Steve Johnson, an attorney for Marshall who regularly represented the senator in debt cases, said in a statement to the Times that the warrants were necessary to ensure the debtors were present in court. “If defendants were allowed to appear only when they wanted to without any consequences the court would get no business done,” he said. Johnson also told the outlet that Marshall was not personally involved in decisions to seek arrest warrants or garnish patients’ wages. He did, however, say Marshall established an 18 percent annual interest rate on outstanding medical bills.