唐纳德·特朗普上周一开始时做出了一个意外的宣布：总统表示，今后他将停止使用纳税人的钱来资助白宫的宣传性竞选广告。他还说，今后他的资金充足的超级政治行动委员会将开始为这些广告买单。
Donald Trump began last week with an unexpected announcement: Going forward, the president said, he would stop using taxpayer money to finance the White House’s propagandistic campaign ads. Going forward, he said, his well-funded super PAC would start paying for the commercials.
这看起来似乎特朗普别无选择：该广告活动引发了两党的批评，民调显示公众对公款被挪用的反对声浪十分强烈。
It seemed as if Trump didn’t have much choice: The ad campaign had generated bipartisan criticism, and polls showed overwhelming public opposition to the misappropriation of public funds.
但总统的承诺很快被证明是毫无意义的，证据也迅速浮出水面——就在特朗普公开承诺停止使用公款之后几天，共和党政府仍在使用公共资金为中期选举宣传付费。这促使民主党全国委员会以及包括非党派监督组织“共同事业”(Common Cause)在内的多个团体联盟共同提起了两起诉讼。
Except the president’s vow proved meaningless, and evidence quickly emerged that the Republican administration was still using public funds for the midterm propaganda days after Trump had publicly committed to stop. This sparked a pair of lawsuits from the Democratic National Committee and a coalition of groups, including the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause.
美国地方法院法官詹妮弗·罗雄(Jennifer Rochon)在回应该联盟的诉讼时，很快批准了一项临时限制令，并指示政府取消所有仍在播放且由纳税人钱财付费的电视广告。
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon, responding to the coalition’s case, soon granted a temporary restraining order and directed the administration to cancel any remaining television commercials that had been paid for with taxpayer money.
但情况并未如愿改善：尽管白宫面临周日傍晚的截止时间，公共资金资助的竞选广告仍持续播放至周一早上。
Except that didn’t work out, either: Though the White House faced a deadline of late Sunday afternoon, publicly financed campaign ads continued into Monday morning.
白宫是否故意无视法院命令？显然不是。问题被曝光几小时后，特朗普的司法部做了一件它很少做的事：它向联邦法官道歉，而不是向公众道歉。
Was the White House deliberately ignoring a court order? Evidently not. Hours after the problem was exposed, Trump’s Justice Department did something it rarely does: It apologized, not to the public, but to the federal judge.
在一份法庭文件中，司法部律师表示了忏悔，并将程序上的混乱归因于哥伦布日假期。该文件还补充道：被告明白，他们被禁止使用、支出或转移拨给国土安全部的资金，以开发、制作、传播、安置、分发、出版或播放所质疑的广告；被告明白，他们应取消或导致取消任何用于播放或传播所质疑广告的时段、安置、预订或安排。
In a court filing, a Justice Department attorney expressed contrition and cited the Columbus Day holiday as a reason for the procedural confusion. The filing added: Defendants understand that they are enjoined from using, disbursing, or transferring funds appropriated to the Department of Homeland Security to develop, create, disseminate, place, distribute, publish, or air the challenged s; Defendants understand that they shall cancel or cause to be cancelled any slot, placement, reservation, or arrangement for the airing or dissemination of the challenged s.
至少目前看来，政府似乎明白它不能使用纳税人的钱来为特朗普的竞选广告买单。
At least for now, it would appear the administration understands it cannot use taxpayer money for Trump’s campaign ads.
话虽如此，白宫已经花费的数百万美元公共资金仍是一个问题，美国人是否应该期望因特朗普团队最近的滥用行为而得到赔偿。
That said, there’s still the matter of the millions in public funds the White House has already spent, and whether Americans might expect to be reimbursed for Team Trump’s recent abuses.
就他而言，国土安全部长马克韦恩·穆林周末出现在《面对国家》节目中，并向CBS新闻的玛格丽特·布伦南暗示，纳税人永远拿不回他们的钱。
For his part, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin appeared on “Face the Nation” over the weekend and suggested to CBS News’ Margaret Brennan that taxpayers would never get their money back.
“只要我们能做一次公共服务广告并为美国自豪，我就全力支持，”这位俄克拉荷马州的共和党人说，尽管显然这些竞选广告并不是公共服务广告——其中一则广告实际上是两年前特朗普竞选广告的直接翻版——以及这些广告是在吹嘘特朗普而不是美国这一事实。
“Any time we can do a public service announcement and brag about America, I’m all about it,” the Oklahoma Republican said, despite the obvious fact that the campaign ads weren’t PSAs — one of the ads literally recycled one of Trump’s campaign ads from two years ago — and the fact that the commercials bragged about Trump, not the U.S.