三名民主党籍美国国会议员周四致函Kirkland & Ellis律所主席Jon Ballis，要求该所交出与去年该所与共和党总统唐纳德·特朗普达成的协议相关的记录，并誓言将把这一要求推进到下一届国会。
A trio of Democratic US lawmakers lodged a new request for Kirkland & Ellis to turn over records related to a deal the law firm made with Republican President Donald Trump last year, vowing to press their demands into the next congressional term.
参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔、亚当·希夫和众议员杰米·拉斯金在信中表示，该所利用“法律上站不住脚的特权主张”来规避提供文件或回答参议院常设调查小组和众议院司法委员会民主党工作人员此前提出的问题。
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Adam Schiff and Representative Jamie Raskin said in a letter sent to Kirkland chairman Jon Ballis on Thursday that the firm used "legally specious claims of privilege" to avoid producing documents or answering earlier questions from Democratic staff at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the House Judiciary Committee.
“尽管Kirkland不予配合，我们仍将动用手头的一切工具推进此次调查——不仅在本届国会，也包括下一届国会。”议员们在信中写道。拉斯金和布卢门撒尔分别是众议院委员会和参议院小组的首席议员。
"Notwithstanding Kirkland’s lack of cooperation, we will use every tool at our disposal to pursue this investigation—in this Congress and the next," the lawmakers wrote. Raskin and Blumenthal are ranking members of the House committee and Senate subcommittee.
民主党希望在下个月的中期选举后重新夺回国会两院的控制权，这将使党派议员在推动国会调查配合方面拥有更大杠杆。
Democrats are hoping to retake both chambers of Congress following next month's midterm elections, which would give party lawmakers more leverage to compel cooperation with congressional investigations.
Kirkland & Ellis的一位发言人未能立即回应置评请求。
A spokesperson for Kirkland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
去年，Kirkland & Ellis是九家承诺共计提供9.4亿美元无偿法律服务以支持特朗普所倡导事项的主要律所之一，旨在避免白宫对其进行打压——特朗普曾指责这些律所存在种族歧视并损害国家利益。
Kirkland was one of nine major law firms that pledged last year to contribute a combined $940 million in pro bono work to causes supported by Trump, in order to head off a White House crackdown on firms that the president had accused of racial discrimination and acting against the country's interests.
周四的信函是这三名民主党议员就该所协议细节提出的一系列要求中的最新一封。信中重申了他们要求Kirkland披露其与特朗普私人律师鲍里斯·普施泰因的接触情况以及其据称代表美国商务部开展的工作等诉求。
Thursday's letter was the latest in the series of requests by the three Democrats for details related to the law firm agreements. It reiterated the lawmakers' demands that Kirkland disclose its contacts with Trump's personal lawyer Boris Epshteyn and its reported work for the US Commerce Department, among other requests.
信中称，Kirkland在五月份对国会工作人员的回应中错误地主张所寻求的信息受到律师-客户特权和白宫行政特权的保护。
The letter said Kirkland improperly asserted in a May response to congressional staff that the information being sought was shielded by attorney-client privilege and White House executive privilege.
迄今为止，柯克兰拒绝提供相关文件、拒绝与国会调查人员会面，并提出经不起推敲的毫无根据的特权主张，未能配合我们的调查，它说。
"Thus far, Kirkland has failed to cooperate with our investigation by refusing to provide relevant documents, refusing to meet with congressional investigators, and making baseless claims of privilege that do not withstand scrutiny," it said.