在亚特兰大老旧的肉类加工区，一家农场直接供货的小餐厅的一个角落，美国前代理司法部长萨丽?耶茨(Sally Yates)正往我的边盘里盛蔬菜和一勺极具南部特色的蘸酱。她因为公然挑战唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)的行政令而被解职。
In a corner of a small, farm-to-table restaurant in Atlanta’s old meatpacking district, Sally Yates, the former acting US attorney-general, who was fired for her audacity in defying Donald Trump, is piling vegetables on to my side plate with a dollop of Southern charm.
“把我的拨给你一些。给你的盘子里盛一点。做成一个小素菜盘吧，行吗？
“Let’s get you a?.?.?.?get a fork in. Let’s just put some on a plate. Let’s do a mini veggie plate for you, is that OK?”
她已经拿起我的叉子，从她的盘子里给我分了一些玉米粒、油炸秋葵和绿叶菜。“你来到我的老家，我怎么也得让你好好享用一顿美食，”她说。在我的坚持下，她也给自己留了一些。
She has already picked up my fork and is scooping portions of corn succotash, fried okra and green spring vegetables from her plate on to mine. “You came to my hometown and I need to make sure you have a good meal,” she says, over my protestations that she save some food for herself.
耶茨是巴拉克?奥巴马(Barack Obama)总统执政时期的司法部副部长。今年1月20日，即特朗普就职当天，她出任司法部代理部长。然而，她在这个位子上只坐了10天就被解职，因为她拒绝为特朗普倍受争议的旅行禁令——一项短时间内禁止七个以穆斯林为主国家的公民入境美国的行政令——辩护。白宫将她的行为称之为背叛。
Yates, who was Barack Obama’s deputy attorney general, took over as acting head of the Department of Justice on January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration. She served for just 10 days before she lost her job for refusing to defend his controversial travel ban — an executive order temporarily halting entrance to the US from seven mainly Muslim countries. The White House described her actions as a betrayal.
耶茨是在1月27日星期五飞往亚特兰大参加一个慈善义卖活动时听说这项旅行禁令的。总统发布禁令之前，并没有知会她或负责国家安全的官员。那个周末，她一直在痛苦地思考自己该这么做。星期一，她告诉司法部人员不要为总统的行政令辩护，因为她不确信这项命令是“合法的”。
Yates was flying to Atlanta for a charity benefit on Friday January 27 when she learnt about the travel order, which had been issued without any warning to her or national security officials. Over the weekend, she agonised over what to do. On Monday, she told DoJ employees not to defend the order because she was not convinced it was “lawful”.
当天晚上大约9点左右，耶茨还在办公室工作。她听到有人敲门——然后停顿了一下。 “如果是[我的助手]，他会在敲门的同时直接推门进来，但这一次只是敲门，没人进来。这和往常不太一样。所以我有一种异样的感觉。”来人递给她一封总统的信，通知她，她被解职了。
At about 9pm, Yates was still in her office when she heard a knock at the door — and a telling pause. “If it were just [my assistant] he would have knocked and opened at the same time but there was a knock without opening. That’s different. So I had a feeling.” She was handed a letter from the president notifying her that she had been fired.
一夜之间，耶茨就成了聚光灯下的人物。自由派人士将她视为英雄。来自年轻女性、移民和其他人士的信件像雪片般飞到她的家中，向她表达感激之情。现在，耶茨已经回到了距华盛顿超过600英里的亚特兰大老家，这里是她27年司法部职业生涯起步的地方。
Overnight, Yates was catapulted into the limelight. Liberals see her as a heroine. Letters flooded into her home from young women, immigrants and others expressing their gratitude. Now, comfortably more than 600 miles from Washington, she has returned to her home in Atlanta, the place where she began her 27-year career at the DoJ.
中午12点29分，耶茨迈着轻快的步子走进了Miller Union餐馆。虽然她早到了一分钟，但看到我已经坐在角落的一张桌旁，她似乎有些失望。她说她不喜欢迟到，因为迟到会给人一种自己的时间比别人的时间更重要的感觉。她身穿无袖黑色衬衫和芥末黄的裤子。她神情放松，脸色微微泛红，进门前一定跑来着。
Yates breezes into Miller Union at 12:29 and seems disappointed I am already seated at a corner table. Although she is one minute early, she says she doesn’t like to be late because it sends the message her time is more important than someone else’s. Dressed in a sleeveless black blouse and mustard trousers, her face is relaxed and slightly pink from an earlier run.
我注意到，邻桌客人的目光在一直跟着她移动。“很奇怪，我被解职之后，认出我的人比我在位时还多，”她用软软的、拖着长音的南方调说。
I notice eyes from a nearby table following her movements. “It has been strange that after I’m no longer in the position more people seem to recognise me than they did when I was in the job,” she says in a gentle Southern drawl.
“我有时会去健身房。之前我已经几天没洗头、没化妆也没有收拾。有人会走过来，想跟我照个自拍合影。这时候我就会徒劳地想：‘天呀，我讨厌这幅邋遢的样子出门。’但我还是拒绝化妆去健身房，”她笑着说。
“I’ll be in the gym sometimes. I haven’t washed my hair in a few days, no make-up or anything like that and somebody will come up and want to do a selfie and I’m just vain enough to think, ‘God, I hate for this to be out there.’ But I also refuse to start wearing make-up to the gym,” she laughs.
还有一些更加令人感动的时刻——前一段时间在一家餐馆里，一个移民家庭走到耶茨跟前说，她的行为对他们有非常重要的意义。 “当人们真的看着你的眼睛，和你说话，感谢你时……你没法不感动，”她说。“我知道，并不是每个人都这样想，但是幸运的是，其他人一般不会走过来对我说些什么。”
There have also been more poignant moments — a few weeks earlier, an immigrant family approached Yates at a restaurant to tell her what her actions had meant to them. “When people really look you in the eye and talk to you and thank you?.?.?.?that can’t help but move you,” she says. “I recognise not everybody feels that way but, happily, the other people generally tend not to walk up and say anything to me.”
我们把话题转向1月底那些高潮跌宕的日子。在特朗普宣布旅行禁令前一天，耶茨曾召集白宫法律顾问唐?麦甘恩(Don McGahn)开会，提醒他，特朗普的国家安全顾问迈克尔?弗林(Mike Flynn)可能会因去年12月与俄罗斯大使的通话而遭到俄方的胁迫。此后不久，弗林就被迫辞职了。
We turn to the whirlwind of those intense days in late January. The day before the ban was announced, Yates had called a meeting with the White House counsel, Don McGahn, to alert him that Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn might be subject to blackmail by Russia based on a December telephone conversation he had with the Russian ambassador. Flynn was forced to resign soon afterwards.
“事情发生得太快了，那十天忙得天昏地暗，”她说。“在那段时间里，我们甚至都没吃午餐，因为我们一直正在忙于应付弗林的事情。那个周五下午，我一直呆在麦甘恩的办公室。让我有些意外的是，我坐在白宫法律顾问的办公室的时候，没人告诉过我有关旅行禁令的事，”她说。
“It was such a blur. That whole 10 days was such a blur,” she says. “We didn’t even eat lunch during this time because we were dealing with all the Mike Flynn stuff. I had been sitting in Don McGahn’s office that Friday afternoon. I was somewhat surprised nobody had told me about the travel ban while I was sitting there in the White House counsel’s office,” she says.
耶茨明白，公然违抗命令是有风险的。“我不是傻瓜。我意识到被解职的可能性很大，”她说。然而，“从理智上理解这件事，和从情感上接受是完全不同的两码事……还是有一种肚子上被猛击了一拳的感觉。”她回忆起那一刻时，眼睛里闪着泪光。“我仍然对我做出的决定感到欣慰，但我不想被解职。这不是我所期望的为从事了27年的职业画上句号的方式……”她说。
Yates knew her open defiance of the order was risky. “I wasn’t stupid. I recognised there was a good chance” of being fired, she says. Still, “understanding that intellectually and processing that emotionally are two very different things?.?.?.?It’s still sort of a punch in the stomach.” Her eyes glisten as she recalls the moment. “I’m still comfortable with the decision I made, but I didn’t want to be fired. That’s not how I wanted to end 27 years of service?.?.?.?”
特朗普的禁令是以保卫国家安全的名义发布的，但在竞选期间，他在很多场合都曾多次谈到“穆斯林禁令”的想法。耶茨发现她无法将这两种情绪分割开来。“我得出的结论是，说禁令与宗教毫无关系是不正确的，”她说。“我们的宪法不允许我们为某件事找个借口，但实际上却出于某种违宪动机而行种族和宗教歧视之实。这是我们立国的核心原则，”她解释说。
Trump’s order was issued under the auspices of national security, but many times during his campaign he had talked about the idea of a “Muslim ban” and Yates found she could not divorce the two sentiments. “I came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t true to say that it has nothing to do with religion,” she said. “Our constitution doesn’t allow us to offer up a pretextual reason for something and then to actually have an unconstitutional reason to discriminate based on race or religion. It’s core founding principle stuff,” she explains.
耶茨不但没有主动辞职，而且她觉得必须公开反对这项命令。“如果仅仅是辞职了事，我可能维护住了我个人的尊严，但这样处理感觉是一种省事的做法，因为可能无法维护司法部的尊严。我会感觉没有尽到自己的职责……感觉是懦夫所为。”
Rather than resign, Yates felt she had to publicly fight the order. “If I had just resigned, I would have protected my personal integrity. But it felt like an easy way out because it would not have protected the integrity of the Department of Justice. I felt like I wouldn’t have been doing my job?.?.?.?that felt like the coward’s way to approach this.”
服务员第二次到我们的桌子旁边转悠。我们甚至连菜单还没看。耶茨点了一种不加糖的冰茶，这是美国南部的标志性饮品，我也照着点了一杯。看到菜单上的炸鲶鱼三明治我两眼放光。
The waiter is lingering at our table for a second time. We haven’t even glanced at the menu. Yates orders an unsweetened iced tea, that trademark of the South. I follow her lead. My eyes light up at the fried catfish sandwich.
“真的吗？”耶茨问。“你比我胆大。连我都不吃鲶鱼 。”
“Really?” Yates asks. “That’s bolder than I am. Even I won’t eat catfish.”
她点了一道时令蔬菜——一个美味的南方经典菜肴拼盘。她说：“你应该尝尝最具南方特色的菜品。”所以我们又点了玉米面青葱炸丸子，美味煎饺配熏辣椒及青柠蛋黄酱。“如果你点了鲶鱼，你就能吃炸丸子。”
She chooses the plate of seasonal vegetables, a delicious mix of classic Southern cuisine. “You ought to try something that’s quintessentially Southern,” she says. So we add the corn and scallion hush puppies, a savoury fried dough dumpling with smoked chilli and lime aioli dipping sauce. “If you’re going catfish you can go hush puppy.”
点完菜之后，我问她，你明知道这么做会激怒总统，为什么还作出了那样的决定呢？她说：“促使我做出这一决定的众多因素之一是，司法部与律师事务所不一样，”她说，“我知道，这听起来有点迂腐和伪善，但[在司法部]，你代表的是美国人民，是相信我们会公正司法的美国公民。你的工作不是打赢官司，而是要维护公正。”
With the ordering out of the way, I ask how she came to her decision knowing the outrage it would prompt. “One of the things that informed me is the difference between the DoJ and a law firm,” she says. “I know it sounds trite and self righteous but [at the DoJ] you’re representing the people of the United States and the citizens of our country who are entrusting us to administer justice. Your job is not to win, it’s to do justice.”
耶茨出生于一个律师家庭。她的祖父和父亲都是法官。她的祖母是佐治亚州第一批通过律师资格考试女性之一，但由于当时不允许妇女执业当律师，她只好经营自己家的律师事务所。“她非常聪明，简直难以置信。我多么希望她在有生之年能够有一些这样的经历。”
Yates was born into a family of lawyers. Her grandfather and father were judges. Her grandmother was one of the first women in Georgia to pass the bar exam, but because it was not acceptable at the time for women to practise law she instead ran the family legal practice. “She was smart as a whip, just incredible. I wish she had lived to be able to experience some of this.”
当她将家庭背景描述为一群“无聊”的律师时，我提到她的姐姐，一位保守的电台主持人，似乎与这个背景不匹配。“你发现了？”她笑着说。“很显然，我们有不同的观点。”姐妹两人早就约定不讨论政治。
When she describes her family background as “boring” lawyers, I note that her sister, a conservative radio host, doesn’t seem to fit the mould. “So you found that?” she laughs. “Obviously we have different points of view.” The two decided long ago not to discuss politics.
玉米面青葱炸丸子上桌了，我们将热热的丸子切开，洋葱和玉米的香味扑鼻而来。
The hush puppies arrive and we break the warm dough apart, releasing a fragrance of onion and corn.
耶茨在佐治亚州长大，并在州立大学获得新闻学学士学位。毕业后，她最终进入亚特兰大知名律师事务所King＆Spalding。对她的职业发展影响最大的案件是她的首次庭审。那是在上世纪80年代的佑治亚州农村区县巴罗县(Barrow County)，她的祖父和父亲都曾经在同一间法庭出席过庭审。她代表的是一名93岁的非洲裔美国妇女，这位妇女与附近的一个地产开发商发生了土地纠纷。她的客户极其不信任法律，即使下地干活，也要把地契放在口袋里随身携带。参与当天庭审的法官、陪审团和对方律师都是白人。
Yates grew up in Georgia and attended the state university. After graduating with a degree in journalism, she eventually joined the venerable Atlanta law firm King & Spalding. Her most formative case was her first trial in the 1980s in rural Barrow County, Georgia, in the same courthouse where her father and grandfather had tried cases. She was representing a 93-year-old, African-American woman in a land dispute with a neighbouring developer. Her client was so distrustful of the law that she carried the deed to her land in her dress as she worked the fields. The judge, jury and opposing counsel involved in the trial were all white.
“我永远不会忘记，当我的客户看到陪审团成员是清一色的白人时，他们脸上的表情。 [但是]陪审团经过评议做出裁决：“这块土地是属于你的，”耶茨回忆说。“这件事情的发生就像是，在一个你没有料到会发生这种事情的小镇或地方，法律显示出其应有的公正性。 我认为，那将是我一生经办的最重要的案子。”
“I will never forget the look on my clients’ faces when they saw this all-white jury. [But] they came back and said, ‘This property is yours’,” Yates recalls. “It worked like it was supposed to in a town and a place where you might not have expected it to. I think that’s the most important case I’ll ever have.”
耶茨因起诉亚特兰大一名腐败的前市长，和1996年奥运会期间在世纪公园制造爆炸案的埃里克?鲁道夫(Eric Rudolph)而声名鹊起。之后，她的职业生涯可谓是平步轻云。2009年，奥巴马提名她担任佐治亚州北区联邦检察官。6年之后，她被调往华盛顿，担任美国司法部副部长。
Yates made a name for herself in Atlanta prosecuting a corrupt former city mayor and bringing charges against Eric Rudolph for bombing Atlanta’s Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympic Games. After that, her rise was swift. In 2009, Obama nominated her to be US attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Six years later, she was called to Washington to serve as the deputy US attorney-general.
我们的主菜来了。我点的油炸鲶鱼夹在餐包中间，上面浇了塔塔酱，旁边配了一些炸薯条。鱼肉酥脆可口，一点儿也不油腻。她点的蔬菜盘色彩斑斓，且独具特色。我有点想吃她那一份了，但是，这种感觉没持续多久，耶茨就开始往我的边盘里盛蔬菜。“好了，你应该来点儿这个。这些西红柿太棒了，”她边说边给我的盘中盛了一些棕色的传统西红柿（没有经过人工杂交的西红柿——译者注）。“你介意在这样的场合吃别人盘子里的东西吗？”
Our entrées arrive. The fried catfish is tucked into a bun with tartare sauce next to a handful of french fries. It’s crispy and not at all oily. The vegetable plate is colourful and distinctive. I feel slightly envious, but not for long as Yates begins filling my side plate. “OK, you’ve got to have these. These tomatoes are fantastic,” she says, heaping brown heirloom tomatoes on to my plate. “Are you allowed to eat off somebody else’s plate during this?”
就在我们会面的当天，小唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump Jr)公开了一些电子邮件，证实他与特朗普的前竞选经理保罗?马纳福特(Paul Manafort)和总统的女婿兼高级顾问贾里德?库什纳(Gared Kushner)一起会见了一位俄罗斯律师，后者声称掌握有可以将希拉里?克林顿(Hillary Clinton)定罪的信息。我注意到，这次会议的相关邮件推迟披露，与弗林在他与俄罗斯大使会面的问题上遮遮掩掩，这两件事如出一辙。
We’re meeting on the day that Donald Trump Jr released emails confirming a meeting he attended alongside Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, with a Russian lawyer who purported to have incriminating information about Hillary Clinton. I note a parallel between the delayed revelation of this meeting and Flynn’s obfuscation about his meeting with the Russian ambassador.
5月份，美国国会召集耶茨就弗林和旅行禁令作证。当时她对在场的议员说，“起诉几个与‘通俄门’有牵连的人没什么坏处”。喜剧演员斯蒂芬?科尔伯特(Stephen Colbert)发推特说：“《神奇女侠》将于6月2日上映。但是如果你想在公映之前先睹为快，那就请看萨丽?耶茨在参议院的表演吧。”
Yates was called before Congress in May to shed light on Flynn and the travel ban. At the time she told the room that “it wouldn’t hurt to prosecute a few folks” in connection with Russia’s meddling in the election. Comedian Stephen Colbert tweeted: “Wonder Woman is in theaters June 2. But if you want a sneak preview, watch Sally Yates’ performance in front of the Senate.”
“老实说，我知道的并不比新闻报道多，”耶茨说。“但是，我认为，这就是任命罗伯特?穆勒[担任特别检察官]，彻底调查通俄门的重大意义所在。不过，人们确实需要认识到，鲍勃进行的一切调查都是为了找到可以用于弹劾或起诉的犯罪证据。他的调查仅限于此，因为其他方面的问题不是司法部的管辖范围。我对鲍勃很有信心。显然，他已经忙得不可开交了。
“I honestly don’t know any more than what was in the news,” Yates says. “But to me that’s why having Bob Mueller [special counsel for the Russia investigation] on board to do a really thorough investigation is so important. But people do need to recognise though that all Bob is looking at is whether there’s evidence of a crime that was committed for impeachment purposes or prosecution. He doesn’t look more broadly, because that isn’t really the charge of the DoJ. I have great confidence in Bob. He’s obviously got his hands full.”
自从被解职以来，耶茨一直保持低调。她花费了大量时间修理花园。她养了两只被救助的幼犬斯科特(Scout)和奈利(Nelly)，称它们是“她的另外两个孩子”和“史上里最具破坏性的狗狗”。在她在华府任职期间，两个小家伙把花园变成了战场。“他们什么都吃…… 地毯、整个沙发和家具，无一幸免。最后，我们不得不在[在室外门廊]摆放金属材质的家俱，因为金属是他们唯一不吃的东西，”她说。“我很爱它们。”
Yates has kept a low profile since her dismissal. She’s been repairing her garden, which her two young rescue dogs, Scout and Nelly, who she calls “her other children” and “the most destructive dogs of all time” turned into a battlefield while she navigated DC. “They have eaten everything?.?.?.?like rugs, a whole sofa, furniture. We finally had to get metal furniture [on the outside porch] because it was the only thing that they wouldn’t eat,” she says. “I adore them.”
我问她是否考虑竞选公职。“不，不，”她说。“这些东西从来就对我没有吸引力。我认为还有其他能够发挥影响的方法。”例如，耶茨热衷于通过投资囚犯教育计划来对监狱系统进行改革，以便他们在获释后有多一些选择。
I ask her whether she is thinking about a run for elected office. “No, no,” she says. “That’s just not anything that I’ve ever been drawn to. I think there are other ways to be able to hopefully have an impact.” For example, Yates is passionate about reforming the prison system by investing in educational programming for inmates so they have options when they are released.
在她担任副司法部长期间，美国开始了一个试点计划，允许囚犯使用特殊版本的iPad学习一些培训课程，但她怀疑，在现任司法部长杰夫?塞申斯(Jeff Sessions)的领导下，这个计划还能否继续下去。塞申斯已经采取行动推翻奥巴马时代的政策，指示联邦检察官更加严厉地对待犯罪，对毒品犯罪采用最重的量刑。
When she was deputy attorney-general, the US began a pilot programme to allow inmates to take courses using specially formatted iPads, but she is doubtful it will continue under current attorney general Jeff Sessions, who has taken steps to reverse Obama-era policies by directing prosecutors to be tougher on crime and to seek the strongest charges for drug offenders.
服务员收拾了我们的盘子，并问我们要不要点甜点——餐馆特色是自制冰淇淋三明治，有巧克力麦芽、甜玉米和焦糖三种口味。耶茨提议我俩点一个分着吃。我选择了焦糖口味。当甜点上桌时，耶茨将它一分两半。三明治看起来像传统的儿时美味，但味道浓郁，口感层次丰富。在我狼吞虎咽、几口下肚之后，耶茨才仅仅吃了几小口。
The waiter clears our plates and tempts us with dessert — the house specialty is homemade ice cream sandwiches in three flavours, chocolate malt, sweetcorn, and caramel. Yates suggests we split one. I choose the caramel flavour. When it arrives, Yates cuts it in half. While the sandwich looks like a traditional childhood treat, it has a rich and sophisticated flavour. I devour it as Yates takes a few small bites.
耶茨最近注册了一个推特帐户，但她并不期望把它变成一个发声的渠道。“我不会在推特上大张旗鼓地发表自己的想法，”她说。不过，来自移民、家庭和年轻妇女的信件让她觉醒，她说。她在床边放了一封来自俄勒冈州的一个家庭的信，信里附了一张他们两岁儿子在机场的照片：这个孩子手拿里拿着一个标语牌，上面写着“欢迎移民和难民”。
Yates recently signed up for a Twitter account, but she does not expect to turn it into a megaphone. “I’m not going to think out loud on Twitter,” she says. Nevertheless, the letters from immigrants, families and young women stirred an awakening, she says. She keeps by her bed a letter from a family in Oregon with a photo of their two-year-old son at the airport holding a sign, “Immigrants and refugees welcome.”
“现在，我有了一种以往从未预料到的真正的责任感，”她说。
“I feel a real responsibility now that I never really anticipated,” she says.
她是如何回复年轻女士的来信的？“谈论这个感觉有点怪怪的，”她说。“我一直想在既要自信干练又不武断粗暴之间保持微妙的平衡，因为如果你是个女人，且被认为过分激进，你就无法真正被接受。我觉得，当今的年轻女性不必像我们的成长过程那样担忧那么多。这真是件好事。”
How did she respond to letters from young women? “It feels weird to talk about this,” she says. “There was always this delicate balance of wanting to be assertive but not be abrasive because you weren’t really accepted if you were a woman and you were considered too aggressive. I don’t get the sense that younger women today have to worry about that as much as we did when I was coming up. That’s a really good thing.”
思绪把她带回到今年1月份举行的抗议新总统的“女性向华盛顿进军”(Women’s March)大游行。当时，她正在华盛顿特区的全食超市( Whole Foods)购物，超市里挤满了抗议者。
The thought takes her back to the Women’s March protesting the new president in January. She was shopping at a Whole Foods in DC when the store became overwhelmed with protesters.
“我只能背靠冷冻食品柜站着，看着这些年轻女性手持抗议标语。她们是那样自信，她们有想法，并且正在表达自己的想法，没有表现出丝毫的胆怯。我当时想，这太棒了，一切本该如此。也许我们正处在一个女性勇于发声的时代。”
“I just stood back against the frozen food and just watched these young women carrying signs. They were so comfortable in their own skin, they were so comfortable that they had a view and they were expressing it and they weren’t the least bit sheepish. And I thought, this is great, this is how it’s supposed to be. So maybe we’re in a time when women are finding their voice.”
本文作者为《金融时报》驻美国资深财经记者
The writer is the FT’s US senior finance correspondent