--:-- [Upbeat music fades out. Host Duarte Giraldino and Host Shamita Basu introduce the podcast.]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Thursday, February 10th. I'm Duarte Giraldino.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The National Archives and Records Administration is asking the Justice Department to investigate the way Donald Trump handled official records while he was in the White House. That's all according to anonymous sources who spoke to The Washington Post.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some of the records in question could help us better understand this particular period in American history. This new development comes after days of headline after headline about how Trump didn't act in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Under that law, presidential records belong to the public, and the president is supposed to preserve all executive documents, like notes, emails, and other written communication.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Instead, as the Post has reported before, as president, Trump would tear up everything from memos to letters to briefings, both things that were important and sensitive and things that were mundane.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It was so common that in 2018, Politico reported on the aides, whose job it was to collect all these paper scraps and use clear tape to stick documents back together like a jigsaw puzzle.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this week, we learned that the National Archives recently retrieved 15 boxes of documents that were being held at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. These documents had never been turned in, and the New York Times is now reporting some may have contained classified information.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Other things found in these boxes include a letter from Kim Jong-un, the letter that former President Barack Obama left for Trump when he was sworn in, and the map that Trump drew on with a black sharpie to indicate the path of a hurricane.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Whether the DOJ chooses to investigate or not, Congress may step in here. After all these records recently got scrutinized when the House committee investigating January 6th received some documents that looked like they been torn up and taped back together.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Some Democrats are calling for their own investigation including Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. She's the chair of the House Oversight Committee.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But The Post spoke with several legal experts who say bringing a criminal case against Trump would be difficult. Not only does the archives lack a way of enforcing this rule, other presidents have also violated the Presidential Records Act in both big and small ways.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In a statement this week, Trump said he's respectfully working with the archives. The head of the archives put out his own statement. He didn't directly blame Trump for the failure to return the documents, but he stated the importance of the Presidential Records Act, calling it critical to our democracy. Records, he said, matter.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment.]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In other news, Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Roddy Bryan were all convicted in state court of several crimes, including felony murder. Courts already ruled the men killed Ahmaud Arbery while he was jogging in Georgia. They all got life sentences.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So why now is the trio on trial again in a federal court for Arbery's murder?
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: As Vox reports, in the first trial, race was not really considered as part of the prosecution's case, and that was intentional. We're talking about a strategy here that these prosecutors felt would secure a conviction. Keep race off the table. Make this about the crime and not about the motivation for that crime.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment.]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That was the strategy in state court. Now jury selection is underway for the federal hate crimes trial and race will be at the center of it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The difference between the Georgia murder trial and the federal hate crimes trial is simply that you must prove racist intent in this crime. You must prove that these people murdered Ahmaud Arbery because he was black.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There was a moment where it looked like this federal trial might not happen. The Justice Department offered two of the men the McMichaels a plea deal which they took. But in a rare move the deal was rejected by a U district court after Arbery family objected to it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, as prosecutors prepare for the hate crimes trial to begin, [Guest Jamil Smith] says they're going to be able to use the McMichaels' defense in state court as part of their federal case.
--:-- Jamil Smith: Because remember, part of the McMichaels' defense rested on an old Georgia law with racist roots. We're talking about Georgia codes that essentially were established to make sure that escaped enslaved people would be returned to plantations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And now those codes, generations later, have evolved into the very thing that these men used to defend themselves in court against charges of murdering this young man who was out for a jog.
--:-- Jamil Smith: But proving racism was a motivating factor is a high bar in a federal hate crimes trial. I spoke with legal experts who say the burden of proof will be hard to reach, even if the prosecution can prove that the McMichaels exhibited racist behaviors in the past.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In this trial, they'll need to prove that it was race that motivated them to kill Arbery.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For the first time ever, young people fighting to protect our planet are going to see their day in court. This week, attorneys representing 16 young people said their clients are going to be able to move forward with a lawsuit against the state of Montana.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In court, these youths will argue the state's energy policy and dependence on fossil fuels are infringing on their right to a clean and healthy environment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As NBC News reports, Montana is one of a handful of states where the state constitution explicitly mentions environmental rights.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Montana has had active wildfires and statewide droughts. One of the plaintiffs in this case, a 20-year-old, says those climate-related events caused a lot of road closures, which means her family's business lost half their revenue last year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And she says the smoke from wildfires is affecting her health. She told NBC it's real, it's frightening, and it's frustrating that we're not doing as much as we should.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: For a little context here, a database from Columbia Law School shows across the world, climate change lawsuits are becoming more common. But in the U.S., these kinds of suits are rare, and they often fail to gain any real traction.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this year, the Alaska Supreme Court rejected a similar lawsuit that was also filed by young people. In that case, justices said it shouldn't be up to courts to weigh in. And the same thing happened in Florida last year.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: One of the plaintiffs in the Montana case told NBC News that they hope this case will put a spotlight on what it means to be a young person fighting to protect their future if they win in Montana.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Legal experts say it could set a significant precedent for other claims moving forward. This trial is set to begin in about a year from now.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And just a quick Olympics news roundup before we let you go. Team USA snowboarder Chloe Kim got the gold. According to NBC Sports, this is her second straight Olympic halfpipe gold medal, making Kim the first repeat multi-title winner in women's halfpipe history.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In other gold medal news for America, Nathan Chen. He won with a technically incredible and stylistic performance in the men's singles figure skating event.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Chen was already looking unbeatable earlier this week when he set a new world record for the highest ever score in the short program.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And we're closely following reports of a Russian figure skater testing positive for a banned drug. Kamila Valieva technically earned the gold medal for her team, but the ceremony was postponed.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And as of early Thursday morning, the International Olympic Committee hasn't weighed in on what's going to happen next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can follow this story as it develops and all Olympic news in the Apple News app.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
