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What to know about the FBI raid on Trump’s house · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, August 9th. I'm Shumita 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.
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  A surprise search of Mar-a-Lago that included opening up Donald Trump's safe. Investigations into the former president are now reaching a whole new level following yesterday's hours-long search of his home in Palm Beach.
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  "The Wall Street Journal" reports that agents were there as part of an investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents. Removing classified material or official documents could mean a prison sentence, or disqualification from holding federal office. Trump has faced questions before about his handling of official papers. In January, the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. It said he should've have handed them over when he left office.
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  Trump wasn't there at the time of yesterday's raid, which he said was, quote, "not necessary or appropriate." He and his supporters were quick to say the investigation has political motivations. Eric Trump told Fox News's Sean Hannity that the raid was part of a campaign to damage his father's electoral future.
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  [START FOX NEWS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Eric Trump: This is just more political persecution of Donald J. Trump.
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  [END FOX NEWS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  The "Journal" checked in with legal historians, who couldn't name a recent example of an FBI search of a former president's home. But Trump has often taken the presidency into uncharted territory. Beyond questions about handling documents, he's accused of plotting to steal an election and backing a coup to keep him in power. A raid like this requires high-level sign-off at the Justice Department. A spokesman wouldn't say what role Attorney General Merrick Garland played. He has said little publicly about what DOJ is looking into related to Trump, but when asked about possibly charging a former president, he said "No person is above the law in this country."
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  It may be some time before we learn what any evidence gathered from Mar-a-Lago says about the Trump presidency, but let's turn now to extensive new reporting from "The Atlantic" into the Trump immigration policy that separated parents and children who tried to enter the United States.
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  Over the course of 150 interviews over 18 months, reporter Caitlin Dickerson reveals how the U.S. government designed a policy to tear families apart. She shows how the administration put the policy in place knowing how damaging it would be to children and parents, with little to no planning to help them. And she shows that the policy wasn't just made possible a few hard-liners close to Trump. Dozens of bureaucrats either actively signed off, or failed to stop it, figuring that someone else would.
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  Caitlin Dickerson: It required buy-in from a far larger number of people, both within the highest echelons of political appointees in the Trump administration, but also at the top of the bureaucracy.
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  Dickerson told us over 5,000 families were separated during the Trump administration, and as many as 1,000 may still be apart today. Those who have been reunited are recovering from complex trauma.
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  Dickerson: When it comes to children, they're experiencing a lot of developmental delays, so children went back to bedwetting, some children lost their speech. And there's a lot of paranoia and insularity and this feeling of just never wanting to leave the house and always fearing that they might be taken from their parents again, or just fearing in general that something bad could happen at any time. And on the parents' side, you know, they're also dealing with really severe trauma. and they too are suffering from night terrors and various other PTSD related symptoms. So, in a lot of cases, you know, these families have a really long way to go.
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  There's a lot of detail in this story about how Washington works, or at least how it's supposed to work. Typically, policy ideas are vetted by experts on the topic, they sign off on an idea and then it moves up the chain. It's how it's worked for generations. Expert advisors evaluate and refine ideas that are then presented to the Cabinet or the president himself for final approval.
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  But in the case of family separations, Trump adviser Stephen Miller side-stepped that system to get the hardline immigration policies he wanted, including separating families. Dickerson explains how Miller would pester people at all levels of the administration until he got what he wanted. As one former Homeland Security official said, Miller and his allies, quote, "would just keep calling until they got to yeses."
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  Dickerson repeatedly contacted Miller to offer him the chance to tell his side of the story, but he refused to comment.
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  We're only scratching the surface of this reporting here. You can read the whole thing on the Apple News app.
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  [MELANCHOLIC MUSIC]
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  Terror and panic. That's the feeling right now for the Muslim community in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after three Muslim men were murdered in the span of just a few weeks. Police say there's a strong possibility their murders are related to the unsolved killing of another Muslim man last November. The victims are Mohammad Ahmadi, Aftab Hussein, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and Naeem Hussain.
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  According to investigators, three of the four were ambushed and shot to death. Investigators haven't released a description of a suspect or suspects. They are looking for a silver Volkswagen sedan that may be connected with the killings.
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  Mohammad Ahmadi was killed outside the shop that he ran with his brother, who told NBC the killings are sending chills through the community…
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  Unidentified Speaker: Everybody's scared. They say we are not as safe anymore. Some people they already want to leave the city.
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  The victims all attended the same mosque. Meanwhile, Muslim leaders are advising community members to stay vigilant, to use the buddy system when they go out, and to avoid traveling alone at night if they can help it. Here's what Ahmad Assed, President of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, told CNN…
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  Ahmad Assed: Some people wanna move from the state till this thing is over. Some people have moved from the state. Businesses are closing. They're closing businesses early. Students won't leave their-- their homes. It's affecting people from coming over to the mosque to conduct their services, their prayers.
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  Naeem Hussain was the most recent victim, killed on Friday. He'd migrated from Pakistan in 2016 and had only become a citizen last month. Earlier on the day he was killed, he'd attended funerals for two of the recent victims. His brother-in-law spoke to NBC.
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  Unidentified Speaker 2: Being shot in that brutal manner is the most un-American thing to do to anybody, and the most inhumane thing to do to anybody.
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  [END NBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  For many families, the end of summer means back-to-school shopping. This year, stocking up on things like notebooks, backpacks and binders is a lot harder because of inflation hovering at a 40-year high.
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  Michigan parent Mary Rynsburger told NPR about changes that she's making…
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  Mary Rynsburger: For the first time, maybe in my entire experience of being a mom, I'm, you know, pausing on buying, kind of, more basic things that I used to, like, not
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  even think twice about.
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  The National Retail Federation expects that back-to-school spending will probably match the $37 billion spent last year, but inflation means that families will get less for their money.
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  In one survey of shoppers, half the parents noted that they expected to buy fewer products this year and prioritize necessities as a result of inflation. Another survey finds families skipping travel or dipping into savings to pay for stuff. Stephanie Maddox from Alabama says she'll be reusing things she already has.
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  Stephanie Maddox: My budget is bigger this year. I started a new job last year, so it is a bit bigger. But it still… it seems like it doesn't matter much.
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  [END NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Because food is the item hit hardest by inflation, one parent told NPR that she's skipping over extras, like soft drinks and Doritos. They're just not worth it at the higher price.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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