DOJ points to possible Trump obstruction, 25 years since Princess Diana's death: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Justice Department says Trump's request for special master would impede investigation
Officials are saying the former president may have obstructed the federal investigation. Plus, U.N. atomic energy officials arrive in Ukraine on a mission to Europe's largest power plant, race and justice reporter Tiffany Cusaac-Smith explains how segregation is still a persistent problem in U.S. schools, it's been 25 years since Princess Diana's death and money reporter Terry Collins tries to answer whether the housing market is in a recession or a correction.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Wednesday, the 31st of August, 2022. Today, the Justice Department is citing efforts that may have obstructed the investigation at Trump's estate, plus how segregation remains a problem in American schools, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
Mikhail Gorbachev has died. The last leader of the Soviet Union, many saw him as the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European countries. But he was also criticized by some of his countrymen who blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its weakening as a superpower. Gorbachev was 91.
US life expectancy has dropped for the second straight year. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American lifespan has shortened by nearly three years.
And Serena Williams rolls on tonight. The tennis legend will play the second match in what's expected to be her final US Open after winning her opener on Monday. She'll take on Annette Kontavit at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
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Justice Department officials told a federal judge last night that the appointment of a special master to oversee a review of document seized from former President Donald Trump's property would impede the government's investigation. Trump had pushed hard for an independent screener. But in response to his request, prosecutors also refuted claims that Trump had cooperated with authorities in the months leading up to this month's search. Justice officials said efforts were actually made to hide records eventually recovered by investigators and that Trump's lawyers would not allow agents to view the contents of boxes inside a storage room in June to confirm that none of them were marked classified. Two months later, FBI agents found 11 sets of classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. Yesterday's Justice filing stated that, "Efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation." The AP's Eric Tucker has more.
Eric Tucker:
Tonight we are learning new details about the FBI investigation into the presence of classified documents at Donald Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago. What we have learned from this new court filing this evening is that there are concerns within the Justice Department that the Trump team may have committed obstruction of justice during the course of this investigation. The filing makes clear that boxes of records of classified documents were moved and concealed out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago even after the Trump team had asserted that all records had been accounted for and a diligent search had been done. That makes clear that the Justice Department and FBI are as concerned about the possibility of obstruction as they are about the presence of the classified information.
Taylor Wilson:
Trump lawyers have called for a stop to document review until a special third-party master was appointed. But prosecutors yesterday said that the appointment of one at this time was unnecessary. That's after federal authorities said a privileged review team had been assigned to screen documents for any privileged information.
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Fighting in southern Ukraine intensified yesterday. An apparent Ukrainian counter-offensive aimed at driving Russia out of the occupied city of Kherson continues. Both sides claim success in what could be a weeks-long push by Ukrainian forces to regain territory in the region. Ukraine's military said it used US-provided rocket launchers to destroy bridges linking Kherson to resupply lines from the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
The British Defense Ministry confirmed, in its daily assessment of the conflict, that Ukrainian long-range strikes were disrupting Russian efforts to resupply its troops. Russian officials, though, said Ukraine's military was routed, losing more than a thousand fighters in the early stages of the offensive. Russia says it also took five prisoners. Kherson, a port city close to the Black Sea, was the first major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian troops.
Meanwhile, the UN's nuclear watchdog team is in Ukraine this week on a mission to safeguard the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Atomic Power Plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency experts met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv yesterday. He outlined what he wants from the experts' visit to the plant.
Taylor Wilson translating for Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
"We would like there to be more than just an inspection because I believe that an inspection is a tactical action but there is a strategic decision. The nuclear power plant is located in the territory of Ukraine. It's Ukrainian property and has been completely and safely controlled for many years by Ukrainian specialists of the Energy Agency, the leadership of the Ministry of Energy, and the administration of the energy system of our country. Today, all the leaders of Europe and the world support the urgent demilitarization of the station, the withdrawal of military of the Russian Federation, and the liberation of our station, as well as the organization of a demilitarized zone, both in the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and its surroundings, and the complete transfer of the station under Ukrainian control. This is the only way we can eliminate any risks associated with nuclear energy."
Taylor Wilson:
Ukraine and Russia continue to blame each other for shelling near the plant, which briefly went offline last week. To avoid disaster, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, sought access for months to the plant. He previously led a mission to Chernobyl in April. The IAEA said its team will go through urgent safeguard activities, assess damage, determine the functionality of the plant's safety and security systems, and evaluate the control room staff's working conditions.
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The student population in American public schools has grown significantly more diverse, but segregation remains a persistent problem, according to a new report. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with Race and Justice reporter, Tiffany Cusaac-Smith, to find out more.
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith:
This story comes out of a recent report from the Federal Government Accountability Office. It finds that more than a third of K-12 students attended schools that were 75% or more students of the same race or ethnicity. To answer your question about where does school segregation persist, one of my sources really said it well, that racially-divided schools and ethnically-divided schools are all across the country. They're in the Midwest, Northeast, West, South. School segregation remains a persistent problem across all geographic bounds. I think that this study really shows that racially divided schools still happen. There's this connotation that school segregation is something of the past, that it was something that happened with integration battles of the '60s. This report, I think, underscores the idea that this is something that is still going on in American public schools.
PJ Elliott:
What are the effects of school segregation?
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith:
There's a wide body of research speaking to the effects of school segregation on the fortunes of students and communities. About 80% of students attending low-income schools are Black and Hispanic, and both groups are more likely to attend alternative schools for discipline. Conversely, integration has been associated with a reduction in dropout rates, a narrowing of achievement gaps. But getting to integrated schools has been complex, controversial. Courts have, in the past, mandated busing of students to integrate schools, but there has been backlash to that. Also, magnet schools were created in part to help desegregate schools, but about one in four of magnet schools are still made up of predominantly one race or ethnicity, according to the GAO study.
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Taylor Wilson:
Today marks 25 years since Princess Diana's death. She and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, died after a car crash in Paris's Pont de l'Alma tunnel. Their relationship had begun just that summer, though he reportedly had decided to propose to her that night. They died after a hotel employee crashed into a concrete pillar in the tunnel in an attempt to outrun paparazzi. After the accident, Dr. Frederic Mailliez happened to be driving by and attended to Diana while she was still alive with limited supplies before the ambulance's arrival.
Dr. Frederic Mailliez:
So I walked toward the wreckage. I opened the door, and I look inside. Four people, two were apparently dead, no reaction, no breathing, and the two others on the right side were living but in severe condition. And the female passenger, the young lady, was on her knee on the floor of the Mercedes. She had her head down. She had difficulty to breathe. She needed quick assistance. That was a massive shock to learn that she was Princess Diana and that she died. Immediately after that, I checked with myself and I said, "Did I do everything I could to save her? Did I do correctly my job?" Yes, I couldn't have done anything better.
Taylor Wilson:
The crash opened a number of conspiracy theories, including a false one spread by Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Fayed, that the British royal family deliberately had Diana and Dodi killed to prevent a marriage that would've meant a Muslim stepfather for her sons. The media, particularly celebrity paparazzi, were thrown under fire in the wake of Diana's death. Her brother, the Earl Spencer, said editors had blood on their hands. Nine French photographers were even arrested and charged with manslaughter, though charges were thrown out in 2002. Beyond the royals, Diana was a global pop culture icon. Her charity work was celebrated, particularly surrounding HIV and AIDS, and her fashion choices sparked generational trends. Diana was 36 years old.
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There's a widening debate about where the US housing market stands. Is it in a recession or a correction? PJ Elliott spoke with Money reporter, Terry Collins, to find out.
PJ Elliott:
Terry, is there a housing slowdown happening right now with the market? Because, there during the pandemic, it seemed like houses were being sold before you could put the sign up in the yard that it was for sale.
Terry Collins:
Yeah, yeah, there is. There's a widespread consensus that the housing market is experiencing a drastic drop off in activity since the pre-pandemic days. A slowdown will likely continue, some experts say, with price declines for about 18 months, but we've seen this more so within the past six months where there's been a slow activity in terms of housing sales, housing, that it was hot on demand. Now it's just kind of cooling. There's not that much of a fever pitch for housing. The competition's kind of slow. But there's one thing, that housing prices still remain up significantly from a year ago.
PJ Elliott:
Does this mean that we're in a recession for the housing market, or is this a correction of the market?
Terry Collins:
Well, it depends on who you ask. Home builders and realtors think there is a housing recession happening due to the slowdown, while other experts believe that the correction is happening, that now that the market is getting back to days before the pandemic. Right now, it's anybody's guess really to what's going to happen.
PJ Elliott:
Could the entire housing market collapse? Could we be on the brink of that happening?
Terry Collins:
One expert said that there could be one within the next possibly 12 to 18 and even as far out as 24 months, but that's hard to see for some right now. I think that there could be a leveling of the market in terms of demand and prices. We just haven't seen them happen at the same time. It's not happening in sync. While housing demand is slowing, housing prices are still up. So it's kind of an imbalanced market for the time being.
PJ Elliott:
What do potential home buyers need to know?
Terry Collins:
There's just going to be an ongoing debate upon what the market's in right now. If we are in a recession or if we are in a corrective state, I don't think there's going to be any consensus on that. I think this is going to be ongoing until we see a shift of, as I said before, either demand for housing slows along with the prices going down. Once we get into something along that line, once there's something that's a little bit more, I guess, consistent, then, I guess, whatever you want to say, if it's either/or right now. But we're experiencing an imbalanced market within the housing industry.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven mornings a week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, your smart speaker device, or wherever you get your audio. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ on possible Trump obstruction, school segregation endures: 5 Things podcast
