A new court filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith alleges that Donald Trump acted as a private citizen when he tried to overturn the 2020 election. Israel hits central Beirut in a series of nighttime airstrikes. And NBC News visits a mountain town wiped out by Hurricane Helene.
Here’s what you need to know today.
Trump ‘resorted to crimes’ after 2020 election losses, special prosecutor claims
Former President Donald Trump was running as a private candidate for office, not president of the United States, when he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss and “resorted to crimes to stay in office,” according to a new filing by special prosecutor Jack Smith. claims.
The dossier, released yesterday, is related to Trump’s federal election case and is a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. It provides new details about Trump’s actions after the 2020 election and leading up to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, including testimony about Trump’s conversations with former Vice President Mike Pence. In a discussion on November 12, Pence offered Trump a “face-saving option,” instructing him not to allow the election “but to acknowledge that the process is over.”
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Other revelations include an FBI expert’s analysis showing Trump was scrolling Twitter during the Capitol riot, as well as new evidence that an unnamed aide heard Trump say to family members after the 2020 election: “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost. the election. You still have to fight like hell.
Smith’s team again argued that Trump knew his statements about the 2020 election were in fact lies and said he relied on his own campaign staff and volunteers to carry out the alleged scheme.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denounced the “lie-ridden” filing, calling the case a “partisan, unconstitutional witch hunt.”
Read the full story here.
Israel prepares Iran’s response and attacks central Beirut as Lebanon faces ‘apocalyptic’ situation
Israeli attacks in the heart of the Lebanese capital Beirut killed at least nine people and injured seven overnight, health officials said. The strikes affected the Bachoura district, which is within walking distance of the prime minister’s headquarters, as well as many foreign embassies. Three people were killed immediately, while three more died later from their injuries, the country’s health ministry said.
An ‘apocalyptic’ situation is brewing across Lebanon, health workers warn. About 1.2 million people have been displaced and many are sleeping on the streets of Beirut. One U.S. permanent resident is among the dead, and about 100 U.S. citizens and their families left on evacuation flights last night as other countries announced their own plans.
Israel is also preparing its response to the Iranian missile attack earlier this week, Israeli and US officials say.
Follow our live blog for updates.
More coverage of the conflict in the Middle East:
The mountain town of North Carolina is destroyed by Helene
The death toll from Hurricane Helene and its aftermath has risen to 190 people in the southeastern states, according to an NBC News tally, and hundreds of people remain missing. Thursday marks a week since the storm first made landfall in Florida before barreling through parts of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, leaving destruction in its wake. For residents of Swannanoa, North Carolina, about 20 miles east of Asheville, the shock is still intense.
NBC News reporter Deon Hampton spoke with residents of the small mountain town. Brown mud covered the few buildings still standing, he noted. Many other structures were reduced to splinters. And whenever the wind rose, the smell of dust and dirt filled the nostrils.
“I don’t think anyone, including the government, thought this was what we were going to get,” said Beverly Eller, 68, who has stayed in shelters after she and her husband narrowly escaped flooding in their home. Meanwhile, Stewart Cody, owner of a local auto body repair shop, estimates it will be months before his shop reopens. And without insurance, the damage will cost him dearly. Read the full story.
More coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene:
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Follow our liveblog for the latest news about the search for the missing.
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Asheville Mission Hospital Staff described the appalling conditions after Helene, from no running water to food scarcity for both patients and workers.
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Elon Musk’s Starlink brings much-needed internet services to storm-ravaged areas, but not without some political arguments.
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Only about 2% of homes in the 100 counties hardest hit by Hurricane Helene were protected by flood insurance, an NBC News analysis found. See the map.
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President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Georgia and Florida today, a day after touring North Carolina and announcing the deployment of 1,000 active-duty troops.
Politics in short
On the campaign trail: A day after the vice presidential debate, Senator J.D. Vance ditched the “Midwest nice” tone he presented on Tuesday and reignited his fiery rhetoric at an event in Michigan. Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman and daughter of a former Republican vice president, will campaign with Vice President Kamala Harris today in the Wisconsin city considered the birthplace of the Republican Party.
Ambitions for 2025: Republicans in Congress are already looking ahead to what they can accomplish if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who is running for an influential leadership position, introduced the Republican Party should combine an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act with an extension of the 2017 Trump tax law if voters elect Trump and a Republican Party-controlled Congress. And Republican senators, who expect at least one Supreme Court vacancy during the next presidential term, are excited about the prospect confirmation of more conservative judges.
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Read all about it
Personnel choice: She wants to start a College Republicans group at her HBCU
Charrise Lane said she left her predominantly white Christian college for Florida A&M University, a historically black university, to be surrounded by its people. She decided to keep her conservative views hidden while on campus, even as she built a sizable young, black Republican following online. Now that her secret is out, Lane, a senior public relations major, is once again looking for community, this time in the form of an official chapter of the College Republicans. It would be the only chapter operating on an HBCU campus. Just one challenge: she’s having a hard time finding a faculty member willing to sponsor them. — Michelle GarciaNBC BLK Editor-in-Chief
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
