Jack Smith court filing against Trump and Israel strikes central Beirut: Morning Rundown

A new court filing from special counsel Jack Smith argues Donald Trump acted as a private citizen when he sought to overturn the 2020 election. Israel hits central Beirut in a series of overnight airstrikes. And NBC News visits a mountain town swept away by Hurricane Helene.

Here’s what to know today.

Trump ‘resorted to crimes’ after 2020 election loss, special counsel claims

Former President Donald Trump was acting as a private candidate for office, not as the president of the United States, when he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss and “resorted to crimes to stay in office,” a new filing from special counsel Jack Smith asserts. 

The filing, released yesterday, is connected to Trump’s federal election case and is a response to the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. It includes 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 detailing Trump’s conversations with former Vice President Mike Pence. In one discussion on Nov. 12, Pence offered Trump a “face-saving option,” telling him to not concede the election “but recognize the process is over.”

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Other revelations include analysis from an FBI expert that showed Trump was scrolling Twitter during the Capitol riot, as well as new evidence that an unnamed assistant overheard Trump saying 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 once again argued that Trump knew his statements about the 2020 election were, in fact, lies and said he relied upon his own campaign employees and volunteers to carry out the alleged scheme.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the “falsehood-ridden” filing and declared the case a “partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt.”

Read the full story here. 

Israel prepares Iran response and strikes central Beirut as Lebanon faces ‘apocalyptic’ situation

Israeli strikes in the heart of the Lebanese capital of Beirut killed at least nine people and wounded seven overnight, health officials said. The strikes hit the neighborhood of Bachoura, which is within walking distance of the prime minister’s headquarters, as well as many foreign embassies. Three people were immediately killed while three more died afterward from their injuries, the country’s Ministry of Health said. 

An “apocalyptic” situation is mounting across Lebanon, healthcare workers have warned, with some 1.2 million people displaced and many 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 last night on an evacuation flight as other countries announced their own plans.

Israel is also preparing its response to Iran’s missile attack earlier this week, Israeli and U.S. officials say.

Follow our live blog for updates.

More coverage of the Middle East conflict:

• Israel has vowed its Iran retaliation will be swift and “painful” — but what might that look like?
• Families in a Lebanese town near the border of Israel found refuge from airstrikes in a monastery. But after a day’s reprieve, they face yet another displacement.
• Hamas is “disappointed” by the lack of support from other Middle Eastern countries, a senior official for the militant group said. 

North Carolina mountain town is wrecked by Helene

The death toll from Hurricane Helene and its aftermath rose to 190 people across Southeastern states, according to an NBC News tally, and hundreds of people are still missing. Thursday marks a week since the storm first made landfall in Florida before traveling 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 raw. 

NBC News reporter Deon Hampton spoke to residents of the small mountain town. Brown mud coated the few buildings still standing, he noted. Many other structures were reduced to splinters. And whenever the wind kicked up, the smell of dust and dirt filled nostrils.  

“I don’t think anybody, including the government, thought this was what we were gonna get,” said Beverly Eller, 68, who has been staying in shelters after she and her husband narrowly escaped floodwaters in their home. Meanwhile, Stewart Cody, who owns a local body repair shop, estimated it’ll take months to reopen his shop. And without insurance, the damage is going to cost him dearly. Read the full story.

More coverage of Hurricane Helene’s aftermath: 

• Follow our live blog for the latest on the search for the missing.
• Staff at Asheville’s Mission Hospital described the dire conditions after Helene, from no running water to a scarcity of food for both patients and workers.
• Elon Musk’s Starlink is bringing much-needed internet services to storm-ravaged areas, but not without some political spats. 
• Only about 2% of residences in the 100 counties hit hardest by Hurricane Helene were protected by flood insurance, an NBC News analysis shows. See the map.
• President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Georgia and Florida today, a day after taking an aerial tour around North Carolina and announcing the deployment of 1,000 active-duty troops. 

Politics in Brief 

On the campaign trail: A day after the vice presidential debate, Sen. JD 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.

2025 ambitions: Republicans in Congress are already looking ahead at what they could accomplish if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who is running for an influential leadership position, suggested the GOP should combine an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act with an extension of the 2017 Trump tax law if voters elect Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress. And GOP senators, expecting at least one Supreme Court vacancy during the next presidential term, are excited at the prospect of confirming more conservative justices.

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Read All About It 

• The fatal shooting of a Kentucky judge, allegedly by the sheriff charged in the death, was captured on video and played in court this week.
• A wildfire that killed more than 100 people on Maui, Hawaii, last year was sparked by “reenergized” broken power lines, according to findings released by local and federal investigators.
• An Alaska national park’s famed Fat Bear Week is back — but bear-on-bear violence delayed the release of this year’s bracket by a day.
• A California doctor faces up to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in the fatal overdose of “Friends” star Matthew Perry.  

Staff Pick: She wants to start a College Republicans group at her HBCU

Charrise Lane said she left her mostly white Christian college for Florida A&M University, a historically Black college, to be surrounded by her people. She decided to keep her conservative views under wraps while on campus, even as she built a sizable young, Black Republican following online. Now with her secret out, Lane, a senior public relations major, is looking for community again, this time in the form of an official chapter of the College Republicans. It would be the only chapter active on a HBCU campus. Only one challenge: She’s having a tough time finding a faculty member who will sponsor them. — Michelle Garcia, NBC BLK editorial director

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

It’s time to get ready for next week’s fall sale events. Here’s a rundown on the membership program benefits of the big three, how to get a discounted membership or free trial and where to sign up.

• Amazon Prime Big Deal Days is from Oct. 8-9. You’ll need to be a Prime member to take advantage of the sale.
• Target Circle Week runs from Oct. 6-12. Check out Target Circle 360 membership benefits.
• Walmart Holiday Deals event is from Oct. 8-13 for Walmart+ members. It starts Oct. 9 for everyone else.

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