[ cheers and applause ] ♪ this is "nightline." >> juju: tonight, a fiery president. >> i know what the hell i'm doing. >> juju: addressing the nation in a fierce rebuttal of the special counsel's report on his mishandling of classified documents, calling biden a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. >> how bad is your memory, and can you continue as president? >> juju: what the president shot back. plus usher.

the king of r&b saying "yeah" to football's biggest game. >> i'm ready. hey, man, that's what i do. >> juju: the megastar's highway to the super bowl with millions of fans and friends planning to tune in to his halftime show. >> i feel like everybody going to be watching. >> juju: the show shaping up to be so hot, he might have to leave his shirt on the side lines. >> get my six pack together. >> juju: and his surprise gift to his fans. maui strong 808. >> i actually said something like, "at least we'll get our last moments on video." >> juju: six months after the horrific fires decimated so much of lahaina, officers giving their first interviews in the face of backlash. what a new report this week says. and the investigation into how foreign actors may have tried to take advantage in the chaos. >> we saw what we believe is chinese-directed activity trying

to purchase suede the world in multiple languages that the fire was caused by the united states government. can neuriva support your brain health? mary, janet, hey!! (thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ i'm peter dixon and in kenya... we built a hospital that provides maternal care. as a marine...

we fought against the taliban and their crimes against women. and in hillary clinton's state department... we took on gender-based violence in the congo. now extremists are banning abortion and contraception right here at home. so, i'm running for congress to help stop them. for your family... and mine. i approved this message because this is who we are. ♪ thanks for joining us. tonight, president biden in a rare primetime address on short notice responding to special counsel robert hur's report on his handling of classified documents as vice president.

the president heatedly pushing back on hur's comments about his memory. >> i'm well-meaning, i'm an elderly man, i know what the bell i'm doing. i'm president and i put this country back on its feet. >> juju: abc white house correspondent mary bruce. >> reporter: president biden angry and frustrated and taking issue with some of the findings in the special counsel's report, especially the characterization of his memory loss. president biden tonight saying, my memory is fine. the president is well aware that his age is a top concern for voters. he's coming out tonight trying to put aside those fears. but he is saying it is misleading and plain wrong to conclude he willfully retained classified documents. a fired-up president after a day of drama. >> juju: it was a drama-filled day. abc's chief justice correspondent, pierre thomas, breaks down the special counsel's report. >> reporter: tonight, the special counsel investigating president biden's mishandling of classified documents determining

there was evidence biden willfully retained classified information from his time as vice president but that he should not be prosecuted for it. the report concluding biden did hold on to classified material involving military and foreign policy information regarding afghanistan. some of it top secret. some of the material biden kept in his delaware home in file cabinets and in his garage. the report quickly coming under fire from former president donald trump, who could soon go on trial for mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice. trump calling the fact that he faces charges while biden won't a case of selective prosecution. but in this final report, the special counsel noting that unlike trump, biden turned in classified documents to the national archives and the department of justice, consented to the search of multiple locations, including his homes, and sat for a voluntary interview. in contrast, hur writes, trump allegedly not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed

justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then lie about it. >> i was so determined to give the special counsel what he needed, i went in for a five-hour in-person interview. >> reporter: the special counsel citing that as another reason the president should not face charges, writing, biden would likely present himself to a jury as he did during high pressure interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. hur writing in that interview, biden did not remember when his term as vice president either began or ended and did not remember, even within several years, when his son, beau, died. in that interview, the special counsel writing biden's memory appeared hazy when discussing the obama administration's afghanistan policies. >> juju: we turn now to the ramp-up to super bowl sunday where dreams are made and hearts are broken. one man's dream coming true no matter which team wins, and that is usher raymond iv. the megastar is headlining the

halftime and sat down with abc's kelly carter for a little pregaming. >> hey, there, how are you doing? >> what's going on, how are you? >> so nice to see you, absolutely. >> reporter: the man of the hour. >> welcome to my humble daily abode. >> reporter: doing things his way. >> i'm very, very, very proud of the moment i'm going to have for america. it's been a dream of mine and a bucket list. they say oscar, tony, grammy, emmy. you should put super bowl on there too, right? >> reporter: usher, the worldwide best-selling r&b legend has a confession to make. the multi-talented performer known for chart-topping hits like "yeah," he's now saying yeah to the super bowl. ♪ yeah yeah yeah ♪ >> i predict the super bowl is going to be a very good game with a great halftime show, yeah! >> he's the last black r&b artist to go diamond. he's the last r&b artist since michael jackson, since bobby

brown, to sell that many records. i feel everybody is going to be watching. >> reporter: football's biggest night meets one of music's biggest superstars. you get the call that this is actually happening. how do you react? what was that like? >> took a minute. kind of like an adrenaline high. like yeah, of course. then you think about it. wait a minute, the work you've got to do to do this. but i'm ready. hey, man, that's what i do. it's usher, baby. >> reporter: before game day, he's dropping his ninth album, "coming home," a love letter to the legacy of his career with hits like "ruin." ♪ you ruined me for everybody ♪ >> reporter: is that so usher, to be working right up until the biggest performance of your career? >> not many artists even get an opportunity to do that. you get this many eyeballs paying attention to you, you better give them everything that you can give them. people that miss that opportunity, they crazy. >> reporter: the super bowl might be a new stage for usher, but it's one he's arguably been training for for nearly three decades.

usher was born usher terry raymond iv in dallas, texas. as a child, the family moved to tennessee, and he wasn't always oozing with swagger. >> ain't always been cool to be usher. imagine being a kid named usher and a child in tennessee. nobody else has your name. you get joked about all the time. okay, now manage to turn that into something. okay, that's going to be unique. >> reporter: in 1994, usher would go on to drop his first self-titled album," usher," at 15 years old. ♪ his silky and sensual r&b ballad "think of you" showing the teenager very much in his element. his next album, "my way," featured "nice and slow," which cranked up the heat, earning him his first number one hit. ♪ i just wanna take it nice and slow ♪ >> reporter: it was on that album that usher began working with his longtime collaborator

and friend jermaine dupri to help establish his post-puberty persona. >> it was the second record, "think of you," that they asked me to do a remix. saying his voice was changing. so they wanted to update the music to match his voice. i said, okay, we'll send him to the studio. i think he liked the way i produced him. he wanted me to work with him even more. >> reporter: once usher knew who he was, he made sure the rest of the world did too. "you got it back" sky rocketed his stardom through 2000. ♪ you got it bad got it bad >> reporter: and of course 2004's grammy award-winning "confessions" which would win him billboard's artist of the year, a victory he'd celebrate with a powerhouse performance at the awards ceremony.

♪ placing him firmly in the pantheon of pop culture. ♪ take that and rewind it back ♪ >> reporter: when usher dpped the surprise super bowl announcement on apple music, fans flipped. >> yeah! ♪ yeah yeah yeah ♪ >> reporter: actor usher's 13-membership minute halftime performance will be inducted into an elite club of performers. >> i'm definitely mindful of the people who have performed before. i think about adam levine. he definitely took his shirt off. i'm like, okay. whatever adam's doing, okay. i get my chest together. get my six-pack together. i'm going to enjoy all the hard work i'm putting into this. >> reporter: this isn't usher's first time on the hallowed stage. 2011, he and slash were backups for the black eyed peas. where do you think the show is going to rank on the pantheon of super bowl halftime performers? >> probably one of the highest-watched ever.

because everybody wants to see it, everybody wants to be involved. >> where might you find yourself on super bowl sunday? >> at the game, yeah. definitely watching. >> maybe you'll say "yeah." >> maybe i might say "i am." >> will this be usher solo, usher and friends? >> it's going to be a great show. >> no spoilers? >> yeah, you know what they say in vegas. dealer's choice. >> juju: our thanks to kelly. you can see more of her one-on-one with urrer on the full episode of "impact by nightline," usher, my way to the super bowl." the first interviews with maui police surrounded by flames, destruction, and chaos consuming lahaina six months ago. moderate to severe crohn's disease skyrizi is the first il-23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur.

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politicians... "he's bad. i'm good." blah, blah. let's shake things up. with katie porter. porter refuses corporate pac money. and leads the fight to ban congressional stock trading.

katie porter. taking on big banks to make housing more affordable. and drug company ceos to stop their price gouging. most politicians just fight each other. while katie porter fights for you. for senate - democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message.

♪ >> juju: welcome back. for the first time tonight, we hear directly from the maui police officers responding to the wildfires. the hawaiian word for "broker" is kia-ee. having survived the horror of that night, many since have been the subject of scrutiny, criticism, conspiracy theories. a new report is helping clear the confusion and set the record straight. here's abc's mola lenghi with our latest segment of "maui strong 808." >> we've got to move, move fast, move fast. make a left right here. >> both sides, completely engulfed buildings, buildings falling into the road, just -- it was just -- it was indescribable. >> reporter: it was one of the most devastating days on maui. police body cameras capturing the flames and smoke-choked

landscape during last august's historic lahaina fires. >> the wind's blowing all kinds of debris off the building. >> reporter: in their first interviews, howie police recount what they experienced that fateful day as they tried to rescucescue and evacuate their community. >> traditionally there's one way in and one way out. >> reporter: maui police officers calvin don and cameran pupuu made it in. >> i started my body cam and said, "at least we'll get our last moments on video." looking at the conditions i was like, if i get out of this car, i'm probably not going to get back in the car. if i do, i probably won't be able to drive out. >> reporter: the accounts of these officers and nearly 50 others who responded to the fire have been detailed in an after-action report released this week by the maui police department in the wake of public scrutiny over law enforcement's actions that day. >> we were shuffled into a death trap behind the civic center. >> why did the police block people from coming and exiting?

>> reporter: after the fire there were accusations that official response actually trapped some people further. a picture of one of the intersections showing police presence where front street met the highway, one of the few ways out of the lahaina. some say police officers sent desperate evacuees right back into the inferno. >> we may have gotten out of front street if that road wasn't blocked. >> reporter: 19-year-old noah tompkinson ended up in the ocean after fleeing his home with his mother and younger brother, the traffic gridlock leave nothing where else to go. >> running your your lives? >> that's what it felt like. >> reporter: seven hours later, they're finally rescued and brought to shore. but the after-action report found that police efforts actually aided the evacuation and helped save lives. >> not one person was recovered in a car that had passed away on front street. >> what does that tell you? >> it tells me, one, our officers saved lives. onofficer tells me some of the narrative people tried to say is just completely not true.

>> reporter: the report saying police activity surrounding intersections was necessary to help evacuees navigate roads covered in downed power lines. >> these poles are giant. you're extremely limited on your ability to get out on certain ways. >> reporter: those power lines becoming a central point of a lawsuit filed by maui county against hawaiian electric, the island's utility company. hawaiian electric pushing back, saying its power lines had been de-energized over six hours before the afternoon fire. >> de-energized is not grounded. a de-energized line can still kill you. >> reporter: soon after the wildfires, unfounded theories flourished online, including that the u.s. or a foreign government used an energy beam weapon to start the fire, or that the flames were purposely set at part of a land grab by wealthy elites, taking on so much momentum that police officers have faced death threats. >> they're trying to say that we

trapped people and we wanted their houses to burn so that people can come and buy them. >> these are your houses? >> it's like, why would i burn my own house, my family's houses, for what? >> reporter: other social media posts even pointing to the background of the chief himself. >> they just want to sensationalize something. they just want to throw shade. they want to demean. >> reporter: officials now believe the motive behind some conspiracy theories might have been even more sinister. >> not necessarily directed by the kremlin, but people who regularly spread russian propaganda trying to discourage the people of lahaina from going to the agencies that could help them. that's inexcusable. and we saw what we believe is chinese-directed activity trying to persuade the world in multiple languages that the fire was caused by the united states government itself using a meteorological weapon. >> we're actually seeing that

during these major emergencies, terror groups, foreign intelligence services, domestic violent extremists, criminals, will use cyber attacks and information warfare in an effort to create confusion and chaos. to seed distrust of government. >> reporter: in lahaina's burn zone, barely anything is recognizable. 3,000 structures reduced to rubble and ash in the areas the officers responded to that day. >> just embers blowing in my eyes. i couldn't even breathe. >> reporter: the officers then noticed something. a flashing light from a cell phone inside a coffee shop. >> come out, come out! >> we saw 14, 15 people that were trapped inside. >> reporter: the officers packed their ford explorer and a nearby fire truck with the rescued. >> get in, get in, uncle. >> at that point, you've got to be wondering, are we still going to make it out of here? >> the road's pretty narrow. both of those structures left to

right of us are completely engulfed. >> reporter: they make to it the civic center, set up for evacuees. >> we stopped, took everybody out of our car, and went right back in where we came from. it was completely impassable at that point. two minutes off, we would have died, 100%. >> reporter: the officers told us there are invisible scars from that day they continue to battle. >> i couldn't even make it to my own family. i couldn't get them out. >> reporter: does it still weigh on you? >> yeah. my -- my cousin -- he -- h reached out to me and asked -- asking where his parents are. i don't know how to tell him, you know. i'm sorry -- not finding them --

i don't know. >> reporter: four members of his family did not make it out. four of the 100 victims who died in lahaina that day. today, six months after the fires, it is a police department, a community, an island still very much grieving. >> juju: and that's maui strong. our thank ins to mola. when we come back remembering spinners cofounder henry fambrough. skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur.

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♪ >> juju: finally tonight, the spinners' henry fambrough has died. ♪ i'll be there ♪ >> juju: he helped cofound the band at age 15. fambrough's deep baritone helped give the group its distinctive sound. the band enjoyed 70 years of hits like, "i'll be around," "could it be i'm falling in love," and the number one smash with dionne warwick, "then came you." ♪ then came you then came you ♪ >> juju: henry fambrough's spinners were inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame just last year. he'll be missed. that's "nightline." watch full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.