the city hall insiders have a formula: grow the system, exploit the system. take mark farrell's record. after receiving the largest ethics fine in city history for breaking campaign laws. mark authorized a commission almost every year he was in office. he was even caught taking donations from people he would then appoint to commissions, including a felon convicted of bribery. san francisco's challenges demand urgency, not more of the same failed insiders. tonight, sean "diddy" combs behind bars, facing federal charges of sex trafficking and

racketeering. the music mogul today pleading not guilty, but the judge denying bail hours after his arrest at a new york hotel. the indictment describing combs as the head of an empire who abuse and coerced women to take part in drug-fueled sex parties with male prostitutes that he often filmed. plus, the caches of guns and drugs allegedly seized from his properties. also tonight, the explosions across lebanon. hezbollah accusing israel of blowing up its members' pagers in a deadly coordinated attack that injured thousands. donald trump back on the trail for the first time since that apparent second attempt on his life and blaming democrats' rhetoric for the incident, while opponent kamala harris condemning mr. trump's own rhetoric as hateful for pushing baseless claims about haitian immigrants in ohio. the big change from instagram on teen safety.

and our nbc news exclusive. the polaris dawn's crew, their first sit-down interview since returning to earth, opening up about that iconic moment, the first private spacewalk. >> when we opened that hatch, i'd say it was like sensory overload. >> inside their history-making journey. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening and welcome. he was once hailed as a visionary music mogul, but tonight sean "diddy" combs is in custody in new york, denied bail after he was federally charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. we will warn you, some of the details you're about to hear are quite graphic. the sprawling indictment accusing combs of kidnapping, using forced labor, and running a criminal empire using his fame and wealth to exploit women for at least 16 years. prosecutors alleging he abused and coerced

victims into taking part in drug-fueled sex parties with male prostitutes that lasted hours or even days and that combs often filmed. also revealed the stashes of guns and drugs allegedly seized from his homes. our legal analyst is standing by, but we begin tonight with chloe melas at the courthouse. >> reporter: tonight, sean "diddy" combs behind bars. a federal judge denying the music mogul bail following his arrest and indictment as federal prosecutors allege combs is dangerous and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community. in court today, combs pleading not guilty to three federal counts, sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. >> sean combs led and participated in criminal activity. including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and the obstruction of justice. >> reporter: in an indictment unsealed this morning, federal prosecutors say since 2008, combs abused, threatened and coerced

women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desire, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. >> as alleged, when combs didn't get his way, he was violent. and he subjected victims to physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. >> reporter: combs' arrest at a new york city hotel monday night comes six months after federal authorities raided the grammy winner's homes in los angeles and miami. today revealing what they say they found, firearms including three defaced ar-15s in his bedroom closet, and videos of elaborately produced sex performances with multiple victims known as "freak offs" according to prosecutors. >> "freak offs" sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics such as ketamine, ecstasy and ghb, which combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant. >> reporter: an attorney for combs maintaining his client's innocence. >> mr. combs is a fighter. he is going to fight this to the end.

he is innocent. >> reporter: today's federal case following a string of civil suits, including one filed last week by a member of the girl group danity kane. as well as a settlement with singer cassie, seen in this 2016 surveillance being physically attacked by combs. cassie later filing a civil suit accusing combs of raping and physically abusing her. the terms of their 2023 settlement were not disclosed. an attorney telling a judge today that mr. combs is not a perfect person. these toxic relationships were mutual. is it sex trafficking if everyone wants to be there? we don't want the federal government in our bedroom. but tonight federal prosecutors are leaving the door open for even more arrests, saying combs did not act alone. >> i'm not taking anything off the table. >> and chloe was in the courtroom. chloe, how did combs react to the judge's decision to keep him in custody? >> reporter: lester, i was sitting just a few feet away from combs during his arraignment, and he was completely expressionless as the judge denied him bond, and then he was

cooperatively escorted away by u.s. marshals. his attorney now saying they plan to appeal this decision as early as tomorrow. lester? >> all right, chloe melas, thank you. our senior legal correspondent laura jarrett is here with us. let me pick up on that train of thought. what was judge's reason for not giving him bail? >> combs had offered to put up $50 million as a bond, but it simply did not work, lester. prosecutors went in today saying he is a flight risk, a danger to the community, and the judge agreed, finding that she was worried about his substance abuse issues as alleged by prosecutors and anger issues also described here. we've seen high-profile defendants detained pretrial. ly the about r. kelly, think about jeffrey epstein. his attorney says he is going to try to appeal this denial of the bail. but if it doesn't work, he could be denied bail for a long time here and behind bars for more than a year as this goes to trial, lester. >> okay, laura, thank you. we'll turn now to another major story. hezbollah blaming israel for an unprecedented attack that involved blowing up its members' pagers across lebanon.

as raf sanchez reports, it comes amid fears of a wider war in the middle east. >> reporter: tonight, explosions like this across lebanon as the hezbollah militant group says hundreds of pagers belonging to its members detonated simultaneously. call it a massive coordinated attack and blaming israel. look again. the explosion injures the man with the pager, but causes almost no damage around him. lebanon says almost 3,000 people were wounded, including the iranian ambassador and at least nine killed, among them several children. iranian-backed hezbollah uses pagers to avoid israeli surveillance. israel tonight refusing to say if it was behind what appears to be an unprecedented intelligence operation. have you ever seen anything on this scale before? >> no, no, i haven't. it really is a remarkable sort of milestone in the

pantheon of intelligence security activities. >> reporter: hours earlier, israel said it foiled a hezbollah assassination plot using a land mine. the latest escalation in a conflict many fear is now spiraling towards all-out war. and hezbollah is vowing it will retaliate against israel. the israeli military's top generals met earlier to prepare their defense. lester? >> okay, raf, thank you. back here in this country, in the race for the white house, former president trump returning to the campaign trail tonight for the first time since the second apparent attempt on his life, and looking to place blame for the incident on democrats. garrett haake is in michigan. >> reporter: tonight, former president trump thanking officers who caught the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt against him and describing the alarming moments on his golf course. >> all of the sudden we heard shots being fired in the air, and i guess probably four or five. secret service knew immediately it was bullets.

and they grabbed me. >> reporter: an agent had fired on the armed suspect who was able to hide in the bushes undetected by secret service for nearly 12 hours. trump revealing a phone call from president biden and late today vice president harris said she also called him. >> i checked on him to see if he was okay. and i told him what i have said publicly. there is no place for political violence. >> it was not fireworks. it was pop pop, pop pop. >> reporter: steve witkoff was golfing with trump and heard the agent fire on the suspect as they stood on the fairway. how quickly does the secret service act? >> two seconds, maybe three. the entire team converged on him except for the snipers. he is the priority and he is the protectee, and they had him off in 20 seconds. >> reporter: this is the second attempt on trump's life in nine weeks. trump blames democratic rhetoric against him and so does his running mate. >> no one has tried to kill kamala harris in the last two months.

and two people have tried to kill donald trump in the past couple of months. i'd say that's pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric. it needs to cut this crap out. >> reporter: the trump campaign pointing to comments like these as stoking fear. >> donald trump is an existential threat to our democracy and our most fundamental freedoms. >> reporter: while democrats argued trump's rhetoric sparked the january 6th attack and that he's used heated language against them. >> if we don't win on november 5th, i think our country is going to cease to exist. >> and garrett, the former president about to take the stage now. this will be his first rally since the apparent assassination attempt. >> reporter: that's right, lester. this crowd has been chanting "fight, fight, fight," mr. trump's rallying cry after that first assassination attempt. but unlike then, when he briefly spoke of unity, his campaign is rejecting the premise that he needs to do anything else to lower