>> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening, and welcome. seeking to keep the federal election interference case against donald trump alive, special counsel jack smith has laid out a 165-page legal argument that mr. trump's actions to overturn the 2020 election results were those of a private candidate for president and unrelated to his job. smith in a court filing unsealed today says trump resorted to crimes to try to stay in office after his loss launching increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states. smith has tried to find a path that complies with the u.s. supreme court ruling that mr. trump has limited immunity for actions taken in his official capacity as president. smith providing newly heard evidence in the case including conversations between the then president and his vice president mike pence in which pence urged him to abandon his quest to try and stay in office. tonight, donald trump posting...

last debate before the election. here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: tonight, a triple threat is looming over the presidential campaign, the rising tensions in the middle east, a deadlocked port strike threatening to raise prices. >> we're hearing from the folks regionally that they're having trouble getting product they need because of the port strike. >> reporter: and the devastating aftermath of hurricane helene. >> there's a lot of work that's going to need to happen over the coming day, weeks, and months. >> reporter: late today vice president harris visiting the storm zone in battleground georgia two days after former president trump went there. her trip coming after last night's debate where j.d. vance and tim walz remained civil while attacking each other's running mates. >> donald trump put this all into motion. he brags about how great it was that he put the judges in and overturned roe versus wade. >> you've simultaneously got to defend kamala harris' atrocious...