The sun coming up 6 00 a. M. Its wednesday, august 28th. And we have a lot to get to this morning. Including special counsel jack smith trying to salvage the federal Election Interference case against donald trump. Filing a formal indictment against the former president. Were going to bring you excellent analysis in just a moment. Meanwhile, donald trump now says that he will debate Vice President Kamala Harris in two weeks, but the Harris Campaign still needs to be resolved. And well have more details about that the operation that rescued an israeli man who was held hostage by hamas for more than 300 days. That comes as israel launches a broad operation in the west bank with raids and air strikes in that territory. Im Jonathan Lemire along with u. S. Special correspondent for bbc news katty kay in this morning for joe, mika and willie. Well be joined by Symone Sanderstownsend, and mike barnicle, and nbc news capitol hill correspondent, you just saw her on way too early, ali vitali. Lo
that s tonight on newsnight good evening. i m abby phillip in new york tonight. donald trump loves to be worshiped that much has been clear since he came down those golden escalators. but this week was especially notable because it gave us a mountain of new evidence that he remains idolized by evangelical voters even after 34 felony counts for crimes associated with hush money payments to an adult film actress. the support is ironclad, 80% of evangelical say they support him today let s start with what happened last night in arizona. donald trump held a town hall in a phoenix mega church. now the opening homily called for the crowd to pray over the presumptive nominee, but it was the smite die enemy s message that really rang out loud and clear. listen we do pray for our leaders. but father, if our leaders will not turn to you, if he will not turn to your word, if he will not return to justice, we pray that you would bring those leaders down. all of those people, all those in
Way taxpayers money. So, a few questions. First of all, where do you think we stand on the case . We did hear from the nursing home that alleges he didnt pay his elderly mothers bills up to 20,000plus shes an 80yearold woman whos bedridden and that he used that money, prosecutors will say, for his own benefit to fund a lifestyle. But now his Defense Attorneys allege that he didnt know the extent of the bills, and the case will roll out over the next month. Where do you think we stand, terry . Well, who knows . I mean, the bigger charge, i think, is trips and gifts. I mean, you traditionally get fined, but heres im not gonna argue hes innocent or guilty, but let me say this pennsylvania has among the weakest Campaign Finance laws, the weakest lobbying laws, and the weakest ethics laws of any state in the country. So its not unusual to take gifts. Lets say you give a Campaign Contribution to somebody. They could use it for almost anything. Legally. Yeah, legally. The definition in the El
Tom state Police Forensic lab apparently seeing more and more heroin and fentanyl cases than ever before. Jennifer onethird of the cases it now analyzes includes one of these drugs or combination of the two. Heather hamel is here with details on how the lab is getting about 200 more cases a month than it can process. Reporter the director of the lab says he dealt with the crack cocaine crisis of the 80s and nines, followed by the pharmaceutical drug abuse, but nothing compares to this epidemic. With each sample taking one to two hours to analyze, dealing with all these cases is a tall criminalists at the state police lab are pulling 12hour days and scrambling to meet the demand, and the heroin and Opioid Crisis isnt making it easy. These folders represent their backlog of approximately 3800 cases. They get about 750 new cases a month, but can only analyze about 500 in that time frame. The result is each mob the backlog continues to grow. Reporter they say the heroin cases are now the s
Middle east, where the war has intensified and the israelis and palestinians are once again facing off. How does this all end . With new states all together or just unending violence . Ill talk with two great experts on the future of the middle east. Then we will not be sending u. S. Troops back into combat in iraq. So can the United States fight against terrorists with just spies and drones . Ill ask a man who once ran the cias operations overseas. Also, despite being ousted from the world cup, america has become a true soccer nation. Ann coulter says its a scary sign of a new america. Peter byner says shes right. Then washington, d. C. Is broken, but america is working surprisingly well. I will take you to a place with aun employment rate half the national average. How does this city do it . I will show you. But first, heres my take. Ive always loved july 4th, one of those special American National holidays that are celebrations not of religion, ethnicity or sect, but rather freedom