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Federal Judge Unseals New Evidence in Trump Election Case; Trump Team Slams DOJ Filing as Attempt to Interfere in Election; CNN Team Hears Three Explosions After Apparent Israeli Strike; Attorney: 120 Men And Women To Sue Sean "Diddy" Combs Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 02, 2024 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, a federal judge has just unsealed a huge trove of new evidence from Donald Trump's federal election subversion case. Prosecutors outlining in great detail Trump's alleged crimes as he schemed to, quote, perpetuate himself in power.

The special counsel's filing is already becoming a major issue in the race for the White House with Trump's team claiming the U.S. Justice Department is trying to interfere in the election on the heels of last night's vice presidential debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz.

We're also keeping a very close eye on the Middle East one day after Iran's unprecedented ballistic missile barrage against Israel amid Israel's incursion into Southern Lebanon. Our CNN team is in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, which has just heard three loud explosions following an apparent Israeli strike. We'll have a live report from the region.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

Let's get straight to the breaking news tonight, never before seen evidence from the Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case against Donald Trump. Our Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid has been digging into this newly unsealed filing for us. Paula, how does Jack Smith make his case against Donald Trump?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, in this nearly 170-page filing, the special counsel lays out how they see their case after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump has partial immunity, that he cannot be prosecuted for anything that he was doing in his official capacity as president and that his official actions also cannot be used as evidence in a case.

So, here in this new filing, they are emphasizing that they allege that everything he was doing to subvert the election was done in his private capacity. So, they argue, quote, when the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office. With his private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results.

They go on to point out saying, quote, it is hard to imagine stronger evidence that conduct is private than when the president excludes his White House counsel and only wishes to have his private counsel present.

Now, this is the fullest picture that we have gotten of the evidence that was gathered in the course of this investigation. This case is not going to trial anytime soon. If Trump is re-elected, it's expected his attorney general will dismiss this case. So, this is the last opportunity for voters to see this evidence before Election Day in November.

BLITZER: And how's the Trump team responding at least so far?

REID: So, they're responding by tying the release of this information to the election. And, Wolf, it is extraordinary to have this kind of document released detailing a year's long criminal investigation before trial. This is usually the kind of thing that's in an opening statement at a trial where you have a chance to defend yourself. So, here the campaign has released a statement saying, quote, the release of this falsehood-ridden, unconstitutional January 6th brief, immediately following Tim Walz's disastrous debate performance, is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American democracy and interfere in this election.

Wolf, as you know, the Trump team has repeatedly argued across all of Trump's criminal cases that they are all efforts to somehow interfere in the election. The Supreme Court reviewed this case, and they really only weighed in on the issue of immunity and where Trump might have some protections. And they told the lower court judge, look, review this case in light of what we said about immunity and decide which parts of this case remain.

And I will also note that the Supreme Court is really largely to credit for why this did not go to trial before the election from December to July. They waited to weigh in on this issue of immunity, so while Trump's team gets a lot of credit for delaying these cases, really, the credit is due to the Supreme Court that did not allow the special counsel to proceed with this case before the election.

[18:05:03]

BLITZER: Very interesting, a very big deal indeed. Paula Reid, thank you very much. Our legal experts are here with me in The Situation Room for some more analysis right now. And, Elliot Williams, this is, what, 170 pages, detail after detail, including a lot of brand new information that we have never known of before. Tell us a little bit about what your thought is. How strong is this Jack Smith case, this federal case against Trump?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It crafts a very powerful narrative of the alleged wrongdoing against the former president. And just to step back a little bit, Wolf, the Supreme Court really left open a lot of questions, and I'd even go as far as to say, created a bit of a mess in the law with the Supreme Court decision that they decided back up this summer.

They'd said that only official acts of the president are protected, private acts are not, but it gave a very little guidance as to where the distinction would be. It falls to Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge overseeing this case, to sort that out. This brief seeks to sort of draw that distinction.

One of the most -- and it's things like this. Are the question is, are Donald Trump's conversations with Mike Pence considered protected or not? Well, one of the things they lay out is that Mike Pence's role is actually a legislative role, not a White House role. It's laid out when Mike Pence oversaw the counting of ballot -- the certification of ballots. He was doing so in his capacity as president of the Senate. That's not an official White House role.

And they do that page after page, time after again in this document saying these are not official acts of the presidency. These are the acts of a candidate running for office and a private individual.

BLITZER: That's why they're making the case in this document that he is not immune from prosecution. And it's interesting, Norm Eisen, because in this document, the United States of America versus Donald J. Trump, defendant in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, it's very specific. What stands out to you most, having gone through it?

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, we already knew that the Supreme Court had established this test. If it's official, you can't be prosecuted. If it's political or personal, you can be. And we knew the outlines of the case, but to have in the last 30 days-plus before an election, when the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office. That is a resounding message. I think it's appropriate that the American people need to weigh and balance this question.

The defendant knowingly made false claims of election fraud. Well, today people are saying there are false claims of election fraud being made right now by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance of non-citizen voting, so that echo. And then, Wolf, the details, Elliot, like me, lifelong trial lawyer, these cases are in the details. Donald Trump says on Marine One to his family, it doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight. That's contrary to the American idea. If you lose, you step away.

Another person said to him, you lost the election. Attorney, he replied, the details don't matter. He told Ronna Romney McDaniel to publicize her report. She said back to him, the report was effing nuts. He pushed that disinformation nevertheless. Another lawyer told him that if a complaint were signed, any lawyer involved would be disbarred. Donald Trump verified it. So, those details are damning and politically salient.

WILLIAMS: But even stepping back from the politics of them, the report makes the case that these are not the acts of a president. These are the acts of a private individual running for office and they repeat that throughout the document. You have to draw a distinction between the two in this.

BLITZER: And given the fact that the Supreme Court says he's immune from official presidential acts, but not necessarily private acts. That's our case.

You know, Katelyn Polantz is with us. Breakdown for us this plot to, quote, and it's in the document, manipulate, that's the word, manipulate the then-Vice President Mike Pence. Just how significant is this in Jack Smith's case?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Wolf, this is the cornerstone of the case in the way that it's laid out here as a written version of, say, the opening argument or the opening statement of a trial. And it really is in the details, as Norm is saying. There's a lot of detail about exactly how Pence was being pressured by Donald Trump and factored into this conspiracy and obstruction plot, not as the vice president, but as the president of the Senate, overseeing, the certification of the vote, and as his running mate in 2020, again, not his running mate anymore for president.

Some of the details here, the prosecutors are going to -- they are going to be able to prove that Donald Trump on January 6th, on his own -- was using his own phone to send a tweet about Mike Pence saying Mike Pence didn't have the courage to block the certification of the vote.

[18:10:01]

They're going to be able to show, they say that a minute after that, when Pence is rushed out by the Secret Service away from the rioters on the floor of the Senate, Trump then says, as he's being told that Pence was taken to a secure location, so what? That's one of the details.

And then another thing, they say they have Mike Pence's book that they can use in court to prove how Pence was feeling about this. We know he testified to a grand jury. They also have five notes that Mike Pence was taking about how he -- it was being explained to him, you can do it, you can be bold, and be the person to block the election.

BLITZER: Very, very detailed document released by Jack Smith, the federal prosecutor. All right, guys, thank you very much.

I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin right now. He's a former member of the January 6th select committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

I know you have investigated Trump now for several years. Give us your analysis of Jack Smith's latest document, this brief. Did any of this new evidence that is contained there surprise you?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, there are a lot of new details that are really eye popping, but the Supreme Court and the Trump defense basically invited the submission of this document because what the Roberts court did to try to placate Trump was to say, well, the president is essentially immunized for official acts or presumptively immunized for official acts, but not for private unofficial acts.

And what this document does is to go through step by step by step through every chapter of this assault on American democracy to show how Donald Trump was not acting in an official capacity to take care, that the laws are faithfully executed, but rather acting like at very best a private candidate and really like an outlaw, like a tyrant attacking the constitutional system. And at every point he engaged in what Jack Smith describes as deceit, fraud against the system, lying about the facts, lying about the law and lying in a way that he knew to be a lie because he'd been told by all of the reputable lawyers and indeed the official lawyers don't go anywhere near this.

This isn't right. You haven't won the election. You've lost the election. And yet he proceeded anyway to act in this private capacity to try to shake down election officials, like Brad Raffensperger, to shake down Republican operatives and elected officials who he thought were would be submissive to him, although they weren't.

And then ultimately to try to convince Mike Pence, acting in his capacity as the convener of the joint session of Congress under the 12th Amendment, as the president of the Senate, to try to convince him that he had an absolute right just to nullify the Electoral College votes that had been sent in as part of these certificates of ascertainment by the governors, memorializing the votes of millions of people. And he was basically telling Pence, you can nullify that, you can vaporize the votes of millions of people. There's no problem with you doing that. And then they try to force him to do it.

And when he stood by his oath of office, and Pence refused to back down, they unleashed the mob against him, which is why they broke into the Capitol. They injured dozens and dozens of our officers. They drove the members of the House and Senate out of our chambers, and then they chased Pence out of the building. I mean, he was within 30 seconds or 45 seconds of being actually apprehended by the mob. And the hope that was to get him to overturn an election that Joe Biden had won by 7 million votes, 306 to 232 in the Electoral College.

BLITZER: So, Congressman, how much of an impact will this document, this thick 170-page document, actually have if this case likely won't go to trial before the upcoming November election that's coming up very, very soon? Have voters already, do you think, made up their minds about Trump's conduct back on January 6th?

RASKIN: Well, I think every citizen owes it to himself or to herself to read this document coming from Jack Smith, because it documents in meticulous detail and with a lot of new information that was not part of the January 6th select committee report, and there wasn't part of the impeachment trial against Donald Trump, how Trump was the one behind the whole plan to try to get different people in the American constitutional system to violate their oaths of office, whether it's state legislative officials or election officials in the states, like Brad Raffensperger, or ultimately the president of the Senate, Mike Pence, who, of course, was also Donald Trump's vice president, but he wasn't acting as vice president when Donald Trump tried to shake him down and coerce him into doing this.

[18:15:11]

And so what we have is the portrait of an outlaw, somebody who's attacking the entire constitutional system from the outside.

And if he were actually trying to enforce the law, a point which is made very strongly here by Jack Smith, why didn't he actually try to get in touch with other election officials other than Republican Party operatives? How come he didn't go to other states other than the swing states that he needed to win? He was obviously acting for himself and for nobody else.

BLITZER: And I totally agree, it's a very compelling, extremely well- written document, this latest charge.

Congressman Jamie Raskin, thanks so much for joining us.

RASKIN: You bet.

BLITZER: And just ahead, one of the attorneys who worked for the former president on the Justice Department's investigation of January 6th is standing by to join us live.

Plus, we'll have a live report from the Middle East where new explosions are hitting Lebanon tonight as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah clearly escalates.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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[18:20:00]

BLITZER: We'll get back to the breaking news on the special counsel's newly unsealed evidence in the election subversion case against Donald Trump in just a moment. But, first, we're also following major breaking news in the Middle East tonight, new explosions in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Israel now claims it carried out a strike in the area as IDF forces in Southern Lebanon Also stepping up their operations. All of this comes as Iran and Israel are now trading new threats in the aftermath of yesterday's unprecedented Iranian ballistic missile barrage against Israel.

CNN's Nic Robertson filed this report.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Israel's long slog into Lebanon turning deadly for the IDF on its second day. The limited localized targeted raids, as the IDF characterizes them, triggering fierce resistance. Helicopters inside Israel picking up the casualties, a nearby trauma hospital declaring a mass casualty event, the IDF confirming eight dead and several others injured in attacks Hezbollah claims took place in three villages.

Hours earlier, overlooking the area of at least one of the attacks, Israeli border resident Ora Hatan already worrying about the troops. ORA HATAN, NORTHERN ISRAEL RESIDENT: I think that it's very dangerous to the army to go to Lebanon because many traps waiting for them.

ROBERTSON: She refused to evacuate last year, was busy preparing the troops holiday dinner for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and hopeful their raids would bring her respite from Hezbollah attacks.

HATAN: I feel more safe. I feel more protected because of the army inside.

ROBERTSON: The whole country, however, entering a new era of uncertainty following Iran's ballistic missile attack Tuesday.

The United States and other allies blunting the impact, intercepting the majority of the fast, long range, high explosive ballistic missiles.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Iran made a big mistake tonight, and it will pay for it. We will stand by the rule established. Whoever attacks us, we will attack them.

ROBERTSON: Israeli officials say all the bases targeted are fully operational, including their long range combat mission airfield. The scale of Israel's response likely determining the pace of escalation.

Israel's combat operations on other fronts continuing uninterrupted, Palestinian health officials claiming Israeli strikes killed more than 90 Palestinians in Gaza Wednesday, as a new operation against Hamas opened up in Khan Younis.

In Syria, smoke Rising after a strike near Damascus, unclaimed by Israel, but blamed on them by Syrian state media.

Airstrikes continuing deeper into Lebanon too, targets in Beirut and beyond. Civilians in parts of the capital warned by the IDF to evacuate their homes as the country's death toll passes 1,300 and a million people displaced.

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ROBERTSON (on camera): A new information on those latest strikes in the past hour in Beirut, the Ministry of Health in Lebanon says that 2 people killed, 11 wounded. And that is the IDF is just issuing new evacuation orders to people, to residents inside of Beirut, and, of course, on the mind of the prime minister here right now, how to and how big to target and strike back at Iran. President Biden saying and warning the Israeli prime minister he does not support Israel striking back at Iran's nuclear facilities, something they've long wanted to do, Wolf.

BLITZER: They certainly have. All right, Nic Robertson reporting for us, thank you very much.

Coming up, our political experts are here with analysis on how the special counsel's bombshell filing will or won't impact the 2024 presidential race. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

BLITZER: Back to the breaking news we're following, a massive haul of evidence in Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case against Donald Trump is now public after Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed a redacted version. This is a 170-page version drawing a scathing response from the Trump campaign.

Our political experts are joining us now with more analysis. And, Karen Finney, let me start with you. This filing comes as the Harris campaign released a new ad from the V.P. debate on this topic last night. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just add to that. Did he lose the 2020 election?

[18:30:00]

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Tim, I'm focused on the future.

WALZ: That is a damning non-answer.

America, I think you've got a really clear choice of who's going to honor that democracy and who's going to honor Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Karen, I assume this ad that was released by the Harris campaign has renewed relevance right now, especially after this latest Jack Smith federal filing against Trump.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, absolutely, and not just for the reasons you might think. Look, a couple of things. Number one, there are many, many voters in this country who, it's hard for us to believe, really have not followed all the various lawsuits as closely as most of us who are obsessed with politics do. For those folks who and a lot of people tend, this is about the time they start to tune into the election and trying to think about who they're going to vote for, it brings forth new details and reminds people that this actually is one of the issues, part of the baggage that Donald Trump comes with.

But the second thing, as the ad really points out, Donald Trump has been consistently incapable of staying on message in his speeches, of talking policy. And this will give him all the more fodder to continue the grievance narrative, to go back to how unfair everything is. And, again, I think that reminds voters that that's what going back to Donald Trump in the White House would look and feel like. And I do think that's going to turn off a lot of voters. BLITZER: Scott Jennings is with us as well. Scott, in a recent CNN poll, voters said the economy is the most important issue in this campaign but protecting democracy is a clear number two. So, how could Jack Smith's accusing Trump with all these new details accusing Trump specifically of having resorted to crimes, his words, resorted to crimes in the election schemes impact the election?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, protecting democracy is important, although it means different things to different people. If you look inside some of the polling that we did and what you've seen in individual states, it's mixed. There was a survey out of Georgia recently where more people thought that Donald Trump would strengthen democracy than Kamala Harris. So, it's a little bit of a mixed bag when you start to throw around the word, democracy. My general view is that if you are a January 6th focused voter, you have already made up your mind on this and no new evidence is going to persuade you off the position that you have taken.

I still think Trump leads on the most important issue, the economy. He leads on immigration. He leads on foreign policy. That was from the CNN poll. Harris has maybe firmer ground on democracy and abortion. I don't think this filing is going to change that basic construct of heels on which the campaigns are fighting.

BLITZER: Let me bring Frank Luntz into this conversation. Frank, people are already voting in some states, as you know. How could this new evidence against Trump resonate, you think, with voters?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: Well, it's an interesting challenge because this is not what Trump wants to be talking about in the last month. And we know the impact that accusations like this, though not as serious, faced Hillary Clinton in 2016. So, this is a challenge for him.

But I would emphasize that every time that Donald Trump, and I'm sorry, Wolf, for my voice, but that every time that Donald Trump was indicted over the last two years, and it's been a lot, his polling numbers went up after those indictments because the American people think he's being victimized. They think that he's a target and they don't like politics playing. They don't like using the law as a weapon.

I think this hurts him overall, but I wouldn't be surprised if it just makes Trump voters even more determined and even more likely to vote in November.

BLITZER: Ana Navarro is with us as well, Ana, Jack Smith, in this new document against Trump, writes that Trump told family members, and I'm quoting now, it doesn't matter if you won or lost the election, you still have to fight like hell, end quote. What do you make of that?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's very consistent with the Donald Trump that we know. It's not about the truth. It's about your version of the truth and you're repeating it so many times that you make it the truth. Look, as Frank just alluded to, in 2016, when James Comey released that letter about Hillary Clinton, there is no doubt that it had consequences. I think this is different because I think Trump voters, there is nothing that's going to change them if 34 felonies haven't changed them, if hearing him boast about grabbing a woman didn't change them. I'm not sure that a letter by Jack Smith is going to change them.

But what we have to remember is that this is not about Harris voters or Trump voters. This is not about never Trumpers. This is about a handful, a few thousand voters in seven -- six or seven states.

[18:35:03]

And what is going to make them vote? What is going to make them ultimately make up their mind?

And I think this is a reminder of the criminality, the chaos, the lying that comes with Donald Trump. If you have Trump amnesia, these type of things may help cure you of that.

BLITZER: Karen, after the release of this, what, major document here, and it's so long, so detailed, Trump took to his Truth Social account to blame Nancy Pelosi for January 6th. What's your reaction to that?

FINNEY: Of course he did, because that's what we've been hearing from him, at least when he can remember her name, because, you know, he got that mixed up earlier this year. He's going to blame everybody but himself. He never takes accountability for his own actions.

And let's be very clear, the reason we are here, the reason this happened is because he was not satisfied with the truth, which was he lost the election in 2020 and was trying to find a way to hold on to power. He'll never accept that accountability.

I just want to mention one quick thing from 2016, having been there with the Comey report. I agree with what Ana said in that for people who might be on the fence or just not sure, this is the -- if they're looking for an excuse to not vote for Trump, this is that kind of excuse. This provides that for them.

BLITZER: We will see. Scott, that Trump is also claiming he quote, demanded that DCB protected his words, but the filing reveals that when told of the danger, the actual danger that Vice President Mike Pence was facing on January 6th, Trump responded, and I'm quoting from the document, so what? So what? That's the quote. How do you square that?

JENNINGS: Yes. Well, look, I think the president's interactions with Mike Pence and his treatment of Mike Pence and the attempted pressuring of Mike Pence were not a good day, not a good episode, and not a good way to have treated the aftermath and to have treated Mike Pence and what his job was on January the 6th. I disagree with the way Trump handled that.

And in the aftermath of all of that, I would remind everyone that the Congress, in a bipartisan fashion, has updated the Electoral Count Act to clarify exactly what the vice president's role is in counting the Electoral College.

So, I agree with Frank. I think if we spend all month talking about January 6th, it's a net negative for Donald Trump, but as I said earlier, I think people who want to be against Trump over this issue have long since made up their mind on that, and I'd be surprised if someone were switching their vote because of a new filing when a lot of what we know today is sort of generally the perceptions we've had since it happened.

BLITZER: All right. Guys, thank you very, very much. Everyone, thank you.

Coming up, one of Donald Trump's former lawyers is standing by with his reaction to the new evidence unsealed today in this election subversion case against Trump.

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[18:40:00]

BLITZER: The death toll from Hurricane Helene is rising once again tonight. At least 189 people have been killed in the storm about half of them in North Carolina.

CNN's Brian Todd has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President Biden viewing the devastation from the air because conditions on the ground are too difficult for him to move around in vehicles. He flew over towns that are almost completely gone. Residents isolated and desperate, roads pulverized by flooding and landslides.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's going to cost billions of dollars to deal with this storm. And all the communities affected.

TODD: with at least 189 people killed across six states. Hurricane Helene is now the second deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland in the last 50 years, behind only Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hundreds of people are missing.

This river, the Nolichucky in Northeast Tennessee, surged at 162 times its normal rate in the aftermath of the storm, officials say.

GOV. BILL LEE (R-TN): What we've seen is a historic certain situation unfold in East Tennessee.

TODD: Along that same river, at the Impact Plastics Factory, 11 workers were swept away by flooding. Five were rescued. Four are missing. Two are confirmed dead, including Bertha Mendoza, whose husband spoke to reporters.

ELIAS IBARRA MENDOZA, HUSBAND OF BERTHA MENDOZA, KILLED IN FLOODING: The last time she spoke to me, she told me, this is getting ugly. I only want to tell you one thing. Tell my kids, understand that I love them very much.

TODD: Tennessee state authorities are now investigating the company which runs that factory, after some workers said they were not allowed to leave in time to avoid the storm's impact. The company says it dismissed employees when water began to cover the parking lot.

In Buncombe County, in Western North Carolina, where the city of Asheville has been ravaged, more than 50 are dead, and officials say they're still in a search and rescue posture several days after the storm's impact.

AVRIL PINDER, MANAGER, BUNCOMBE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: In some areas, this level of destruction could not be survived.

TODD: CNN's Isabel Rosales followed along with the FEMA team assisting in search and rescue missions in Avery County, North Carolina. A huge problem for them, communication with residents and each other.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can't get a signal?

COLIN BURRESS, FEMA DIVISION GROUP SUPERVISOR: You don't have cell service, email, text. All of that becomes challenging and kind of slows things down.

TODD: Stephen Cloyd's (ph) family says Stephen texted his wife as he tried to escape floodwaters at his home in Jonesboro, Tennessee. Stephen got himself and their dog into their Jeep, the family says. The Jeep wouldn't start, then was overcome with water. His last text to his wife, quote, starting to float away. His wife, Kelly, texted back, please let me know when you are safe. I love you so much, it hurts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Stephen Cloyd's son says their dog was found alive about three miles away, but so far no sign of Stephen.

[18:45:04]

Meanwhile, in Buncombe County, North Carolina, we just got word from officials there that authorities in the city of Asheville are working to make contact with 26 people, still unaccounted for in that city, real devastation, especially in Asheville -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Horrible devastation.

Thanks very much, Brian Todd, for that report.

Coming up, we'll talk with a former Trump lawyer about the newly unsealed evidence against Trump in the January 6 case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: More now on our top story tonight, a major filing in the special counsel's election subversion case against Donald Trump just unsealed by Judge Tanya Chutkan.

Joining us now is former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore.

Tim, thanks for joining us. Prosecutors in this lengthy hundred 170- page document, the filing write about a meeting that Trump barred -- barred his White House counsel from attending.

[18:50:02]

And I'm quoting now for the document, it is hard to imagine a stronger -- hard to imagine stronger evidence that conduct is private then when the president excludes his White House counsel and only wishes to have his private counsel present.

Tim, what do you make of that argument?

TIM PARLATORE, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: I think that this document is well-written, you know, for the purpose of trying to overcome the immunity. You know, this case always suffered from the -- from the issue of what is he doing in his capacity as president and what is he doing in his capacity as a candidate? And so yeah, this document is entirely written to try to frame everything as being in his capacity as a candidate, which admittedly, a lot of these things that happened during that time would be in his capacity as a candidate. So that does make sense to raise that argument.

BLITZER: Yeah, because the Supreme Court ruled he has immunity for official acts, but not necessarily for private acts. And this document makes the case that these were all private acts on his part.

I want to read another part of the filing about what Trump told then Vice President Mike Pence as he was trying to get him to overturn the results of the election. And I'm quoting now. The defendant told him that hundreds of thousands of people are going to hate your guts and people are going to think you're stupid. That's a quote, and berated him, pointedly adding you're too honest.

What does this say about the pressure -- the pressure campaign against Pence and Trump's state of mind?

PARLATORE: Well, you know, this is -- obviously, it's a document written by prosecutors, so well see how much of this actually comes out at trial and I think that's -- that's kind of a problem.

You have to remember one thing. I find it very interesting that this document tries to cast Mike Pence as the running mate, and also as the president of the Senate in an effort to try to move all of Trump's conduct away from being president and into candidate. And yet it wasn't that long ago that Jack Smith was in the D.C. courthouse saying in an effort to force Mike Pence to testify, that no, he was not acting in his capacity as president of the Senate because that would it provided him the privilege to not testify.

So back then, he said he wasn't the president of the Senate to get exactly the quote that you just read to me there. And now he's turned around and gone the other way. So I think he's going to have some legal issues with that.

BLITZER: Trump is calling this latest filing a hit job against him, claiming without evidence it's designed to influence the election. What's your reaction to that?

PARLATORE: Well, I do think that the timing -- the timing couldn't be better for appearances purposes. You know, they asked for a briefing schedule that this was filed a few weeks ago and then it took a few weeks for it to be unsealed. It's very detailed. Donald Trump's response isn't going to be for another couple of weeks. And then for that to take a couple of weeks to be unsealed were unlikely to be able to see his response to this until after the election.

So, certainly, the timing is something that it can give it the appearance that it is being done for that that messaging, even your discussions with prior guests here tonight, it shows that people are reading this in a context of an election, not just in the context of a criminal proceeding, which is what its intended for.

BLITZER: All right.

Tim Parlatore, thanks very much for joining us.

And we'll be right back.

PARLATORE: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:57:54]

BLITZER: The legal troubles of Sean "Diddy" Combs appear to be growing tonight.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 100 new accusers plan to pursue legal claims against Sean "Diddy" Combs, according to their attorney.

TONY BUZBEE, ATTORNEY: These are people that were there that were that were allegedly drugged and then allegedly raped, passed around, woke up the next morning, just completely clueless about what had happened to them.

WAGMESISTER: Combs denies the allegations. His lawyer telling CNN, in part, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors.

Combs already faces a dozen civil lawsuits and has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Houston Attorney Tony Buzbee tells CNN he intends to file individual lawsuits against Combs for each of the 120 new accusers some who he says have already spoken to the FBI.

Do you have video evidence of your clients allegedly being sexually abused?

BUZBEE: It's full-on video of things happening that would never be appropriate for public viewing.

WAGMEISTER: Buzbee says he's in the process of collecting video, photos, text messages, medical records, and drug tests.

Many of your clients have alleged to you that they were given a horse tranquilizer.

BUZBEE: You know, you hear that one time, you think that's really strange. You hear three or four or five times, all of a sudden, you're like holy. What is going on here?

WAGMEISTER: In the indictment, federal authorities also accused combs of drugging victims.

They do not believe that Sean Combs acted alone.

BUZBEE: I do agree with the FBI and the federal authorities. I do think that there were a lot of individuals involved and a lot of entities involved.

WAGMEISTER: Household names, are we talking about celebrities, executives in the entertainment industry?

BUZBEE: All of the above, yes.

WAGMEISTER: We've all heard about the white parties just because a celebrity is photographed wearing white out of Sean Combs party does not mean that they are complicit in any criminal activity.

BUZBEE: White party comes up quite often, and typically later in the night with the same M.O., a drink -- drink laced with something in some cases.

WAGMEISTER: Was this all happening in plain sight at these parties?

BUZBEE: That's the allegation that people saw exactly what was going on and did nothing about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER: Now, Wolf, the attorney tells me that out of the 120 accusers, 60 are men and 60 are women. 25 of them allege they were minors at the time.

BLITZER: Elizabeth Wagmeister, thanks very much for that report.

And thanks to our viewers for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.