Bermuda. Four years since the killing of george floyd, in our next hour, a look at how much has not changed. Plus, he sure likes his papers. In moments, what to make of all those stacks of printouts Donald Trump Holds when he speaks to reporters. A good day to all of you from msnbc World Headquarters here in new york. Welcome everyone to alex witt reports. Begin with President Joe Biden wrapping up his Commencement Address to the u. S. Military academy in west point, new york, with a promise to keep american soldiers out of the war in ukraine. Theres never been a time in history where weve asked our military to do so many Different Things in so many different places around the world, all at the same time. There are no american soldiers in the war in ukraine. Im determined to keep it that way. But we are standing strong with ukraine and we will stand with them. And Breaking News in Donald Trumps classified documents case, Special Counselor jack smith is calling out trumps claims that fbi agents were planning to assassinate him during their search of his home at maralago. Smith filed a motion late yesterday saying the statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct that federal Law Enforcement agents, mostly suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him. Smith added the false statements expose fbi agents to danger. We have reporters and Analysts Covering all of these new developments. Were going to begin with nbcs julie tsirkin. What is Prosecutor Jack Smith asking for . I understand Merrick Garland has now taken froms comments very seriously, so what was his response . Thats exactly right, alex. Jack smith overnight filing the first of its kind motion in this specific case, the classified documents case, alluding of course or concerning the search that happened at maralago two years ago in august 2022, when authorities grabbed hundreds of classified documents that were in the possession of the former president illegally. So you have overnight jack smith actually asking the judge overseeing that case, judge eileen cannon, to limit, to impose a sort of modified gag order on what donald trump can and cannot say when it comes to Law Enforcement, in terms of the public statements that he makes. This comes of course after this week the former president falsely insinuated that President Joe Biden may have ordered an Assassination Attempt on him when fbi agents were conducting that search. He said, quote, that bidens locked and loaded, referring to that specific remark. So of course you have Merrick Garland and the fbi pushing back on these claims that trump is making her. Take a listen to what garland had to say about this, right after trump made those comments. That allegation is false. And it is extremely dangerous. The document that is being referred to in the allegation is a Justice Department standard policy limiting the use of force. As the fbi advises, it is part of a standard Operations Plan for searches and in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of president bidens home. So Merrick Garland there drawing parallel, of course, saying that the same exact practices the fbi took in the former president in the search of the former president s residence, they also did in the search of president bidens willington, delaware home in his classified documents case, an because of this that Special Counsel jack smith in a statement in his filing last night said that trumps mischaracterization not only endangers the Law Enforcement officials that were there on that day, ones as well that are working to prosecute this case now, but it also, quote, threatened the integrity of these very proceedings, meaning this trial, which was on hold indefinitely, it seems. Julie tsirkin on capitol hill, thank you for that. Were going to the right to harry lennon, former federal prosecutor, former Deputy Assistant attorney general, now host of the podcast hockey feds. As a former highranking doj official what is your interpretation of jack smiths motion . Its very well taken, alex, and this is a whopper even by Trumpian Standards because its precisely wrong. The standard circular here is actually meant to keep things safer and inhibit the use of force except when theres really a deadly danger to agents, and its pernicious. Its dangerous because it makes people who are going to be the subject of searches in the future think oh, theyre coming at me with deadly force. Thats exactly the kind of circumstance that can prompt standoffs with fbi and endanger the lives of agents. So Merrick Garland is not looking to wade into these disputes generally, but what trump said was so both offbase and dangerous, he had two. So smith is rightly saying that look, he cant do this anymore. Its not just the proceedings. Some of these agents are going to be witnesses as well and we know that once he made a statement and one of his lone wolf supporters was shooting up an fbi Office In Cincinnati thereafter. Its a true danger for current agents when he makes comments like this. It will be very interesting. One last thing, cannon is now forced to confront, a, the lie of it, there is no two ways about it, and the danger of it. So unless she somehow finds a way not to rule, shes going to really have to confront the bona fides of her patron here and acknowledge that hes done something false and dangerous. Let me add to this, because in smiths motion he highlights extensive planning that took place ahead of the search, including setting a date when donald trump would be away from maralago. He wasnt even there. And then he adds this , quote, a plan for contingencies, which in fact never came to pass, about with whom to communicate if trump were to arrive on the scene. What do you read into that . Its so clear that its the opposite of what hes saying. You do this all the time. Look, a search is a dangerous situation for agents. You need to come at it with full force in order to immediately take control of the situation. But they think it through specifically here so as not to have a confrontation with trump. So as i say, even by the standards of donald trump, this one is 180 degrees wrong and so an altar lie and a pernicious one, a dangerous one. Okay, dont go too far, my friend, because im going to have you back shortly to talk about the trump trial so well see you then. Lets go now to the Holiday Travel rush underway this Memorial Day Weekend. Experts predicted is the busiest in two decades. Aaa says close to 44 million americans are traveling his weekend, a Record Number of them will be driving. But Severe Weather could put some Holiday Plans at risk. That doesnt look good. Millions are facing more Tornado Warnings and possibly damaging hail and nbcs maya eaglin is tracking all the travel rush for us from the turnpike in secaucus, new jersey. So thank you for being here. Aaa says New York City is one of the top destinations, in fact, for tourists this week and. So the question has to be asked, how are things looking where you are . Because youre just a couple miles away from manhattan. Hey alex, yeah, were right here on the jersey turnpike. Things are just starting to slow down as you can kind of see behind me. We know millions of americans are expecting to travel this holiday weekend. Take a look at some of these numbers to get just an idea about how many people are hitting the road. We know 43. 8 million americans are traveling 50 miles or more. 38. 4 million or 87 of those travelers are going to be driving, and thats a 4 increase from 2023 point these numbers are also nearly matching 2005s record of 44 million travelers, and thats all according to aaa. Lets look at the gas prices because the National Average right now is 3. 60. Thats a little higher than last year and you know what, we spoke to some people fueling up their cars, fueling up on snacks and stretching their legs as they took a pit stop for their road trip. Take a listen to what they had to say. Traffic has been really bad. Its backed up and its taken us a long time to get there, so we decided to stop and get starbucks. It was pretty good except for some portion right outside of new york, washington. It is always a lot of traveling all the time but so far everything is really good. Yeah. So alex, as you can see, some people excited to hit the road but not looking forward to this traffic, and we know right now is actually the worst time to drive. Experts are saying between 2 00 p. M. And 5 00 p. M. , if you can stay home, that might be your best bet to avoid travel, as the unofficial start to summer kicks off and we can see it on the roads here. Youve got the living proof. Thank you very much, maya eaglin from secaucus. Burning question what is the deal with donald trump and all his papers he carries in and out of court . We got some answers when we are back in 90 seconds. Now to the week ahead in Donald Trumps hush money criminal trial. Trump will be back in Court Tuesday for closing arguments, then jury instructions, Jury Deliberations and possibly a verdict. And when he returns tuesday, you might once again to him doing this flipping through and waving around stacks of paper outside the courthouse. The Washington Post has reported on why he might be doing this but my next guest im sure could tell us why. Harry littman is back with me and joining us now, suzanne craig, investigate a reporter with the New York Times. They both covered this trial extensively and frankly exhaustively from the courtroom. Welcome to you both. Harry, before we get to the waving around of the documents, for those who have not read your column, youre already making a verdict prediction. You wrote that trumps team did not provide a story compelling enough to leave jurors with reasonable doubt. But harry, how does that square with the prosecutions obligation now . Its really well taken. It only takes one to make a hung jury. You have two beyond a reasonable doubt, highest standard in the law. But in my experience, alex, what really matters to a jury is a comparison of stories. I think it wont be enough to say, did cohen light one one or more occasions, which i think theres no real strong proof of. I think he held up very well but in general i think theyll make a relative judgment, who is lying and who is telling the truth, and trump, by the way, took on much more than he needed to, including saying he never had sex with stormy daniels. And when you compare them up in the jury room, i think the prosecution story hangs together very well across many different witnesses and evidence and the Defense Story is its not clear. Something like some of the witnesses shouldnt be believed but theres no really narrative plot line to kind of hang onto unless they pull something out of the hat on tuesday but i cant see what it would be. There is a tricky legal issue embedded which maybe well get to. Just on the basic level, whom the jury believes and do they have a reason for a reasonable doubt, i think the prosecution is theirs to lose. So we have this defense, suzanne. Theyre going to go first in the closing arguments. Did todd blanches really fiery aspiration of s lies, did that have a Lasting Impact on the jury and could cohens history be disqualifying enough to create the doubt that trump needs . Interesting because some of this does hang on the believability of Michael Cohen and whether the jury can at least believe some of what he said. I thought when i think back to michael i think two things. I think he did a good job not losing his temper. He was a great witness for the government, so i kind of think what we just not coming in, i remember cy vance in an interview before the trial started. Hes the former prosecutor in manhattan. He had said he thought he was a hand grenade, i think were the words that he used, and they decided not to bring the case. I thought cohen was really good but i do think Donald Trumps attorneys, todd blanche, he handled the crossexamination, that he did land some punches. I think they could be effective. I think they probably if he didnt know Michael Cohen was a liar and a cheat, and hes admitted to these things before, you know now, you know a lot of details about it, i think what i think about the mistake that was made, though, i thought todd blanche did a pretty good job but then Donald Trumps lawyers decided, instead of just letting it rest and saying we are not going to mount a defense, they called two witnesses, primarily one that i think sort of backfired on them, and that was bob costello. Without getting into a lot of the details about that, what i remember about it, what the jury probably remembers is how disrespectful he was to the judge to the point where the judge went and cleared the courtroom. So im sort of wondering, when i think back to Michael Cohen, i think he did, i thought, a pretty good job. They landed some punches but what i left with was thinking well, bob costello, what was that all about and why did they call him when they didnt have to call him . I think it backfired on them. That may be a concern since theyve had that to percolate on for the last seven days, frankly, or it will be seven days on tuesday. Terry, Trump On Social Media overnight, he made references to a Legal Expense to a lawyer. Does this tell you how his Defense Team Plans to tell the jury that this was all just a Legal Expense . Im going to ask, is the case that simple . Not only isnt it that simple, this is at this point they put it all together but they have to anchor it in the evidence that the jury has heard, and what the jury has heard is exactly the opposite. Theyve heard that trump told hope hicks, an unimpeachable witness, that this was a reimbursement based on the 130,000 payment, they heard essentially the same from david pecker, the same thing essentially in the handwriting from ellen weisselberg. So you cant just get up in trumpian fashion and makeup a tall tale. Its got to be anchored in the evidence. That evidence is not there. And another piece of evidence that isnt there, that couldve been there story, i think, is this was all done for melanias sake. That i think has been pretty well foreclosed by the evidence, not to mention her not being in court the whole time. So as always, lawyers have to play by different rules than trump but trump forces the decisions on them and in almost every case, like what susan was just talking about with the calling of costello, it has backfired spectacularly when theyve been forced to play by his decisions. Lets talk about trump outside the court with those stacks of paper. Youve covered him for a long time. Why do you think hes doing this . Whats it all about . I have to say he loves News Clippings. He sends them, famously, to people. Hell see an article he likes and hell his Black Sharpie Out and he will write something on it and send it to somebody, either friend or foe, but ive talked to people over the decades who have gotten a News Clipping from him signed and i think this was an extension of that. Its a visual aid. Its outside of the courtroom. Hes Holding Court and hes got analysis, News Articles in front of him that sort of do his talking for him, and hell read theyre usually conservative commentators that are saying something favorable to him. I think hes flashing them around just as a great visual aid. Do you think its just marketing, harry, or is there something legal, a legal aspect to it all . No legal aspect. As always, he lives in his little silo. Again, going back to bob costello, who is he to trump . One of the small few people who are 100 for him. In the same way, hes got this 32yearold agent in these papers, anything good about trump and then he stands up and tries to counter the narrative thats been in trial when he gets up there and you know he did this, remembering mara lago, picking up a piece of paper that happened to be classified and about iran. He likes to its sort of his visual aspect of people are saying, a thing he loves to do, even if its not a lot of people are saying. Thats what those papers are. Okay. Last question to you, suzanne, ive asked you for predictions before and i recall you telling me you dont like making them, but do you have one for this verdict . Harry has gone on record, thats all im just saying. Im glad you asked me this because i want to talk a little bit about the hung jury. Its interesting. I had a friend over this morning to of course knows ive been covering the trial and she was on a jury. I said well how did it go. She said we got into the jury room and we talked for two days and one of the jurors said im just not going to change my mind and my friend said im not changing my mind and it ended up in a hung jury. Right, and i thought its really interesting because it doesnt happen very often. Ive read 5 of the t