florida. that was a classified documents case. a continuation of what we have become so used to in this case. trump appointed judge, eileen cannon entertaining wonky and far-fetched attempts i trump's legal team to dismiss the case. the afternoon focus on a motion brought by special counsel jack smith. the centered of one of the most dangerous lies donald trump has ever told you might recall back in may trump seized upon a righteous conspiracy theory percolating in far right circles , a theory based upon an extreme mischaracterization of the fbi search one -- warrant on mar-a- lago. he claimed that president biden and the fbi were, quote, locked and loaded to take me out during the 2022 search of mar-a- lago. he posted the biden authorized the fbi to use deadly lethal force. what truck tried to portray as an attempt on his life just a distortion of the standard language that companies every search for the false narrative was based entirely on this, the fbi's policy on the use of force. basically it says that agents can respond with deadly force only when their wives are in imminent danger. that language, not unique to the search of mar-a-lago. in fact, it was the very same policy that the fbi used in their search for president biden home as well. anything throughout the process of recovering the documents from mar-a-lago, trump got an unusual amount of leniency including the fact that the fbi notified the secret service for executing the warrant. oh, one other thing. trump and his family were not at mar-a-lago while the search took place. none of those backstop trump's allies from amplifying his life. >> they are saying trump will unleash assassination squads on his enemies but biden unleashed armed agents into trump's house , authorizing them to use deadly force. they were looking for a little action. >> something could have gone down at mar-a-lago the on looking for the documents. >> why was merrick garland prepping for possible shootout? >> merrick garland issued a kill order for president trump. >> all of that was cause for concern. in a recent filing as judge cannon imposed a narrow modification to the true -- terms of trump police. he is left to argue that the first amendment will be eroded unless he is permitted to lie about fbi agents intending to murder him and his family. the law requires no such thing. he then pointed to how trump's rhetoric has led to threats to law enforcement. including sample of a trump supporter arm with an ar-15 and a nail gun attempting to attack an fbi office in ohio three days after the mar-a-lago search took place. he pointed out that hours after trump posted on his social media platform about the search. the supporter posted, kill fbi on-site. this afternoon jack smith's parties made their case. they cited trump's faults claims that he was the target of an assassination attempt. he told the court there was no reason for such language that would invite violence as retribution from trump supporters. in response judge cannon asked, where do you see the call to violence? during another exchange cannon group so foster that she said, i don't like your tone. she said that to a prosecutor just trying to protect law enforcement from threats of violence. i wish i could say that i am surprised. kristy greenberg is the former deputy chiefs in the southern district of new york. mary is a former deputy assistant attorney general for national security at the department of justice. katie phang is the host of the katie phang show on msnbc. she was in court today in fort pierce, florida. katie, let us start with you. jack smith was in the courthouse today. it seems like this hearing got fairly heated at certain points. your big takeaways. >> reporter: you are right about that. i was focusing on jack smith because i want to see the expression on his face when david harbaugh, a part of the special counsel legal team was having the back and forth with judge cannon. judge cannon on previous occasions with this particular attorney, david harbaugh, has had issues with him and vice versa. i don't think that she appreciates the gravity of what was being presented to her because she immediately, not because there were suggested made by the other side in terms of the defense, but she merely said what about the fact that redactions have been done on the names of law enforcement and other witnesses? how is that not enough for me to consider when you make this argument that there is some danger or rest of the law enforcement officers. she put on her hat with what happened today. the hearing was about two hours. jack smith, poker face the entire time. even when there was a lot of heated exchange between judge cannon and the attorney for the special counsel's office. there were some striking things that stood out. one of the things, the special counsel saying, you don't need a tragedy to strike in order to get a modification for the law supports the context and the idea. it was also another phrase that we used. they said trump has a peculiar potent tool. that is his ability to reach his followers on social media. trump has acknowledged in writing and verbal statements that he knows the power of social media for him. that is why there was the argument from the special counsel's office that you don't need something bad to happen. you do not need a link between those examples you just read and explain to our viewers. and then donald trump to say it creates the need. it is actually the threat of significant danger. two of his officers. todd blanche, on behalf of donald trump, did his meandering thing that he does. he said, judge, eventually this will have to happen. maybe at trial when the witnesses are called but otherwise, you do not have a link in the direct connection between trump and these incidents that have been raised as exhibits and examples in the special counsel's motion. because of that, it is a prior restraint on free speech. he is a little account of the office of the president. it is on the either presidential debate and you should not do it. >> how would you push back against the supposedly lack of connective tissue between donald trump's words and the threat of violence against law enforcement officials? >> i think the way to push back is the way that jack smith and his team have done -- have explained in every court where they sought an order like this. this is about modifying the conditions of his bail in order to restrict certain speech that causes that significant and imminent foreseeable danger to law enforcement. in every other case, including in d.c. and manhattan, the prosecutors have given example after example of things that mr. trump says over social media or at campaign rallies and actions and threats taken by individuals out in the united states. those might be call in threats, threatening witnesses, threatening judges' staff, prosecutors and their staff. it might be actual efforts to commit an act of violence, like the example from right after the search of mar-a-lago. there are many, many of these that they have to point two. to suggest there is not a cause and effect, i think really is to ignore what several years now have shown us. i think it was reasonable for her to ask, would redactions take care of it? what mr. harbaugh explained, even with redactions, there have been leaks of the names of the agents and those are available out there still. they cannot be taken down once that has leaked. i actually think the reaction -- redactions have probably repented -- prevented them from being that tragedy that, you know, we do not want to have to wait for. someone can certainly find out the identity of these agents. >> katie had her eyes on jack smith for a reason. you had your eyes on eileen can and you wrote, only judge cannon could use a hearing about the dangers lie that the fbi was out to kill him and his family as an opportunity school the prosecutor and not trump or lack of decorum. >> it made sense that this prosecutor was getting fired up about this. this is a prosecutor who has worked with these agents and built these cases and knows these people and knows they're putting their lives on the line every day for us. this idea that she would be so cavalier to the fact that there really is a threat to them. this motion was filed a month ago. clearly, she does not see any threat because we are not dealing with it right away. she sat on it. while she was sitting on, what happened? well, there was a threat to the fbi agent on hunter biden's case. that person said if trump wins, you go to jail but if trump loses, you will be slaughtered and your family will be slaughtered. those are the kind of threats for this idea that judge cannon is a where is the cause-and- effect? donald trump did not have that person to say this. donald trump, himself, connects capital a to b he said in a cnn town hall that they listen to me. they listen to me like no one else. he knows the effect that he had . we all know the effect he has. so does judge cannon. this idea of the there is not an imminent threat to these agents is just laughable. the idea that she is scolding the prosecutor for getting upset about that and for trying to make his point rather than say to a criminal defendant, you cannot talk about the case agents that way. you cannot save these things and any other criminal defendant or judge would be scolding a criminal defendant for making statements like that. >> giving that she is not moving, what comes next for this motion on the modification? >> reporter: she is allowing each side to file supplements if they want to. for purposes of the viewers to understand, these types of hearings, you have to have record evidence. the government relied upon 11 exhibits and supplement with two extra today with a truth social post and another post done last year. the judge is allowing a couple more days for each site to decide if they want to supplement because there were a few more exhibits included in the government's reply, which is lasting the government filed. however, i am not holding my breath on having any quick thing. as christie notes, this was filed in may after a particularly bad week in may of 2024. really egregious post with statements by donald trump we are having this hearing. i don't expect her to rule on anytime soon. i'm going to say the judge is going to deny the motion for bond modification. it seems obvious that she thought the law and the facts were squarely on the defense's side. the defense had their work done for them today by judge cannon. todd blanche did not have a lot to say when he got up to speak. the burden was on the government because it was their bond motion. the government did not seek a gag order because they anticipated a first amendment speech restraint argument. we have seen gag orders in chutkan and in as well as judge merchan. i think they knew there would be a prior restraint argument that was going to come from the defense. >> i wonder what you make from the fact that jack smith chose the state to be in court. >> i think it shows, frankly, the solidarity with the agents that have built this case whose lives are at risk because of the dangerous rhetoric and lies that mr. trump is telling. i do think it is important and we have seen the special counsel in court, not every single hearing at mar-a-lago or up in d.c. but as often as possible. i think it is a good signal to send but it also sends the message that the prosecutor arguing has the full backing of the special counsel himself. so, that is something that, you know, i just cannot think, maybe this prosecutor is going be on with the special counsel would want. special counsel is sitting right there and he can have a conversation with the prosecutor on his team if he wanted to do so. i think it really firms up that support for the arguments being made. i would also just add to katie's point on why they decided on moving to modify conditions of release as opposed to a gag order. i agreed that the first amendment applies a little differently. i also think that it is the right thing to do. this is pretty typical in a case where you have a defendant who is saying things that are threatening to witnesses, including law enforcement. it is a pretty typical condition of release to require them not to make, you know, those kinds of statements or threats. it is very typical to say, you cannot have conversation with witnesses. trump was ordered not to have conversations with his co- defendants, except to the extent that mr. noda is working for him and he has to have conversations related to work. >> we have about 30 seconds left but i do want to ask you, kristi to what happened this morning you have trump saying that this is all president biden pulling the strings. and then you have his legal team arguing that jack smith has no oversight. which one is that? >> joe biden has nothing to do with this. all he did was put forth merrick garland. it is merrick garland's department of justice but joe biden has nothing to do with it. as to garland's oversight, the special counsel says there is some oversight. the special counsel regulations provide for that. it is a balance between independence and some accountability. any time there is a significant event, there has to be a notification from the special counsel to merrick garland. what does that mean? likely a search warrant on a former president residence and likely in a diamond. they did not go into those details. the regulations provide for some oversight for these notifications to happen. if a special counsel is going rogue and doing things completely not run afoul of doj rules, the attorney general can step in and say, i am overruling you. i'm not letting you do it. >> christie, thank you so much. katie phang, thank you. coming up, the president of united states and a convicted felon walk into a debate stage. it is actually happening and it is happening thursday night. tim miller and claire mccaskill are standing by and they will join me in just 60 seconds. 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how does he make the case to millions of undecided voters that donald trump's criminality should matter to them. mitch landor offered this on meet the press just yesterday. >> the sky is blue sometimes and donald trump is a convicted felon. the american people have to sit in that. the person who wants to be present has to sit with his probation officer before he goes to the debate. it is just a fact. it is not just to call donald trump to a convicted felon but it goes to his behavior and character. he is actually file bankruptcy six times. that means he's not just a bad business guy, it means he screwed all of the people who actually relied on him for a living. the american people will see that. >> tim miller is a former republican strategist and host of the bull shark podcast but claire mccaskill is a former democratic senator from missouri and cohost of the msnbc podcast, how to win 2024. both are msnbc contributors and both are going to be in atlanta for the debate this week. senator mccaskill, i want to pick up where mitch landor left off. discussion of the criminality. there is some handling about whether or not president biden was going to go after former president trump on this question. we have now seen the biden campaign released an ad that goes squarely after him on this topic. do you think he goes after him on thursday night? >> i think he will go after him. i don't know how important it is to remind everyone that donald trump is a felon. think everyone in america knows he has been convicted. there is this calcified group of people that are believing what trump is saying. somehow this is not a valid conviction. it is more important for joe biden to go after donald trump, literally. he needs to be the state of the union joe biden. he needs -- i mean, what a gift he has been given. think about it. donald trump has spent the last six months telling everyone joe biden cannot walk or talk and all joe biden has to do is show scrappy joe biden from scranton , he does not respect trump he knows that trump lies all the time. he needs to say shut up and stop your yapping and do all of those things to put trump in his place and stand up to him. this is about biden showing strength. not so much what he says. >> it is funny, tim, the senator use the term junkyard dog with me over the weekend, which i think does sum up the president biden that we may see it at the same time that you have joe biden preparing for this debate, you have reports that trump is not doing mock debates with anyone standing in for biden but he said it easily with j.d. vance, marco rubio, eric schmidt . wonder what that tells you about the performance he is planning to put on thursday. >> can you even believe what comes out of the truck world? i take all of those reports with a grain of salt. i do think what we can see publicly is that donald trump is concerned about how this debate is being framed up as you leave into the debate. that is why he is doing all of the weird stuff about joe biden being on drugs. it is worth reminding everyone that he tried this playbook in 2020 and a losing debates. you don't remember that because time is a flat circle with these new cycles flashing away. he already tried this joe biden is on drug things and it did not work then. it is absurd. you also see it with him, there was the example of the weekend where he said it was not true but he called the troop suckers and losers. to me, that shows he is a little worried about the debate. he is thinking about what joe biden the tax might be on him and he's trying to take the air out of the blue ahead of time. there is a lot of evidence that trump yields and concerned about the debate how that manifests in his mind and what he is prepping, i am not sure. i can think we can see that he is concerned. >> i think we all except there is an asymmetry here in terms of the fact that we expect president biden to talk about policy and talk about his record and the things that he would want to do in a second term. we don't necessarily expect that of former president trump it over the weekend, i was able to speak with the head of the heritage foundation. asked about project 2025 and basically said it was extending trump is him. just remind everyone project 2025, a blueprint to disassemble the administrative state and implement a christian na