his thumb is working! i do like this coin toss thing. why stop with the debate side? let's have the coin determine who wins the election. yep. it would be so much less stressful than five months of campaigning. just flip the coin! heads, it's trump. tails, it's biden. if the coin bounces and rolls into the sewer, it's rfk jr. >> i say he'll come out all jacked up, right? all jacked up. >> yes, all jacked up on metamucil. trump says he wants them to both submit to a drug test before the debate. do you have any idea how long it takes to get a urine sample from men close to 80? i'm 74 and the only time i i don't have to pee is when i'm pee'ing! >> the great marty short filling in for jimmy kimmel this week. not a bad substitute. we are two days away now from the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. we will have the latest what we are learning about president biden's strategy for dealing with two different versions of donald trump. primary day in new york and colorado and we will look at the big races as two outspoken lawmakers could be in danger of losing their seats tonight. also ahead, a long legal battle between the united states and wikileaks founder julian assange appears to be coming to an end. welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, june 25th. with us host of "way too early" jonathan lemire. former aide to the george w. bush white house elise jordan. editor of "the washington post" is eugene robinson. ceo of the messina group, jim who ran obama's successful 2012 re-election campaign. joe, we begin with a little sports. >> a little sports? growing up in the ice age, it used to be the canadiens would win one stanley cup after another. what a florida team, willie. >> yeah. the panthers hung on. they won game seven 2-1. if you haven't been paying attention, it's been an incredible series. panthers went up 3-0, that is insurmountable in the history of sports' only happened a couple times to come back. the edmondton oilers won the next three games to force that game seven last night. in florida, panthers won 2-1. as you said, preventing not just edmondton from winning the stanley cup, canadian, the home of hockey, from winning a stanley cup and still has not happened since the 1987 when the edmondton oilers do it. goal shy last night in florida. >> sergei bobrovsky was wonderful last night. post defensemen lost the puck. connor mcdavid winning the conn smythe which the playoff mvp and doing so from the losing side which almost never happens. he had 42 points. just shy of wayne gretzky's all-time playoff record in the postseason. such a shame for canada. i admit it. i was rooting for edmondton and i wanted to do canada and that country to get it but the panthers were a deserving team and deserving champions. >> maple leafs was the last team in a stanley cup final to comeback from 3-0 that holds up now edmondton almost did it but not quite. >> yeah. in other sports news. the new york yankees going to be facing the amazing mets coming up. >> mets are hot. >> another team that is hot, jonathan lemire, here we go, our boston red sox man. they won 8 out of 10. last night, i went to sleep. i told jack, you're going to have to take you also the rest of the way. it was 6-2. seventh inning. i had no idea. all i got was a text from jack, he is very polite and said duran is amazing. what can you say about this guy jarren duran? a game winning catch at the fence last night and game winning catch a couple of nights ago in the ninth inning and literally put his hand over the center field fence. caught it. he is number three. here he is in that. freddie lynn type catch for jarren duran in center field. i think the last game he stuck his hand over the fence in the 8 to 9 and saved the game for the sox. this kid now just absolutely on fire and if he does not find his way to the all-star roster one way or another, being i think, number three on the list, no justice. no justice. >> he has always had the talent. this year, everything has clicked for duran. he is playing great defense and stealing bases, hitting. sox down 6-2 last night and rally to tie it at 6. duran gets the walkoff base hit. we see now their season high seven games over .500. they have won four series in a row. terrific start last night against the blue jays. they are an aggressive team and they steal bases and playing much improved defense. the pitching has come balk to earth a little bit but the offense has come alive. willie, you know, it is mets/yankees. the yankees have cooled off a little bit but gerrit cole is back but facing the new york mets whose franchises fortunes changed about ten days ago thanks to a creature named grimace. i don't know if you're aware of this story line. there is grimace on the back page of the new york "daily news." mcdonald's character who threw out a first pitch ten days ago at citifield and mets then on a seven game winning streak and i think they have won 13 of their last 17 all due to the fans embrace it and the players have embraced it. they all credit grimace so good luck to the bronx bombers against that. >> nice bit of marketing for mcdonald's, too. i went away for a week. the yankees got bad and the red sox and mets got good. i don't know what happened but i'm here to restore order again. the celtics threw out the first pitch last night for the red sox. they look really good right now. also as long as we are here, joe. a new national champion in college baseball. tennessee, rocky top, winning its first national title in college baseball and outlasting texas a&m 6-5 in decisive game three of the college world series last night. among those on hand for the celebration? yep, peyton manning and morgan wallin sitting up in the box last night. vols the first number one seed to win the title since 1999. even this vanderbilt guy can say congratulations to the best team all season. >> go vols. >> i think we have covered it all here this morning, haven't we, joe? mets statistics and red sox. >> only thing i'd like to add, jonathan and i know you guise win 115, 118 games. 35, maybe 40 back from first place from you guys but i will tell you just it's nice to know what it feels like to be a yankee fan for this brief moment in june. it's been nice. >> this is a man who grew up studying bear bryant and they played the little sisters of the poor before the game, they say we have no chance against them. i apologize to the crimson tide and their fans. joe knows how to set expectations low. very smart. >> i apologize to the mammas and daddys of alabama who trust me with their children. so sorry. this is not going to go well. praying to healthy. speaking of setting low expectations. >> good transition! >> this is why i've been trying to explain to my former republican brothers and sisters that you want to be like bear bryant. you want to set low expectations and they have been too stupid to do that up until like maybe the last 15 minutes. now they are saying, now it's projection or confession and saying he is coke'd up and snort it before the debate. >> they appear concerned about this leaning heavily on the drug conspiracy theory. president joe biden remains this morning at camp david in the middle of intense preparation for this week's debate against donald trump now just two days away. three people familiar with the biden campaign's plans tell nbc news the president is studying how best to get under donald trump's skin in order to, quote, trigger his opponent at thursday's debate in atlanta. if trump comes up more disciplined than he has on past occasions, sources say the president's goal is to bring out, quote, rally trump, the rambling one. one way he may try to do thatpa president as a failure to win the 2020 election. biden campaign stresses there is a fine line to walk because they still. americans to come away with the impression the president is the adult in the room. as for trump's debate prep, nbc news reported last week the former president is having policy discussions with allies as opposed to formal prep sessions. so jim messina is waiting patiently as we were talking sports. let's talk about the debate prep when the two men get on the stage. what are you looking for thursday in atlanta? >> a clear contrast between the two candidates. i used to say to president obama, if you're on the defense, we are losing. if 8:00 choice between the two candidates, we will win. i think even more true now. i think what biden wants out of the this debate is have the american people look at them and remember why they fired donald trump four years ago and why they hired joe biden. if he can be that guy, i think a successful night and the goal of the biden campaign. trump just has to look sane. recently in some of the appearances, he talked about shark attacks the other day for five minutes. >> yeah. >> as long as he doesn't do that, i mean, you know, the expectations for him are fairly low here. i think he has just got to appear somewhat sane in front of the national public. >> elise, implicit in this whole rift they are on about joe biden going to be on drug and drug testing, they are saying he was so good at the state of the union he must be on something. they can't figure it whether he is an old man or killing it at the state of the union. what are you looking for? >> i hope both would take drug tests because it would be fascinating what donald trump on for so many years, whatever, you know, speculating 80s diet drug. aside from the fact that it has just been so many dumb accusations tossed out there, basically, the trump campaign has made a huge mistake by setting expectations so low. and if joe biden goes out and is anything less than looking like he has been hanging out under a bridge and drinking and doing drugs all night, like he really probably is going to have a victory. they just have set the expectations so low. >> john, as you know, covering this white house so closely every day, the campaign will tell you the stakes are very high for donald trump but also for joe biden. he needs to to come out what happens like at the state of the union and exceed those expectations and show because of the questions because of his age and among the supporters and democrats and independents still deciding which way to lean that is he is still up to this job as he did at the state of the union. >> they know that and biden campaign know this is a big moment. they wanted a debate this early because they wanted to change the trajectory of the race which has been close all along but in the battleground states donald trump has enjoyed, for the most part, narrow leads although we have seen that polling close a little bit in recent weeks. at the know much like the state of the union, questions about joe biden's age and questions about his ability to continue doing his job another four years and feel a moment to settle some of those doubts. i'll note about the republicans. with attacks about joe biden potentially being on drugs, attacks on the cnn moderators, those are not the kind of things you do if you're confident about your guy in the debate, gene robinson, that is because we know, look. donald trump for minutes at a time can appear disciplined and on the ball. but we know that usually doesn't last. we know that the biden campaign is going to try to provoke rambling monologues about sharks. you wrote about how for donald trump every week is shark week. that is where it is here, too. we know that the stakes are high for joe biden, that he has to look like he is up for the job but so does donald trump and for a lot of americans, thursday night will be the first time they really hear donald trump in four years. they might be surprised what they find. >> yeah. they might be very surprised to hear trump 2024 who is obsessed with sharks. if biden wants to trigger him, just say shark and boat and let him go off. i mean, or say water. he has this other rap about water and dishwashers and very confusing. to get him into that rally trump mode in which he is all over the map. he can't complete a sentence or a thought and he is just riffing in the most bizarre way. i think that would be kind of an ideal situation for biden. but i basically agree with the analysis that president biden needs to remain upright and make sense, do what he did at the state of the union, and given where expectations have been set by the republicans, that is a massive victory for biden, because, you know, they have essentially conditioned the trump base to expect biden to fall over at the debate or to fall asleep or simply not having an idea where he is. this was a huge mistake. >> jim, we have seen stories about some snap polling since the convictions as suggesting that it has actually -- karl rove we played a clip of being over the convictions say it has made a difference. not a massive difference but especially in independents and the voters who matter the most and who is going to determine the outcome of this election, it's mattered. with that in mind, how does joe biden handle donald trump's 34 felony convictions? >> he points out repeatedly it's about donald trump. this has always been about him. he's on a revenge tour. they have a new ad this morning talking about about and how joe biden is for the middle class and has a plan and donald trump is on a revenge tour. you'll see biden talk about the 34 convictions, you know, a couple of different ways to remind people that this is a clear choice. i think it's really important. joe, this entire election will come down to the double-doubters and these voters who don't like either one of them and this is the first time thursday night where they kind of look at this race and say, ha. i got to make a decision here? i want to figure out what exactly these two candidates are going to do for me. i totally agree with jonathan. in the end, trump has set the expectation so low it's going to be a difficult night for him if he can't stop joe biden. >> everybody stay put. we are going to continue this conversation after a short break. ahead, wikileaks founder julian assange is out of prison. it is election day here in new york. we will get a live report from mt. vernon, new york, where incumbent bowman is looking to hold on to his seat what is now the most expensive primary on record. you're watching "morning joe." we are back in 90 seconds. re wa" we are back in 90 seconds. and get a $30 egift card. enjoy more savings on more food, more toys, and more treats. more of everything they love, delivered right to your door. only with chewy. why choose a sleep number smart bed? 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(♪♪) (♪♪) sandals rhythm and blues caribbean sale is now on. visit sandals.com or call 1-800-sandals. beautiful picture of the sun coming up over the white house. julian assange is set to go free after five years in a british prison. he is headed to the western pacific for a hearing on an island. it is part of a plea deal with the justice department. let's bring in nbc news justice reporter ryan riley. good morning. what more can you tell us about how this deal came together? >> we really only found out about it last night and this is sort of unfolding now. the hearing will be in about 12 and a half hours on wednesday morning by the time it happens over there. here local time in eastern standard time it's around 7:00 p.m. is when this hearing will actually take place. it brings to the end of a saga gone on for several years now. you might remember that julian assange was held up in ecuadorian embassies and fighting extradition on charges and in prison five years now and charges were brought in 2018 and 2019 and he has been fighting extradition all of that way. essentially this will be time served for him and he'll get credit for the time he served in that british prison. he won't step foot in the continental u.s. he is expected afterwards to go home to his home country of australia at the end of this. that is how this is all expected to play out if everything goes according to plan and this is accepted by the judge. there has been both sides of the aisle i think lobbying for how this case should play out. there has been a big free assange movement that is pushing for him to be freed and this was a case that is pending for a very long time now and was brought under the trump administration and we saw in other cases donald trump taking up the cause of potential pardons on the libertarian side so now you have some political figures on the right, including -- saying this should have happened before he is free saying biden is appealing to libertarian voters. what the justice department and white house says this was a decision made independently by the justice department and not something the white house had any involvement. >> ryan, are we talking about time served now as part of this plea deal? they will say you owe us five years but you already served 62 months so effectively he is done, free to go? >> yeah. that is the expectation that he'll just be sort of on his way after this and this is, you know, putting this all basically behind him, essentially, except for, obviously, the conviction and the repercussions that come with that and, theoretically other countries that could look into this. you don't know how this is going to be held in his own country. yeah, you think back, you know? it was so long ago now when you think when this actual actually took place and coming up on 15 years, 14 years now when a lot of these documents took place. this was separate and apart from a lot of the stuff in 2016 we saw in the presidential election when wikileaks published a lot of hacked terls materials in dnc the cables that were published that were a threat because you had a lot of, you know, raw intelligence data in there. you had these files from guantanamo bay which have been informative. a lot of this information put out has been very valuable for reporters but the intelligence community says it's also been a real threat to sources and methods for them over the years. this was just a bunch of raw data that was published online. i remember being down in guantanamo bay more than ten years ago. you had the little newsletter there for all of the troops saying make sure you don't go on wikileaks because you could be exposed to material that you're not supposed to be seeing and that could come back to sort of haunt you. this is wrapping something up that started several iphones ago and one way to put it, a very long time ago, 14 years ago. >> the end to a long saga now appears to be in sight. let me ask you this. the judge presides over donald trump's classified documents case reprimanded a special prosecutor from jack smith's office and happened yesterday in a hearing for a former gag order. the judge said i don't appreciate your tone when the attorney appeared to get exasperated. an intense exchange came as the prosecutor was arguing judge cannon should bar trump from making more inflammatory statements for fbi agents for their safety. the attorney later apologized and said he did not mean to come across as unprofessional. at the same time the judge suggested she is skeptical of the prosecutor's argument that trump's comments could lead to violence by his supporters. in