0 covering all this cross-country, thank you very much. that is all in on this monday night, the rachel maddow show starts right now, good evening rachel. rachel. good evening chris, thank you very much. hour. happy to have you here. the basic plot is that even though he's a good guy, even though he's our hero, he has to steal the declaration of independence, he has to break into the national archives and steal it but it is for a good reason. it's because he has followed the string of ancient creepy totally nonplausible clues and those clues have revealed to him a big secret, the big secret is that there is a big treasure, and to find the big treasure, you have to follow the treasure map, and the treasure map is conveniently, is prinned in invisible ink on the backside of the declaration of independence. and so he has to steal the declaration of independence. not because he wants the treasure map that is written in invisible ink on the other side, not just because of that, but because the bad guys have followed the same set of clues that he followed that have figured out the same secret as hill, and the bad guys are going to steal the declaration of independence for bad reasons, so the good guy has to steal it first before they can get to it. that's the plot. i think that's the basic plot. something about free masons. and pyramids, too. i don't know. probably some other parts i missed but honestly in a movie like this, it doesn't really matter what you missed. it just means you'll be fine. >> don't you get, it ben. the strrnt there. >> i refuse to believe that. >> what you thought was the final clue. >> i was only three feet away. >> the declaration of independence. >> a treasure map, on the back of a declaration of intense. >> the map is invisible. >> why would we make this up? >> where's your proof? >> we don't have it. >> >> get down. >> word of the map is out. >> he will try to steal it. >> the only way to protect the declaration is to steal it. >> steal the declaration of independence? >> that is under surveillance by guards. you will go to prison, you know that, right? >> that's a problem. >> okay, go. >> get out of there, now. >> let's go. where the blood ry you at? >> he's got it. i love the part where nicholas cage would otherwise be shot but he uses the bullet-proof-ish casing for the department declaration of independence as his body army but he's fine, but how's the document? it took the bullets, maybe? this is the 2004 smash hit movie "national treasure" starting nicholas cage, the weekend before national treasure, the weekend it came out in 2004, i have to tell you, this movie beat the sponge bob square pants movie which came out the same weekend. it beat even that blockbuster, for the number one spot in the u.s. box office. despite the fact that national treasure was viewed pretty universally as absolutely ridiculous, it ended up grossing like $350 million wordwide. even though it cost an astonishing $100 million to make, it still made a quarter billion in profit on top of that, which again is especially amazing when you consider the plot of this thing really is something like something, something free masons, something, something invisible ink, something, something america, happy ending. there's not a lot to like string you along here. it's pretty ridiculous. the "washington post" referenced this movie, "national treasure" in some of the recent reporting on the current criminal investigation involving former president trump, specifically the recent revelations that he apparently absconded from the white house with documents he is not supposed to suppose, including national security document, highly classified materials and in general tons of stuff that is not supposed to be stuffed into a dead room bedroom closet@at his florida house where he rents out rooms to guests. all supposed to be at the national archives and the "washington post" pointed out in the minds of many, if not most americans, when you think of the national archives, if you have an image of that in your mind, maybe you think of beauty shops like this, maybe you have a family field trip to washington, d.c. and you've seen that building some day, but just as likely, you think about that nicholas cage movie, the building where nicholas cage stole the declaration of interception and then used it as a bullet shield while running from the bad guys who were going to steal the treasure. there is a big national archives facility in washington. it's recognizable from the outside. also from the inside, it's got the famous rotunda and the public vaults and the big national archives museum. but that's not the only place the national archives is. there are major national archives facilities in seattle and st. louis, and fort worth, texas, and kansas city, and new york city and riverside, california, and atlanta, and bloomfield, colorado. a whole bunch of other places as well. the archives contain national federal records centers in cinematic nicholas cage action movie worthy locations like lenexa, kansas, and pittsburghfield massachusetts, and lorraine ohio and lee's summit missouri. the national archives isn't just one headquarters staying in washington. it is a big agency that has extra small, small, medium, large, and extra large facilities literally all over the country from coast to coast. national archives as an agency is also responsible for more than a dozen presidential libraries. everybody from herbert hoover through to donald trump, although donald trump's library is a presidential website. thanks to trump though, they have had to the national archives facility in hoffman estates, illinois, because that's where the national archives is keeping records from the obama administration. national archives keeps records in hoffman estates, illinois, those records were ultimately made accessible through the obama presidential library. and they've now had to increase the police presence at that facility. after the fbi executed a search warrant earlier this month, to go seize classified documents and other materials that trump was supposed to give back to the national archive, trump not once, not twice, but three times made statements online that president obama was somehow the real villain, that he, trump had, done nothing wrong, but obama had taken millions of documents, tons of classified stuff he shouldn't have taken, to his home, president obama's home should be raided. all of that from trump is just, you will be shocked to hear this but is 100% bull-pucky, the national archives actually has all of obama's presidential records, he doesn't have any of them himself, let alone highly classified stuff stashed in his gold painted bedrooms like some other former president, and nevertheless when trump made those claims online about former president obama and his materials from the national archives, police say they noticed a spike in apparently hostile threatening online chatter about the obama presidential library national archives facility in suburban hoffman estates, illinois. and so, according to the "washington post," police had to increase their patrols there at that national archives building. and that is in keeping with what we now know is an overall increased threat environment toward national archives facilities and national archives staff. ever since it emerged that trump is under criminal investigation from a number of things, potentially violating the espionage act, an investigation that was started after the national archives told trump that he had a bunch of their material and that he refused to hand it over, that apparently has been enough to make the national archives the enemy of trump supporters. nbc news has now obtained a letter from the head of the national archives to all archive staff, all across the country, it says in part, quote, the national archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, this week especially, with many people ascribing political motivation to our actions. we have received messages from the public accusing us of corruption, and conspiring against the former president, or alternately, congratulating us for bringing him down. neither is accurate or welcome. for the past 30-plus years as a national archives career civil servant i have been proud to work for a uniquely and fiercely nonpolitical government agency known for its integrity around its position as an honest brocker this. position is in establishing laws in a culture i hold dear and i know you do, too. our fundamental interest is always in ensuring that government records are properly managed, preserved, and protected to ensure access to them fort life of the republic. that is our mission and what motivates us as we proceed to uphold the public trust. i thank all of you for that mission and your professionalism and integrity and in carrying it out in a dil diligent manner and we will continue to do our work without fear or favor in the service of our democracy. that letter going out from the head of the national archives to all nationwide staff of that very large agency. that letter going out as "the washington post" reports, quote, since the fbi's searched former president trump's home to recover classified documents the national archives has become the target of a rash of threats and vitriol. trump's recent actions have whipped his followers into a fervor against the national archives. how can you be in a federal reserver against the national ar -- how can you be in a fervor against the national archives? even in that ridiculous movie national treasure where the most insane things are made to seem super suspicious and sinister, the clues are on the dollar bill, there the national archives isn't bad. i mean, the national archives is where we keep our country's documents. it's the filing cabinet. it's the library. how can you be mad at the library? oh wait. oh, yeah, that's what we're doing now. hysterical culture posturing from the political right is shutting down american libraries now and children's story times at libraries are being targeted for violence and intimidation from the right and school board meetings are turning into scenes of violence and intimidation and harassment as well. and elections workers being threatened and attacked and doxxed and harassed. and public health officials and local public health officers and doctors and nurses, and teachers. depending what the hot topic this week is on the right, some new group of americans working in some aspect of public service is about to start getting threatened and doxxed and harassed. it's everything that we cover now. we just had that interview last week with dr. anthony fauci on the occasion of his announcing his retirement after serving seven different presidencies, nearly 50 years in public service. dr. fauci never before now had to have a security detail. he has to now because of all the threats to him and his family. below a national figure like that, public health officials, local, city, county, state public health officials all over the country hounded out of their jobs, healthcared, causing the largest professional exodus in modern american history in the middle of our largest public health threat in a century. the elections office in a texas county, the whole office, every worker in the elections office, all resigning this month en masse because they can't handle the threats and harassment of them. for their terrible crime of working like normal public servants to administer totally normal elections. former president trump's social media company posting a link to the unredacted search warrant for mar-a-lago. unredacted in the sense that the one that they posted didn't black out the names of the individual fbi agents who signed off on some of that documentation. after that a trump white house staffer posted personal identifying information for those fbi agents and their families. so trump supporters could hound them and threaten them and intimidate them and target them. the fbi and the department of homeland security having to send out a nationwide alert about a spike in threats to federal law enforcement officials of all kinds. the judge who signed off on the search warrant at mar-a-lago needing security after his address was posted online and trump supporters started threatening him and his synagogue. that's nice. now apparently it's the national archives staff. the national archives. i mean, talk about the case that proves the point, right? if the federal government were a zoo, the national archives would be like the lop eared bunnies exhibit, the cute little vegetarian monkeys so small they could sit in a teaspoon. i mean, even if you want to make the national archives a pulse-pounding source of great excitement, it will cost you $100 million to make that movie and it's going to require nicholas cage and it still won't get you nicholas cage and it's going to be too ridiculous to take seriously even for a second. but in this political environment on the right they can generate a murderous rage about the national archives apparently or the fbi or school boards or librarians or teachers or doctors or county public health boards or the little old ladies who work at the polls on election day. no one is beyond being threatened, doxxed, harassed, driven out of public service. it is hard to stay a democracy just in a practical level. it is hard to stay a democracy when all forms of public service, large and small, all jobs in the public life of our democracy come with threats of violence. you can't long hold free and fair elections when it takes bravery to be a poll worker. it should not take bravery to be a poll worker or a file clerk at the archives or an immunologist. the threat of political violence takes normal people out of public life. which puts you on a very fast track to the end of democracy at a very practical level. the news today has been dominated by one of the former president's allies in the u.s. senate promising if trump is indicted for these crimes he is being investigated for there will be, in his words, riots in the street. senator lindsey graham is promising that. he is not speaking out against it saying i hope this doesn't happen and i need to tell my fellow americans i can sense this might be coming and it's wrong. nothing like that. he is basically promising that's going to happen and wielding that as a threat against the justice department. hey, if a guy on our side is arrested for crimes, we are going to burn the country down. this is the party that wants to be known as the law and order party. the news also dominated for the last couple of days by a lot of details and i think kind of fuzz-ifying reporting what is happening with the documents that the fbi took back from mar-a-lago. the request from trump for a special master to review those documents and a florida judge considering the special master request and the filings today, including the filing from the justice department to that judge about the special master and what the justice department has looked at already. i mean, for the people directly involved in this, i'm sure all of the minutia, the ins and outs are fascinating. i think it's easy to lose the forest for the trees on a legal tangent like this one. this fight over the special master thing, what this is, is the trump side trying to delay the justice department in its ability to use the documents that they took from mar-a-lago as part of their ongoing criminal investigation. they are trying to delay it and make it more complicated. on the other side the justice department has to wait to hear from the judge exactly what kinds of rules and procedures they have to follow in order to use these documents from mar-a-lago in their ongoing criminal investigation. we expect tomorrow the justice department will make a big long 40-page filing to the judge hearing this dispute about why they think it should be more simple and straightforward, even though thump thinks it should be more complicated and slower. that's basically it. how fast and under what circumstances does the justice department get to use the documents that he took in the search warrant towards building their criminal case. and you can get into the weeds if you want to. this can be made to seem more complicated but that's what it boils down to. the trump side wants to make it more slow and complicated to use those materials. the d.o.j. doesn't want that, but in the end, they will do whatever the judge says, so the judge will say something. that's it. despite all the ink that that dispute received today, despite all the ink that is definitely going to receive tomorrow, despite all the ink this received over the weekend, i do think it's a fairly easy to understand dispute. we will have to wait to see what the judge says. beyond that sort of tempest in the teapot, i think there are two other things that seem more interesting and more important to watch right now. one of them is definitely a wait and see thing that we sort of can't push the string on at all. we will just find out when it happens. but the other is something we are going to try to get answers on tonight. the wait and see one is this little reporting from "the washington post." post says, quote, the work of the national archives may not yet be done. some national archives officials believing that there might still be more records missing. now, this is in this post article where they say they spoke to 14 current and former national archives employees and trump advisors and historians and people familiar with what's going on in the cases. 14 sources. one apparently told "the post" there are officials at the archives who think now even after that search warrant was executed by the fbi at mar-a-lago archives officials still believe trump is holding more documents. he is still hiding more documents that he effectively stole from the government. now, nbc news has not matched that reporting from "the post." as far as we know, no other news organization has either. if that's true, if after the, you know, the pleading letters from the national archives and the contact from the justice department and the subpoena from the justice department and then the search warrant being executed by the fbi, if after all of that there is still more that he is hiding, that's bananas and "the washington post" reports that national archives officials believe there is more. that's definitely worth watching. that is sort of a wait and see. but, wow, if true. and then there is the other thing that i really think is worth watching and it concerns the intelligence community. nbc news was first to obtain a letter from the director of national intelligence explaining how her office is getting involved in this now in two different ways. first of all, the director of national intelligence is apparently doing a classification review of these materials that trump took and was hiding at mar-a-lago. now, what is a classification review? why is the director of national intelligence doing that, and what are the implications of that classification review for the broader case? i don't know. we are about to find out on this program tonight. secondly though, the national intelligence director is, according to nbc news, also doing something that's basically a damage assessment. quote, odni, the office of the director of national intelligence, will lead an intelligence community asesment of the potential risks to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents. so as federal prosecutors and the fbi are about to get from this florida judge the rules of the road in terms of how they can use the material they seized from trump in this criminal investigation, as the national archives contends with threats from trump supporters and contends with the prospect that even now trump is still hiding more documents even after the search w