joe biden and donald trump heading to a showdown, but traveling very different roads. new nbcs reporting on how biden is aiming to get under trump's skin, while team trump's wild pregame accusation may be revealing a case of nerves. we got details on what is happening behind the scenes leading up to thursday's big debate. plus, the debate in a florida courtroom over the raid at the center of the mar-a-lago documents case. eye opening new photos of exactly where classified documents were found in donald trump's home. the judge now makes a consequential decision. what can and cannot be used in court. and the end of the years long legal battle in the u.s. versus julian assange. after the wikileaks founder agreed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him more prison time. what this may mean for when something like this inevitably happens again. but we begin with new nbc reporting that president biden is in intense preparations for thursday's crucial debate. getting ready to face two different trumps potentially. and meticulously studying and combing through all of donald trump's recent comments in an effort to best identify what might get under his skin. for trump, not much in the way of traditional prep, but instead, a disinformation campaign, renewing his call for the president to take a drug test before the debate. and his supporters are amping up that lie, including his former doctor turned congressman ronny jackson who says only biden, not trump, should have to take the test. and this, from congresswoman mary miller-meeks on fox. >> we anticipate for this first debate he'll be on something, and the response of the press has been to cover it up and so we have seen that with karine jean-pierre saying these are deepfakes, misinformation. >> nbc's monica alba is reporting from washington, d.c. and nbc's dasha burns is reporting from west palm beach, florida. also with us, rick tyler, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst, and sam stein, deputy managing editor for politics at politico and msnbc contributor. great to have all of you here. monica, how is president biden planning to handle potentially the two different trumps that he's preparing for? >> reporter: well, chris, as he is now in his fifth straight day of debate prep at camp david, we know that this is part of the ongoing conversations that he's having with his close advisers. and they're really largely approaching this from which donald trump is going to appear on stage thursday evening. and they really say according to sources familiar with the president's prep that it is not like it might be just one version, the more bombastic one that we typically see at rallies, and at other campaign events or someone who is a little bit more disciplined compared to that. they think it could very likely be a combination of the two things, but either way they're preparing for the eventuality of a back and forth with either kind of donald trump. they really are approaching this from a couple of different perspectives. and officially the biden campaign says that it doesn't really matter which version of donald trump actually shows up in atlanta, that essentially president biden, because of what his vision will be, and what he lies out in the debate, they think it will be such a stark contrast no matter what to whatever the republican presumptive nominee wants to say that evening. but at the same time, they're acknowledging that that is what could be a really interesting dynamic throughout the debate. so they're going topic by topic, on what they expect will likely come up. they're having policy experts come to camp david from their white house jobs, to come and give perspective on everything from foreign policy to really key economic issues. and this is something that is a little bit of what we're seeing repeated four years later. there are a lot of familiar characters who are around the president, but four years ago, because of covid, he couldn't really do some of this more intensive prep in person and with such a large group. so really camp david, for these purposes, right now, this week, chris, is more like camp debate and they're really using some of the trappings of the incumbency to try to combine the two priorities while the president is still doing his day job and getting important national security briefings and updates on the extreme weather around the country as well in addition to all the preparation he's doing for thursday's showdown. chris? >> monica, thank you for that. dasha, what are you hearing from the trump campaign about these call for a drug test? >> reporter: well, this is a drum the former president has been beating for a while now at a rally in philly over the weekend, claiming that biden was going to be hopped up on drugs of some sort. of course no evidence of that. i did have an opportunity to interview spokeswoman caroline levitt and i asked her about the former president's calls for a drug test, including his truth social post from just yesterday. take a listen. >> if joe biden has nothing to hide, then why would he commit to this challenge. president trump publicly challenged joe biden many times to this debate. that's why we're here. that's why we're having a debate this early. and so joe biden should accept his challenge to a drug test as well. >> reporter: i also asked levitt about the different expectations setting we have seen. we know that for many months the former president has been calling joe biden, president biden weak and frail, at a recent rally he was saying that president biden couldn't put two sentences together. but then he went and sort of changed his tune a little bit saying he's a worthy debater, you shouldn't underestimate him and levitt told me that saying two things can be true at once, that the american people have seen joe biden's cognitive decline. those are -- but he's also probably engaged in more debates than any other politician in history, calling him a career politician. so, again, kind of weighing both of these -- both of these scenarios against each other and claiming that the former president is ready to take on president biden on thursday, chris. >> dasha, thank you for that. okay, rick, so, the question is why trump is going here even. does this unfounded, let's call it what it is, lie, about joe biden being on drugs or planning to get shot up with drugs before the debate suggest maybe a lack of confidence on trump's part? >> well, as you know, chris, trump tries to have it both ways on all things. debates are about setting expectations. and he set expectations in either direction. and he's always looking for a excuse of why he loses, and so he's setting out this unknown, because i doubt that the president is going to submit to a drug test and if he did submit to a drug test, donald trump should submit exactly the same drug test. i don't know what it matters. is there a clause in the contract that says no drugs during debate? i don't think so. so, it is all distraction. it is all designed to create some diversion so that if he doesn't do well in the debate, it is because his opponent was on drugs, i don't know what's in that mind of his. i know that what biden needs to do is he needs to talk about the future. he should not be talking about his accomplishments, because that has not worked and is not working and he has to set out two stark choices between two futures, and that future is the economy. and the problem is right now, undecided voters by 53 to 39% believe that trump is better on the economy. he must reverse that. if he doesn't, he's going to be in real trouble. >> that is what we have been hearing a lot from democrats, this is a choice between chaos and competence and that's what they want the president to get across on thursday. but he wanted -- joe biden wanted this early debate to change the trajectory of a race that has been stubbornly stuck, right? it is so neck and neck, and tiny swings this way or that way, but no real change in the bottom line of this race. so, how does joe biden do that? how does he take advantage of what he wanted, which was this early debate for a reset? >> he's got to get all those performance enhancing drugs in his system, chris, obviously. i think -- he's got to make this into a choice, right? the referendum on his legacy and his time in office, it hasn't worked. and typically it does not work if you're an incumbent. the same thing that barack obama struggled with when he's run against mitt romney, turning this into a referendum. obama made it entirely about mitt romney's record at bain capital, and this idea this guy was going to come in and sell all your jobs. biden had a trickier time doing that, but he tried a few different things, most of it centered around the issue of democracy and autocracy and can you hammer home the message effectively new to turn this race into a choice election. i will say, yes, it has been a remarkably stable race. what the biden people are heartened about a little bit is that in the post conviction polls, you see a slight uptick in biden's direction. my big question heading into the debate, do they try to capitalize on that, how much do they focus on trump's convictions if at all, do they try to put that into some larger framework and if so, what is that framework? >> so, "the new york times" focused on voters who they say are watching the debate with the hands over their eyes. these are the folks that both sides desperately want. they don't want them to stay home. here's part of what the times wrote, quote, it has all the makings of a train wreck with chemical spillage that is lethally toxic, an arizona democrat said. an independent voter from washington state who usually supports democrats said, this is the most apprehensive i've felt about a presidential debate. i sense a disaster in the making where neither will look presidential. how -- if you're the campaign, if you're doing preps, if you're a candidate, and you're figuring out how you want to approach this, how do you approach those voters, the voters that matter, the folks who hate both of them, the folks who truly are small number of them undecided? >> well, look, you got to count on the -- by this point that your base is your base and they're going to show up for you and you got to look at the voters who are still undecided and what do they think. for biden, there is a big population and it is really due to a local shift where working class blue collar voters are -- have been attracted to trump, not the republican party in general, but attracted to trump. biden has to win them back. it is people who live with an income around $60,000 and the inflation since biden took office, which, by the way, biden should point out started with all the money that trump put into the economy after covid, but that's a little bit of -- that's hard for people to grasp. we have been in a recovery, people who are making that kind of money are really getting hammered at the grocery store and gas pump and he really needs to win those people back and he needs to acknowledge them and that, you know, this has been paid for by them, but it is going to get better. >> there is an op-ed by hillary clinton today, i'm sure you saw it, sam, and she talks about the different things that can make a difference in this debate. and she says i've debated trump and biden. here's what i'm watching for. on trump, she says, expectations for him are so low that if he doesn't literally light himself on fire on thursday evening, some will say he was downright presidential. it was a very clever column. i wonder where you stand on the expectations game? is it super low for both of them? how much does the expectations game matter, do you think, on thursday? >> i think it matters a great deal, honestly. i think she's right. the expectations for trump are pretty low. partially by his own setting, right? i think we ought to remember the first biden/trump debate in 2020, he interrupted repeatedly both joe biden and the moderator. he literally had covid. which was obviously quite problematic at the time. and he came out looking deranged, frankly. i think that really harmed him. and it really helped joe biden. i don't expect donald trump to do that again. but, you know, there is that sort of expectation he will say something wild and off the walls and for biden, the expectations are that he might just fall over from exhaustion. and if he doesn't do that, maybe he's cleared it. i thought a smart commentary, joe biden was not totally debating donald trump on thursday, he was debating the caricature of joe biden and same to be said about trump. ultimately this is a visual experience for a lot of viewers. go back to the historical kennedy and nixon debate. i think the same is going to hold true here, viewers will look at this as a visual experience and that's where the expectation setting really comes into play. >> this is the most untraditional of campaigns, one thing in tradition that holds true is people are still looking for someone who looks presidential. whatever that means. who sounds presidential. who presents presidential. it is going to be fun to watch. rick tyler, sam stein, thanks, guys. much appreciated. watch "chris jansing reports" on thursday for special coverage ahead of the debate. i will be live in atlanta with reporters and experts both from 11:00 to noon eastern and from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc. also on thursday, rachel maddow and team lead special coverage and analysis of the first presidential debate, hosted by cnn. watch thursday beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. coming up in 90 seconds, another critical court hearing happening right now in the trump classified documents case. the evidence the former president's lawyers are fighting to get tossed out. president's lawyers are fighting to get tossed out. 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>> reporter: well, first, chris, there are so many pretrial motions and hearings, they're starting to bump into each other. the photos you showed are from a motion that jack smith filed last night that is going to be the subject potentially of a different hearing down the line on an argument by the defense that the fbi essentially messed up the evidence to such an extent that the case should be thrown out. the purpose of those photos was to show that the way donald trump stored those highly classified documents, containing some of the nation's most sensitive secrets was so chaotic and so messy. today in court, jack smith is there, donald trump is not, they're fighting a different set of motions by the defense where the defense is arguing that the warrant wasn't properly constructed. that the justice department was not fully candid with the magistrate judge and that therefore the evidence should be tossed. and then the most -- the more consequential argument is their effort to get removed from the case the very crucial notes that were taken based on memorandum recorded by donald trump's lawyer, evan corcoran, obtained by jack smith under the crime fraud exception to attorney-client privilege. now the defense is trying to get judge aileen cannon to exclude it on the grounds that it should have been protected by attorney-client privilege. this is some of the most important evidence in the case with clear evidence of obstruction of justice including evan corcoran saying donald trump made a plucking motion as if to suggest he was removing documents under subpoena by the justice department. >> thank you so much, ken dilanian. okay, glen, if you're a prosecutor, how concerned are you by this evidence challenge? >> chris, i'm not concerned by the substance of any of these motions that have been filed by donald trump's attorneys. i think ken's overview gives us a sense of what the real problem is. motion after motion after motion is being filed. and there really is little basis, little evidentiary or legal basis for these motions. the problem is judge cannon is entertaining every one, ad nauseam, at length, and refusing to set a trial date and the problem becomes if you have no trial date, then you need not set any intermediate deadlines that must be met to resolve these motions as you move toward a firm trial date. it really does feel like delay is the point. but, really, briefly, with respect to the motion being argued right now, it is called a spoliation motion. because the claim is, you know, they didn't specifically say when they opened all of these boxes, wait a minute, a classified document was nestled next to a newspaper clipping with a picture of donald trump, which was nestled next to military attack plans on foreign countries, which was nestled next to a golf shirt, therefore you've destroyed exculpatory evidence. the legal term i would use for that kind of an argument is nonsense. what the fbi did is they documented the box, in the location in which they found it, they opened it up, and they documented what it looked like, and then they documented every single thing, meticulously, that came out of each and every box. the problem is there is no legal basis to attack that search. but judge cannon is going to burn through a whole bunch of time giving donald trump the delay he so desperately covets. >> so, let me ask you a little bit more about aileen cannon. i will admit i was surprised to see in "the wall street journal" today no liberal newspaper for sure, an op-ed about how the documents case is crawling along, about how questions about aileen cannon are broadening, legal observers wondering whether she's in over her head. there was the reporting i think that was last week that there was some other judges who were senior to her