where entire neighborhoods are under water. also, jack smith in court right now as the battle plays out in the classified documents case. the new updates we're getting from court. plus, louisiana parents taking the battle between church and state straight to court. their fight to keep the ten commandments out of schools. and an international legal saga coming to an end. a plea deal that would let julian assange walk free. our nbc news reporters are following all the developments. we begin with adrian in minnesota near the site of that dam we're all watching. what's the latest there, adrian? >> reporter: this afternoon, all eyes are still on the dam behind me that is in threat of imminent failure. we just heard from the local sheriff about the local engineer just moments ago telling us they did see additional erosion overnight. this caution tape is in place to keep people away because folks have shown up wanting to take pictures of this scene behind me, but the sheriff says if someone were to fall in that water, there's no way first responders could go in to rescue them. it's just too dangerous. over on the other side, the surface looks stable, but it is not. and this flooding has turned deadly. in north dakota, there's one reported death and the same in iowa. now, they are getting federal assistance in those states. president biden weighing in last night, but back here in minnesota, the army corp. of engineers are on scene as they assess this area. i did ask the sheriff earlier today what will happen in the dam fully collapsed. here's what he said. >> it will probably beat up some shoreline, this will surge. the whole state is in a flood. they have wet basements right now. they had wet basements before this dam broke. >> reporter: city officials telling us the flood here is the second largest in the county. the other flood that was larger than this was recorded in 1965. meanwhile, the dam is still in place. however, the water around it has kind of snaked around and started essentially causing the shoreline to erode. to the right of me, we're looking at a home that looks like it's hanging and could fall any moment. we spoke with the homeowners who say they're prepared to lose their home. it's their business called the dam that they're worried about. they've had to shut down obviously but they're hoping they can salvage their business that's been in their family for 52 years. >> thank you for that. to florida now, where donald trump's lawyers are battling the special counsel over what evidence could be included in the mar-a-lago documents case. ken dilanian is live from fort pierce, florida. we're getting an update from our folks inside the courthouse. what are they telling you? >> reporter: the defense is making their argument that the search warrant in this case was defective. judge cannon seemed skeptical and is questioning the defense closely about exactly why they think under the law this was improper. there was a disagreement about how to proceed. i've seen a lot of search warrants. judge cannon appeared skeptical of that argument. this is frankly a long shot motion and it's bewildering as to why the judge is holding this hearing given she seems to properly skeptical. a magistrate judge who works under judge cannon in this case approved the warrant and found probable cause for the search to go forward. now to louisiana where a legal battle has begun over a new law that requires the ten commandments to be displayed in classrooms. what can you tell us, guad? >> reporter: chris, this legal filing comes from nine families. these families, they say the new law that requires classrooms to have the ten commandments up by 2025 would violate their first amendment right to decide what religion they want to raise their children in. they also argue that students will now be pressured to observance or adoption of whatever religion or scripture is chosen by the state. in this case, it would be the ten commandments being part of the christian scripture. the families are being represented by the aclu and a group of organizations. let's hear from a representative from the aclu speaking about this lawsuit. >> we have united people of various faiths. those who proudly do not practice a religion. all united under the idea that this law strikes at the core of religious freedom. hb 71 is the canary in the coal line. is the inflection point that we must finally stand up together. >> reporter: so this lawsuit also argues that the decision by the state of louisiana to pass this law violates a supreme court decision from 40 years ago. stone versus graham. in which the supreme court decided not to allow the state of kentucky to post the ten commandments because these were public areas. so they are essentially saying this has already been decided by the supreme court and they are violating that decision. so now, there's experts saying that perhaps the state of louisiana, the governor, wanted this to happen and the long plan here could be to begin a legal battle in which this would get to the courts and eventually make it back to the supreme court with a conservative majority now. the results could be different from what we saw 40 years ago when they decided not to allow the ten commandments to be placed in classrooms, chris. >> guad, an ongoing story. thank you. julian assange, the controversial founder of wikileaks, is one step away from freedom after striking a deal to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge. ryan riley is following the story. assange is responsible for what may be the biggest leak of classified materials in american history. what is the justice department saying about the deal to set him free? >> they're staying pretty quiet about this for now and it really only came to light within the past 24 hours. less than that, really. we're talking about now a hearing that's taking place in less than five hours. early wednesday morning local time at the courthouse when this actually happens. this is a saga that's extended out over 15 years and it brought up some tricky issues for the justice department. this was not something the obama justice department chose to bring forward because of those tricky questions that have brought up. they're very difficult under the law to distinguish what exactly assange was doing in this case, sort of publishing this massive trove of documents and what journalists do. there are differences but under the law, it's trickier to draw those lines. charlie savage has a great piece in "the new york times" laying out what some of it could be. you end up with a five-year time served sentence. he spent since he was kicked out of the ecuadoran embassy. he's been spending that time behind bars in a london correctional facility outside of london. that's really what the sentencing will be. in the end, a judge still has to sign off on this so it's still up in the air. we have these jets flying that are expected to bring him back to his home country of australia after this is over. it's going to turn a page there. as you were talking about last hour, there's going to be a lot of fund raising that will have to be done because assange is going to owe a lot of money for those jets that have been bringing him around the globe after this. over all, this is going to end a saga that started 15 years ago when chelsea manning and julian assange, according to the government, worked together to publish these files that included information from iraq, afghanistan, as well as state department cables and hundreds of files from guantanamo bay revealing all the allegations against those individuals who were held there. since the september 11th attack. thank you. in 90 seconds, a former republican vice president offering joe biden some advice about how to handle donald trump at the debate. w to handle donalp at the debate. nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. new mr. clean ultra foamy magic eraser? 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>> reporter: the trump campaign and the former president himself seem pretty proud, actually, of the stark contrast in preparation between president biden and former president trump. the former president is not doing the kind of formal, mock debate prep that president biden is doing. instead, he's been out campaigning. holding informal policy sessions with advisers and members of congress and some of his potential running mate contenders. i asked his spokeswoman and how they're viewing this debate and preparing. here's what she had to say. >> president trump himself is well prepared. he's been continuing with his very busy schedule, engaging in hostile media interviews with the press, which is great debate prep for anyone. he's also been meeting with the most important audience of all, which is the american people. a sharp contrast from what we hear from the biden campaign. our president has been at camp david for a week without one publicly scheduled event. that's concerning to a lot of americans that our current leader of the free world cannot debate prep and run the country at the same time. >> and when it comes to president biden's preparation, a source tells our colleagues that the president is also having regular briefings on national security and daily topics like extreme weather, heat, and flooding. he's tracking that closely, but the campaign really highlighting the contrast and preparation. chris, i also asked caroline about the different expectation setting we have seen. we've heard for months the former president criticize president biden as incompetent, as too old and frail, saying he can't string two sentences together, but then he's called him a worthy debater, someone who shouldn't be underestimated. leavitt told me essentially two things can be true at once, chris. >> thank you. doug, look. the election is still four months away. florida we haven't had the conventions yet and you can make the argument that every debate is historic. not all of them are consequential. what do debates past tell us potentially about what this could mean? could it be game changer? >> it could be a game changer and it tells us a lot. they matter. feels odd to be doing this in june. it goes against every kind of instingt i've had or you've had, but it's this thursday. we should all look at what happened in 2020. it was biden. and it was trump. there were two debates. trump had pulled out of one, but as you said, they were not in the same room. and trump got advantage when he debated hillary clinton when he kind of roamed behind her back and body language to intimidate her. that's not going to be possible because they're going to be seated. prep is really important. barack obama told me he had been preparing to debate mitt romney in henderson, nevada, working hard just like biden is now then flew to denver and forgot about the altitude and had an altitude sickness for the debate that he performed poorly at. and romney, most people felt, won. so every little thing you do right now matters. i worry if biden's overpreparing. a sense of having too much going on in your head. 16 different people telling you what to do. sounds like trump's going to go more out of his gut to maybe shock and awe people. and remember, this time around, trump's going to be also debating jake tapper and dana bash. he's going to try the take swipes at the press, the fake news and all of that. so he's actually going to be debating three people there on that table. >> everybody has an opinion about what both guys should do. former republican vice president had advice for joe biden. he told nbc news, if i were advising biden, i'd try to make fun of trump. that will get him mad. we know biden has been studying up on things that his team thinks could trigger trump. but do you think that's a good idea? are there, what do you make of that advice? >> well, there are risks in any possible strategy. there's nothing normal about this debate. this is not going to be a great moment for democracy. we know that. how do we prepare for debating a howler monkey who's flinging poop at you. this is part of the biden problem. i agree with douglas that they may be overpreparing joe biden, but what's clear is they are not doing any meaningful preparation for donald trump which means we're going to get donald trump unplugged. we're going to get donald trump unhinged. it's going to be a blizzard of bs and insults. i guess the question is whether or not, first of all, who's going to watch this debate. are they going to see or hear anything that is new to them. will they care about it? does it make a difference. are we going to be able to separate the substance, the really stark differences between these two men from the theatrics? i guess i'm a little bit pessimistic because it has become the show. it has become the latest reality tv show for trump. as i have said on this air several times, this debate is unlikely to be enlightening or innoble given what we know trump's strategy is going to be. >> hillary clinton wrote about that, doug, in her op-ed today about the concern about too much theatrics. but there is and we talk about this, actually, in our last hour. this feeling that people want to tune in and debate and see a president. it's something that people know when they see it, right? and i wonder if you can speak to that. and the importance that it has. not even so much what they may say about the issues but how they say it, how they present themselves. >> we should remember that when biden did debate trump, he cleaned his clock and it was really that famous line you know when he used the word, man. this is so unpresidential what you're doing to trump. that helped biden win. we have to remember that trump has been on a losing streak lately. so his bombastic style which works like medicine for his base does not get, win over swing voters. i think it would behoove trump to immodulate somewhat, not to mike joe biden as being feeble. if i were biden, i'd try to trap trump on saying obama care is no good. it has the name obama on it and it might make trump say no, i'll redo it as trump care or something. then you might get a new group of voters for joe biden that say gees, i'm living off of obama care. changed my life, the affordable care act and trump is stating he's getting away from it. each should try to trap the other in a policy position, an albatross around their neck. >> there were those concerned that biden wasn't being tough enough for those responding, suggesting he's going to have to take some kind of drugs in order to you know, be on the debate stage. and even said oh, i'll do it. you do it, i'll do it. i'll take a drug test. but i wonder is there, do you think, a danger? there's the tweet from donald trump. a danger in even daning to respond to something that is so egregiously a lie to some people's mind, getting down in the mud with donald trump or do you have to respond? the campaign has decided they're not going to say anything about that one thing in particular. >> obviously, there are dangers. this is what you get when you get in the mud. this is part of the insoluble formula of standing on a debate stage with donald trump and you know, pretending that it's a normal presidential debate. and you said before t see a pre. i hope that's true. but i wonder. i wonder how many people tune in because they want to see the show, the car crash. but you know, again, it comes back to what are they going to see and the contrast between what plays for donald trump's base and what plays for the swing voters is going to be interesting because donald trump can go on his incoherent rambles and the crowd, and the maga crowd will eat it up. but at some point, joe biden could, if he keeps his cool, could say, you know, to my fellow americans, you just saw who and what donald trump is. do you want to give him control of nuclear weapons again? to make that presidential case. and that's the kind of question is whether or not people want a president or whether they want more entertainment. >> charlie, douglas, great pairing. thank you, guys. make sure to watch chris jansing reports thursday for special coverage. i will be in atlanta 11:00 to noon eastern and 1:00 to 3:00 eastern. also thursday, rachel and team will lead special coverage and analysis of the debate. watch thursday beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc ch. still ahead, the surgeon general declares gun violence a public health crisis, but whether the new designation do anything to stop the killing? and the landmark decision in israel. the ruling that will force ultra orthodox men into military service as the war in gaza rages. he war in gaza rages. ♪♪ citi's industry leading global payments solutions help their clients move money around the world seamlessly in over 180 countries... and help a partner like the world food programme as they provide more than food to people in need. together, citi and the world food programme empower families across the globe. ♪♪ (man) every time i needed a new phone, empower families across the globe. i had to switch carriers... 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