them as they recover from all of them the gravis and great to see you this morning. thank you very much. and new hours. cnn news central stars right now history will be made on several levels when president joe biden and former president donald trump take the stage for the cnn debate in atlanta with polls showing there in a dead heat, we have new details on the candidate strategies and the u.s. embassy in moscow fighting back as russia puts detained american journalist evan gershkovich on trial for what the state department says is a sham espionage charge and cities swamped by a deluge of flooding, roadways washed out and river gouges still at major flood stage across the upper midwest when will that water some side nine sarah side or john berman and kate bolduan, this is cnn news central the big day is here nearly here basically, here, joe biden, donald trump preparing to make history the first time a sitting president and debates a former president. in this first debate
good health. reporter: for the first time, a glimpse into griner s life behind bars, doing hard labor and sleeping in a bed far too tiny for her 6 9 frame. griner s lawyer told espn that she chopped off her signature dreads because it was so frigid, her hair froze. marine veteran, paul whelan, imprisoned in russia since 2018 on what the u.s. calls sham espionage charge was not part of the exchange, and freed convicted arms dealer viktor bout, known as the merchant of death. today, vladimir putin did not rule out more prisoner swaps, saying anything is possible. viktor bout was the highest profile prisoner we had. so what else do we have? well, we ll see. actions not words. so we heard what mr. putin said. now, let s see what he and his officials are willing to do to help us get paul home. reporter: a u.s. official