washington bureau chief sam feist. today is his last de it cnn. he's moving on to become the new ceo. >> ceo of c-span here in washington, it will be the exciting new adventure for him. but all of us at cnn will miss him big time especially erin burnett outfront starts right now i'd front next the breaking news, trump's vp list focusing on three candidates with his family and our eyes now split on who's best will tell you who wants whom plus steve bannon making a last ditch effort to stay out of prison will show you the facility where he set to serve his sentence and a man who is serve time, they're himself will tell us exactly what bannon can expect more breaking news this hour, 1,000 people feared dead because of extreme heat, temperatures as high as 125 degrees fahrenheit let's go out front and good evening. i'm erin burnett outfront tonight. we begin with the breaking news trump zeroing in on a vp, cnn with new reporting tonight because we are learning, it may come down to three men here wearing identical ties. they are ohio senator jd vance, north dakota governor doug burgum, and florida senator there are marco rubio. all three are currently being vetted on all three have high profile backers who are pleading their case directly to the former president. so let's start with trump's oldest son, don junior. he we understand currently going to bat with his doppelganger, senator jd vance. rupert murdoch is pressing trump to consider governor burgum while one of trump's most trusted television advisers, sean hannity, is making it known. he'd like to see senator rubio on the ticket for months. these three men have been campaigning for the job, positioning themselves to become trump's pick frequently appearing on shows they know trump watches showing up at fundraisers, rallies courthouse, of course tripping over themselves to seeing trump's praises the world is on fire and like sort of see donald trump is a bit of a fireman. i wish every american could see president trump the way we've seen in the last six months he's genuinely exceedingly funny, but as you know, jesse, the best comics are really smart people, highly intelligent and highly perceptive and they know their audiences. and i think president trump's been amazing when donald trump was present, united states, this country was safer, it was more prosperous. the country and the world is a better place when he was president. and i would love to see him i'm trying to the white house okay. >> so they're all saying good things about trump. >> the reason that it is so remarkable that these three individuals have managed to become the biggest contenders for vp is not what they're saying now, it's what they've said in the past what they've said about trump i'm a never trump guy. >> i never liked him. >> i just think that it's important that you're judged by the company you keep and i just wouldn't do business with him. >> no, i wouldn't what we are dealing with here, my friends is a con artists hey, friends do not let friends vote for con artists all right, leah train is out front live in washington tonight and alaimo, it is. you're reporting breaking the story tonight. what more are you learning about the behind the scenes sort of machinations, the push and pull for trump's vp pick well, and i've talked to many of these allies advisers, and donors. and what i've learned is that really at every corner of donald trump's orbit from his own family to conservative media figures, to his former advisors. all of them are trying to have donald trump's ear on this and push them towards one particular candidate. and really these conversations have taken on more urgency as we inch closer to the republican national convention next month. that is the self-imposed deadline that donald trump has set for when he is going to announce his running mate. and at the same time, aaron donald trump himself, i'm told, has been really taking on a much more serious and earth earnest approach to how he is considering who he is going to choose. and that is a departure from what he has been doing previously. i'm told now many of these people, many of these candidates that you laid out, that it's narrowed down to really three. i'm told which is doug burgum, jd vance, and marco rubio, and each of them has some people pitching them directly to donald trump, jd vance, for instance, donald trump junior. his son, is really pushing vance. he's a close friend of jd vance's and he's often i'm told, gone to donald trump directly and said, i think this is the man to be your running mate. he's also had support from steve bannon and tucker carlson, both people i know continue to talk to donald trump frequently. burgum on the other hand, has garnered the support of rupert murdoch and we've kind of seen murdoch's empire within fox news corp starting to shower the north dakota governor with favorable media coverage. we saw the new york post and the wall street journal offer some of that favorable coverage to him. and then rubio is actually become a favorite of the donor class. and one anecdote i can tell you, aaron, is that at a dinner falling donald trump's manhattan conviction last month? it was with some doesn't wall street donors, donald trump took an informal straw poll and rubio, one that he also has the support of kellyanne conway. i'm told, and sean hannity. so a lot of different people in donald trump's ear. >> all right. well, thank you very much and all that new reporting, i want to go now to david urban, the former trump campaign adviser and katie betting field from a biden white house communications director. just to understand what we're talking about here, david. so top three contenders, vance burgum, rubio. you've got at don junior, tucker carlson, steve bannon for vance sean handy for rubio murdoch for burgum. so in your experience with trump, who will eventually have the most sway over his pick? >> melania trump his wife right? >> i mean, that's if i was i'd like to know who millennia likes, right? that's that's really probably his closest advisor of all the people who weren't mentioned, right? i think she has a great deal of influence over her husband and and the president and i as has been in these people's presence. all three of them, if not more. and so it'd be interesting to see who she likes. but let's the president gets information is simulates information. he takes lots of phone calls and polls like you said, like galena just reported at the dinner schwarzman is a big backer. i know of of marco rubio and there's different people, whether they're policemen at a photo are billionaires at a fundraiser dinner that he's listening to them and hearing what they have to say and the ultimate decider is, of course, donald trump and he'll, he'll do it probably. the reporting says right before the convention. right? right. well, he loves nothing more i think these sorts of conversations happening. >> so k who have democrats most one on trump's ticket well i would make a really strong case that actually jd vance is probably one of the would be one of the most helpful voices on the ticket because he is somebody who has wholeheartedly embrace the mega mess he's shown a willingness to pick all the fights donald trump wants to pick and ultimately, that's a message that doesn't resonate with the swing voters that moderate voters. >> the people who are ultimately going to decide this election. so from my perspective, i know there's an argument that while jd vance is a fighter and he needs strong debater but i actually think he is somebody who really underscores some of the most unpopular elements of donald trump but i also think the important thing to remember here is the reality of the dynamic in this race is that donald trump is the supernova and the vp is a flashlight, right? i mean, donald trump is the one who's going to drive, who drives the message, who is going to be be the person that the biden campaign's running against. so whoever he picks ultimately this race is about donald trump. i do like the analogy. i know, i say i liked that you add to pick. you were the one who who would you say he should choose? >> me? yeah. me ask you area asked me, oh, let's say i like all those candidates and others, right? i mean, i think i can make an argument for governor burgum. i can make an argument for marco rubio. i can make an argument for my class west point classmate, mike pompeo was not on the list. are sarah huckleberry sanders, the governor of arkansas. there we are. >> we have but an embarrassment of riches on the republican side, their potential vp nominees. and so i think any one of them be good. it's the american voters who could they see standing in the shoes as the president of the united states, i think that's the most important thing because that's the role ultimately the vice president would play. >> so. okay. do you think any of these people that we're talking about? if the moment came right for january 6 type of moment, would any of them, despite what they're saying now, obviously they all said different things before now that now they're in trump's corner. what any of them stand up to trump like my pens did as an american, i want to believe that they would. i'm not sure i see a whole lot of evidence that that's the case. i mean, if you look at the history as you as you know, we were looking at all of the video at the top of the show. i mean, these are people who have said jd vance that i mean, never trump or and now he's essentially begging publicly to be put on the ticket with them. so if you're if you're an american voter, it's hard to trust that if the moment came that any one of these people would stand in the breach. and so i think if you're somebody who is concerned that donald trump represents a threat to our democracy as frankly, if you're a voting american, you should be based on what he's done. i don't think you can trust that any of these people would stand up to him in the moment they're not doing it now either. david, i hear you and we all hear these conversations about who he's going to pick and that he the first day if he wins, that he was president, he's a lame duck, right? that's it of course, assuming that the system holds people go out of office when we're supposed to and all those sorts of basic things but the argument is been able doug burgum is the guy to pick as he isn't gonna be tried to take terms job from day one like extensively jd vance or marco rubio would be because they would be potentially looking at their own future of being president. and he doesn't want someone who's gonna be campaigning from day one. do you think that those are fair? concerns, david, that he has those thoughts look, i don't i don't think it's as kate said earlier, there are my esteemed colleague there. >> donald trump is a supernova and the vice presidency is a flashlight that's, you know, that is a pretty opt analogy. there is not much oxygen left in the room when donald trump walks in, right? so i'm not quite sure sure that whoever the vice president's could be is going to steal anybody's thunder, whether it's marco rubio, jd vance, whomever, whomever the pick is. i don't think that'd be a big concern at all all right. >> well, thank you both very much. i appreciate it. >> thanks for evidence. >> all right. >> how do you friday. and also tonight, their preparations behind closed doors for this most important event of the 2024 election thus far that is the cnn presidential debate, which is now just six days away. biden is at camp david preparing. trump is meeting with senators and advisers at mar-a-lago, both taking this incredibly seriously. trump is now trying to temper expectations tonight i watched him with paul ryan and he destroyed paul ryan boride with the water he was chugging water at a left and right. >> i didn't think a human being would be able to drink so much water at one time. >> and he'd people ryan, so i'm not underestimating him. >> i'm not underestimating it i brought a donalds out for now. >> he helped prepare george w bush, john mccain, mitt romney, and many other candidates for presidential debates. >> i'm curious, but because trump is now trying to raise the bar for biden, i'm not underestimating him. this is a guy who recently said basically the biden would have to be on cocaine to do well in the debate. right. so he had talked about lowering the bar. so what do you make the strategy now, he's now trying to suddenly say actually i'm not underestimating them well, that should be the strategy. we should all have high expectations for joe biden's performance using the president of the united states, he's the incumbent president. he's had four years in office and he's asking for another four years, so we should all have high expectations of them. the trump campaign should set those expectations high. i remember when george w, when we were preparing george w bush, mark mckinnon went in the press the day before the debate and said that john kerry was the greatest debater since cicero. >> so we should have high expectations for both of these folks going into the debate. >> and it's right at the trump campaign to set those expectations hi i want to play right? >> one of the most memorable moments from trump and biden's first debate in 2020. just take a listen to this if you will but my question to you, as you have refused in the path to talk about it, are you willing to tell the american people tonight whether or not you will support either ending the filibuster or packing the question ever position i taken that that'll become the issue. >> the issue is the american people should speak. you should go out and vote you're in voting now, vote and let your senators know how you feel let vote now in a effect, make sure you in fact, let people know he doesn't want to senator. i'm not going to answer the question. because the question the question of just left. >> would you who is on your list? you, this, when you write, gentlemen, i think pack the court so all right. and it's will you shut up, man, right. that it gets sort of at the moment there, but that constant over talking to trump asked him to answer the question. we saw that the entire debate, it was widely seen as chaotic, but this time around, biden want to trump's microphone muted, but it wasn't speaking. they've, they've agreed to this muting do you think that could prove to be a mistake or do you think this is a good idea i think it helps president trump. >> it's a huge disincentive for president trump to interrupt joe biden to let him talk and if his microphone is going to be cut, he won't try to do it because no one will hear him. which will force get him to debate more like he did and debate two. and i think if donald trump debates like he did and debate do against joe biden the trump campaign will feel pretty good about their candidates performance. >> so who do you think actually has the upper hand in this debate that does that mic issue actually turn it for you to trump? >> well, i think it helps trump for sure. i don't think the audience situation really hurts either person. but the person who has the advantage in this debate is going to be the person who actually focuses on voters, tries to connect with them rather than make personal attacks throughout the entirety of the debate. and actually focuses on the issues that those voters care about that's the person who's going to have the upper hand. now, both of these men have been president of the united states. they both know these issues the question mark is, who's going to frame the race and provide an actual warrant and message for why they should be the next president of the united states. >> well, we'll see if it's a debate that is that serious and substantive i think it will surprise a lot of people will be very interesting to see who that actually benefits since it isn't what many people expect. but thank you. >> next from being locked in an outside cage to only occasionally getting ritz crackers as a snack. >> new details tonight on what steve bannon could be facing, what he heads to prison next month from someone who has been there in that prison and knows we're going to take you to the prison itself next. >> plus breaking news with temperatures as high as 100 25 degrees. now what thousand people feared dead as a result, those numbers could go much higher and democrats tonight are up against the clock because they launch a major effort to stop rfk jr. tracks thursday night, life for midland. >> the most anticipated moment of this election, biden rod running mate america sure. that we are a nation of possibility. >> trump. >> we had the best economy, we had the best border, we had the best of everything. and now we got to do it all over again. we're going to do it even two very different visions for america. one unprecedented night moderated by jake tapper and dana bash, the cnn presidential 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