510200, coventry direct redefining insurance the cnn present hello everyone. thanks for joining me. >> i'm alison camera radha in for fredricka whitfield debate week starts today we are four days away from the cnn presidential they, between president biden and former president trump. >> thursday night's showdown is the first of the 2024 race. >> it has the potential to shake up a race that has been deadlocked in the polls for months. and the two candidates are preparing for this high-stakes event in very different ways president biden hunkering down at camp david all weekend, reportedly holding intensive prep work and mock debates with a team of advisors. >> donald trump has spent the weekend about the campaign trail speaking to a christian group in dc and holding a rally in the swing state of pennsylvania where he told reporters he expects his upcoming vice presidential pick to join him at thursday's debate. but let's begin with president biden's debate prep. cnn's kevin look tack joins us now kevin, how is he getting ready? >> yeah, he is now on day three of debate camp out in western maryland at camp david. he does have quite a large group of advisors with him as he proposed paris for this debate going through policy contrasts with president trump coming up with zingers with retorts with responses. basically trying to be ready for anything that trump throws at him there on the debate stage. and it was interesting, we're getting some new insight into the strategy from the biden campaign in this memo that they released this it's morning, heading into this critical week ahead of the debate, they say they're holding more than 1,000 different events leading into this event. they're going to hold more than 100 watch parties on the night of the debate. i think it's interesting if you were to boil down the strategy as laid out in this momo, it's essentially trying to put them this contrast on display with president trump. that is their overarching goal. they really do feel that so many americans just haven't tuned into this election yet. this will be the moment for them to realize that they have a choice this november, it's between biden and trump, and they do really hope, as they say in this memo to put a magnifying glass glas on that choice. just in reading it, you do get a sense of the three top issues that president biden is going to try an underscore during this event. one is the potential threat from president trump to democracy his threats of political violence really trying to underscore that to the television audience. there we're also going to underscore president trump's economic plans, which they say would benefit the wealthy and they'll also discuss president trump's record on abortion his taking credit for the overturning of roe versus wade. and to that point the biden campaign plans to emphasize tomorrow the anniversary of the dobbs decision at the supreme court that overturned the nationwide right to an abortion. now, the real question i think for the biden folks is what candidate trump shows up on the debate stage. is it the ferocious trump that we saw in 2020 who interrupts who is bombastic in his appearance and his language, or is it a more rustic? restraint trump a more presidential trump? and we did here from a key surrogate for the biden campaign this morning, mitch landrieu, he's a co-chair of the campaign, who is talking about what trump, which version of trump might show up? listen to what he said it really doesn't matter how donald trump shows up if he comes in unhinged like he is most of the time, or he sits there and his quiet people are gonna know that he's a twice-impeached, convicted felon, who has been found to have defame somebody sexually abused somebody, and going bankrupt six times, they will always know that and that is something that the american people have to think about so certainly the biden campaign, very ready for whatever trump throws at them on the debate stage. but as you heard there for mitch landrieu are also ready to throw it right back okay, kevin, thank you very much for that preview. while the trump campaign is already looking past the debate and towards next month's republican national convention cnn, steve contorno was with the former president in philadelphia where he announced news of a running mate ellison, we have learned that three names have emerged as front runners in trump's vp search. senator j.d. vance of ohio, senator marco rubio of florida, and north dakota governor doug burgum, trump yesterday said he's made his decision, but he's not living that person know yet, nor the public in, my mind yeah. >> did they know nobody knows. that's what do you like spp those remarks came during a stop for philly cheesesteaks amid a full day of campaigning by the former president trump really enjoying juxtaposing how he spent his final saturday before the debates versus joe biden's more studious approach listen to what he told his philly rally later that night, right now, crooked joe's gone to a log cabin to study prepare no, he didn't do he's sleeping now because they want to get them good and strong so a little before debate time, he gets a shot i say he'll come out all jacked up, right. all jacked. >> trump went on to criticize biden over the border, inflation crime really sharpening those attacks heading into this critical debate with joe biden we really expect to fireworks to fly. allison okay, steve, thank you very much for joining me now, is larys alberto the director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. >> he's also the editor of the book, return to normalcy. the 2020 election that almost broke america. you may need an addendum to that larry for the 2024 election but i'll i'll let you update that on your own. okay. so how do you analyze these very two different it appears debate preparation styles for president biden and donald trump well, we have to assume that we're being told the truth about what donald trump is really doing in preparation for the debate. i, i don't know why i'm suspicious allison, but they have misled us on occasion over the past eight or nine years. but if he really is doing little preparation well, that's donald trump i, think one of your commentators, or maybe it was on another network said well, is he going to show up as the ferocious donald trump? and the second debate in the first debate back in 2020, or is he going to appear presidential? hey, if he wasn't presidential while he was president how is he going to be presidential after? all this, water has gone under the trump bridge there's only one donald trump and it's the attack mode donald trump, he is not going to sit there for an hour-and-a-half or stand there and be sweet and nice. that's not in his makeup so as you know, are the poles have been very tight between biden and trump for months. what could happen in this debate? the changes that this is, this is a really interesting race. i wish i'd been around for the rematch between benjamin harrison and grover cleveland because then we'd have some ideas what people think about 21 incumbent president, a former president running against one another. >> people think they know everything they need to know about trump and biden since they've both had essentially four years as president. >> but that's not true everybody evolves and particularly people in positions like there's both have evolved biden because he's been president for nearly four years. and trump because he's been well indicted multiple times and convicted on 34 felony counts, among other things they're different people than they were in 2020 or before tuning in and will eventually communicate to people that, well, they're, they're different than i thought. >> they've they've learned this or they haven't learned that. and pieces of this debate are going to be aired all the way to the election, but particularly between now june 20 but the debate and september 10, which is the second to debate on abc, that's a lot of ground to cover. a lot of real earrings of at least pieces of it during the two conventions plus trump's sentencing, right before the convention, lots of things are going to happen. so i think people will be surprised and they will gradually learn more about the candidates, maybe not all at once on debate night, but over time as they see and receive pieces of the debate as you know, donald trump's team has a hard time deciding if joe biden is mentally unfit or a formidable debater. >> so here's one of trump's vp contenders, doug burgum touting biden's debate skills on state of the union this morning i think we have to look at the guise. >> run for office more than a dozen times. he's run for president four times. he's been campaigning since president nixon was in office. this guy has got the ability and we've seen it. we've seen him in debate of four years ago. we've seen them in the state the state of the union this year, that when he needs two, he can step up. so i mean, which characterization is it well, the trump campaigns covered isn't it? >> if biden does well, they predicted it. if biden doesn't do well, they predicted it. and neither bothers. and of course that's the official line. matters is how the 25% who don't like either one of them, how they react, how the handful of true independence and true swing voters react. and that may not be obvious immediately. well, we'll have to see what the candidates say about the other candidates performance is really they are relevant. i mean, what do you expect them to say, boy, that he was good. i was surprised he was that good that's an another universe someplace great point thanks for giving us all of that context. larry sabato, great to talk to you. >> thank you, alison to an end to see the cnn presidential debate right here on cnn. >> that's coming up on june june 27th, 9:00 p.m. eastern. it's also streaming on max we do have some breaking news out of russia right now. we are monitoring what authorities are calling coordinated attacks across the southern part of the country right now, a synagogue is on fire, and a priest is dead. after an attack on a church police say, armed gunman opened fire with automatic weapons on these houses of worship. this happened a short time ago in the city of der bent. >> police say two militants were killed. >> authorities believed there are several priests still hiding from attackers in another incident, and gunman opened fire on a police traffic post in a city just north of their authorities are opening a terror investigation. let's bring in steve hall. he's the former cia chief of russia operations. what do you see here? steve? >> allison is very early, early days, early hours. we don't exactly know what's what's going on, what we do know is this part of russia has long been very restive. there's a large islamic community there. of course, the relationship between the kremlin and those area of the country which are, which are largely muslim, has always been fraud. it's always been difficult after remember that this is also the region that does are rna of brothers, of the, of the boston marathon bombings spent some formative years in. so it's a difficult area. it is interesting that the, the, the actual targets of the attack appear to be a synagogue. there's also some reporting that there might be a catholic church in a priest involved. >> so it doesn't it sounds something like something like something against the russian state. but of course the russian state does have the responsibility in the form of the investigative committees in the fsb to try to find out what's going on. so i think the story has got to develop a little more before we know exactly what's going on. alison yes, i understand it's very fluid saved, but i do think it's curious that there the latest reports, the earliest reports we have is that a priest has been killed. >> so it is an attack on a church. >> churches, as well as a synagogue. so what does that tell us? >> yeah, i think if you asked me for right now, what do you think's going on? what's what are all indications it looks to me like this is this is un-islamic attacker and islamic based attack because again, most of the population in that region is islamic, is muslim. so it would it would make less sense for it to be an attack against say, a mosque because it is a synagogue. and perhaps as well as the catholic church. one is sort of pushed in the direction of okay, who are the enemies are, who are the likely attackers of such fates. and it may very well be muslim. now again, we don't know yet because the russians so we're still trying to investigate this. it wouldn't surprise me if the kremlin tried to blame, for example, the ukrainians or some other foreign entity like for it, perhaps even the united states or the west, for at least contributing somehow to this instability. but early on it seems like it seems like it might just be inhabitants of the region. they're author attacks. we'll have to see see if you brought up the boston marathon bombing. and i too thought of that immediately when i read that this is happening in dagestan because that's where this rna of brothers were from. so what is dagestan like today? >> dagestan and these areas in this part of russia is sort of an uneasy, sort of arrangement. i suppose that they have with moscow, for example, in neighboring chechnya, you've got this crazy guy by the name of could veer off, who has essentially been deputizing by putin to say, look, you can run chechen, the whole of the chechen population, as long as you keep them repressed and there are no attacks against against the kremlin. dagestan is a little bit different, but there are still this sort of uneasy relationship. i think with moscow, because there's a lot of resentment on the part of the population of the repression of course, right across the border in kyrgyzstan there's, there's, there's lots of, lots of attention as well. so it's a tense region and it's sort of, it's been common the last couple of years. but there's always the potential for something like this to pop up in some way, shape, or form i'm reminded that there was this incident last year were a mob in this region stormed through an airport. we have video of it here. this is just as a flight from tel aviv landed do you know any more about that well, again, i don't know anything specific behind any of these attacks, but it does point to the tensions that we have that are oftentimes the breakdown oftentimes along religious lines or societal leinz or are those types of blows, types of demographics so again, the connection between al flight coming in from tel aviv, israel a jewish element there. >> these attacks, we have a perhaps a synagogue, perhaps a catholic church as well. so it could just be religious tensions in the area. but again, the russians will have to investigate this then we will have to try to figure out here in the west what happened because of course, whatever the russian say isn't necessarily going to be the truth. it's going to be what's most convenient for whatever point the kremlin wants to prove or to make on this understood. steve hall, always great to get your expertise. >> thank you sure. >> stay on that story. back here across the midwest, catastrophic flooding is prompting evacuations in several states. plus triple digit heat in the east. more than 100 million people under heat alerts the nation's capital hit the 100 degree mark for the first time since 2016, we have a look at the latest forecasts for you next there's no war, so hateful between kin bloody war between tracks house of the dragon streaming, excuse lucidly on macs first no biggie. >> we recommend to exfoliate the night before when you come in, relax, don't be nervous come for wax tastes. >> game smoother skin, less ingrown hair, less irritation in now, in under 15 minutes, then our products, they're amazing. i have on deodorant right now and not only is your skin going to think, you're going to think what are you waiting for? get your first wax free? >> the cell, provider that was breached has my social from the credit check think of all the places that can expose your info lifelong monitors the millions of data points for identity theft there's a problem. we fix it, guaranteed for over 25 years, loved sack has been rewriting the rules of comfort it's okay to change your style get massive yet immersed i love sac. you make the rules when you're cooking on a black stone, you get a better cooking experience. >> cook me anytime anywhere. go to your nearest black stole retailer or blackstone products.com. now hey, everything better on a blackstone whether you're moving across town or across the country now, you can count on pods to deliver when say which is why we were voted on america's number one container moving company. >> look, you move today at pods pods.com. >> what i look for in a contractor is someone who is reliable and skillful. >> that's where andy comes in with top rated certified pros and over 500 categories. sandi can connect you with the right pro for any home projects. fine. top greetings certified prose in your area at angie.com there are giant so much they. are the men and woman building or daibes next generation submarines. >> they are giants and what they do because they work in a place where they can grow, where they can learn the skills to build careers as powerful as the we build giant. because it takes to build one cockroach resilient creatures, true, miracles of evolution, where there is one others aren't far behind scavenging for food. the cockroach will mow. >> that's horrifying your favorite ortho home defense max, indoor insect barrier. one application kills and prevents bugs for 365 days at my house, you down majors wild your home doesn't have to be deliveries happened order that this happens. stocks that happened. >> he get out of there are only two back at the pitch. >> i'll let's go home be there with ring, learn more at rnc.com, the only godaddy arrow helps you get your business online in minutes with the power of ai, with the perfect name. great level and a beautiful website to start with the domain, a few clicks and you're in business. >> make now the future at godaddy.com slash arrow which looks better, this, or this seems clear to me, if you love to save, check out the y's by sales event going on right now in america's best, get two pairs of progressives for just 12995. >> offer includes a comprehensive eye exam, book, an exam online today. >> if you have medicare and medicaid, unitedhealthcare is dual complete plans come with a ucar simple member car to use for your planned benefits, get credit every month to pay for healthy food, utilities, and over-the-counter items at no extra cost to you with unitedhealthcare? >> you need t-mobile home with chemo that's home internet what is circle surplus? the fuel unit tape play circle is an entity that gets you to the next level circled is which po4 life tosses limits away circle available at walmart and drinks circle.com. celebrate, go forwards in america thursday, july for it, they 70s due cnn dangerous flash flooding, forced evacuations across the midwest this weekend, governor kim reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for 21 counties in northwest iowa some of which like rock valley saw catastrophic floodwaters. >> this drone footage shows stranded vehicles and water rising as you can see, beyond the windows of several of these buildings as the river rose, officials scrambled to get residents to safety the river rose to historic levels that we've never seen her before. he had it's hard to deal with that much water it's it's a monumental undertaking one man snapped these images before evacuating his neighborhood. >> he tells cnn that he flagged down a boat to pick him up along with his wife and his cat meteorologist elisa rafah is tracking this from the cnn weather cente