will face off in the first presidential debate of 2024. this has the potential to reshape what has been a remarkably stable race in the polls, at least for the white house in the lead up to this critical showdown, the two now let's are taking their own unique approaches in preparation. president biden has hunkered down at camp david. all weekend holding were told intensive prep work and mock debates with a team of advisors behind closed doors meanwhile, donald trump is spent his weekend out on the campaign trail holding a rally in the swing state of pennsylvania and revving up his dates today, trump's supporters hit the sunday political talk shows to give their advice on what he should focus on. >> it, it'll be a great opportunity for president trump to talk about his policies and how his policies when he served as president of this country, we're good for every single family that lived here. they had more money in their pockets. the grocery prices were down, gas prices were down. there was a lot more opportunities, you know, i don't think that he has to talk about get personal it in this debate at all? because he's going to have so many good things to talk about in contrast with joe biden's policies and after spending months describing biden as weak as a weak debater are mentally unfit for leadership. >> trump and his surrogates now are trying to raise expectations for biden there has been a real effort on the biden team to try to lower expectations, but 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 four years ago. we've seen them in the state of that the state of the union this year that when he needs two, he can step up, but i think this is a real opportunity for cnn. most trusted name in news to ask some tough questions, including the one because this is a rematch. and when we add this debate just before the election four years ago, joe biden looked into the camera and said they know that hunter biden's laptop was a smear campaign, russian disinformation called it garbage. and now we know that none of that is true. and i think this is an opportunity that america is waiting. i mean, cnn has got an opportunity to ask tough questions of both these candidates. >> yeah, i think there are safe to say there'll be tough questions for everybody, but it's interesting that you say biden is lowering expectations because it trump has also been doing that you yourself have called biden and firm. i mean, you've been setting the bar pretty low for president. biden. is that a mistake? >> well, i don't know if it's a mistake or not. i mean, i think there's i think america is it looks at the state of the state. he stood up and he spoke strongly for over an hour. and then when we're the group of governors within at the back in february, we were limited to two questions. one republican governor, one democrat each got to ask a question. 40 governors we get to questions or the president of questions had to be submitted two days in advance. that's a far cry from standing in a debate for 90 minutes. so i think we're all anxious to see which joe biden is going to show up. >> biden's allies, also making the rounds and dropping hints of what to expect from the president at the debate as folks look about who's better positioned to keep us safe going forward, i hope folks won't overlook that the former president trump incited a riot at the capitol on january 6, or law enforcement officers to protect all of us in the capital every day, were assaulted and he he is a convicted felon. >> i think that's stands in sharp contrast to president biden's defense of the rule of law and the agenda. he's putting forward the strengthen our law enforcement and our border security guard to be now to talk more about this is democratic strategists and tuan see right? and scott jennings cnn senior political commentator and former special assistant to president george w bush. great to have both of you here. scott, i'll start with you. so you just heard senator coons hinting at some possible themes that biden may bring up. this week. he's drawing a sharp contrast on the rule of law. and of course hitting trump for being a convicted felon and for january 6. what does trump said? all of that? >> well, first of all, good to hear your voice, allison, on a sunday afternoon, if i were trump, i would pivot everything back to a couple of issues. one, inflation and to immigration specifically on the rule of law. and they want to talk about that. the rule of law at the border is being disrespected every single day by joe biden, you've got violent illegal immigrants then the country who are committing horrific acts against american citizens. if you're trump and you're trying to get this thing over the target of y. joe biden's approval rating is so low, you got to pivot everything back. immigration and crime, cost of living, food prices. that's the mission. any good debating tactic here is to fight on your ground as much as possible. that's what i do. >> and it's gotta a question for you, a follow up about that immigration donald trump likes to hit joe biden on the border, but donald trump was president for four years. he didn't fix the border. i mean, he didn't fulfill his campaign promise of building the wall and mexico obviously, never paid for it. that was a fabrication can can't joe biden also pivoted back to that if joe biden wants to ask the american people to make this election a referendum on who they'd prefer to have secure the border. >> i welcome him to do that. i mean, look at the polling allison, the american people, this is one of joe biden's worst issues we have seen massive influx of illegal immigration. we have story after story after story of violent criminals committing terrible acts against people like laken riley and others in this country. >> it would be a huge mistake for joe biden to try to run this as a referendum on immigration button. >> if he wants to do it, i'm all for it and try. what do you think well, first of all, i have the fundamentally disagree with scott. >> look, we all know that bipartisan joe biden tried to lead the way when it comes to immigration, joining republicans in the united states states congress, putting forth legislation to actually deal with the border in a real authentic way. it was killed by the former president and he took a victory laps are trying to kill the legislation. so let's deal with that. but as it relates to the debate, i do think that bipartisan big game biden will show up. his the experience will be a tremendous factor going into thursday night's debate, both preparation and both on the debate stage i am very confident that this president has a record or in my community we call it receipts that he can speak to where every corner of the american square has benefited from his presidency. i think that's going to be the key. i do not think he can allow the former president to draw him into a personality conversation. but keep the focus on attention, on policy because i am very confident that everything this president has accomplice in record, handsome form 70% or above. in most cases of the american people agree with it from a policy standpoint scott, as you know, don't trump has been raking in campaign cash ever since his felony conviction, that the hush money trial. so do you think it would be the right strategy for president biden to keep pounding trump's criminal conviction or is that only helping trump well, it is certainly helping him unify and energized the republican base. >> i mean, you mentioned it, but the amount of fundraising that is going on, it really reminds me allison of the period in 2018 around the kavanaugh hearings, all the republicans we're very upset about that and sort of energized the party at that time. the same things happening for trump i think at this point, you're stuck with it. if you're biden, i mean, they're they're running ads on it their all their surrogates are talking about it. i mean, it's it's basically part of their campaigns. so if it's going to be part of your campaign, you can't really hide from it right now, but there's no question. republicans are none too pleased with what happened and they're making their displeasure known by writing big checks with the campaign and how, what do you but yeah, what else the list, let's be honest about the facts here. >> you cannot debate fact donald trump, if he were a traditional citizen, could not work in the federal government. so surely as hao, he should not be trying to run the federal government as the leader of the free world. that's what a convicted felon is all about. i think that's one case to be made as relates to this debate and how we frame the former president until but the truth about who he is as some true muscle memory and muscle mass to his record. that's part of that. you can't run away from the facts. but it regardless of that regardless to that, i think what former president biden has to do is speak to wonder his record, but to what a vision for the next four years will look like for the american people. that's democrats, republicans, independents, and even those who are not thinking about participating at this point. and i think though biden has proven to be a unifier, the debate stage will give him a tremendous direct opportunity to do that. in a place like georgia where he was able to garner enough support to win the race, enjoy four years ago with a true bipartisan, unique coalition to get him across the finish line. >> scott, i know you're not in the business of giving democrats advice, but i like to mix things up as you know. >> so what should president biden do if donald trump? >> which we expect him to do, goes after hunter bud on the stage if i were biden, i would spend the entire night trying to drag donald trump down rabbit holes that have nothing to do with my biggest deficiencies. >> i mean, water biden's problems inflation, immigration, national security, and the idea that most people think he couldn't make it through a second term if he were to win one. so how do you stay off of that ground? you just got to try to drag donald trump into the rabbit holes that are the worst things for his campaign. what's the worst thing for donald trump's campaign? probably january the 6th probably re-litigating the 20 2011 election and so on in other other issues surrounding that. so if i'm biden, if he comes after me on hunter biden, you gotta keep calm. joe biden does not keep calm very well when it comes to hunter biden, but you've got to keep calm and tried to drag him back down to the rabbit holes. that are the worst parts of his campaign that's the smart debating tactic. but this is an emotional topic, obviously for joe biden, he loves his son, obviously. and so you've got to keep cool and think it through on how you do that on live television. >> what do you think well, i think the president should be proud of the fact that they are trying to convict him in the court of public opinion for doing something that most people want in their life. >> and that's being a good father. i think the president should continue to own that space that he's occupied. but as it relates to going down a rabbit hole, when i think the president has so bad, it's really put some muscle memory and muscle mass to former president trump because there is a segment of the population, including in the democratic party, that wants to see joe biden the fighter. they want to see the man that people has always counted out. and he is traditionally stepped up and taught them they did not know how to count they want to see the guy who can push back on the big stage, but also get things done in a bipartisan way behind the stage with republicans and democrats in the united states congress. and when needed to use the power of his executive orders to get things done on the american people. that's who we need to see on that debate stage thursday night that's the joe biden. i hope we will see scott, who do you think the stakes are higher for joe biden is the reason why i mean, his home, his position in this is the reason we're having a debate in june. remember when this got scheduled on a monday morning, the new york times dropped a bunch of swing-state polls and by wednesday, while we had a debate schedule for june, which is unprecedented timing for a debate, he desperately needs to change the trajectory of the campaign. his job approval has been stuck at or below 40% for a couple of years now, they need something different. the pressure is really on joe biden and in the past, in one of the debates in 2020 he did get that balance. the second one, trump did better. so they split decision last time but to me, the trajectory that biden is on right now is a trajectory to lose. therefore, the pressure is on him. >> okay, last word well, i just disagree with got the worst thing you can do in politics is peak too soon. i think joe biden understand that this election is a marathon, not print direction is more important to speak, then speak desi need to have a handsome knight. absolutely. is this race going to be defined by one debate? absolutely not. i think as americans since continue to tune in, he contains to define this race to find the opposition. i think the choice will be crystal clear about who the best candidate is when it's all said and done, when we get to november all right. >> anton scott, thank you both very much. great to talk to you and tune in to the first presidential debate right here on cnn. it's june 27 and 9:00 p.m. eastern. it will also be streaming on that now some breaking news that we're following authorities and russia are investigating what they call coordinated attacks by militants in the southern dagestan region. a synagogue is on fire and a priest at a nearby church was killed in the city of der bent police say armed gunman with automatic weapons, attacked both houses of worship in a separate incident just north police say attackers opened fire on a police traffic post. the israeli foreign ministry says a synagogue, there was also targeted. a gunfight with the militants killed at least six police officers and wounded 12 others. soon as claire sebastian is tracking the latest for us from london, claire what's happening at this moment yeah, listen, this is still a very fluid situation, is now getting into later evening in this region around 10:00 p.m. but information is still trickling in what we do know for sure. >> is that this has affected these two cities that much gala and then about 80 miles or so to the south and data bent, we're hearing from various sources. the data interior ministry saying that obviously these religious sites were involved, they were fired on with automatic weapons you say there are bent we're now hearing more on what's happening in my hajj kola via russian state media quoting the doug estonia interior ministry saying that there was a shootout at a church in my hajj, kayla and 19 people who had been taking shelter in that church and now safe, but the move of dagestan, this is the islamic religious authority in this predominantly muslim region has updated the death and injury told and now saying that nine people have been killed, seven of which were law enforcement officers, 25 people are injured. there has been a terrorism case opened by the russian investigative investigative committee. so they are clearly looking at this as a terrorism incident and they are believing that the two attacks and these two different cities work coordinated. so as i said, extremely fluid. but dagestan is a predominantly muslim republic. it is in a sense ethnically and culturally quite distinct. from the rest of russia and has historically been extremely turbulent. multiple terror attacks originated in that region. ingredient calls the connection to the boston bombers in the united in states. and that turbulence has been found even more by the war in ukraine, where ethnic minorities have been disproportionately mobilized to fight and by the war between israel and hamas were able to cause me saw those scenes at the end of october. we're a mob stormed the main airport and my hajj gullo or flight had landed from tel aviv amid rumors that refugees were being brought from israel. so we don't know the motives of these attacks, but there were religious sites involved and we await more information patient, as it comes in okay, clara, thank you very much for the reporting up until now. okay. also, back here, severe weather, more than 100 million americans are under heat warnings today as cities shatter, their record highs, we're going to tell you when we could see a cool down in 21 ohio, sorry, iowa country counties are under water after this catastrophic 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