cnn hello everyone. thanks for joining me. i'm alison camp morata in for fredricka whitfield today okay. the countdown is underway for a pivotal moment in the 2024 presidential election. we are four days away from the cnn presidential debate. the first between president biden and former prime president trump of the 2024 race. >> and the two candidates are preparing for this high-stakes event in very different ways. >> we're told 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 on the campaign trail and says he has decided on his vp pick. and that person will join him at thursday's debate. he says, today, trump's supporters hit the sunday political talk shows to give their advice on what you 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 president biden's allies are also dropping hints about what to expect from the president of the debate as folks look about who's better positioned to keep us safe going forward, i hope folks won't overlook that former president then 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 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 to strengthen our law enforcement and our border security so let's begin with president biden's debate, prep. >> cnn's kevin lip tech joins me now. okay, kevin, walk us through what we know. >> yeah. we're now on day three of this intensive, almost week-long stretch for president biden, you know, we don't expect to see him before that debate in atlanta on thursday, so we are reserving the possibility that he could go directly from camp david down to atlanta for this debate. it has opened up president biden to some mockery from president trump for the amount of preparation that he's doing. but i do think it tells you just how importantly he's team is viewing the stakes for this debate. they really can't afford an underway whelming performance from president biden. and when you look at the team that the president has with him out there in western maryland for this debate prep, it does give you a sense of the items that they're going to be talking about. certainly he has his political advisors out there, you know, the mcdonald's the needed duns, the jen o'malley dillon, but he also has some policy folks. he has jake sullivan, the national security adviser, bruce reed, who sort of the top policy hand at the white house, who we understand did prepare these binders for president biden heading into debate prep that really crystallized the policy differences between president biden and press isn't an trump as they look to hone some of the questions, some of the answers that president biden will face there on the debate stage. it's all being run by ron klain, who is the president's former chief of staff, but perhaps more importantly, is the most seasoned debate coach in the democratic party. he's worked on these kind of debate prep eps for years. it was interesting. i went back and looked, he has written these debate rules. one of them has develop a list of three items. you must say in the debate. and we are getting a sense of what those three items might be the campaign put out a memo this morning laying out their strategy, heading into this debate. the three items that they really want to talk about. one is abortion and president trump's record on abortion. and this is at the end of the day, one of the most galvanizing issues for democrats heading into this election. and they do want to point out that trump has taken credit for the overturning of roe versus wade through those three supreme court justices that he appointed the the other one is democracy and the threats that biden thinks that trump poses to democracy. and the potential for political violence. and then, of course there's the economy which is the number one issue for many voters. and they want to point out that in their view, trump's economic plans would benefit the rich. so you are getting a sense of the strategy heading into this moment. the biden campaign also says that they're planning thousands of events around this around this debate, including debate, watch parties next thursday at the end of the day, they really do view this as a critical moment because in their view, many americans just haven't been paying attention to the election so far. and this is the moment where they will see the contrast and the choice that's in front of them in november okay. >> kevin lip act. thank you very much. now, the trump campaign is already looking past the debate and toward next month's republican national convention. cnn, steve contorno was with the former president and 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 in north dakota. governor doug burgum, trump yesterday said he's made his decision, but he's not letting that person know yet, nor the public in my mind, yeah. >> did they no. >> nobody knows that's what do you i guess bp, those remarks came during a stop for philly cheesesteak takes a middle 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 its approach listened 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 him 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, where we really expect to fireworks to fly. allison okay, steve, thank you very much for joining me now is cnn political analyst and historian julian zelizer julia, great to see you. so donald trump, as you heard, there, says he's picked a vp, but he's not shared that news. >> yes. with that person yet or any of us? cnn sources say that it's between senator's j.d. vance and marco rubio and also north dakota governor doug burgum are the vp picks. more important this year than they ever have been historically? >> no, i'm not convinced for the republicans, there'll be that important. i think donald trump will dominate his campaign and a lot of the point of the vp pick will be not to take too much airtime still and never really has a vice president the pick change the election for biden. it's little more important. >> we know who the vice presidential running mate is. >> obviously vice president harris, but her performance, i do think the better she does, the more she can shore up some support for president biden in terms of concerns about age you have a piece out for cnn.com or you say the sad truth about presidential debates, is that often the most consequential moments revolve around the one-liners and the zingers. >> why do we care more about those than the substance and how the candidates prepare for zimmer well, as some of it's just the attention of the american public is short and then we just process pieces of a debate. and part of that is replayed over and over. today and social media and some of it is, it does reveal character. i mean, i do think these one-liners, the zingers can tell plus a lot about the person they're aimed at, or the person telling it ronald reagan famously use these 19801984 to really strengthen how people saw him and his ability to handle the job. it's hard to prepare for them, but they do prepare to deliver the line, not to deliver the paragraph. i think that's going going on certainly in the biden camp, the added complication now is clipping. and that's becoming a bigger part of campaigns. so it's not simply a gaffe that can get you. it's totally well articulated point that that's cut and put out a context. and so the campaigns need to think about this that is frightening for all of us listening. so as you know, the polls have been very tight, but between biden and trump for months, what could happen in this debate that changes that realistically very little obviously some terrible performance, either biden president biden just having trouble speaking his thoughts and really conveying the impression he's on top of his game would just fuel concerns about age. and obviously former president trump rambling, going off on tangents that speak to what critics say is his inability to govern and sort of instability and chaos about him that could hurt him too. but again, realistically, these will fuel existing perceptions people have of candidates strengthen them and they'll realistically be one piece of a continuum that culminates in november donald trump's team is trying to change the narrative that they've been hitting about president biden. >> basically, they've been saying that he's mentally on fit, but now they're changing it to him being a formidable debater. so one of donald trump's vp contender faris, doug burgum, was touting president biden's debate skills on state of the union. this warning 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 kept i'm painting 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 of the state of the union this year that when he needs two, he can step up is the bar lower for donald trump it is. i mean, that's been true with many elements of his politics. he does things either politicians could never get away with and he gets away with it. and so even with a debate, what many people would say is a stellar performance is not what a lot of trump's supporters are looking for. they're looking for a classic trump performance, which again could be attacks. it could be smear and kind of a chaos. so i do think it's a low so bar and i do think a lot of trump supporters in his orbit realize biden can perform. they've seen this several times. i think they're trying to adjust what they've been telling people and we heard the former president add that somehow heal, have enhancements, which is another layer of the kind of campaign hey, there conducted plan zelizer. >> it'll be very interesting to be watching this thursday. thank you very much thanks for having me and be sure to tune in on thursday for this elections first presidential debate between president biden and former president trump jake tapper and dana bash or moderating, this will be live from atlanta at 9:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. it will also be streaming on max we are monitoring breaking news out of russia at this hour. authorities are responding to what are believed to be coordinated attacks across the country. and now a terror investigation is underway there we have the little details for you violet earth, which we have schreiber tonight and on cnn chevy trucks advanced camera technology lets you see over under through down and any other direction, you may need up to eight available cameras and team views so you can focus on the view that really matters don't miss a 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dagestan a synagogue was set on fire and at least one priest was killed at a nearby catholic church. >> authorities say a group of villages tents, armed with automatic weapons, coordinated via attacks in the city of der bent. meanwhile, police just north of there were involved in a shootout after an attack on a traffic post, authorities have now launched a terror investigation. cnrs claire sebastian is tracking the latest for us from london. so clear, what is the latest on all of this? >> yeah, allison. so authorities are saying that they believe these attacks in two different cities. much calla and there are bent, there about 80 miles apart. are coordinated. they are as you say, now, investigated investigating these attacks under the terrorism article of the russian criminal code, the key targets seems to have been religious sides, russian official sources are talking about a synagogue and a church in the city of deir events being attacked. and we're hearing about a shootout at a church in my hajj gala, where according to russian state media, quoting that dagestan, the interior ministry 19 people who had been taking shelter in that church are now safe. the israeli foreign ministry has also put out a statement saying that to synagogues were involved one in each city. so the situation right now extremely fluid. there are videos and accounts coming through on social media. tanno of the deck is donee interior ministry showing that fighting on the streets of both cities is still ongoing. being a major police operation, the death and injury toll has been updated by the mft, yet this is the religious islamic administrative organization in dagestan. then i'll saying that nine have been killed of which seven law enforcement since we believe the other was a priest at a church and they're bent or according to the public monitoring commission there, he had his throat slit. are some gruesome details coming through that and also a security guard and on top of that, 25 injured. but as i said, extremely fluid and we believe still very much ongoing even though it's now getting pretty late in the evening there and dagestan okay. >> claire sebastian. thank you very much for all of that reporting for more, let's turn now to cnn national security analysts beth center. okay. so beth, you just heard claire's reporting nine people killed, seven of them law enforcement, 25 injured. what clues do you see in these attacks? >> well, it does have the hallmarks of an isis k attack and viewers were remember the big crocus city hall concert hall attack in march that killed about 144 people. and then there was a previous one in iran. both of those attacks, by the way, the united states warned both russia and iran that these attacks were coming, weren't heated. but this looks like another isis k attacked me if this is an isis k attack against a synagogue and a catholic church, what does isis k1, other than death and calles right? and so this is not just some, some far away place, allison we are watching right now, the threat of it from isis k, which is based in afghanistan now spreading around the world to some extent. so the french recently forded an attack related to the olympics. the germans, the euro cup games, just arrested several people and we arrested about two weeks ago, eight tajiks also so associated with the islamic state, who had snuck in across our borders so what they're trying to do is in isis kaye, they do want to have a caliphate just like they had in syria and iraq. >> but they also want to attack christians, jews non-muslims so how does vladimir putin respond to this well, right after the crocus attack, the concert hall attack, they wrapped up a cell in dagestan. >> they arrested a bunch of people so now on trial with the rest of the gang they were said to have provided the weapons. and we're going to see more of a crackdown and and the russians, the way they cracked down it's pretty brutal. but at the same time that brutality doesn't necessarily eliminate the threat. so in some cases it worsens it in terms of the extremist views of certain parts that population and isis has had a relationship with the muslim community, not the majority, but 20% of isis foreign fighters in syria came from russia and the former soviet states. and a lot of them from dog2 on so they're going to crack down. but we can't expect this to go away. >> that asana is, not often in front of our mind, except of course we're all reminded of the awful boston marathon bombing where the zangge brothers came from there. so why has this region of dagestan been allowed to be so volatile and violent for so long? >> well the ability of the russian state to effectively deal with these kind of restive provinces. dog has done is right next to chechnya and, you know, another place, the northern caucasus has always been this kind of hotbed of islamic extremism. >> and the only way that russia has dealt with in the past is chechnya and two bloody wars that killed many, many russian so