news babes might win again, we'll see see some good form out there. look forward to hearing about the results. the lead with jake tapper for starts right now, go press the stages set the stakes, could not be higher. welcome to the lead live from cnn's campus and atlanta, georgia, where final preparations are underway for tomorrow's historic presidential debate. right here you're on cnn, i'm phil mattingly, info jake tapper, president joe biden, and former president donald trump will be here tomorrow night. and the most important event of this election cycle. so far. here's a glimpse at the stage where the two men will face off the first time in history, a sitting president and a former president will debate. i just walked the debate stage and i'll bring you an insight. i'd look and just moments, but first, we're going into details about how those last-minute preparations are actually playing out. cnn's mj lee and kristen holmes start us off here and lana in jake, let's start with you from biden world right now, what are they doing in these last 24 hours? >> fell for right now, team biden, it is all about fine tuning those last final details. we know that the president has been at camp david with his team of advisers, hunker down on those informal and formal sessions that really culminated in those full run-throughs that began on monday. and i am learning that bob bauer, the president's attorney bernie, has been standing in for donald trump, just as you did back in 2020, he's been using a podium. the president has been as well, other a tab been playing the role of jake tapper and dana on a badge all with the exercise and the goal of trying to give the president really the experience of everything that he could experience in those 90 minutes. but at the same time, the biden in team has been really paying close attention to what president trump and his aides have been saying about their own prep, really dismissing the idea that they have been spending a lot of time dismissing think the idea that they have even had formal sessions. and one biden adviser that i just spoke with basically said they're not buying it. they've seen all the reporting, the references to all of the time that a trump is spending clearly on a debate prep, including this reference to president biden back when he was vice president debating paul ryan and this adviser said that is clearly an example of the fact that they are clearly in doing debate prep and could actually be on thursday. the most prepare that he has been in any debate heading now, the biden team has also taken note of the fact that they've done really a one at the trump team on expectation setting, saying that the president is senile and we and then all of a sudden thing that he is going to be really formidable on the debate stage on thursday, obviously, no matter where the bar is, they would like to over-perform and clear that bar bar. >> christian, you've been reporting so much over the course of the last week about kind of behind the scenes battle on some level that's been playing out of advisers that want to hold trump to focus on the issues, issues where they're clearly leading versus grievances, but we don't know how he's actually going to go. do we have a sense of who's going to win? that ongoing debates i think no one's going to know who's going to win that ongoing debate until thursday. >> but i do wanna bring up something that i'm actually fundamentally agree with the biden he camp on this, this idea of the donald trump is not preparing is preposterous. that was team has not using the word preparation, but that's likely because of who their candidate is. he doesn't want let's thing that he has to prepare, but we know that his senior advisers have been watching old bag clips. they have brought it up in calls with reporters. we know that donald trump himself has had the number of these policies they don't have the traditional format that they have with the biden campaign. there's no filling in for biden. there's no one filling in for the moderators are not hosting these mock debates, but they are talking to donald trump on a regular basis about how exactly to handle this debate. now, when they go over what the issues are and what they want dollars hold trump to talk about. there are three main points that they want donald trump to focus on. they want them to focus on the economy, particularly inflation immigration, as well as crime they believe based on recent polling that these are the issues of donald trump does better than joe biden on another there are prepping him for questions on abortion, as well as democracy, particularly his role in january 6 and things he has said in the past about january 6 and sense that interaction on cattle a little hill, but they are hoping for him to continue to pivot back to those three main issues now, talking about what version of donald trump that you're getting donald trump himself? he's to have had some time to actually reflect on his own behavior and pass debates. one of those interesting things we heard with this rather candid interview and the washington examiner where he said that he was too aggressive, that he interrupted biden too much back in 2020, that people really told him that at the time. so it goes to show you how his preparation is going, but i do think that donald trump is prepared for biden to show up on thursday. the biden campaign is not wrong. donald trump's team has been tempering expectations. they went from saying he couldn't string a sentence together. does saying that he was a formidable opponent and talking about the fact that that he's going to show up on thursday. obviously, they are level setting here as we head into this very critical debate. >> no question about that, guys. thanks so much. my panel is here now with him, jake, just make a really good point. i don't think you're just randomly watching 20 2012 or 2012 vice presidential debates just because, right. i mean, it's great. love paul ryan, love, love vice president biden, but probably not pulling that up unless you're preparing for something jamaal they both have been doing great reporting all week there's a lot of what's being said publicly. tell me what's happening in these final 24 hours behind the scenes, you've been in those rooms? yeah. i've helped prep a few candidates of my life for some of these debates even one of them with ron klain before one of the things that i haven't president biden, but another candidate one of the things that you want to focus on as you're not talking to the moderators, you're talking to the people who are at home watching. so don't get too caught up in the back-and-forth with the moderator because you want to make sure that as a candidate could talk is that people who are there? they also want to make sure they're going to be focusing on the pivots. and then what's the broader strategy here? and not just the tactics of the lines, but at the candidate knows the strategy, they can always make their own pivot and get right back to it. remember this, neither one of these candidates were here on the college game day set. it feels like neither one of these candidates is it has played preseason ball right? donald trump didn't do any primary debates. president biden hasn't done any primary debates. so both of them have some practice to do. i don't buy that donald trump's not doing any of it. both of them has some practices do to make sure they don't flub is very big opportunity. >> i am so excited to try and make scott jennings put a buckeye on his head i don't the points. got it. can you actually make changes? this late in the game, like are there things that you can tell somebody at this point that can actually have a positive effect. have you ever seen that? i think it would be a mistake to try to make huge structural strategic changes so late after you've been thinking through many, you look at the strategy of these two guys. you've got joe biden technical anna conference room, absorbing material. you've got donald trump, the former champion out there. he's a vibe player. he's out there trying to get the vibe working with his crowds, working with his advisors at this point to try to change a 78-year-old man or an 81-year-old man. this late in the game? i think would be a huge mistake. i do think both of them though, must at this moment the absorbing, this may be the most consequential 90 minutes of their political careers. this might be the most consequential 90 minutes of modern american political history. and if i can just say it's happening on cnn lambda, and atlanta is coming tomorrow night. they used to have wrestling in this place back here and we're going to see a throat down to guys who are spoiling for each other. you don't want to miss. we get the best anchors, we get the best analysts, and we have fill and it's going to be an incredible show. rateable, the height match we. briefly on that 0.1 of the things you want to do in these preps is somebody's job in that prep is going to be maybe it's tech hoffman's somebody's job is to try to see president biden off. i'm trying not to use the room thinking. yeah, but they want to get him mad because they want him to be mad and they get that out in the prep session, not get it out on tv. yeah. i think bob bowers acknowledged that he he had that effect in 2020s is redoing that role again jeff, i wanted to spell the rules. the structure of what's about to happen, but scott's point is not hyperbolic the import of tomorrow night, we always talk, this is the biggest thing since x, it's the biggest threat. this is huge, it is huge. and that's why they both wanted to have a debate in june. we should point out this is so unusual. it is going to be june 27 tomorrow. it is a couple of months before debates normally are the fact that they're debating at all. one thing okay, i think they can perhaps change on the fly. they have their eye on the supreme court we saw the supreme court's potential ruling. it was leaked on the abortion case, but there are other real live rulings tomorrow that could impact the debate. so events could change, but three algae is one thing that's sitting president's often struggle with is information overloaded? yeah, ronald reagan did in 1984, barak obama didn't practice as much as he should have been 2012. but so president biden, who played cleanup duty in that device, presidential when he was vice president, is aware of that, but look, the rules are important. the fact that there is no audience. the fact that the microphone that is perhaps the open question they've been practicing with this, unlike last time the microphone will not be on. so president biden and former president trump cannot interrupt one another necessarily on mic, but can they still do it to rattle them? so the rules are interesting, but the no audience. so key, yeah, to be clear, and we already talked about this shortly. i'm going to take you behind the scenes, show all of this, how it actually works. we this earlier today, it's invaluable to watch to understand how this is all going to work out. the campaigns have seen it. the campaign's understand the rules, the structures that campaigns have all agreed to the rules and structures. do you think it benefits one side or the other when there's no audience, when there's a you operation, i think, you know, a lot of people believe that this benefits biden because we know trump feeds his, again, he said he's a vibes candidate. he's going to feed off the crowd as he has in the past, but he won't have a crowd to feed off. he won't have supporters in the audience cheering him on. if you make controversial or bombastic statements. and then again trump is the one who more than, more likely it was more likely to over top biden four years ago when they debated but at the same in the same vein, if biden is not having his strongest night, i think the rules could come back and be seen as a detriment to him because then he won't have an audience to feed to feed off of. he won't have some of that energy. they're both kind of going to be on their own. and so much of this debate is riding on which version of these candidates show up tomorrow that to me is the biggest wildcard both for biden and trump what version of them shows up? what version of them have prepared? have they prepared for and what version of them are they able to present to america? >> and it could not be more critically important guys stick around, we have a lot more to get to when we all need to try and reach scott jennings energy level right now, which i am so very here for. well, we noted ready for a sneak peek cnn's debate stage show you how it looks. demonstrate key component of how will work. you won't want to miss this special access sturdier the cnn presidential debate tomorrow 99 live on cnn and streaming unmet with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, my skin was no longer mine. my active psoriatic arthritis joint symptoms held me back. >> don't let symptoms define you emerge as you with trump via most people saw 90% clear skin at four months and the majority stayed clearer at five years from phi is proven to significantly reduce joint pain, stiffness, and swelling. it's just six doses a year after to start or do cbs allergic reactions may occur. can fire, may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms for if you had a vaccine are planning to emerge as you emerge trim phi and asked your doctor about trump via ice to meet yet my name is david i've been a pharmacist for 44 years when i have customers come in and ask for something for memory, i recommend prevision. >> number one because it's safe and effective does not require a prescription. and i've been taken it quite a while myself and i know it works and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me david, that really works so good for me. makes my de prevalent at stores everywhere without a prescription someone needs to customize and save hundreds of liberty mutual white. there's an elevator only pay for what you need labor day et for sure investments, we may look like other money managers, but were different. >> you can't be that different. >> we are we have a team of specialists, not only in investing, but also in financial and estate planning and more, your clients rely on you for all that yes. and as a fiduciary, we always if their interests first, but you still saw commission-based products, right no. we have a simple management fee structured, so we do better when our clients do better, we're more different than i thought at fisher investments work clearly different harlem has everything. >> but i couldn't find a lot is anywhere. so i started my own studio and with the right help i can make this plate by law even better, earn up to 5% cash back on business essentials with chasing business cash card from chase for business. >> what if we don't get down in time to get a birthday gift for zoe, don't panic with etsy. we can find the perfect gift and center a preview right away. thanks guy don't panic. >> you've easy with etsy, close captioning is brought to you by tableau. watch, pause and record live tv subscription free. start watching tv for free with tableau switching to tableau has really been a money saver without a monthly subscription was amazing quarter today at tableau tb.com welcome to the set of the cnn presidential debate. >> we want to give our viewers a sense of the rules of the debate so that when they watch it, they can understand how president biden and president trump will be engaging with each other tomorrow night just after 9:00 p.m. eastern, president biden will enter from the right side of your screen. president trump will enter from the left side of your screen. the podiums are eight feet apart, directly across from them. the moderators, cnn's jake tapper and dana bash. now a reminder this is a television studio. there's no audience candidates will have two minutes to answer questions and one minute for responses and rebuttals. at the moderators discretion, there may be an additional minute for follow-ups, clarifications, or responses. so how does a candidate know how much time is left to speak? attached to the cameras in the studio and in the candidates field of view or the timing lights. when the light show yellow, there are 15 seconds left and it candidates answer or response. when the lights flash red, there are five seconds left, and when the display is solid red the time is up at that point, the candidates microphone will be turned off and the other candidate will have their microphone turned on. my colleague, victor blackwell has more on that thank you, phil. >> if we go behind the podiums, you can see two green lights when they're on, they signal to the candidate his microphone is on when the green lights are off, they signal to the candidate, his microphone is off. now i want to give you a sense of what it will look like for viewers at home. if a candidate whose microphone is off, interrupted candidate whose microphone is on. so i'm standing at one podium and i'll ask filth to come in and take the other podium. and so let's say i'm answering a question. my light is green and i'm speaking feels microphone is off and his green lights are not illuminated. he's going to interrupt me as i'm speaking. and this is what it will sound like. my volume remains constant while fills interruption can be difficult to understand. >> let's try the opposite. my microphone is now on victors microphone is off and he's going to interrupt me. my volume remains constant while victors interruption can be difficult to understand. a senior production team has shared this demonstration with the campaign's earlier today, and we're sharing it with you our viewers, so everyone fully understands how tomorrow night will work. now, we should know by agreeing to participate in this debate, both campaigns and candidates have also agreed to bide by these rules. the cnn presidential debate, heirs live tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern i'm back out with the panel. obviously, i didn't tell port back here. we did that a little bit earlier, but was fascinating for me. one, i'm a visual learner. so going through it actually understood better how this was all going to work. but i want to make something very clear when the mic was on and one mic was muted. we were actually talking and we were talking at the same level. we'd been talking when the mic was on. that wasn't some trick. we weren't using different mics are different lobes or anything like that. that's how the system was working, which i thought was really interesting scott, you've been through so many of these when you watch that eight feet apart, obviously, they have the mute buttons as well. the process, the time for which he can speak, what stood out? to you, let's go on to help trump. i mean, remember what had there were two debates in 2020 in the first debate, trump couldn't stop his mouth runneth over. and i think he knows that, but everybody's memory hold this, but the second debate they did have muted mics he was under control. i think he actually won that debate, but by then it was too late. now, he's in the driver's seat and only has to do is show up and turn in a credible performance that shows plausibility here. and i think this, i think this one rule is going to help him do it. the audience and all that. i don't care about. but the muted mics may keep him appearing to be more under control even when he gets enraged. it's something bad biden says, well fell. >> the reason that the reason that the debate came so late was because donald trump had covid three days before the first debate, he lied about it onstage. we voted mask out and said, oh, if i needed my mask, i'd use it. he had covid so they couldn't have the debate and he refused to do a virtual