hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's noon in tulsa, oklahoma, 1:00 p.m. here in new york, 8:30 p.m. in tehran. wherever you're watching around the world, thank you for joining us. we begin with unrest in charlotte, north carolina. >> we cannot tolerate violence. we cannot tolerate the destruction of property. protesters were smashing glass everywhere. >> rioters came down the street and just ransacked this store. >> there's no unrest. release the dash cam video. >> they put out pepper spray. people were running from it. get out of there. >> police got in a single file line and shot pepper balls at them to get them off the highway. >> there are a lot of people

with their hands up. whoa, okay. they clearly want us out of here. >> i'm really nervous about what's going to happen tonight. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> in charlotte today, a state of emergency has been declared. the national guard alerted and a community on edge. despite that, charlotte's mayor said today the city is open for business. this is new video from this morning. many business owners are spending the day cleaning up shattered windows and graffiti sprayed on walls and cars. one resident told cnn he worried the situation will get worse before it gets better. all of this after violence protests broke out for a second night following the fatal police shooting of keith lamont scott at an apartment complex. a family member says the 43-year-old was reading a book in his car when police officers approached and shot him. the police say scott had a gun and refused to listen to police officers when he was ordered to

drop it. there is body and dash cam video the incident and police say they will try to accommodate the families request to review it. i want to bring in our national correspondent paulo sandoval, outside our police headquarters in charlotte. someone from the scott family has requested to watch the video, so why won't police release the video to the public? >> well, several reasons for that, wolf. they feel it obviously would be inappropriate especially for the family who has already been through enough, but also part of this ongoing investigation. they say that footage is still key evidence here and this is something that they're still going through and it's not just some of that dash cam video but also potentially some of that body camera video you mentioned. perhaps some footage that may or may not have been taken by some surveillance cameras in the area. so they're highly protective of that video right now. and this is also very important because there are two competing narratives here. you have police who say that

keith scott had a weapon, that he had it with him at the time of the shooting. but then you hear from his family and some other witness accounts suggest he simply had a book. so ultimately, people here in charlotte want to see the video so they can make up their mind for themselves. but at this point, again, officials here at the city of charlotte saying they do not plan on releasing the video to the public but they could plan on at least allowing some members of the scott family to see some of that footage for themselves. >> this morning, the police chief kerr putney said the video is not absolute evidence that the gun was pointed at police officers. what does that tell us? >> we do know we have had several other folks also weighing in, particularly a member of the police here in charlotte who says he had an opportunity to see this video for himself. according to him, he believes he actually saw scott not being compliant with police and also saw that weapon.

i want you to hear for yourself the account of what we would likely see in that dash cam video if it would be released. take a listen. >> it's a very short video but it's very clear that like the chief has already said he was armed when he exited the vehicle. he didn't listen to commands from the officers and dropped the weapon. he made a -- he made a obvious threat to the officers. unfortunately, the outcome is not good. so we understand the frustration of the family. they want answers. well, our investigative team and our department wants answers too. >> a member of the police, so that's important to keep in mind. people want to see this video for themselves especially because there's so much speculation about what happened and there's very little evidence it's been released publicly. so many people here want to see

that footage but then there is also that debate. exactly how much would the release of that video do. would it calm concerns or would it simply fan the flames, especially with concerns that we could see more demonstrations, potentially violent ones, again tonight for the third time. >> all right, thanks very much, polo sandoval reporting from charlotte. sheryl dorsey is with us, retired police sergeant, author of the book, creation manifesto, black and blue. also with us, matt more ritz, a former executive with the atf, senior vice president at fjc security services. thank you very much for joining us. sheryl, what should they be doing? two nights of violent protests. what should they be doing to try to prevent that froem happening tonight, a third night? >> what they should be doing is they should be releasing the video. i believe the reason they won't release the video is because it

doesn't show what they purported in the beginning. we were led to believe there was evidence that supported the officer's version. now we're hearing from both the mayor and police chief there's not definitive absolute evidence, which sounds like code talk, double-speak for we said something that wasn't true. we understand that police off certains do sometimes misrepresent what happened as in the case of walter scott when he was shot who said he took my taser. and when sam deboss was shot and killed, the officer said he was try to run me over with a car. i believe once we see this video, we're going to see it doesn't substantiate or justify the shooting. >> it will be important to see the video. they're reluctant obviously to release the video. the police chief says it will not provide definitive visual evidence, matthew. but you believe they should release the video even if it doesn't provide definitive, in his words, visual evidence. >> why wouldn't you release the video at the appropriate time? although he said it didn't have definitive evidence, he did say that the individual did not have a book and the individual did

have a gun. so we know both of those facts. there's a lot of investigating that still needs to be done and i think we have to allow the investigative train to work itself out so we don't compromise the investigation and at some point they have to release the information, even if they don't release the video. they're going to tell us what happened. >> they're going to let the family apparently look at the video today. they're going to let the mayor look at the video, jennifer roberts. when they come out and say whatever they say, presumably if the family says, you know what, we're calling for calm tonight, no more violent demonstrations, that could potentially have an impact. >> unless there's a stipulation on the family not to speak on what they saw, right, because if they show the family with the video with that caveat, they may not be able to tell them to tell the world what they actually saw. >> they can't force the family to tailor their words. the family comes out and they can say whatever they want. this is a free country. >> then there's the concern of do they show them the video in its entirely or do they pick and choose which portion they want to show to substantiate that

thing they're saying. >> all right, hold on. the white house press secretary josh earnest is speaking precisely on this subject in charlotte. i want to listen in. >> something that is worthy of careful consideration by policymakers all across the country. this is a particularly complex set of issues. in part because we know that the vast majority of men and women who work in law enforcement are genuine public servants who keep their communities safe and who put their lives on the line to do so. there are countless examples of individuals performing that work heroically. and saving lives and saving communities. what's also true, what the president's also addressed, is there are legitimate concerns that have been raised about

inequities in our criminal justice system. inequities that break down in many cases along racial lines. and those are difficult questions that must be confronted. they cannot be ignored. the president certainly played his own role. the president has talked about them publicly on a number of occasions. the president's also convened a 21st century -- a task force on 21st century policing that brought together self-rights leaders, am democratics, leading law enforcement officials, to talk about steps that communities can take to build this trust. and the president continues to believe it's in the interest of everybody for this -- the relationship between local law enforcement and individual communities to improve and to strengthen. that certainly increases the safety of local law enforcement officials and law enforcement

officers. it makes them more effective at doing their jobs. and it also makes our communities safer which is ultimately everybody's goal. >> i wanted to ask about -- accusing the u.s. of intentionally attacking the syrian military, saying that multiple planes were involved -- i just wanted to get the white house reaction -- >> all right, we're going to break away. josh earnest, the white house press secretary, making it clear where the president of the united states says yes, there's problems with the criminal justice system in the country but he was applauding the work of almost all police officers around the country. let's get some reaction. cheryl dorsey's still with us. matth matthew horst is with us. it's a delicate moment in charlotte. the sensitivities are enormous. kerr putney, police chief in

charlotte, african-american. the police officer who shot and killed the victim there, keith lamont scott, a man by the name of police officer brently vinson. does that make a difference? >> i think we have to separate it. the charlotte mecklenburg police department has an incredible reputation. >> incredibly good or bad? >> incredibly good reputation in north carolina. the cheech doief does as well. there's what the video is going to show, which may not be definitive and that's exactly what happened which may not match the video. we have to wait for that information. it's my guess when the family sees the video, they're going to have one reaction but then when the public hears what happens, then we're going to know what happened during the incident. >> vinson, the police officer who shot and killed the victim in this particular case, he had an outstanding reputation by all accounts in law enforcement as well as in the community. once again, himself

african-american. and the police chief, kerr putney, has a good reputation as well. do you have confidence in them? >> you're asking me? well, i don't have confidence because they're withholding information. while they say they want to be transparent and they want everything they know to be known, they're now saying, well, we're not going to have full transparency. i don't really know what that means. unless and until you fill in those blanks, the community is going to fill in the blank. they may not get it right. if this is a justified shooting if there was a reasonable use of deadly force, then just say it. if it wasn't, then say that. because until we admit that maybe this isn't a good shooting, we can have a real dialogue about -- >> very quickly, cheryl, if the police officer who shot and killed this person says there was a gun, you don't necessarily believe that officer? >> it's an open carry state so having a gun doesn't necessarily mean he's a threat. when they say he was a threat, articulate it. what was that threat? brandishing is one thing. being in possession is another.

>> wait until the investigation is complete. we'll learn every single fact. what happened. having a gun is not illegal. threatening with a gun is illegal. and in this case, we don't have a white officer with a black suspect. we have a black officer that's shooting and a black officer that's dead. if we believe we're not getting the right information, then we believe the officer did something wrong and we don't know he did. >> we'll continue to watch, we'll see if they release the dash cam video, the body video, all of that video. we'll see if that comes up. coming up, marching for change. african-american leaders in washington take action. they're demanding more be done to stop the shootings and the violence. our manu raju is live on the scene. manu. >> hey, wolf, right in front of the justice department with two senior leaders of the congressional black caucus are meeting right now with attorney general loretta lynch demanding more action to stop this escalating violence between police and inner city communities. we'll have more after the break. the right things working together

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implemented in a way that was not helpful to community trust and to frankly public safety and enhancing the relationship between law enforcement and community members. and so a number of modifications were made to the policy within new york. obviously police officers are able to stop individuals if they, in fact, have articulable reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. the issue with stop and frisk in the new york area was the widespread indiscriminate use of that practice, particularly when it was not generating success from a law enforcement perspective and neither leads or tips or firearms and the resulting lack of trust that it generated. as with every police procedure, we want to empower law enforcement to be responsive to community needs. we want to empower them to protect the community. we want to give them the information and the training they need in order to do it in a

way that is constitutional, safe and promotes trust. it's not really a yes or no answer. sorry for that. >> in the new york bombing case, the suspect bought allegedly many of his parts for the bombs online through ebay. is the government engaged in any sort of review of its trip wire programs -- >> all right, we're going to get back to loretta lynch. we're going to continue to monitor the attorney general of the united states. members of the congressional black caucus took to the streets, marching from capitol hill to the department of justice to protest the recent police shootings of black men. our senior political correspondent manu raju is with the marchers right now. other at the justice department. manu, tell us why the lawmakers decided to make this march. >> well, they're frustrated. they don't believe there's been enough action by the federal government to hold these inner

city communities accountable and these police departments in these inner city communities accountable. remember, a lot of the cbc members, congressional black caucus, members represent districts where we have seen escalating violence and tension between the police departments and these communities. so they're demanding a lot more action from the obama justice department. butterfield, the congressman who is the chairman of the congressional black caucus is actually meeting with loretta lynch at this moment with maxine waters, another senior member of the congressional black caucus. he actually just talked to reporters. here's a little of what he had to say. >> the congressional black caucus is outraged with the dozens of unlawful police shootings that are taking place all across america involving unarmed innocent african-american citizens. if we were to identify each of these, it would consume this entire press conference. there are dozens of unlawful

shootings of unarmed african-americans. enough is enough. >> i had spoken to mr. butterfield before this press conference and i asked him are you satisfied with what the obama justice department has done so far in responding to these episodes of police violence. help sa he said no, absolutely not. your hearing a lot of frustration from the president's own party on this issue. they're meeting with loretta lynch right now to try to demand some action. she's of course answering reporter's questions but clearly some frustration from a lot of those members of congress who represent those districts where we've seen episodes of violence play out in recent weeks, wolf. >> lots of frustration right now, manu raju reporting for us. up next, questioning on hold. new york's mayor changes the tone a bit on two men wanted in connection with the new york bombing. this while the main suspect stays silence. the latest on the investigation and the view from capitol hill.

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right now, we're getting live pictures from the charlotte airport where the national guard is about to deploy. the governor of north carolina has deployed national guard troops to help try to deal with potentially a third night of violent demonstrations in charlotte. also, just moments ago, we got a statement from the nba let me agenda michael jordan, one of the owners of the charlotte hornets, the nba basketball team, says this. first, i want to express my condolences to the scott family for their loss. i also wish for a full recovery to those who have been injured. in light of the tragic events of the past three days, it is more important than ever that we restore calm and come together as a community in peaceful demonstration and conversation and in constructive and nonviolent ways. as part of the fabric of charlotte, the hornets organization is committed to working with civic leaders, our elected leaders and law enforcement to foster more trust, transparency and understanding so we can heal and grow together as a community.

that statement from michael jordan. we also just received a statement from the nfl regarding the nfl game on sunday. we are planning to play the game as scheduled on sunday. the nfl statement says. we're monitoring events in charlotte and have been in communication with local officials and authorities in both the charlotte panthers and the minnesota vikings. so the game at least for now on schedule on sunday in charlotte. we're going to have much more on what's going on in charlotte. stand by for that. i want to move on to the latest in the investigation into the bombings in new york and new jersey. the main suspect, ahmad rahami, is unable to talk to police. the fbi says he's unconscious and unlikely to move any time soon from his hospital bed. fbi investigators expect to get some answers from rahami's wife who's returning to the u.s. she left the u.s. only days before the bombings. we're also seeing new video of the suspect's journal. you can see his blood on the

journal. he had it with him during the shootout with police in new jersey. in it, he talked about his admiration for both osama bin laden and other not only al qaeda leaders but isis leaders as well. here's a video the rahami family's backyard. you can see the evidence of where the suspected bomber tested some his explosives. a neighbor says the family also had bomb fires more frequently in the past few months. the family said the family burned things like furniture and clothes. here to talk a little bit more about this is kansas republican congressman mike pompeo. he's a member of the house select committee on intelligence. congressman, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf, thanks for having me on today. >> i know you've been briefed with other members of the committee on the investigation. first of all what are federal investigators hoping to learn from his wife? >> look, wolf, there's a lot we already know. there's many questions that remain unanswered from his wife. they want to understand his pattern of life. the things he did, the individuals he hung around, trying to draw any connections

out that might suggest there are further links and further individuals out there intending to do the same kind of harm that mr. rahami intended to do. >> yesterday, investigators released this picture, i'll put it on the screen, two people they want to talk to as witnesses after stressing the two men aren't suspects. the new york city mayor bill de blasio was a little less adamant this morning when he was interviewed on cnn's "new day," listen to this. >> we do not know if they have an involvement or not. we know we need to talk to them. >> what makes you think they have an involvement? >> by the video, there's a question of whether they were somehow associated. we want to be careful about this. it's not a confirmation they were involved but they may know something about the devices that were used. they may even have been people who were stopping by but still can give context to what they saw. >> congressman, there a reason for this apparent change in tone from the two men simply being asked to come in and tell an eyewitness account of what they saw what they did with what

duffel bag? or to this other suggestion, were they potentially involved? >> i think we all have to be very careful about jumping to conclusions, including conclusions that individuals aren't involved. i remember the immediate aftermath for mr. de blasio suggesting there was no links to radical islamic terrorism but we now know that's not the truth. we know this was a committed jihadist who the w isis isist w osama bin laden and auk lawlaki ft. hood bomber. we need to uncover every single fact about the situation. >> as far as you know, the two men in the wanted poster have not come forward and no one has given any hard evidence where they might be? >> that's correct, wolf, as far as i know, they have not had contact with these men yet. >> is it your sense right now that he was simply inspired by al qaeda or isis, rahami, i'm talking about, or he was more formally directed to undertake a terror bombing attempt?

>> wolf, i think about this a little bit differently. i think i know what he was motivated by. these fine granular questions about whether he actually spoke to someone or e-mailed to someone are in some sense important for the investigation but irrelevant to the motivation and the risk to the american people. i think that's the fundamental mistake that the obama administration's counterterrorism policy has engaged. they don't understand this threat doesn't require a contact. it doesn't require a e-mail or a conversation that can happen in the madrassa, it can happen in the mosque, it can happen online. the threat continues to grow and spread here in the united states. >> so was there a bigger plot there, terror cell involved, or was this simply a so-called lone wolf? >> i don't thing we know the scope of mr. rahami's con attentions. we know he spent substantial amount of time in pakistan, al qaeda hotbed and taliban-connected police as well, so don't thing we know the whole picture so that's why the

fbi is anxious to speak with mr. mr. rahami and his wife. >> congressman, good luck with this investigation, we'll stay in close touch with you. mike pompeo, a member of the intelligence committee. i want to go back to charlotte right now. william barber, of the naacp, is speaking out. >> but they've been in the street long before this happened and they're going to stay there and they are attempting to echo the hurt and the pain and if we hear the sound of rachel crying because her children are no more, perhaps that lament and the instructions out of that lament, can turn us in a new direction and toward a better charlotte and a better america. >> amen. >> i stand before you as the chair of the charlotte collegy

coalition for justice. we are a multifaith, multiracial, multigenerational coalition of faith leaderings that are serving in the charlotte community. on tuesday, we gathered in the streets with our community. bearing witness to the righteous rage, to the lament, to the pain that was a pulse throughout our community. we gathered knowing, serving in this community. i'm a pastor in this community, not only a chair in the coalition. we gathered knowing that tuesday night did not begin on tuesday night. yesterday evening, we went back out into the street with our community with protesters to once again bear witness to be a faithful presence to the pain, to the lament, to the righteous rage to the protest.

we began at little rock a&e zion and from there we went to marshall park. soon we knew that people were gathering. our people. the people we serve. were gathering throughout the city. and so the 40 clergy that came out wearing yellow arm bands began to spread out into different places so they could be with our community. some of our clergy went back to little rock. some stayed at marshall park. some went over to the police department. and some headed to the epicenter. the night began with such promise and beauty, seeing people frankly come together in our community in protest. we had children out there. we had young organizers, 18, 19, 20. we had seniors and elders in our community who knew the pain and

felt it and bore witness to it. early in the evening, the police were around in the community on bicycles and in uniforms. and then i received a text message from a colleague, please come to the epicenter. as i approached the epicenter with one of my colleagues, we saw that the police were there in riot gear lined up and something in the air had changed. the police officers in riot gear were flanked on either side of trade street. so we gathered with our community, with the protesters. and as we gathered with them, we took hands and then the police began to walk toward us. they marched toward us. and they waited until people gathered around them. we were standing there gathered around them. the same police, many of then, that we had spoken with the

night before. that we had protected and promised that they would get home safely. and they did. we stood in front of them staring at them in their eyes. but this time there was not conversation. there was a line that was formed. the police moved from standing in front of us to standing to the side, forming a line of two officers. all in riot gear. with bully sticks out. we then gathered around the police again once again with our community and they marched down trade. no command was given as the night before to move. no issue or instruction was given. they marched us down into the omni. as they gathered, they put their backs to the glass door.

and then we saw people began to be struck with the clubs. we saw people falling and hitting the floor. we heard a shot. people began to run. it was chaos. i want to be clear. we cape to be a presence for justice. clergy, faith leaders, 40 of us in this city out in the night. as soon as the shot was fired, we heard a smoke bomb. as soon as the smoke bomb was released, we heard some kind of light or sound bomb, a flash bomb. and then tear gas. we could not run out of their fast enough as the canisters were released out into us. people were dispersing. we were running. this is a city that made me a minister. it's the first place i've served. this is the city where i married my spouse, where i had my children. and now this is the city that tear gassed me.

last night did not have to end like it ended. it did not have to end like it ended. we want to be clear about that. we have critical hours now as our city is being mill tarrized. we praise the decision of leaders not to have a kur few which we know would further militarize us. we're begging for action that will deescalate. tonight, the end of tonight is not yet written. >> powerful words we just heard. we're going to continue to monitor this news conference. faith leaders in charlotte, north carolina, speaking clearly worried about a third night of violence demonstrations erupting

tonight. coming up, we're going to continue to follow the deadly police shootings that are taking center stage right now in the race for the white house. one comment from donald trump in particular is stirring up some controversy. what he had to say about the so-called stop and frisk policy and why he's now trying to clarify it. that's next. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream.

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politics of police violence right now playing out in the presidential campaigns. at a campaign stop in pittsburgh last hour, donald trump responded to the violent protests we saw last night in charlotte. >> the violence against our citizens and our law enforcement must be brought to a very rapid end. the people who will suffer the most as a result of these riots are law abiding african-american residents who live in these communities where the crime is so rampant. crime and violence is an attack on the poor and will never be accepted in a trump administration, never ever. >> trump also called for a national anti-crime agenda to make american cities safe again. mean why, trump seems to be walking back his call for a

nationwide stop and frisk policy. now he says he was only talking about one city in particular. >> i was really referring to chicago. they asked me about chicago. i was talking about stop and frisk for chicago. and where you had 3,000 shootings so far this year, 3,000 from january 1st and obviously you can't let the system go the way it's going but i suggested stop and frisk and some people think that's a great idea. some people probably don't like it. but when you have 3,000 people shot and so many people dying, i mean, it's worse than some of the places we're hearing about like afghanistan, you know, the war-torn nations, i mean, it's more dangerous. >> let's discuss with our panel. joining us, cnn political commentator errol lewis, time warner cable news here in new york. cnn political analyst alex burns. also national political reporter for "the new york times."

so errol, trump says he was responding to a question on black on black crime, not specifically about all of the violence around the country. saying they got to reinstate stop and frisk in chicago only. >> well, i mean, first of all, from a federalism standpoint, the ability of the president to implement these things. you don't get to pick and choose and set police policy city by city so to that extent the statement is kind of mush. it would be interesting in trump could come up with what the federal could actually do and what he would actually like to see. when you're sitting in the oval office, you don't get to pick and choose. the other thing he should keep in mind is these cities are all very, very different. to the extent there are crimes for lots of different reasons and there are constitutional issues around stop and frisk that, again, sort of present a check on the power of the local police as well as the mayor and certainly the president of the united states to sort of stop and frisk at will. so, you know, perhaps we'll get some clarity but i think we

don't want to make the mistake not quote/unquote grading him on a curve. somebody who less than seven weeks before election day says they want to be president of the united states should fully understand. i don't know that donald trump does. >> the mayor of new york bill de blasio was on new york earlier today, said trump doesn't know the facts. listen to this. >> if the bottom line is, it created an huge amount of division between police and community. we ended that overuse of stop and frisk. what's happened in the three year since we made the change, crime has gone down consistently since we actually stopped using it. donald trump talks about stop and frisk like he knows the facts. he had no experience with public safety. he should really be careful because if we reinstitute stop and frisk over this country, you will see a lot more tension between police and community. >> the mayor is a hillary clinton supporter. this looks like it's going to be an issue right now. >> yes, it's important to note de blasio is correct that stop

and frisk has bore no correlation to the crime stats for the city of new york, was thrown out by the federal court, in part because they were targeting more than half of the people that were caught up in stop and frisks were black in the city of new york and another third or so were hispanic. so there are a lot of reasons to de blasio's point that this would indeed create -- increase tensions between police and the community. you know, the sense that one gets here is that donald trump, former mayor of new york, very closely associated with the crime drop in new york, a little unfairly also as we should point that out. this is clearly instance where it is hard to figure out what to do in a place like chicago. there aren't great easy answers out there. it seems as though trump is sort of seizing upon something that has been said to have worked even though it really didn't as being a potential solution to the problem. >> we got the statistics between 2004 and 2012 when stop and frisk was allowed to take place in new york city. 4.4 million people were stopped accord to new york city police.

87% of them were black or latino. only 12% were actually charged with crimes. what do you make of those numbers? >> well, i think it's pretty interesting that his walk back, that initial statement, which seemed to recommend stop and frisk as a national policy, was actually let's just apply it only in the second largest city in the country, right, that that's actually still a pretty stark statement for a presidential candidate to make at this point in an election cycle. and, you know, to his point, it is critical to just understanding the larger debate about crime and the larger debate about policing in this election that in most large cities there is not some kind of massive violent crime wave. if trump made this kind of statement a year and a half ago when think of the merits of stop and frisk were still very much up for debate here in new york and when there was still considerable fear that de blasio's roll back of that policy would just lead to rampant violent crime, the circumstances, the politics of this would be really different. the stage where we are now,

the fear of that has mostly abated. >> let's get to some numbers. hillary clinton and donald trump will go toe to toe in their first presidential debate this coming up monday night. the debate comes as polls show a close race both nationally as well as in several key battleground states. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows clinton with a six-point lead over trump. when we include that in our new cnn poll of polls it shows clinton ahead of trump by three points. the poll of polls, by the way, includes the five most recent surveys. let's talk about that a little bit more, about the polls, the upcoming debate. errol, what are these latest poll numbers. as important as the national polls are, what's even more important, ohio, florida, north carolina, virginia, these battle ground states. >> and it's neck in neck in those states as well. and you have key issues, in north carolina which we're talking about because of the unrest going on there, it was the closest state in 2012 and it was one that flipped from 2008

to 2012 so it's the definition of a battleground or a swing state. both are campaigning, both candidates are campaigning really hard there, this issue we were just talking about is going to play out in important ways and we shouldn't imagine that it's somehow not going to be at the top of the agenda. we've already seen at least three prosecutors, right, in orlando and in cleveland in chicago get turned out of office because of how they handled controversial police killings. so it's very much on the agenda. north carolina is definitely a state to watch we should expect that they'll be talking past many of the rest of us and talking to voters in ohio and florida and definitely north caroli carolina. >> most analysts say even though it's close hillary clinton has an advantage when it comes to 270 electoral college votes needed to be elected president of the united states. monday night could be decisive.

>> we saw in 2012 there's a huge shift in the polls after the first debate, mimpl was generally seen to have done very well against president obama, shifted the national numbers quite a bit. you're right that the map is favoring hillary clinton even taking everything ilse out of the picture here. donald trump out of the 11 states that are closest, donald trump leads in six of those. if he wins all six, he still doesn't get to 270. he needs to win the vast majority of the states that are the closest states in order to get past the 270 electoral vote mark and he's made big strides but he's not yet made the strides he needs to get that majority in the electoral college. >> she's preparing, she's sending a lot of times leading up to monday night practicing, rehearsing, learning, going through some of the issues that are almost certainly going to come up in this 90-minute debate and there will be no commercial interruption monday night. he seems to be a bit more easy going when it comes to preparation. you've noticed, i'm sure.

>> just a little bit. it's really striking to see a candidate in a normal election year with two normal candidate, two conventional candidates, you would see people mostly clear their schedules for most of the week running up to the debate. trump as far as we know right now only has one day fully cleared between now and monday so if we're expecting to go into monday night and see somehow a different more disciplined more thoroughly prepared and policy fluent donald trump, i think that we might be overestimated the degree of change that can happen and, wolf, if you look at the poll, that national poll that just came out last night, you do see that the burden really is on trump to have some kind of breakthrough here. because it's not just the swing state map that is a firewall for hillary clinton, it's also just the huge share of voters that just don't believe he's ready to be president and the debate is his best, maybe his only, real opportunity to change their minds. >> errol, you and i asked questions at that last democratic presidential primary debate at the brooklyn navy

yard. hillary clinton had a tough challenge from bernie sanders but bernie sanders, as tough as he is, may not be as unpredictable, shall we say as donald trump. >> that's right. you and i and others involved we spent many, many, many hours in this building preparing and imagining this question, that question, making sure we had the factual support. that's the kind of prep that is traditionally done by presidential candidates, that's what we know hillary clinton did. and you could hear that we were kind of waiting for the parry and thrust. you ask the question, you get the response and then you go deeper and dig deeper. donald trump is going to blow all of that away. he's not going to play that game and it will be very interesting to see whether or not it makes him seem presidential or simply unprepared. >> you know, donald trump's motto -- if you hit me, i'm going to hit you a whole lot harder. so when she starts criticizing him, who knows what's going to happen. >> one of the fascinating dynamics that we haven't seen yet is donald trump one on one in the debate during the republican primary debates he was always going against other

people, this will be the first time we see him going mano-a-mano. >> it will be an important decisive moment, the first debate and then there will be two more and i forgot to mention one vice presidential debate as well. guys, we will all be watching. stay with cnn for complete coverage all day on monday. that's it for me, thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. east american the situation room. for our international viewers, "amanpour" is coming up next. for our viewers in north america, "newsroom" with poppy harlow is coming up next. she'll have live coverage of a 2:30 p.m. news conference with the governor of north carolina on the deadly police shooting there. that's coming up right after this quick break.

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top of the hour, in today for my friendbo brooke baldwin,e wait for the governor of south carolina to speak a major american city is under a state of emergency. violence erupting in the streets of charlotte after the shooting death of an african-american man by a black police officer inside that city. for roughly seven hours into the morning hours police in riot gear fired tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters, some of them vandals in the city's uptown district, they threw rocks at fires and looted, smashed windows and car windows. we can tell you that one person was shot