we're talking to governor chris christie.eing over whether donald trump would actually embody the principles of republican governance you seem to espouse. tell me what's so terrifying about joe biden. terrifying about joe biden is a hard sentence to sell, it's joe biden, for pete's sake. >> let me start off by saying i've known joe biden for 35 years and i like him, so i'm not terrified by the person joe biden, but i think the democratic party has moved so far to the left, stephen-- >> stephen: so far to the left that they nominated joe biden? there were people further to the left than joe biden like everybody else. >> now joe biden has signed on with those left wing principles to be able to get the nomination. >> stephen: maybe. >> and, so, i understand he wanted to win the nomination and i understand how you do that to try to win the nomination, but i think the party has moved much too far left for me, stephen, and what terrifies me is not joe biden himself but joe biden in combination with a democratic house and a democrat

i don't know that it's obvious that it is. >> chris christie -- rahm, i'll come back to you in a secondnt to ask chris a question. is it realistic if this is held over until after the election for the republicans to push through a nominee in a lame duck session if joe biden wins, if democrats pick up seats in the senate? >> well, george, i think you have to look at what happened with merrick garland. i heard what kate just said and i know that rhetoric like that was being used, but this is politics, and this confirmation has become about politics. there will no longer be 96-0 confirmations. those days of politics unfortunately in my view are gone now. the reason merrick garland didn't get confirmed is he didn't have the votes because republicans controlled the senate, and when you look at donald trump's two nominees, you know, brett kavanaugh got one democratic vote, and, you know, neil gorsuch got three. if that had happened for merrick garland, even if he got three republicans to switch sides back in 2016, he still would have been at 49 votes and would not have been able to be confirm

chris christie helped president trump prepare for that debate. we'll get his thoughts coming up in ten minutes. >>> may be hours away from hearing the recordings from the breonna taylor case. a grand juror filed for a motion wanting them public claiming the attorney general misrepresented the deliberations. >>> we turn to the coronavirus. our parent company disney now laying off thousands of workers. theme parks aren't the only businesses suffering under the threat of a potential second wave. here's abc's megan tevrizian. >> reporter: this morning, new trouble for restaurants and theme parks heading into the fall. businesses across the country facing new closures as covid restrictions force limited capacity and outdoor dining. disney now laying off 28,000 workers at its theme parks in california and florida. >> lacking guidelines for re-opening the theme parks, many are now forced into a position where they have to make very difficult decisions. >> reporter: in a statement the chairman of disney parks placing part of the blame on california stati

bret: there is this expectations game, karl, today we saw governor chris christie and rudy giuliani ate president. what do you think that prep session is like with a guy like president trump getting ready for this day? >> i think it'd be i highly entertaining. [laughter] martha: no doubt. >> i don't think there are debate notebooks and he has to spend a lot of time hutting the paper. d hitting the paper. mark mckennan said one i guy's going to show up thinking it's a boxing match, and the other guy's going to think it's a wrestling match, and it's going to be, as a result, one wild evening. i want to respectfully disagree with donna. it's one thing if joe biden tomorrow night says 200 million americans have died from coronavirus, it's another thing if we see him not being able to remember the words of the pledge of allegiance or stumbling off into the ether because we don't have the normal campaign. as a result, we've not been conditioned by seven months of activity since he became the democratic nominee to have a good sense of who he is and come to the conclusion that he's up to job.

rchblt former new jersey governor chris christie is among those helping trump prepare for tonight's debate. though sources tell cnn trump spent little time formally preparing. instead, relying on sporadic question and answer sessions. >> the president has had a few prep sessions with mayor rudy giuliani, governor chris christie. >> good afternoon, everyone. >> reporter: sources say biden is planning to hit trump on his handling of the pandemic that's killed over 200,000 americans. >> we're rounding the corner regardless. >> reporter: in turn, trump is expected to argue that voters trust him more than biden on the economy. a top campaign aid also hinting that trump may bring guests, echoing the stunt he pulled in 2016 after the access hollywood tape was released. and trump invited three bill clinton accusers to the debate. for months trump has sought to portray biden as unfit for office. but lately aides have tried to raise the bar out of fear it'll backfire on stage tonight. >> there are sometimes where joe biden is absolutely befuddled. but we also saw that 11 times during the democrat pr

during the transition a number of people close to the president, rudy giuliani, chris christie, jeff sessions all urged him to fire james comey immediately on taking office, the director of the fbi and giuliani said he's going to turn on you, there's something wrong with him, chris christie said he's a loose cannon and if you keep him after you became president he will become your loose cannon so the question was why did he not take that advice, why did he keep james comey? did not work out well for him and the answer was he thought he could win comey over. over his many years in business the president has come to believe if he can work his personality on someone he can bring them around to his side so he thought he could win comey over which he didn't do so then you think perhaps that is the reason he spoke 18 times to bob woodward, thought he could bring him over. >> washington is a different beast. about these conversations, the discussion of whether he was trying to calm the public, when he knew what he knew, whether he should have been forthcoming with the american people, molly

and chris christie said, he is a loose cannon, and if you keep him after you are inaugurated, he will be your loose cannon. why didn't trump fire him right then? and apparently he thought he could win comey over -- >> laura: ah. >> he long thought if he could talk to someone, he could bring them over to his side, and it did not work with jim comey. >> laura: he thought he could win over bob woodward, so also. switching topics to trump-russia collusion nonsense, what you unearthed that suggested mueller's team knew early that there was no russia collusion, that continued anyway. >> the trump team could see who mueller was interviewing, and in the very first weeks, remember, mueller was appointed in may 2017, and the very first few weeks, mueller was going hard on a search for collusion. he was looking at people associated with george papadopoulos, with carter page. remember the incident at the republican convention, where they said that trump had changed the platform to make vladimir putin happy? he looked into that. he looked into the trump tower meetings. he just looked into everythi

president trump says he's been getting ready for tonight's debate with rudy giuliani and chris christierom four years ago. joe biden has been practicing with former white house counsel bob bauer. my next guest has helped democratic candidates get ready for every election since 1976, though he's not working with biden's team this year. it's a real pleasure to have robert barnett. robert, how are you doing? wish that you were here in cleveland but in the year 2020. welcome to the program. it's a combat sport. when you talk about getting people ready, ferraro, dukakis, clinton, lieberman, john edwards, barack obama, tim kaine, hillary clinton, the key is to figure out how best to prep your candidate. it seems kind of broad. give me a specific example about how you use that tool to get your candidates ready. >> of course. the key is designing a process that fits your candidate. not that fits you or the other advisors. in 1984, the late anna wexler and i were given the job of running the prep sessions for geraldine ferraro, we had a candidate who was a three term congresswoman from queens wh

as he noted yesterday, he was with governor, chris christie, mayor rudy giuliani, so he has had some sessions to prep but really, and we lean very hard on this, you can't have better preparation than taking the most hostile of questions from the white house press corps each and every day, multiple cases and often times on the way to the plane, the press briefing room, but he has done some additional prep and he is ready to go for tomorrow. >> martha: how many sessions would you say has he done with rudy giuliani and chris christie just for example? >> i don't want to get into the exact number but he's had a few sessions with them and he's ready to go. >> martha: okay. with regard to the biden camp and how they're preparing and what they expect, this is joe biden just the other day on what he expects. let's watch. >> martha: i think we just lost that. if we have it, you guys, let me know. here's what he said. he said my guess is that it will be just straight attack. they are going to be mostly personal, it's the only thing he knows how to do, he doesn't know how to debate the facts be

he hung out with his two buddies, chris christie and rudy giuliani. have you ever seen rudy giuliani give his speech at the republican national convention, you understand why hanging out with rudy giuliani for a couple of days would wind you up to the state he was in yesterday. we saw a president who didn't take it seriously. and it showed yesterday. and i go back to telling you, i think the reason it was so harmful for trump is because it showed a complete disregard and disrespect for the american voter and the american people. what we saw was an hour and a half of spewing of misinformation. we saw a debate moderator who could not deal with the incoming and could not deal with the petulant, immature attention deficit child who was on that stage, behaving like a clucking hen, not behaving in any way presidential. >> guys, stand by, if you already if a minute. >> hang on, david. we've got -- we're going to step for a different report for a second which gets to something we've been talking about. the proud boys that the president discussed last night, t

chris christi has been helping the president with his preparation leave the white house a few hours ago. before he leaves the white house he's getting in a last-minute session. before a debate like this, which the president even did in 2016 with chris christi playing hillary clinton, where you have someone stand in as your opponent. the president was pretty resistant to that idea even though advisers tried to get him to do so. they did those q & a sessions. the president seems to feel he's best when he's off the cuff and takes questions every day. efeels that's the best preparati preparation. one thing he will be asked about tonight, brianna is that "new york times" investigation into the president's finances, something he he has not really responded to until initially after it broke and yesterday he deflected and did not take questions from reporters in the rose garden. this could be the one opportunity where the president and joe biden are on stage together and he is going to be asked about that, along with several other issues, of course, the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the

chris christie, take a listen. >> was that the debate you prepared for? >> no.n the trump side, it was too hot. listen, you come in and decide you want to be aggressive and i think it was the right thing to be aggressive but that was too hot. with all that heat, as you said before you, lose the light. that potentially can be fixed. >> bret: what about that? >> i couldn't disagree more. i think president trump, again, was the dominant force, i thought he came out and laid out a clear vision of where he wants to go and look, he called out joe biden before his shortcomings as a candidate, the fact that he is too weak to lead america, the fact that he said the green new deal was going to pay for itself, that antifa is just an idea. this is nonsense. these are the kinds of things that will get people hurt. we saw a bunch of anti-vax rhetoric from joe biden. he's too weak, too fragile, not prepared to leave the country and you know what? the americans have the right to hear that. president trump again was pointing out, saying here's what he's going to go into. if joe

women, for example, his own blue-collar workers and this is chris christie, former governor of new jersey who helped him for the debate and we had a plan and then this happened. >> listen, you decide you want to come in and be aggressive. i think that was the right thing to be aggressive, but that was too hot. i think that what happens is with all that heat as you said before, you lose the light. that potentially can't be fixed, maybe, maybe not, we'll have to see. >> it's that last part. he know the president, maybe, maybe not, we'll have to see. the aides try all of the time, pay no attention to the president's tweets. watch, the president will do this, donald trump does what he wants and that's what we saw last night, who he is. >> when the person who is helping to lead the debate preparation acknowledges that a, it was not a good performance and b, that it might not be correctable you know you have a major problem on your hands and one can have sympathy for the people trying in the campaign to run a more disciplined campaign, but if the president of the united states decides what he w

> reporter: even though who helped him prepare for the debate like former new jersey governor chris christie conceded that he came on too strong. >> it was too hot. listen, you come in and decide you want to be aggressive and i think that was the right thing to be aggressive but that was too hot. >> reporter: any chance for decorum during last night's debate was quickly dashed as the president interrupted biden at nearly every chance he got. >> would you shut up, man? >> president, i'm the moderator of this debate and i would like you to let me ask my question and then you can answer. >> go ahead. >> reporter: the chaotic nature of the debate driving a statement saying last night's debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues. now, jake, short of cutting their mics or installing an inject button, it's not really clear what the commission can do to change the nature of that debate. but what we have heard today, both campaigns are saying their candidates will show up for the next two debates

president trump says his personal attorney, rudy giuliani, and former new jersey governor, chris christie, are assisting him. he said he doesn't need the kind of debate prep that joe biden does. >> we had a little debate prep before we came here. i think this whole thing, though, is debate prep. what i do is debate prep every day. i'm taking questions, i have taken a lot of questions from you over there, the last number of years. he doesn't. >> harris: meanwhile, joe biden took a more aggressive approach by holding mock debate sessions, and ripping into the president over the weekend. >> he doesn't know how to debate the facts. he's not that smart. he doesn't know that many facts. he doesn't know much about foreign policy. he doesn't know much about domestic policy. >> harris: this is "outnumbered." i'm harris faulkner. here today, melissa francis. senior editor at "the federalist" and fox news contributor, mollie hemingway. executive director of serve america pac and fox news contributor, as well, marie harf. in the center virtual box, fox news chief political anchor bret baier. also ang

. >> neil: i am curious, chris christie was among those. preparing for the debate saying that it got heated. i am paraphrasing. how was the president reacting to some of the concerns raised by fellow republicans? >> i don't know in private, but a little while ago he said that the debate is getting great reviews. so publicly at least the president is exuding confidence in what he did last night, but as he pointed out, chris christie saying that while he thought the president needed to come out to be aggressive, it did get a little too hot last night. so we will see what the next debate brings. it's going to be a town hall format on october the 15th. it might be more conducive to a substantive discussion of the issues. but you get these two guys together in a room, neil, you just never know. spit on you know, it is more like a got to read, you follow these things, many here. but i clearly get the impression that these guys do not like each other. they can't stand it or do the politically correct thing and sort of cover it up and be genteel ab

we know for the president, rudy giuliani and chris christie have been prepping the president and alternatingplaying roles acting as joe biden. as for the former vice president, he has been relying on his former chief of staff, they are as ready as they can be. former president, vice president ofs who have been through this process. you prepare but you don't want to over prepare. the battle is on peer to welcome everybody can my neil cavuto and this is "your world." john roberts, first off, the president will be touring the facility a little bit later today. joe biden will be doing the sa same. what can you tell us? >> good afternoon to you. the battle is on an unknown number of different projects. kind of like a prize fight with each one of the candidates looking for a knockout blow and like any good prize fight, there is a sideshow going into this. both times playing a little bit of games. the trump campaign saying that the recent negotiations leading up to the debate, they had said that they wanted to have a third-party look into the ears of both candidates to look for ethan hunt-style tra

lengthy mock debates president trump is holding q & a sessions with former new jersey governor chris christie and personal lawyer rudy guiliani his campaign spreading a conspiracy theory the former vice president might use an ear piece and hinting the president may get personal by attacking biden's son, hunter biden. after months of lowering the bar for joe biden, by questioning his mental fitness -- >> biden doesn't have a clue you know he doesn't have a clue. >> reporter: the trump campaign now reversing course describing him as a skilled debater for his part vice president biden has huddled with a small team of advisers at home in delaware for more intense preparations this week that include issue by issue practice sessions his team taking the twitter handle @truth to push back on any misinformation from president trump. will joe biden be fact checking president trump in real time tonight? >> in a few cases where there are real whoppers joe will probably push back on that but joe's job here tonight is to help the american people understand how their lives will be better with a president jo

he's quizzed by reporters frequently but we also know he has been working with rudy giuliani and chris christie to do some debate prep he's been drilling down on policy but also doing some homework on twitter and moat were asked about their expectations for tonight >> the debate is coming up how are you preparing specifically >> i think i prepare every day when you're president you sort of see everything that they're going to be asking >> it is going to be difficult i know the -- i mean, my guess is it's going to be straight attack it's the only thing he's going to do. he's not that smart. >> so there are six separate topics that they will be asked questions about tonight. they include their records, the supreme court and the new nominee. coronavirus, the economy, race and how that plays out in urban cities and of course the integrity of this election that debate happening at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. a lot of people will be watching >> the topics are predictable but what happens after wards will not be. you can catch all of the action at 9:00 p.m. eastern and we'll have all the highlights and an

you see chris christie there sitting to the president's left and giuliani is just kind of out of view. and you can add to that list kellyanne conway. our reporting, though, is that the three of them, giuliani, christie and conway haven't really been holding debate mock sessions. they've been peppering president trump with questions and seeing how he's responded to it. but the president's attention really over the past few days has been focused elsewhere. you have the nomination of judge amy coney barrett. that took up a lot of the president's weekend. then the bombshell reporting from "the new york times" painting president trump as an inept businessman and a serial tax avoider, a tax cheat. on that point, the trump campaign says they welcome talk of taxes tonight because they expect the president to make the case that joe biden wants to raise taxes. of course, that's a misrepresentation of joe biden's tax plan. but what you can expect the president to do is try to paint joe biden as an empty vessel who is susceptible to the left wing of the democratic party and that joe biden if he's

we also do understand that chris christy will be back for round two to help, though not necessarily standingbody in those formal debate sessions because they're not going to be doing a 90-minute practice round at this point. >> one of the things i've heard from a couple of folks, monica, in the course of reporting the story is the president feels like being president is practice and prep enough for these debates. some have mentioned he interacts with the press, does the south lawn events -- i shouldn't say events. he spars with reporters a little bit at times when he does hold these appearances. that seems to be a part of his thinking as well. >> reporter: exactly. you have his agenda this time around which he didn't have four years ago. the campaign feels very strongly he has so many things he can point to and speak to as the incumbent and use that as an advantage. you'll certainly see him do that. you also have the president potentially being a little bit overconfident. he has said privately to those around him that he believed former vice president joe biden is prone to gaffs or he could

that's what you heard from chris christie, who was involved in the debate prep, say. the trump campaign historically has never been a campaign that acknowledges weakness. they're certainly not doing that tonight. based on what we're starting to hear from voters around the country, this was not appealing to them. i know you're going to talk about that in a little bit. that is something that should be, potentially, a real alarm bell for the trump campaign. on some of these other issues, for example, they're seizing on points that joe biden, they say, did not make. for example, pointing to biden's essentially nonanswer when it came to that question of packing the courts, for example, adding more supreme court justices. that came up early in the debate. they're also pushing back hard on the criticism that the president is getting for frankly not denouncing the crowd boys, saying stand back and stand by, asking to denounce that group. it is a defiant, sort of trump world response this morning. one adviser did acknowledge it's going to take some time, probably a day or so,

to me one of the people sitting there in that white house briefing room last night chris christie is probably very helpful to the president. christie i've known him for a number of years has the ability to get to the nub of the thing. he did that in his own debate performance in 2016 because he needed to take down marco rubio and he did in that debate. famous debate where the two went at it. my suspicion is his advice to the president has been pointed. backed by a lot of pre-thought and focused on what he thinks the essential items what the president needs to do in that debate. >> sandra: biden's debate prep is a fact checker when it begins tomorrow night. he has been pouring over past statements by the president. reviewing past debate performances of president trump. is that a winning strategy for joe biden? >> well, i worry about turn into yourself from a visionary. here is what i want to do for america to fact checking the other guy. remember, just recently he said 200 million americans had died of coronavirus. and he confused iran and iraq. i would not be -- i would not be the gu

. >> rahm emanuel and chris christie joining us now. chris, let me begin with you. you were part of the president's debate prep. how does he clean up this proud boys moment last night? will he do it? >> well, listen, i think, again, george, i heard it differently last night when he said, sure, i will, right off the top in response to it but if there's any doubt about that -- >> he said, stand up and stand by. he said, stand by. that was a call to arms. >> george, george, i didn't read it that way, but if you want to read it that way that's your prerogative. you asked me how to clean it up and that's the question i'm answering, and the way to do that is the next opportunity the president has to clarify that answer because folks like you and others are confused by it, then he should do that, and i think, you know, what happened last night ai id during our program last night was that the president came up much too hot in that regard, too aggressive in the debate, and that joe biden came out in a way that concerned me as well because there were numerous times during tha

and the people, yvette simpson, ceo of democracy for america, sarah fagen, rahm emmanuel and chris christie he has no regrets about his handling of the pandemic. the but our polling found 65% of voters disapprove. how can this be a winning message, and overall, did he win over any undecided voters tonight? >> first off, it's his message, and that's what he believes. he's been saying that right from the beginning, and he's continuing to put proof points out there to show the things that did go well. i think what the president did tonight was to calmly and directly answer questions from members of the audience and to spar pretty good with our colleague, george stephanopoulos back and forth. i think the president walked away feeling relatively good about how things went, and i think he should. >> from a performance aspect, what were the strongest moments and the weakest? >> the strongest, his general demeanor. the president remained calm without, and even when the audience members asked strong questions he responded to the citizens he represents. i think the overall tone was strongest point. s

right here in pennsylvania. [ applause ] >> reporter: trump bringing former new jersey governor chris christie for last-minute coaching. >> what do you have to win? >> just tell the truth. >> joe biden has to stay in control. he cannot respond to everything donald trump says. >> reporter: the former vice president heads in with a ten-point lead. biden gets a big boost from women in pennsylvania, our poll shows. a fight is under way across key battleground states, some voters saying biden needs to step up his campaigning. >> you need to see joe biden on the front lines of a protest. you need to see kamala harris on the front lines of a protest. >> reporter: in michigan one mayor says this race is just as tight in his city as it was in 2016. but says biden only needs to sways a handful of voters. >> he is different an hillary clinton was and he doesn't need to peel off a whole lot of voters here. >> reporter: one of the biggest questions, that tax bombshell released by "the new york times." >> it's inexcusable and just completely pate tently unfair. >> reporter: biden's running mate senator kama

governor chris christie thinks things got too hot. you had another top white house official saying the president shouldn't have been interrupting joe biden quite so much. i think that's an important point to note when you talk about how this debate went. you and i have done this after debate nights in america before. we've talked about punches and counterpunches. this wasn't punches and counterpunches. there was one candidate doing a lot more interrupting and aggression on the debate stage as an objective point of fact here. that is something that the trump campaign is trying to spin to their advantage today. i had one person tell me, well, the president was in control of the debate stage. here is the thing, craig, as you well know, it almost sometimes doesn't matter at this moment, the morning after the debate, how the campaigns are spinning it, specifically if you're the campaign going after the ref, blaming the moderator and doing what the president is doing today. what matters is what voters actually think. were they turned off by

chris christie was part of that team that met over the last couple days.was former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. and there was a divide in the trump camp as to exactly the tone a president should take. some wanted him to try to lean more on his accomplishments, point to the economy, try to be -- no one will ever suggest presidential -- but be a little more measured in his response. obviously, the president opted to take another path, and this is what he has been saying for days he wanted to do. this was his decision. he wanted to go a full on attack on joe biden. he wanted to hit him with everything about his son hunter, to his own record as 47 years in office, suggesting that he would be, you know, he was an out-of-touch, corrupt politician. this was, let's say again, this was the president's decision to go on the attack like he did last night. and what we saw was, without question, the most chaotic presidential debate in recent memory, the ugliest presidential debate in recent memory, one that, you know, i think left a lot of americans really frustr

. >> reporter: former new jersey governor chris christie who was on the president's debate prep team trying to defend that response this morning on "good morning america.." >> he said stand by. >> i didn't read it that way, george. the president has to clarify that answer because folks like you and others are confused by it. >> i would just point out the proud boys weren't confused by the president. they were cheering. >> reporter: trump also refusing to say if he would accept the results of the election and suggesting something ominous. >> this is going to be a fraud. this is not going to end well. >> reporter: biden with a final plea for his way for you because he cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of the election. >> president trump continuing mock chris wallace today. >>> one of the zingers from the first 2020 presidential debate just became a fashion statement. joe biden's team is selling a t-shirt, will you shut up, man. there was a lot of interrupting during the debate which is what eventually led mr. bide on the use that tort. >>> the fact-checkers were

. >> the president had a few prep sessions with mayor rudy giuliani and governor chris christie. president takes gruelling questions every day from the white house press corp. he is the most transparent president in history. >> melissa: negotiations over tonight's debate and future debates continue. the trump campaign is requesting to have third party inspectors to check both candidate's ears for electronic transmitters. this is "outnumbered." i am melissa francis and harris faulkner. and martha maccallum. also with us executive director of fox news contractor marie hart and joining us for the first time today the chief the staff for george w. bush who worked on the 2004 bush white house campaign. fox news contributor karl rove. we are so happy you are joining us, karl. you are in cleveland. i want to ask martha, since you are the reporter on the ground there. are you hearing this back and forth? we are just getting this news. the president wants everyone to look in the ears or someone unbiassed, a neutral source to look in the ears of both candidates to see if there is a device.

and he's also one person helping him with this debate preparation is former new jersey governor chris christieho helped him back in 2016 ahead of those debates with hillary clinton. biden is also getting some help from a debate, someone who helped prepare hillary clinton in those debates back in 2016. one of the top advisors worked with hillary clinton closely as she prepared to debate then president donald trump. both these candidates honing in this weekend with that first debate three days away in cleveland as they try to make their case to the country. >> highly-anticipated. thank you so much. >>> coming up next when will coronavirus vaccinations begin in the united states? dr. anthony fauci offers an optimistic answer next. i'm happy to give you the tour, i love doing it. hey jay. jay? he helped me set up my watch lists. karl! he took care of my 401k rollover. wow, you call a lot. yeah, well it's my money we're talking about here. help from a team that will exceed your expectations. ♪ aso the national eye instituteon did 20 years of clinical studies on a formula only found in preservision.

the president is studying possible lines of attack from joe biden, rudy giuliani and chris christie working with him standing in as budiden as they prepar. voters will get a look at the big contrast between the two of them as they face off for the presidency in a little over a month. >> all right. we will be watching. thank you, arlette, from cleveland. watch the debate live here on cnn tonight. david chalian is here with us now and you have a cheat sheet of what to watch or share your notes with us. >> my first note is this is a big test for donald trump. that is mission critical for him tonight is to try and up end the trajectory of this race. with all the sort of bombshell headlines that happen day in and day out the race has been remarkably stable, stable in joe biden's advantage. and that is what donald trump needs to up ends. that is a tall order for one debate. one way that he intends to try and do that is what he failed to do with the convention which is change this election from a referendum about donald trump into a choice between trump and biden. they try very hard at the republi

president did not do that and instead done the sporadic question and answer sessions with people like chris christie, rudy giuliani, and other campaign staffers and white house staffers. and that is really been the president's preferred method of getting ready saying that his daily preparations by being at work is enough to prepare him. of course, he is not a typical candidate, never has been, wasn't in 2016. but in 2016, i was speaking with someone that helped the president with debate prep back then, john, saying that he was resistant to doing it before the first debate and then after when that "access hollywood" tape came out he was in the middle of debate prep because he wanted to start it then. whether or not the way he prepares changes it remains to be seen but this will be the first time to see the two candidates on stage together and the president's team preparing him with the one liners, questions of son hunter and will come up they say here in cleveland tonight in a few hours, john. >> nine hours from now. they begin 90-minute debate. grateful for the live reporting. >>> behind the curtain

trump has called on his personal lawyer rudy giuliani and former new jersey governor chris christie tolay the former vice president in his debate preps. yesterday the president continued to allege without any evidence at all that bind is taking performance-enhancing drugs. >> i'm not joking. i mean i'm willing to take a drug test. i think he should, too, because he's had a very uneven -- i've watched him with some of the -- when he was debating pocahontas and harris who treated him so badly, but i watched him, and he was out of it, right? and then i watched him against bernie sanders, and he was okay. i mean he wasn't great, but he wasn't terrible. and i always joke, but, you know, it is true. he was no winston churchill in debating, but he was fine, and people say he was on performance-enhancing drugs. >> just when you thought things couldn't take another return. in response, biden's campaign said, quote, he plans to use words. if the president think s his bet case is made in urine, he can have at it. we'd expect nothing less from dew point, who pissed away the chance to protect the l

forward to it and our cameras just about an hour ago actually captured former new jersey governor chris christie entering the white house. we know that according to the president christie has been playing joe biden in the debate prep. the former counselor to the president, kellyanne conway, surprising because in an official capacity she left the white house earlier this month, jim. >> boris sanchez, thank you. >>> more breaking news now on the growing concerns of top health officials about president trump's coronavirus advisor dr. scott atlas. tonight dr. anthony fauci appears to agree with robert redfield's warning that atlas is sharing misleading information with the president. >> cdc director is concerned that dr. scott atlas is sharing misleading information with president trump. are you also concerned about that happening? >> well, yeah. i'm concerned that sometimes things are said that are really taken either out of context or are actually incorrect. you know, i am not one of the people that likes to criticize people. i certainly don't do that publicly. if i have an issue with someone, i'l

. >> hey, dana, the president says he is doing some debate prep, rudy giuliani and chris christie into briefing yesterday and said the two of them have been sharing the roll of joe biden in some mock debates but that's about the extent of the preparation from president trump and i will let him explain why. >> i think this whole thing is debate prep, what i do is debate prep, i'm taking questions from you people all the time, i've taken a lot of questions from you over the last number of years and he doesn't. >> the thing that's been consuming the most oxygen in the west wing right now is the confirmation of judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court, the white house is preparing an aggressive offensive strategy which will be led by the white house press secretary. one senior official told fox news we will need to be night fighters with the opposition throughout this confirmation process. and this opposition has been quite critical over judge barrett's religion and in the case of one "vanity fair" reporter critical of her ability to balance her work life and her family life. >> there

he had rudy giuliani and chris christie stand in during debate preparations. one big question is how the story about the president's tax returns will play into this debate. the biden campaign eager to make this a campaign between scranton and park avenue arguing that the president is only looking out for his own interests and not those of everyday americans. we got this story about the tax returns amplifies that case. now this debate will look a lot different than past debates. there will be no traditional hand shakes between the candidates as they take the stage. they will remain socially distanced. the audience is a much smaller size. everyone on hand will be tested for coronavirus as the debate commission has adapted to this debate in the middle of the pandemic but later tonight biden and trump will be on that stage one on one for the first time after lobbing all of those criticisms at each other. arlitt saenz, cleveland, ohio. >>> larry sabado joins me now. good to have you with us. >> thank you, rosemary. >> larry, hours away from the first of three presi

let's bring in chris christie and rahm emanuel from our political team. d chris, let me begin with you. you wrote that the president's debate prep which you were a part of in 2016 was a disaster. you've been part of it this time around. how has it gone? what does the president need to do? >> well, what the president needs to do tonight is essentially two things. the first is to lay out his vision for the next four years and what he wants to do for the american people if he's given a second term. and, secondly, he has to differentiate what his vision is from joe biden's vision based upon their campaign and based upon joe biden's record. and i think you'll see both of those things happen tonight. the president hasn't debated in four years, but i don't think he'll have any problem when he gets on the stage. >> rahm, you worked closely with joe biden when he was the chief of staff and you were in the white house. what's the biggest trap he faces? >> joe biden has to reassure the american people. that's a different mission than donald trump which has to change

yesterday he said chris christie, rudy giuliani, playing the role of biden in that way and advising himformal full-blown mock debates or anything like that from the trump campaign and remember, too, differing things from the trump cam papaign and trying to raise the bar heading into tomorrow night. on the other side, former vice president joe biden who has no public events today and has no virtual events today in full-blown debate preparation mode right now and having aides pepper him with questions and kind of rapid fire. they believe, the biden campaign, that trump will be unpredictable on the stage tomorrow. their key thing that they want to focus in on and biden to continue to come back to is what we heard him talk about time and time again which is the president's response to the covid-19 pandemic and that they believe that his lack of response and bungling of that response led us to a public health crisis and an economic crisis. anticipate hearing him coming back to that time and time again and quickly in terms of the debate itself i'm wearing a mask. everyone in here will be covi

tell you, jim, in just the past few moments, our cameras captured a former new jersey governor chris christie entering the white house. we know that he has been helping with the president in debate prep. a familiar but surprising face walking alongside him, former special counselor to the president kellyanne conway. >> cnn's boris sanchez, some important questions for the president tomorrow night especially on those tax returns. and dr. anthony fauci is the latest health expert to raise concerns about white house coronavirus task force member dr. scott atlas. listen to what dr. fauci told cnn's brian stelzer a short time ago. >> the bad guy is the virus. the bad guy is not the person on the other side of your opinion. there is so much misinformation during this very divisive time that we're in. and the public really needs to know the facts, some of the media that i deal with really kind of -- i wouldn't say distort things but certainly give opposing perspectives on what seems to be a pretty obvious fact. if you listen to fox news, with all due respect to the fact that they do have some good r

we did see rudy giuliani and chris christie in the briefing room, not an elaborate preparation on his part. the former vice president joe biden off the campaign trail as is custom for candidates to prepare for a debate uncertain anticipated moment, a key moment in this general election. former vice president started with briefing books, smaller meetings with policy aides. he then moved on to full out mock debates and full preparation over the weekend and over the last day, but, guys, the campaign, the biden campaign certainly preparing for the personal a, it a. they want to continue to true it back to the coronavirus pandemic response and the economy. we'll see how it all plays out tonight. >> we'll be watching. jess. thanks for the great reporting. >>> the president has denied the "new york times" reporting about his taxes and his debts and that's probably what he'll do on the debate stage tonight. >> easy way to disprove would be to release the taxes and audits do not prevent that. job harwood is at the white house. john, is the white house offering any proof to back up these denial

john harwood of cnn tweets out trump debate advisor chris christie was on abc after the debate and told abc about trump's performance. that was too hot. with all that heat, you lose the light. that potentially can be fixed. maybe or maybe not. kamala harris was on cnn. like biden during the debate, she wouldn't answer when asked about adding seats to the supreme court. "we will deal with that later," she told cnn. this from "the hill." celebrate online after trump debate. stand back, standby, comment. aslet's hear your voices well. cement in simpsonville, south carolina on our support vice president biden line. what did you think of tonight's debate? was a little aggravating to watch. i'm glad joe biden answered. the questions he was asked. still didn't get a lot of the answers i was looking for. but overall, it was a mess. it was a mess. >> what is a question you would have asked, samantha, or you wanted an answer to? well, the question donald trump didn't answer that i wanted answered was about the greenhouse -- climate change. he didn't really go in depth about climate change like i

chris christie, a republican governor, welcomed obama right before an election. remember that? don't remember many liberals complaining about that one. but here's the thing. greg is right about that is too, the media elitists contributing to the problem. i saw a guy in "the washington post" tweeting, washington, d.c., is just peachy, showing a picture of one of the cherry blossoms outside and bloom. it's more indicative of how the media is a double standard here. if you want to do my stomach went to a party rally in 20 11, 2012 and there was a math book thrown a garbage can it was like a riot, stay away, frencher, white supremacist , it's going to be a massacre. >> dana: that was almost a direct quote too. >> dan: yes, i put air quotes around about these rallies, what happened most in the days of peaceful protest, but at night, it's overwhelmingly violent mob. i just walked by one after the trump acceptance speech. a threat to -- calling her the b word, we will meet you at the hotel in the morning. these are peaceful protests into any liberals out there who were going to say no

he came into the briefing room on sunday night and made a gesture to rudy giuliani and chris christie, two of his alli allies, and he's been rehearsing with them. but we think he's only done two hours of debate preparation. we expect him to throw haymakers at joe biden about his son and his aide jason miller made an allusion to that. we remember that trump brought women who accused clinton of sexual assault to the last debate. he talked about losing a lot of money, under financial pressure. on his claims that he has handled the covid crisis successfully, dr. fauci said he's listening to the outlier, scott atlas, as opposed to the others on the consensus and the of course way he could lose is in a rigged election. we have two polls from high-quality polling outfits showing that the president is trailing by nine percentage points in pennsylvania that could be the tipping point state. that is not suggestive of anything that would require a rigged election for joe biden to win. so we'll see how the president handles himself on defense given those facts. >> yeah, john harwood for us live a