Try handsfree sketcher slipups, provide got news for you. Premiere saturday at nine on cnn in the mustwin battleground of pennsylvania kamala harris and donald trump are about to face off in their first and perhaps only debate she's not going to debate cheaters. I want to debate. If you got something to say tonight in philadelphia and unprecedented showed up in one of the most unpredictable presidential races in american history the former president testing out his attack lines it's not a good debater. She's not a smart person as the vice president prepares to prosecute her case donald trump's type issues candidates takes center stage less than two months before election day. It's debate night in america and cnn's live coverage begins right now he is a momentous night for america and the night is going to happen in philadelphia, the birthplace of america, the backdrop for historymaking presidential debate tonight, we are standing by to see donald trump and kamala harris onstage together, two candidates who have actually never met facetoface before. Soon, they will be together. Just the him no audience. The very first time and welcome to all watching tonight. I'm erin burnett on this special edition of outfront and i'm jake tapper in philadelphia and were overlooking historic independence hall were just steps away from the national constitution center where the harris trump debate will begin in less than two hours. You can see it live here on cnn. This will be the very first time a sitting vice president and a former president go headtohead. Head in a presidential debate another extraordinary aspect of tonight's faceoff with comes only about two months since the biden trump debate on cnn tran it's formed the raised our political team is out in force to set the stage for the 90 minute debate and to break down the strategies and the stakes for both the trump and harris camp pains first, let's go to cnn's priscilla alvarez, also here in philly covering the harris campaign and priscilla, you have some new information on how vice president harris is preparing to take on former president trump that's right. Jake sources are telling me tonight that harris aides have been talking about how if at all, the vice president should be calling out former president donald trump's falsehoods. They are keenly aware that sometimes when president biden did then in the last present central debate, it didn't land. And so they have been aware and oftentimes my conversations with them. They say they know that trump can be a wild card and they anticipate that there will be falsehoods that he spews tonight. So these debate preparations has been focused on how the vice president navigates those moments that she not get roped into those falsehoods especially because those microphones are expected to be turned off when each candidate is speaking instead, sources have wanted have told me that they want her to stay focused on the message and speak directly to the american people. And so oftentimes, tonight, what we expect and what the vice president has been preparing for is coming back to what they call paul her foundational message that she is focused on solutions. Jake all right. Priscilla alvarez with the harris campaign's cnn's kristen holmes is also here in philadelphia covering the trial i'm campaign. And kristen, former president trump, arrived in philly short while ago. What are you hearing about his strategy and expectations this evening that's. Our. Jake we, actually just saw donald trump exit his plane in philadelphia on the ground. We do expect him to come straight over to the debate hall to do his walk through all the debates stage almost any moment after he arrives where his team has been preparing diligently for over a week today, they spent the day measuring the podium is measuring this steps out there because remember to donald trump, the optics are just as important as the policy and as they head over to that debate hall, his advisers and allies are expressing confidence. They told me they believe that kamala harris needs a slam dunk night. Were all donald trump needs to do is stick to the issues, but of course, it's always a question with donald trump whether or not he can stick to the issues they have spent the last several weeks trying to prepare for this debate. Of course, they don't call it preparation, but they say that essentially everything donald trump does is a version of preparation that means answering questions. So the new york economic club, particularly questions on the economy when you talk about the issues they want donald trump to be sticking to the economy is number one, followed by immigration and crime. They believe that these are the issues that will help him win in november. But of course, the big question is whether or not donald trump, let's kamala harris get under his skin. There has been a lot of concern that he's going to have some kind of verbal reaction to form of personal attacks he has been warned against that they have holden if he does anything to focus on facial expressions, not actually lashing out at her, but of course it's donald trump and we'll see which version of him arrives on the stage later tonight. All right. Kristen holmes covering the trump campaign. Aaron. All right. Jake. So here we are i don't know. Does everyone have sort of i don't know whether it's butterflies or a fear in your stomach, but as we saw last time was the entire world changed, right? the whole world changed in an hour on that to actually, maybe in the first 12 minutes so it. Can be lost in a debate and here we are john, it's now tied on this and stakes couldn't be higher. It is as close as it can get. It is as close as 2016. It is his closest 2020. Some people go deep into the weeds and say it's even closer than that. If that's possible. But that's where we are. We are in a race that has got to be settled by six or seven states probably by unless something breaks and there's a possibility things can break. They both have opportunities. They both have challenges. But as we stand now, this looks like another race that will be settled by somewhere in the ballpark of 100, 250,000 votes divided between three or four states. And those states or pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, georgia, arizona, maybe north carolina, and nevada raskin's second congressional district could come into this as well. You can give it but that's the world we live in now with these hypotheticals, because it's so close, you have to explore and look under every rock and explore every hypothetical. I would say the vice president has a huge opportunity tonight in that she is the one person on this stage. The american people still don't know a lot about, still say they have questions about and so donald trump is a known entity you could argue, given the electoral college advantage for the republicans, that if he has a good debate, he might come out of this, not in control of the race, but ahead in the race. But she has a huge opportunity. There are a lot of people out there saying, i need to know more. I'm not comfortable with you as president and i'm worried about you on the economy, like, i mean, it she's got a fan and tasa opportunity i mean, she's exactly where she needs to be a lot of people don't know her as well as we do and she's got a chance as a job interview for her. This is not about donald trump this is not about insult, is not about nonsense because they job in view for her to look at the kamala curious people out there, there must a communist kamala curious books and tell them what she's going to do. And i'm excited because i think when people hear from her, a lot of people are going to say this, this is this somebody who could be the commander in chief right now or what you're saying is absolutely true. I think this is her job interview, her night to further introduce herself to the american people. Think and she's done a splendid job in the first five or six weeks, but she has been hitting off a team mostly at speeches and rallies off of a prompter and now, you know, just to use sports metaphors, i know he's a baseball fan she's going to get some high hard fastballs and some curveballs. And she's going to have a guy next to her who is basically an asymmetric trick bataler, who doesn't care about rules and will say or do anything. And so keeping on that message and not letting him dominate the debate is going to be a challenge. So what i heard priscilla alvarez and you guys talk about you know, she's doing a great job. She could return to her foundational message. I'm not sure americans know what that is, because we heard common well, here speak during 2019 and 2020 were hurt or speaker own words. We saw your interview with kaitlan that because it's can't the k file about her fill out the forms of aclu we know her positions, what they were before. I'm not sure america is nowhere to positions are today and i think unless and i think if she is in the biggest interview job interview of her life yep. To that americans deserve to hear what those positions are they doing do you still believe do you still believe in reparations? do you do you believe in gun confiscation? let me ask doesn't it apply both ways to spin this campaign? donald trump said, i want to abolish the affordable care act again that be helpful, that this is why this is such a unique opportunity for the vice president we even if we get the best behaved donald trump, we still know what that donald trump looks like, right? if kamala harris shows up and the person that we know, ben myself know that she can be right now. People are curious and curiosity is a great place to be as a candidate because that means voters are actually listening. So tonight, if she actually gives a clear message, they may alive, they are going to look to the back, to the past like donald trump is going to try and do when you relitigate different things. They're going to say, what are you, what is your position today and how are we going to move those? positions? we know those are our ticket letter to issue. Questions think about with biden. Biden did not do the work of pushing trump on those things. And in the end, biden was defined by it. I don't think trump is going to have the same person standing across from them as he? yes. But what you're saying, what about this? what about that? well, that's donald trump's point to make tonight. And they're both incumbent adjacent, right? he has record. Everyone knows who knows, but she also is in the administration. So people are like, are you really bad different there to people trying to convince the country they're agents of change. And it's not clear that that's what we're looking at. The key number is in this new york times sienna poll 28 percent of voters say they want to know more about what kamala harris has for so it's about her as a person, but also her policies. So i would argue she has the most to lose tonight, but also the most again, you know what you're getting with donald trump. There are a lot of folks out there were like, i don't like the character of donald trump, but i'm kind of okay with the policies she's going to need to show up and articulate that she understands people's hardships and she has a vision that is distinct from joe biden's on how to fix those. I think i think we're all i'm going to have a collective case of asphyxiation tonight. I mean, republicans are holding their breath to see how i mean we're waiting to see if he's going to if he's going to ask her if she's got a favorite cat recipe. And democrats are holding their breath to see if she can string two or three coherent sentences together. I mean, trump never wednesday's things six debates, the test sites six debates, five times the snap polls said he didn't win. One time, he did win and his opponent had to leave the race. I think all the pressure is on harris it's a change election. The polling is clear. Trump is seen as the change agent in this election. And she's not and she's going to have a very difficult time arguing that keeping the same people in charge would lead to any change. So to me, the pressure is on her to find a way to thread that very small, you know, hold on. Unchanged. I don't know how people define change because now, jason, i don't know about the loophole that we had today is 52% of adults think she represents change 47%. Him. I mean, i don't know, but in other words, it's not what you just said. If you believe that polio, but how you ask the question just reading the new york times in 2020 to everybody said they didn't like the direction the country was going and people interpreted that, meaning they didn't like the country under democratic rule. And so they assume there would be a red wave and it never manifested because the question was not phrased in a way to actually get to the nuance of how people were experiencing i think that's right. And also, she's got to get a chance to talk about the change that he represents is terrible. Even on the, even on the economic stuff. It's all pro inflation stuff, tariffs. He wants terrorists, which means america has got to pay more. He wants to roll back all advances on prescription drugs. So you got to pay more for drugs. He wants to deport all the good workers get everything he is pro inflation. So she's got a chance to show he has changed, is terrible all right. Well why they're i get it i are sitting the stage for inflation zorn for the inflation will be here all night i will not all. Right think there's a lot to unpack as we get closer to the debate up next, will the candidates play by the rules? so we're gonna look at the controversy surrounding the terms that they've agreed to reaction, to the birth oneonone. I was overwhelming the idea that this fictional character played any role in politics is bananas tv on the edge, moments that shaped our culture premiers september 22 at nine on cnn only from simply safe 24/7 lifeguard protection. This exclusive technology allows simply safe agents to help stop crime in real time. Stop police are on their way for instant intruder deterrence and faster police response. There's no safe like simply safe. He told us who he was should abortion be punished but there has to be some form of punishment. Then he showed us for 54 years, they were trying to get roe v. Wade terminated, and i did it and i'm proud to have done it now, donald trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who donald trump is. He'll take control we'll pay the price. I'm kamala harris and i approve this message. It's pods biggest sale of the summer, save up to 25% on moving and storage for a limited time in the white pods has been trusted with over 6 million moves but don't wait, use promo code big 25 to save visit hot. Com today reference alma our right to reproductive health care is being stolen from us. I can't believe this is the world we live here, where we're losing the freedom to control our own bodies. We need your support now more than ever, go online, call or scan this code with your $19 monthly gift? we will send you this care no matter what tshirt it is, you're right to have safe health care. That's it. Go online, call or scan. 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Jeff, walk us through the rules that harris and trump have to have agreed to abide by we'll take these rules have been heavily litigated by both campaigns really, for weeks, but they are going to be like this. This debate is 90 minutes long and there is no audience at the debate that is something that both candidates agreed to. There are no props, there are no briefing papers, and there are no opening statements from either side. There are closing statements, however because of a flip of the coin earlier this week, donald trump will get the final word here. But because of that, vice president harris is choosing her side of the stage. She'll be standing on the right hand aside of the stage, but we are also getting a first look at some of the video from inside what this debate hall is going to look like. These podiums as you can see right here. They are six feet apart, very, very close. So for the first ever facetoface encounter, they are going to be very close. We are also getting a look at the clock these twominute clocks are an indication of how long each candidate can answer and then give a rebuttal. So not much time there to get through so many issues, of course, then also the microphones, perhaps these microphones we the most important thing of all the candidates. Finally agreed to the muting of the microphone when the rival is speaking. So theoretically, the only microphone and that will be on when the candidate is speaking. But jake, as you said, we are here in the spin room and take a look at this. This is going to be really one of the biggest moments of the campaign. Senator j. D. Vance is going to be in here for this debate. Governor gavin newsom of california also will be in here spinning both sides of this case. Of course, what happens on the stage stays on the stage, but then it comes here in the u. S spin room. You can see that the media, of course, has gathered from around the world. This india is a global audience here but jake, perhaps the most important audience of all, is right here in pennsylvania. This is still the biggest swing state of all. And the voters here are certainly we watch it. Jake fascinating stuff. Thanks so much. Jeff zeleny. Let's talk about this in my panel. But before i do that, can we get the can we see that twominute clock again? is there any way we could we could call that up i just want to look because i for one second for the twominute clade for that, look at that now, let me ask you, dana and kaitlan, would is that fair to call that brat green with that? that's 100% charli xcx's brat green yes, it is. It looks it i don't know if they've been long way. I am so proud are bank grown up. I appreciate i appreciate it so they have been really litigating this idea of microphones being muted for several weeks. It is, those are the rules that trump and biden had agreed to and harris was trying to get them to change it they did not change it. The mics are going to be muted if it's not your turn to speak. Does does that help one side or the other? obviously, harris didn't want the muted well, i believe that both the trump camp pain and the harris campaign say flatly that they think it helps donald trump. And they're saying that because of the lesson from our debate on june 27. And of course, at the time, this was a new rule and it was done at the initially at the request of the biden campaign because they didn't want donald trump to be interrupting a joe biden all the time. And it turned out that after that debate was over, it was pretty clear that those muted mics gave down trump guardrails and he couldn't interrupt and he knew that he couldn't interrupt, which is why the harris campaign and campaign really hard to change that they didn't want the muted mics because they wanted him to be kind of unfiltered and they wanted him to have the ability to do whatever he was going to do or say whatever he was going to say while kamala harris was speaking, so they could have some interaction and it's going to be very hard for that to happen. Speaking of wishing that we had a desire to mute things just so you know, right behind does the public that people have assembled there are celebrating their bill of rights, given ability to be loud and voice their free freespeech and the city of brotherly love. And we're getting what we pay for free speech. Kaitlan, do you think? this definitely helps donald trump, the idea that he will not be interrupting the way he did in that first debate that chris moderated about four years ago. Maybe chris, this scarves and that trump is certainly still scarred by that and how his performance was. He thought he did well in that debate and then he came off stage and saw the faces of his advisors who were like, it did not go well. So he's very wary of being too aggressive and how he was towards joe biden in that debate. I will say within two minutes. The other reason that trump campaign is hoping it will help him is that as they've been rehearsing, he knows what that what that kind of clock is like he did it with youall's debate where he has the time to answer the question, but also pushed back on harris and kind of pivot to what his argument is there are against her or what he would do it and what i've heard though from his advisers have been talking to him in recent days as they've said, don't underestimate vice president harris because in his it's brain and the way he talks about her, he often insults her intelligence and says he doesn't think she's very competent. Hill contrast, say hillary clinton, while he did not like her was a brilliant bader. He thought, but his allies have they been watching her senate hearings? they've watched her past debate performances in the democratic primaries, and they've warned him that she can be a tough question. Shunnar and so that is what they're looking for. They're hoping that the two minutes will be like it was for biden where he often did not use all of the time and kind of trailed off. And as both of you reminded him, often at. 30 more seconds or 45 more seconds. That's of course something the harris campaign is acutely aware, but jake, i would argue that the muted mics really prevent this from being a true debate. The. 2020 debate that i did obviously, trump day now admit was kind of out of his mind and interrupted 145 times in 90 minutes? not that i'm counting but the fact is even in that debate, there were some great exchanges wouldn't trump kept interrupting and bidens will you shut up, man, at one point, i said, would you tell your right when supporters, white supremacist supporters, would you disavowed them? and he said like who and biden said like the proud boys. And trump said, proud boys stand back and stand by the problem now with these muted mics, is it really isn't a debate where those interaction there, almost like simultaneous news conference as you get two minutes to answer, you get two minutes to answer, but you don't get the interaction which has been some of the most memorable moments in the debates since nixon and kennedy back in 19. I think that that's exactly right. I mean, ultimately lee, that's also part of what the harris campaign is looking at to they want the ability for her to kind create a moment potentially with trump one of the things coming out of your debate that you and dana moderating was that the complaints almost instantaneously that i was hearing from biden advisors about all the waterfall of falsehoods coming from trump and biden's unwillingness, inability to do both to his. It actually skill level in that debate and also the rules he couldn't even begin to stop it to stop them. And i think muted microphones make that job a little bit harder and also raise the bar for what happens when it is her term because then she's got to spend the first 30 seconds, 45 seconds rebutting. And that really eats up a lot of that time. So in other words, it's not just that she doesn't want donald trump restrained by the microphone rules. She wants he ability to interrupt herself. Kamala harris to say that's not true. That's a lie as opposed to wait a minute. That's what chris is saying is that that is sometimes how these moments our made is when you simply just point out that's not true and you don't have to say a whole lot in order for that to suddenly change the dynamic but they themselves are not. So we may not be able to hear. But if one and then those interjecting, it can also be distracting or potentially could work to get under his skin if she is really hard to do because they're going to be split screens and, you know, even if you can't hear, for instance, trump if you see that he's talking while it's heard two minutes and she's talking and there is going to be a pool of independent reporters in the room. That'll get reported. I suspect that trump and his people want to play by the rules and to keep quiet because they know that places, but their advantage. It gives him discipline that he might not have themselves two different things, trump and his people. Yes, it's people want him to play that. He's going in to play by their you know, better than anybody goes near debate. He did do much. He also took his foot off the gas when he saw what was happening. I will say that the most famous rebuttal or at least one of the most famous rebuttals in history was ronald reagan responding to walter mondale in 84 and he waited for, like it was weighted turn, he interrupt to say, there you go again, right though times are different, times are different, but i'm just saying, if you have a good zinger, you have a good zinger or whether you've waited can it or not, that perhaps that's more kamala harris has stopped i'll anyway but we'll see we'll see there's much more ahead as we close in on tonight's debate and lay out the stakes for vice president harris and former president trump. Straight ahead, republican senator and transport florida marco rubio is going to join us live debate night in america continues the pros for have i got news for you are pretty yeah. What are the kinds we could run on the news? more than would never happen if i got news for you, ramir saturday at nine on cnn and streaming next day on max camp kept can i get a response to the trade rumors straight it's raise means move him we talking about moving moving mean contractors, inspectors, strangers, judge, in my carpet. Well, we talking about staging. We talking about a foe ficus oh, full ficus. Nobody's going to be a full ficus in a my house. You could use open opendoor sell your house directly to them i guess we're moving. Can you go asked me about next? rack this kamala harris was given one important job as vice president monitor and control our southern border. How did she do to to take the dobbs seriously? did she do all she could to protect american citizens from an invasion did she do anything at all you haven't been before? and i? haven't been to europe and i thought i don't understand the point that you're making. Here's her grim scorecard. Murders rapes, attacks on children? a 12yearold girl in texas, a mother of five in maryland, a nursing student in georgia. All savagely murdered by those biden and harris led into our country unlawfully. We have a secure border. Kamala harris was and is a complete failure at her job. Now, she's asking us for a promotion. Who in their right mind would give it to her restoration. Pac is responsible for the content content of this advertising thursday night football, long prime this it's buffalo my end as thursday nights booked is back the east division rivals battle it out in a highpowered offense or so doubt. Both one of this josh allen and the bills versus two bring thursday night football only all fraught i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms to find emerge. As you withdrawn via most people saw 90% clearer skin eye for months and the majority stayed clearer at five years. Serious allergic reactions may occur, can fire, may increase your risk of infections and know your ability to fight that tell you dr. If you have an infection symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to emerge as you emerged, trim fired, dea and see how much you can save five good things. Listen wherever you get your podcasts here in philadelphia. Donald trump's walkthrough of the debate stage is currently underway. We're counting come down to his historic faceoff with vice president kamala harris. There could potentially tilt the balance of what has been in recent weeks, a razor close presidential race. And you're going to see it all play out live on cnn joining us now here in philadelphia is republican senator marco rubio of florida supporter of president trump. Senator rubio, you've been on the debate stage with donald trump, you know, firsthand how things can turn personal and nasty. What's your advice to president trump tonight? should he stay on policy? focus on policy or as he says, do it my way. On the debate stage why i think doing it his way, but his way is going to be different in every debate. It depends on the direction that debate goes oh, he's i think because poppy natural to him in instinctive, but also because of years of being on television and being in front of the camera i think he's got a real good feel for how the audience is viewing an event how the audience is viewing the presentation. I think that was a big advantage to him in 2016 as well. And so that's why i think he should trust that. And obviously they're going to be specific for policy questions and things of that nature. And i know he's put in the time, but i think one of things that really helps them as he does a lot of interviews, he answers a lot of questions. Kamala harris doesn't. I don't believe she's had a single solo interview since she became the nominee. And she won't have no cards and she won't have a teleprompter tonight. So i think a lot of people are going to be tuning in to watch that particularly those of us who have been followers of this process and of her career having served with her in the senate and having watched her as vice president, is whether she's going to be able to actually speak authentically without the benefit of notes and talking points source tells cnn that former president trump is being advised to not respond if kamala harris gets under his skin do you think he'll be able to do that? it can be tough, of course in that in the past. So there's been some pretty brutal things said about donald trump in debates and interviews. And he responds differently depending on the circumstances now setting, i'm not i'm not worried about the performative part of this because he's i think naturally gifted communicator in that regard. I think the important thing we're going to the other important issue she's facing this country in our economy continues with stubborn inflation. People are just can't afford the cost of living, which in some key sectors keeps going up. I think the mortgage rates are the highest it's the been in a quartercentury our border is, and we're seeing the impact of uncontrolled immigration into our country. And obviously there's a lot going on around the world that's very dangerous and troubling so these are real issues beyond all the performative in the theater aspect of a debate. And there's some aspect of it. But those are the things that people are going to hear about kamala harris is basically been reluctant to even discuss policy issues. I think she just put up something on a website two days ago, which largely was cut and paste out of the biden campaign's website. And has changed their position. I mean, dramatically and radically change their position from what she stood for in 2019 and 2020, just four short years ago when she was running for president herself, the first time. So i think that's going to be a real good point of contention on a comparison on the important issues facing our country. And that's a debate. Are americans deserve this is an important election they all are, but this was really important suburban women and women in general are going to be key voters. Both candidates are trying to target this evening, donald trump has been out there trying to it seems in some, in some instances, moderate his message on abortion, talking about how he does not support a national ban. He recently gave mixed signals on the sixweek abortion ban in your home state of florida. And he got some blowback from antiabortion conservatives what do you think he should be doing when it comes to the issue of abortion? should he be just proudly saying that because the justices he appointed roe v. Wade was overturned should it be trying to sound more moderate on the issue while this because obviously a contentious issue, gulf, a very personal issue to people. I have very strong views about it. They may not totally aligned with somebody else's views on it. He's the most prolife candidate in this race. Now i think his position as he described it, as he does don't want to federalize abortion law. He wants it to be decided at the state level through elected legislators. Voters get to decide it through them. The ones that want to federalize abortion practices in this country is kamala harris, who basically wants to pass a federal bill that in essence, though they'll never admit this, will allow abortion almost for any reason at any the time paid for by taxpayers. So i do think there's a point of contrast, there. He wants to leave it to voters at the states through their legislators to decide what the law should be in their state. And she wants to federalize it. But i think on his views and so forth, i don't think it's about moderating. I think he's describing an aspect of what federal government's role should and should not be on an issue like this. And saying, i trust the people of the states through their elected representatives to decide how they want this to be regulated at the state level vice presidential nominee, j. D. Vance said yesterday that if he were the vice president in 2020, he would've asked the state's to submit alternate slates of electors you voted to certify the 20 20 election. If the issue of the 2020 election comes up during the debate this evening, and i suspect it will how should president trump handle it? well i. Think it's very clear that in a number of states who had never done mailin balloting, who had never know anything else, used covid to basically take off all kinds restrictions and not even apply their own laws. And we know this after the fact in states like wisconsin and others. Now some states ran great alat look, i'm very proud of the way florida runs elections. We haven't always had great elections in florida, but in recent years, you've seen how the reforms we've made and how applying our laws have led to that. About half of what's most important about these elections, obviously, the vote count is important that it be accurate, but also public confidence. And when people are citing instances of where laws are not being followed are certain things are being allowed that maybe should not have allowed because it violates your own laws. Or you have state entering into consent decrees to ignore their own laws without legislative input. It's going to create all kinds of questions. And i think in a number of states this happened it happened in this date. It happened in wisconsin. It happened in arizona and even somewhat in georgia. So i think he should be pretty clear, but when he talks about the interference in i think are the main points that he points to about 20:20 is very damaging information about joe biden and his son was censured from kept from the american public for something that we know to be true, people flatout would not cover or misrepresented what the laptop met. That was information americans should have asked us to before voting, and they didn't and he views that as clear interference by a handful of people, including 50 something former intelligence officers are officials who signed the letter saying something that turned out not to be true but somehow that that laptop was fake and it was actually a product of russian disinformation. So i think he should point to those things. Those are valid things to talk about that happened in 2020 some of those things under the cover, an excuse of covid using covid as an excuse to allow anyone to vote anyway, they wanted well, obviously, for the record i mean, it wasn't the case that anyone who wanted to vote could vote anywhere in the attorney general, bill barr said that there wasn't enough widespread fraud to have changed the course of the election. Senator marco rubio, we appreciate your time thank you so much. Still ahead tonight about fraud. This about yeah go ahead now and say this is not just about fraud, this about the way elections are conducted. And having dropped in boxes in places like wisconsin it's votes that were counted that should not have been done because they were not done according to the law. These are the kinds of things you talk about that doesn't mean fraud, that means they didn't follow the law. That undermines public door in a close thgs and underm confidence in the elections that's why it's so important than elections being done in a way in which the laws are followed. Transcript apparently and clearly still ahead. Thank you so much, senator marco rubio really appreciate it still ahead. How donald trump and kamala harris differ in debate style wasn't experience, it's all leading up to their onstage showdown which is less than 90 minutes away. Our live coverage from philadelphia continues after this break debate night in america. He's brought to you by simply save home security there is no safe like simply safe only from simply safe 24/7 lifeguard protection. This exclusive technology allows simply safe agents to help stop crime in real time, stop police are on their way for instant intruder deterrence and faster police there's no safe like simply safe are wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for sling. Let's do that i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for it. Let me pause lots of scripts can went i was flying, what do you do that wish on tv provider, let me choose what i pay for and let me pause muscle function went i want to have hundreds of free channel letting live to do that choosing customize your channel lineup will watch refried, sling. Let you do that i'm not on enough to vote yet, but i learned how one out of six of us will someday be raped so please think about me when you vote. I learned how our freedom to have an abortion was taken away even in cases of rape or incest even to travel to get an abortion please think about me. You know, who got rid of roe v. Wade now women are being refused lifesaving care at hospitals and politicians are trying to ban birth control. Please think about me my parents called me. They're miracle daughter because i was born with ivf but ivf could be ban to do they think we're less than human. Do they think we can't make decisions about our own bodies, about our own lives when you vote, please think about me and me. And me. Because the politician who got rid of roe v wade, he couldn't care less why do some things have to be so complicated you don't know either stanley but at least when it comes to dental care it aspen dental makes getting new dentures and implants easier with the technology and expertise to give you the right fit. $0 down plus 0% interest if paid in full in 18 months making things as simple as they should be. It's one more way has been dental is in your corner if you're shopping for a home realtor realtor. Com, a real commute tool lets you find homes close to work school, even grandma's house don't all apps do that? not really tru the moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate. Soulmates. Soulmate! [giggles] why do you need me? [laughs sarcastically] but then we switched to tmobile 5g home internet. And now his attention is spent elsewhere. But i'm thinking of her the whole time. That's so much worse. Why is that thing in bed with you? this is where it gets the best signal from the cell tower! i've tried everywhere else in the house! there's always a new excuse. Well if we got xfinity you wouldn't have to mess around with the connection. Therapy's tough, huh? mmm. It's like a lot about me. [laughs] a home router should never be a home wrecker. Oo this is a good book title. And see how much you can save people are watching and then our world changed. Tv on the edge premieres sunday, september 22, did nine on cnn philadelphia the center of the political universe right now in america, as the city hosts for the first debate between donald trump and kamala harris both getting ready to make there the case to voters especially voters in the battleground states that matter so much like pennsylvania, where of course they are tonight. So let's go to cnn's priscilla alvarez covering the harris campaign. So priscilla, you've been talking to your sources in the campaign. How has the vice president spent these final hours before for the first time, she is facetoface with donald trump. Well, erin, one source telling me that she has been reviewing issues and themes that she might want to hit it on the debate stage. Tonight. But all so we're doing possible debate scenarios and so far, allies and aides are feeling pretty good saying that she is very prepared to go toe to toe so against former president donald trump. Now of course, president joe biden also weighed in on this earlier today, telling reporters that he also spoke with the vice president and that in that conversation and she appeared quote, calm, cool, and collected. Of course, the vice president has been hunkered down on in debate camp in pittsburgh over the last several days. Now, heading here are already here in philadelphia where she again has been reviewing those lastminute issues. Aaron all right. Priscilla, thank you very much and obviously, you know, it's interesting. Priscilla audie talking about how the vice president been preparing, and she's been in pennsylvania of course trump, we saw just got off the plane, whatever 63645 local. So a couple hours before lands goes in totally different ways of preparing in these final moments. Well, i think more broadly also there's way more game tape of trump's, so to speak. I mean, he's done upwards of seven debates. He doesn't have as much to look at to see how was she performs and what that will mean. The only other thing i'd bring up is that, you know, we've we don't have a very small sample size, but we know we do judge women on their tone, tenor, whether they interrupt and ironically, this will be erased where this will be a debate where people will ask that about trump. How does he behaved? how does he interrupt? because that is actually a sore point for him? think clearly with women a couple of things. One is what it seems to me given what we said earlier about what her what her requirements are here, that she needs to stick and go back to the cameras sticking so use him and push off of him and then go back and not get into long it's been but just on the there's a stark difference between he's a serve improvisational player. She is, she, she's a classical music, right? she's going to go over that. She's got cheap music and she's knows what the place he's going to run. And the question is, can does it work out here? three with you? he's he's a free wheeler. He's reacting in the moment. There's not a lot of can stuff that i think he's trying to deliver when i think about her style over the last several debates, going all the way back to the democratic primary before it, a lot of it is contrived. Remember, she had the contrived moment against biden where she wanted to imply that implies me that he would was a racist. And the tshirts were for sale the second athlete exactly. Then we go to my client, then we go to the mat, maybe more than that. Then we go to the mike pence debate. I'm speaking i'm speak even though he wasn't speaking you know, she she had that contrived moment. I think iowa and so i feel like they are likely to bring some contrived item in here too. Tonight the question is, does it land? i always find these things to be totally artificial, superficial and we'll see if it works tonight, but i bet you she does. What would you call it contrived? we call being prepared like whats that you deliver it doesn't look like it's contrived, will look natural well, i look i think the big opportunity for her people think about her as a prosecutor and they think, oh, she's going to get there and kind prosecute the case it's not the same when you're in a courtroom or years, senator, you're able to just like nail somebody down, does a different thing. You can be all attack the debate you've gotta be attack, defend, and counter attack. She's been good that sometimes and not good at sometimes. So tonight you're going to get a chance to see did this preparation prepare her to do the set pieces, but also to be able to respond i want to see senate judiciary kamala harris yeah, i wanted to see her be able to understand what i don't know when she bill barr question bill barr really hard cabinet at about cabinet. Jeff sessions, you know those are because because it is somewhat scripted, which look, let's just be honest, if your candidate is going up unscripted, which is a big risk for your guy tonight. If he goes off script, we don't know. That's why they live and there is no lead if she if she is able to stick to her script, but also get some zingers in there. That's the commonlaw that people so alyssa, can we talk about what we've all been talking about sort of when we weren't on camera, which is about patch the said, we don't know if they're going to brighten up the lighting here, not right. But i mean, you've got podium comes of different heights and so when they are interacting with each other, even if they're only showing a splitscreen there is the reality of how it feels when you know it's like you're in we were saying sort of an amusement park where your tables lot lower than someone else's table. This affects them again, what strikes me is also how close the podiums ours. There's extensive negotiations around these ahead of debates they've of course, never been in a room like this together other than the state of the union with hundreds of other people. And there's nothing really organic about standing at a podium with two moderators in your archnemesis next to you. And you have to do it and try to have charisma, try to speak directly to the audience at home watching. But i'm fascinated on how trump is going to match tonight just really quickly. This is somebody who has been less sun, less discipline this campaign. It's not the candidate of 2016, it's not even the candidate of 2020. The biden debate. Biden was so bad, we forget how bad donald trump has about 15 minute window of focus on issues. And then it goes downhill and it's his golf handicap and other things. So if she can stay on the issues and he goes off the rails, it could be a good night. Listen i'm sorry. I'm just going to say listen, this is to go to your sports analogy way back again anymore. This the super bowl, right? right. If you haven't been to the super bowl, you haven't been to the super bowl, you may have been the playoffs a bunch, being the vice president, you're the playoffs. Donald trump's the tom brady, these debates, he's been about ten of them. You're going down the drain point. My point he's been he's done this before. A lot of time, no matter how prepared you are, axe knows this you're out there. You're not experienced matters here. Look, the biden trump debate. They went into that debate essentially tied to change the course of this year, changed the course of history. They go into this debate essentially tied. Will it those requests, but and i don't even like 90 minutes and then it wasn't even 90 minutes and where that happened, it would argue it was in the first well on brady's to go there they are playing tonight, our focus group of pennsylvania voters, ready to weigh in. You're watching debate night in america live on cnn saturday's this fall seen in the taking a break from breaking news to air. Have i got news for you? breaking news. I'm getting a sandwich. We need to talk about what constitutes breaking news. Provide got news for you from near saturday at nine on cnn i've been stream next day on max flight bag, we are go for launch that the ones so much space that open kitchen, walkin closet the tie wait, we got a problem how can you show your household? we're not going to space station for mod bad open door, open the door it gives you the flexibility to sell and buy on your time ladies and gentlemen i got the sequence suspicion that were not given the people what they want. You right let's get the people kamala harris cast the tiebreaking vote that created america's inflation. The vice president votes in the affirmative and the bill is passed. Economists said harris, his vote led directly to the higher prices we pay, 22% more for groceries, 50% more for gas. Mortgage costs nearly doubled and so a lot kamala trump had our economy humming he'll do it again. I'm donald j. Trump, and i approve this message it simply safe. Your safety is the only thing that matters. 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Or go online to give a new smile thousands of children are waiting a cnn special event, the abc news presidential debate tonight at nine on cnn we're live in philadelphia, pennsylvania, one of the crucial battlegrounds in the 2024 election philadelphia is about to host a very important presidential debate featuring vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump. They're very first facetoface showdown. In fact, it's the very first time these two will have ever met. We're going to get realtime reaction to the debate from voters in pencil cnn's phil mattingly is with our focus group in the great berg of erie, pennsylvania. Phil, tell us more about who's with you and how they're going to be watching the debate tonight. Yeah, jake, we're here on the campus of mercenaries university in erie, pennsylvania and you talk about how important the keystone state is for either candidates path to 270 electoral votes was fairly no more important county than erie county is a county that was won by barak obama, then won by donald trump by just 1,800 votes in 2016, joe biden flipped it back by about 1,500 votes in 2020, this is a battleground county in the most important of battleground states. That's why we're here and that's why the people behind me are so critical. These are voters who have not made up their minds yet. Now, they have supported democrats and republicans in the past. Some of them have supported president biden or former president is it in trump in the past, but they tell us they have not made up their minds as of this moment, so they will be watching the debate with us. Each of them will have a dial. We'll be able to track that dial throughout the course of the debate if they turn it to the right, it means they're positive about whatever is being said or talked about on stage. But it turns to the left, they're not feeling as good about whatever is being said. Track that throughout, see how people are feeling about specific moments and go back through those moments with them. But before we really kick things off, before the debate actually starts itself, i want to get a sense from people, just show of hands this debate, you have not made up your mind yet. Some are leaning one way or the other. How many of you feel like this debate will be determinative for who you vote for in november raise your hands michelle, i want to go to you. Why explained what you're looking for tonight? well, i'm looking for my important thing is because i'm a grandmother and a mother and i really concerned about the economy that is where my big issues lie. And i would like to see where they both stand as far as supporting the economy let me and especially jobs and away the cost of living has increased in even like housing, the housing market. So there's just so many things that i worry about for my children and for my grandchildren. Lauren. Now, as you all weigh, this decision this critical decision for the 2024 elections, how many feel like you need to know more specifically about vice president harris, given her relatively new role as the democratic candidate, show of hands so jake, you see there are a lot of people whose decisions are very much up in the air, maybe leaning one way or the other at this point in time but they want to know what the candidates have to say tonight, and they'd make very clear you saw with a show of hands their decisions may be based on what they hear over the course of that debate, jake all right. Thanks. Phil mattingly really appreciate it cnn special coverage of the harris trump presidential debate continues right now. Tonight the. Road to the white house is leading. Philadelphia in 2024, battleground state of pennsylvania were standing by the start of the first and possibly only presidential debate between vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump. It is debate night in america on this special edition of ac pretty 60. Good evening. I'm anderson cooper along with jake tapper in philadelphia. Jake, both candidates are open to move the needle tonight and they're very close. And obviously incredibly consequential presidential race that's right, anderson, this could prove to be the most significant test for both vice president harris and former president trump in this final sprint to election day, millions of americans are expected to be watching tens of millions when they walked onto the stage at the national constitution center here in the great city of philadelphia, about an hour from now, our anchors, our correspondents, our analysts are here covering the strategies and the expectation tens as we get closer to this highstakes debate that you will see live right here on cnn, anderson want to check in first, we've seen as kristen. Kristen holmes covering the trump campaign. So let's talk about how the former president has been spending his time as he gets closer to this debate yeah, anderson well, if you're curious how he's spent the last few hours, you can look no further than truth, social, just as he was landing in philadelphia, he was posting on his social media platform, not about the importance of the evening or the critical nature of this debate, but instead, a. I cat memes now this of course comes as donald trump's campaign and other prominent republicans have been pushing a false rumour about haitian immigrants eating pets. Now one of the biggest most vocal prepares perpetrators of this rumor it is none other than farright activists laura loomer, who was spotted getting off of donald trump's plane with donald trump and other trump staffers tonight in philadelphia, they flew up from his maralago home. Now, you can see the his memes in front of you. They one of them is him surrounded by ducks and cats. It seems to be on his plane. Another one appears to be a cat in a maga hat holding a gun, not just to be very clear, even earlier today, vice presidential candidate j. D vance acknowledged that these rumors that haitian immigrants for kidnapping pets in springfield, ohio might not be true, but still encouraged people to post these various cat memes. The city of springfield has said, essentially there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being a harms or just to make all of that very clear. But this is what donald trump was doing in the moments that he got to philadelphia while likely we would expect him to be instead preparing for this debate. Now he has spent several days holed up at maralago. They've been doing their version of debate prep, but again goes to show you where his head is at and what he's up to. As in these moments leading up to this critical moment. I want to get to priscilla alvarez covering the harris campaign. So what more are you picking up about the vice president's strategy this evening well certainly the vice president's debate team has been preparing her for some of them were