Of serious music and popular music, and he spoke both languages absolutely as if they were vernacular. Ifill all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. O and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helpingt people build immeasurably better lives. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing ofg humanity around the world byth building resilience and inclusive economies. More at rockefellerfoundation. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill for much of the nation, its mustsee tv tonight, and up to 100 million americans could tune in. The republican and democraticth president ial nominees meet on the same stage, in hempstead, new york, to debate. John yang is there, and begins our coverage. Reporter at hofstra university, the stage is set. S earlier, standins for donald trump and Hillary Clinton helpem technicians work out the final details. The showdown comes as polls show the two locked in a very tight race. Clinton running mate tim kaine predicted tonight would be a big test for trump. F well tonight, 90 minutes on stage. You know, theres gonna be a great opportunity for theop American Public to see if this guy can tell the truth. He i mean or maybe, if he recognizes the truth. Both sides are trying to managen expectations trump calling the moderators unfair, clinton saying the moderator should factcheck. Fa this morning, Trump Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway pushed back. What bothers us, mark, is the very public and very coordinated attempt to game the refs. Reporter between them, theep nominees have participated in more than a dozen primary debates. But those were nothing like tonight. Anita dunn is a former obama aide who helped prep him for the 2012 debates. Secretary clinton is a disciplined, experienced candidate who is going to spend her time really thinking about how she communicates her vision for the country in the face of her opponent being on stage with her. Donald trump has said he doesnt think he needs to do mock debates. Te reporter Brett Odonnell was on president george w. Bushs 2004 debate prep team. Donald trump has only done primary debates where he was standing on the stage with o multiple candidates. He hasnt had to talk about policy issues continuous for 90 minutes. Hillary clinton on the other hand, has done extensive one on one debates. She did it in her senate race, she did it when she ran for president against barack obama and she did it against bernie sanders. Reporter tonights faceoff is the first of three scheduled clintontrump debates before election day. The latest nbc news wall stree journal poll, 11 of votersrs said they were not committed to any candidate and that these debates would be very importantr in helping h them make up their minds. So with the National Polls so close and key battleground states showing the race tightening in each of them, these debates could be crucial. Gwen, judy . , ifill john, can i ask you as the Witching Hour approaches, how have these candidates really been preparing . He we saw some of the spin in your piece about what raising expectations, lowering expectations, whats real. I tell you, the debate prep for the two candidates couldnt be more different than the candidates themselves. If this were college, Hillary Clinton would be the grind. Shes got briefing books, mockk debates, someone sitting in for the moderator, someone sittingme in for donald trump, a very close aide who knows clinton well and knows how to get underr her skin and is comfortable doing it, just in case donald trump does it tonight, and she has been working very hard. H as a matter of fact, aides telli me even up until late this afternoon, she was still at it. Donald trump, on the other handh is still gliding in. In he doesnt want to overprepare for these. There have been no mock debates, no mock moderator, no mockat Hillary Clinton. Going over sort of broad themes and maybe a few practice answers, but not rearing. E he feels confident hes good at these things and going to just sort of almost wing it, maybe. Gwen, judy . Woodruff give us a sense of the scene a at the universit. All eyes are on this debate. E what does it look like . Given the sets weve seen in the debates this primary season with all sorts of glitz and lights, its a very spartan stage, maybe even a throwback to the previous debates, the original debates. Eb the lecterns are identical. As far as height, secretary clintons is a lit local than donaldth trumps. Tr ifill how much have they been trying to spin expectations in advance . The clinton people are talking about how trump never faced questions of policy before, almost saying hes been grade on a curve, that if he were to come out and not be the bombastic donald trump weve seen in the past, that thatpa might be a win, that pundits and others may declare it a victory. Donald trump already sort of gaining the rest as it were as Kellyanne Conway said in the piece, a warning to the moderators that the moderators shouldnt be Fact Checking the candidates, the candidates should be doing that. Incidentally, janet brown, the the head of the commission for president ial debates sort of agrees with that. She said its not the moderators place to check thee facts of each of the candidates. The candidates, she said, should be doing that to each other. Ifill in a little while well see three people on the stage seeing how thats going to work itself out. Johnou yang, see you later tonight. Woodruff in the days other news the alleged gunman in a deadly attack at a Washington State shoppin mall has confessed, but theres no word on a motive. Thats according to Court Documents filed today. 20yearold arcan cetin appeared before a judge, to face murder charges. He allegedly gunned down five people at a macys on saturday. Ifill a man opened fire at a houston strip mall today, and wounded six people one critically before he died in a gun battle with police. Afterward, officers canvassed ae nearby condo complex where the shooter lived, and inspected ash car, as neighbors told of their terror. I called 911 because the bullets did not stop. They would not stop and they were getting louder and louder. O as i was looking through the window to try to maybe help the police with the direction of who this person is, did you see him, where did he go, i could just hear the bullets whizzing through my. By my window. Ifill police say the gunman was a lawyer whod had issues with his employer. Woodruff authorities inti charlotte, North Carolina have lifted a curfew after violence over a Police Shooting abated. Weekend protests over the shooting of keith scott stayed peaceful. Yesterday, demonstrators locked arms outside the stadium where the Carolina Panthers were playing. Police made a handful of arrests. Ifill jury selection hasec begun in the federal trial ofn dylann roof, in the killing of nine black worshippers in charleston, south carolina, in 2015. Hes accused of hate crimes and obstruction of religion, and he could get the Death Penalty if convicted. Roof faces a separate trial on state murder charges. Woodruff the number of murders across america rose 10 last year. Ea the f. B. I. Also reported today that overall Violent Crime increased nearly 4 . Even so, u. S. Attorney general Loretta Lynch says 2015 was still the thirdlowest year for Violent Crime in two decades. Ifill there was no letup today in the ferocious assault on syrias largest city. Russian planes laid waste to parts of aleppo, and the Syrian Military pressed a new offensive on the ground. Today and all through the weekend eastern aleppo was hammered from the sky. Russian planes dropped huge, bunkerbusting bombs thatb reduced neighborhoods to piles of mangled debris. Hospitals were overwhelmed, with at least 200 civilians killed. Il the offensive began with the collapse last week of the u. S. Russianegotiated ceasefire. But today, syrias foreign minister blamed washington. translated if the United States had a real intention to find a solution, then it would have been able to do so already. Do not tell me that the unitedit states does not have the ability to pressure the countries that follow it and say enough is enough. Reporter the Obama Administration rejected that r claim, and said syrias president assad and his russian allies bear the blame. Its hard to talk about any kind of transition government oi any kind of negotiating process when, you know, the moderate Syrian Opposition and civilians in aleppo are being bombed. Reporter the diplomatic rift led to bitter exchanges atge sundays emergency meeting ofnd the u. N. Security council. U. S. Ambassador samantha power. What russia is sponsoring and doing is not counterterrorism,rr it is barbarism. Laying waste to what is left of an iconic middle eastern city. These are people who have suffered horribly in the five and a half years of war. Reporter in turn, moscows envoy pushed aside hopes for a renewed truce. We translated in syria, hundreds of groups are being armed, the territory of the country is being bombed indiscriminately, and bringing a peace is almost an Impossible Task now. Reporter amid the destruction of aleppo, a trickle of humanitarian aid is arriving elsewhere. 70 trucks reached four besieged towns yesterday in northwestern and southwesternrt syria for the first time in nearly six months. The assault on aleppo means no aid is getting through, to the 250,000 trapped civilian. Woodruff back in this country selling dominated wall street led by worries over germanys troubled Deutsche Bank and nervousness over tonights president ial debate. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 166 points to close near 18,095. The nasdaq fell 48 points and the s p 500 slipped 18. Ifill the Washington Monument is closing to thehe public indefinitely. The National Park service said today the obelisk will be shut down until its elevator control system can be fixed. Fi the elevator has broken down repeatedly in the last two years. Woodruff still to come on the newshour we talk to Hillary Clintons Campaign Manager and a donald trump advisor as the candidates prepare to go head to head, plus, predebate analysis with amy walter, mark shields, david brooks, and much more. Ifill looking ahead to the debate, we begin by hearing from both campaigns. A short time ago i spoke with clinton Campaign Manager robby mook and asked him about his claims that Hillary Clinton is being held to a double standard in advance to tonights showdown. Well, gwen, we just want both candidates to be graded according to the sameat criteri first of all, both of these candidates need to demonstrate a command of the issues. Thats something Hillary Clinton has done. Ne we just havent seen that yet from donald trump. We need to hear about some real plans. Again, donald trump still hasnl rolled out, for example, a plan on i. S. I. S. , his tax plan changed multiple times, has been ridiculed every time its come out. Lastly, donald trump has to tela the truth. You can not get a passing grade after telling i would argue etch a single lie in this debate let alone the string of lies he usually tells. We just want to grade the next president of the United States. There shouldnt be a curve at the part in the bedate. Ifill major news outlets basically wrote long storieso saying that hes a liar. So how can we make that argument . Ar well, were asking for people to judge the performance if hrm the debate tonight. If donald trump doesnt tell one of his normal lies, thats great, but once we get throught that bar, which i would argue is very low, we need to hear a real true command of the issues. Can he actually speak for 90 seconds, the length of the answers, in a substantive way about policies, and does he actually have concrete ideas . E we saw him ramble on a couple of weeks ago, repeat things that tt may or may not be true. Ay thats not enough. Ot were picking our next president. Its time to get serious and voters expect him to meet a high bar to become our next president. Ifill i am curious about how much of the time in preparing secretary clinton for this debate you spent talk org thinking about how to get inside Donald Trumps head. Well, look, gwen, one of the things thats very troubling to votersuayout donald trump is his erratic behavior, his lack of good temperament to serve as commanderinchief. This is not the kind of personality you want controlling our Nuclear Codes or commandingm our men or women in uniform. Fo so we dont know how donald trump would act at this debate. I would argue that is a thrash hold reason hes not qualifiedqu to be president. But Hillary Clinton is steady, experienced, she has been on the debate stage one on one and will be prepared forl whatever comes her way. He ifill which audiences is secretary clinton aiming toy speak to aside from criticizing donald trump . Im glad you asked that question because we think this debate is an important opportunity for secretary clinton and this captain. A lot ofai voters will be checkg into this debate for the first time. Every time secretary clinton has had the opportunity to talk about proactive plans and ideas on how to make peoples lives better, shes done bet on the campaign. There are undecided voters. There are people who are supportive but not motivated to go vote yet. We see this as an opportunity to speak to all those vetters and thats the most important thingh she can do, make the case about a Lifelong Mission shes had to fight for kids and families and how shes going to make a temperatures in peopleas lives as president. How worried are you about this latest round of tightening polls . You know,en gwen, there are lot of polls out there, particularly public polls go upr and down. Wn the thing is people use a lot of different methodologies. We are just staying focused on running 20 points behind. If there is a voter who isnt registered yet or may not haveav all the information on how to vote, well work hard to make sure whether they turn out were ahead in the polls. Ifill this the first of the three oneonone debates. Which one is thes. Most ghornt. I think all are an important opportunity. There are slightly different formats. But this is the first one. Of course,e voters are probablo going to be tuning in to this one more than any other. Again, we think this is such a valuable opportunity for secretary clinton to make her proactive case for what shesa going to do to help everyday people, why people should be excited about turning out to vote for her, so well take advantage of it. Va ifill well be on the edge of our seats watching it. Robby mook, secretary clintonst Campaign Manager. Ca thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much, gwen. Woodruff we turn now to Jack Kingston, a former republicanki congressman from georgia. Hes now a Senior Advisor to Donald Trumps campaign. Jack kingston, welcome. There is been a lot of commentary as we were justs hearing to the effect that b theres a lower bar of expectations tonight for donaldt trump than there is for Hillary Clinton. Do you think thats right . No, i think this is a spin. Shes a very accomplishedli debater as we should all admit. Shes been running for president since 2007. Before that, a u. S. Senator , had plenty debates, and before, that was coaching her husband as a president ial and cubetorial candidate. Of course, shes a very accomplished debater. Eb shes very disciplined, very scripted, we know that. Donald trump, totally different style of politics. He is a guy whos wide open. Hes an element of change. Hes nonwashington, and ehasha solutions which the American People support. Hes a tv personality, if you will, who knows how to connecton with the everyday family. So youre going to see two different styles, but i think, when it comes to stance, Hillary Clinton is going to be on the defense. She wants to continue Barack Obamas economic policies which are slow growth, high unemployment, and she thinks that the National Security picture is great and shes going to be on the defense to say why those are great policies and we need another third term. Woodruff lets talk about what donald trump needs to do. We heard robby mook say he needs to give substantive answers, be concrete in describing what heha needs to do as president. De he also says he needs to tell the truth. Is he going to do that tonight . O you know, when i hear robby mook or anybody from the Clinton Campaign talk about telling the truth, heres a woman who said she was bombed in kosovo, shot, heres a woman who claims she was named after sir edmund hillary, a woman who said she had one email server when she had 13, a woman who said she turned over all her emails and theyre going to lecture donald trump about truth . I