Debate Draws Near, Storms Impact Millions, Arkansas Manhunt Underway
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Voters 50 and over have the power to decide elections. So candidates who want to win need to talk about the issues they care about. Learn more from our latest polling in Pennsylvania at aarp.org slash PA polling. It's Thursday, June 20th. And right now on CNN This Morning, President Biden and Donald Trump preparing for next week's CNN debate. Exclusive reporting on each candidate's strategy.

Fires, floods, extreme heat and storms, severe weather impacting millions from coast to coast. The manhunt underway in Arkansas for a suspect who police say murdered two people in Oklahoma. Plus, he told them to go F themselves. Now Elon Musk has a new message for the advertisers who left his social media platform.

All right. 6 a.m. here in Washington. And here's a live look at the White House. Good morning, everyone. I'm Anuradha in for Casey Hunt. It's great to be with you this morning and seven days to go. That's President Biden and Donald Trump now preparing in their own unique ways for next week's primetime CNN debate. Well,

earliest general election debate in recent memory. Now, the last time these two men faced off on the debate stage, it was, well, pure chaos, with Trump constantly interrupting Biden and the moderators. This time around, mics will be muted when it's not a candidate's turn to speak. But they're not muted yet. Here's Trump revving up his base and accusing the president of taking drugs without any evidence to back up that unsubstantiated accusation. Is anybody going to watch the debate?

He's going to be so pumped up. He's going to be pumped up. You know, all that stuff that was missing about a month ago from the White House. What happened? Who left it? Somebody left it there. Now for President Biden, the debate strategy is simple. Just let the other guy bury himself. What do you think you need to accomplish on that debate stage? Say what I think. Let him say what he thinks. The things he said are off the wall.

I want to be a dictator on day one. I want to move in a direction where he talks about, you know, suspending the Constitution. All I have to do is hear what he says, remind people what he says and what I believe, what he believes.

And we have exclusive CNN reporting this morning about debate preps for both candidates. One secluding himself at a mountainside retreat with a team of advisors. The other meeting with VP hopefuls working on sharpening his attacks. So let's bring in CNN political analyst and historian Leanne Wright-Rigour.

former federal prosecutor, prosecutor, Elliott Williams, former White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, and Lance Trover spokesperson for North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum's 2024 presidential campaign. Alright, so before we get into the debate, I do want to just talk about the state of the race right now. There was a Fox News poll out last last night, and probably

probably better news than biden has had in really months he's been trailing this one had him actually ahead of course within the margin of error so there's really no clear leader 50 48 uh it says here there was a bit of a bump uh with uh independent voters for biden in the last month or so uh lance is the republican strategist here at the table is biden getting a bump post trump conviction

I think national polls are a snapshot in time. You're getting a mood of the country in the moment right here on June 20th, right? And that's what they are. I think what's more interesting right now is taking a look at what is happening in some of the states, some of the polling. We've seen Virginia become a little more competitive. We've seen Trump leading and sometimes winning in Nevada. We saw a poll from the Des Moines Register this week, and granted it's Iowa. There was a 20-point delta. That is a huge number. But I also think it's

interesting looking at some of the congressional races out there the biden swing districts i'm talking to a lot of people on the hill pollsters and the like

Donald Trump is leading in these districts that Biden won in 2020 that have Republican members. So I think you also need to look at what's going on both in the states and the congressional race. - And of course the states will determine the next president, not national, but still national polls do give a mood of where things are. In that same poll, Kate, it does talk about how Trump is doing among men. It says he's up about 15 to Biden among men.

Biden's doing better with people 65 age, 65 and older, 15 points. I had with women by 17 points. Still struggling, though, Biden is with rural voters. So how does he improve his appeal to male voters and rural voters? Of course, in these

you know wisconsin and michigan he's going to need them yeah well in some ways i think so i certainly agree that polls are just a snapshot in time but i also think that this underscores that the biden campaign's theory of the case here which is that as people started to dial in started to see donald trump remember donald trump obviously his conviction as we've seen in the data has played a significant part in making him unpalatable to some of these swing voters but

But as people started to dial into the race, they would find Trump less and less appealing and see Biden as the viable alternative. So I think for rural voters, for male voters, I think Biden has to continue to draw this contrast on democracy, on the existential nature of this election. I think in some ways talking about the fact that this election is historic and different because Trump represents a threat to the very fabric of who we are as a country.

um that's a powerful message that lands with voters across the spectrum this idea of dialing in is a really interesting one because people have not i don't think americans have really focused on this idea of trump versus biden they're sort of two individuals that everybody's familiar with on a day-to-day level but but but

but facing them on a stage as candidates in 2024 hasn't really happened yet. Now I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong, this is earlier than presidential debates typically happen. And this is probably earlier than we are used to seeing candidates debating now. So how does this moment,

or how will it, it's just rhetorical question, shift the way the public sees these two people against each other rather than just as individuals. - Yeah, and absolutely, and this earlier debate is, you know, very much underscores, again, the Biden campaign's theory of the case that, you know, people need to understand that these two guys are the choice.

and seeing them together on stage this early, you know, shortly, comparatively early. - Because a lot of people still say they don't believe that Biden is gonna run. - Right, I mean, some people say they think, they still don't think Biden's gonna be the Democratic nominee. - Sure, yeah, I hear that too. - So there's, this is important for the Biden campaign. - So I also think this is, you know,

of the things that the Biden campaign has-- and the Biden administration has really been struggling with is Joe Biden's age, even though he and Donald Trump are essentially the same age. And one of the things that they have done is they have really leaned into this idea of wisdom of experience, particularly in the face of an existential threat to democracy. And what we're seeing, I think, in some of these snapshot polls-- again, it's way too early to call the race,

But as what we're seeing in some of these snapshot polls is that their attempt to one, win over independence on the nature of wisdom and age is actually playing out quite well. But the other thing is that the Biden administration has launched this kind of long-term plan with older voters and it is paying off in dividends.

I you know I want to point out again that you know American public has made a lot of ruling a lot of think about the age in the two candidates but in particularly Joe Biden one of the things that we are going to have to see in the debate is that that age debate actually doesn't necessarily matter in the way that we think it does and I still think that at the end of the day Americans are looking at the fact that they have two old

white guys that are running and essentially saying, you know what, maybe this is a red herring. Maybe we can actually look at other things because the choice is essentially age, the same if we're looking at age. And I would just say quickly, older voters are also more consistent voters. I mean, the young voters tend to capture a lot of the media attention and there's always focus on where young voters are going to go, but older voters show up more consistently than young voters do. I want you guys to weigh in about the debate rule.

One of them is about the muting of the mics. And let's just look back at what happened in 2020 when the mics were not muted. The question is, the question is, the question is, will you shut up, man? Who is on your list, Joe? This is so right. Gentlemen, I think this is so unprecedented. He's going to pack the court. We are not going to give a list. So this time around, if you're not speaking, your mic will be muted. So Lance, who's going to be muted?

Who does that give an advantage to? This is going to be epic. I can't wait. I think if you're a political, this is going to be epic.

Joe Biden has forgotten more about debating than most of us at this table will ever know. He's very experienced. He knows what he's doing. Setting the bar high. Anybody who suggests otherwise is kind of playing into the Biden campaign's hands, I feel like. But at the same time, Donald Trump is pretty experienced, and he has a way of communicating with people that resonates with voters out there. He's going to go out and say...

The costs are out of control. The border is out of control. And let's face it, those are the messages that are resonating out there. So mics, no mics, it's gonna be- - Yeah, a counterpoint to the Biden being a great debater, cover your ears, Kate, but no. Presidents, sitting presidents have notoriously bad

first debate. Obama got smoked by Mitt Romney in that first debate. Everybody was asking the question, is Barack Obama done? George W. Bush did not do well in his first one because they're running the country and it's hard to sort of focus on this new opponent and do that at the same time. But the difference is that Trump has not been having any debate. He didn't engage in any of the primary debates. He's not been answering any questions. Rusty, right? Is he rusty? Well,

Well, we've seen, but we saw reporting in the New York Times yesterday, he has started to do more formal prep, Trump has. And I think there's also a recognition amongst his team that that first debate in 2020 did not go well for him and that the interrupting and the chaotic energy was not helpful. As somebody who helped prep President Biden for that debate, I can tell you, we certainly saw that that debate did not help Donald Trump. His numbers fell off after that debate because people were

You know people were put off by the kind of angry uncivil way he conducted himself But I think everybody who has an expectation that that's the Donald Trump who's gonna show up next week I don't think that's true I think the Donald Trump is gonna show up next week is going to be the most disciplined version of Donald Trump I think he knows this is a big stage and I and I but you were talking about the muted mics I'm somebody who actually thinks the muted mics probably helped Trump. Yeah, I

And actually, I was literally just about to say that. Will it help Trump? Because it may look more disciplined and maybe voters will like that. Interesting. You know, that's what Democrats agree with Republicans on that. Bringing America together. This Democrat does. Okay. All right. Next, one of Trump's VP frontrunners starting to sound eerily similar to the man he hopes to call boss one day. Plus, Tropical Storm Alberto forming in the Gulf of Mexico and already making a deadly impact.

and a manhunt underway for a suspected double murderer.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Doug Burgum is beginning to sound a little like Donald Trump these days. The North Dakota governor emerging as a top contender to be Trump's VP pick. Listen to him offer up this view of America on Fox and see if it sounds familiar.

Under Joe Biden, we're actually living under a dictatorship today where he's bypassing Congress on immigration policy. He's bypassing Congress on protecting our border. He's bypassing Congress on student loan forgiveness. And he's defying the Supreme Court. I mean, those are the things that authoritarians and dictators do.

All right, luckily we have someone at the table who knows Doug Burgum very well, traveled with him on his campaign, worked as a spokesperson for his presidential campaign. Okay, how badly does Doug Burgum want this job? You don't become vice president by running for vice president. I think you get chosen for vice president based on what you've done. And I think that's, if he's in consideration for vice president, it's because...

Donald Trump sees what a lot of people see is that Doug Bergen's been a very successful person in his private life and business life and a very successful person in his governorship. Mr. Shark Tank, Kevin O'Leary was on CNN last week saying he should be vice president and it's based on all the work that he's done in North Dakota. And so if he's in consideration for that, I think it's because of all the good things that he's done over the course of his career. Relentlessly on message you are right there.

But the question is-- - Were you expecting anything else? - I know, I know, my God. - We're looking for the insider tea. - But seriously, does he want it? - You'd have to ask him that. You should have him on the show. - Yeah, I mean, of course he wants it. So what do you think that he brings to the ticket? - So I think it's apparent that the business community loves him. We saw that once he was in consideration, once he was in the mix,

that a number of high profile donors who had been withholding kind of their support, their surrogacy, even their endorsements, all of a sudden the money starts pouring in. I think there was one large scale, several very, very high donation that happened two weeks ago and the explicit language around it was, well, I want a businessman on the ticket.

But I gotta say, the language that we're seeing now, the rhetoric, pounding the pavement, maybe campaigning for the job, I actually think it's doing the opposite of what Trump needs in terms of, or what he's looking for. So on the one hand, we know that who knows what Donald Trump is looking for, right? It changes with the weather.

But on the other hand, the things that I think that the governor brings are that kind of financial or business acumen. He doesn't need to remind people about the near total ban on abortion, particularly when that's one of, you know, one of Donald Trump's vulnerabilities with the American public right now. Right. And I'm wondering, Kate, what do you think of, what does the Biden campaign think of Doug Bergen, the possibility of him as a president?

I'd be concerned that he could help Donald Trump. I don't think he changes the calculation for them in how they approach Trump. I mean, we've seen his willingness to essentially sell his soul, and he's not unique in that amongst Republicans vying for this job in terms of going out and sort of hedging on January 6th, where he previously had said that it was an awful day. Those weren't his exact words, but he had said it was not a good thing for the country, and now when he gets asked about it, he's kind of hedging.

So, you know, he doesn't really change the calculation for the Biden campaign, I should say. You know, and I think Leah's point is exactly right. He also underscores, you know, some of Trump's biggest vulnerabilities, the abortion piece, for example. I mean, he kind of, he's a...

he's a doubling down on some of the most sort of conservative, problematic, vulnerable issues for Donald Trump. So I think for the Biden campaign, it's sort of like pick him, pick one of the other guys. At the end of the day, it's all about Trump. - Does he get it? Is he gonna get it? What do you think?

Say yes. Come on. That is asking me to predict what Donald Trump is going to do. I'd be on an island living in it. If I could predict that, I'd be better than everybody. I do think that's one area where I agree. I'm not sure it really matters who Donald Trump chooses at the end of the day. I think it's... People tend to vote for the top of the ticket. But, of course, it's a hugely significant job and choice. We'll see what Trump decides to do.

All right, I had dangerous wildfires still raging in New Mexico despite heavy rainstorms. And we're on Supreme Court watch as the justices prepare to decide on Donald Trump's immunity claims and more. New Mexico bracing for more storms this morning as two wildfires forced thousands to evacuate and led to at least two deaths. It's heartbreaking to know that he didn't make it, to know that he was

Trying to run for his life. The region could see another round of rain today after flash floods created issues on the roads on Wednesday. Meantime, Tropical Storm Alberto off the coast of Mexico is set to make landfall, bringing more heavy rain, gusty winds and flooding to South Texas. I just, you know, it's we've just never been through anything like this before. And we're just going to take it one day at a time. Meteorologist Elisa Rafa tracking it all. Elisa, any relief in sight?

For Texas, some of that rain is dying down a little bit today, but for Mexico, we're going to continue to find some of that heavy rain, the storm surge. You've got that tropical storm and landfall really imminent within the next few hours.

50 mile per hour winds right now. We do have a tornado watch still in effect from Corpus Christi down towards Brownsville where when you get these kind of outer bands to come in, they're spinning, you can get some weak and brief tornadoes. So that's something that we've been watching for on the overnight. This says, look at all the rain that has fallen. Widespread two to four inches. A lot of totals four to six inches there in the orange around Corpus Christi from some of that heavy rain.

Rockport, Texas, you've got more than five inches of rain, which is more than your June average, the entire month's worth of average. So just incredible. The heavy rain continues to move inland in Mexico. That can cause some flash flooding, maybe even some landslides in some of those mountainous regions. And look at where the showers stretch.

As we go into Thursday and Friday, we're looking at some of these showers, even making it up to New Mexico, which they need the rain with some of the wildfires that we've had. But we don't need too much all at once. What happened yesterday was we have flash flood emergencies because we have burn scars. The water is not really going to go anywhere. It has nowhere to go when the ground is torched.

So it's something that we have to watch out for as we go through the next couple of days. We still have extreme and exceptional drought conditions in New Mexico fueling these fires. Manu? All right, so much extreme weather. Elisa Rafa, thank you for tracking it all for us. And next, two candidates taking two different approaches to prepare for next week's primetime CNN debate. Plus, the state that now requires all public schools to hang the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

It is officially crunch time for President Biden and former President Trump as they prepare for the first presidential debate at CNN's Atlanta studios exactly one week from today. And this morning, CNN has new reporting about how exactly the two candidates are readying themselves for what is likely to be a hostile rematch. Both candidates huddling around advisors and close conferents for prep sessions as they work towards the ultimate goal, which of course is painting their opponent as presiding over disorder and also being unfit for office.

Joining me now is CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz and CNN National Politics reporter Steve Contorno. Good morning to you both. Arlette, first to you. What is President Biden's strategy going into the debate?

Well, Manu, President Biden will depart Rehoboth Beach, Delaware a bit later this evening and head straight to Camp David, where he is expected to hunker down with top aides heading into next week's debate. The ultimate goal for President Biden is really trying to paint Trump as chaotic and divisive. And he and his advisors will

will really drill in on their debate preparations in the coming days. Sources tell us it's expected that they will start with some informal discussions talking about possible topics and ways to answer the questions that could come up before transitioning to more fulsome 90-minute mock

debates. That is something that President Biden has done in many of his past debate preparations. And aides have already started compiling binders of topics, possible questions and ways that the president could answer them. The president is known to offer detailed feedback in these types of sessions. Now, this debate prep is being led by his former chief of staff, Ron Klain, his deputy chief of staff, Bruce Reed, who focuses a lot on policy and has actually been here in Rehoboth Beach with the president

He has been tasked with going through materials of what Trump has said, watching hours of tape as they're trying to find ways to counter Trump on the debate stage. It is also possible that the president's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, could potentially play Trump in mock debates as he did in 2020. Now, there already have been some prep sessions underway.

in those meetings, sources say, the president has really been focused on finding ways to hold Trump accountable on the debate stage. One campaign official saying that Biden has been a lot punchier in his attacks against Trump on the campaign trail, and that is something that they are hoping will continue into this debate. But of

course, the stakes for this debate are incredibly high. It was the Biden campaign who had gone to the Trump campaign saying, hey, let's have an earlier debate. They really view this as an opportunity to present the American people, not just with Biden's policies, but really trying to offer that contrast with Trump, as there has been this belief among his advisers that once people start to remember what the four years of a Trump presidency would like, that could potentially turn this race. So that's something that they're really hoping to drive in their contrast heading into November.

You know, and Steve, Trump likes to say, and his advisors like to say, that he doesn't really need debate prep, but there really is debate prep happening with Trump at this moment. Here's a question for you, though. With this being a debate where the microphones will be muted when he's not speaking, how does that affect Trump's strategy?

Yeah, that'll be really interesting to watch, Manu, because Donald Trump is not going to be holding these sort of debate mock sessions that President Biden is holding. And he has often said that his rallies are his best practice for these debates. And he will be holding a rally on Saturday in Philadelphia. Now, there's always been some disconnect between what the former president says about his debate prep and what actually happens behind the scenes. In the past, for example, he has held debate sessions.

mock sessions with Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani. Those individuals, though, are obviously no longer in the picture. Chris Christie was one of his opponents who was very vocally against him this cycle. So instead, he has been holding sort of informal policy sessions, bringing in some of the people that he is considering for his running mate, including Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida,

he's also brought in individuals like senator eric schmidt of of missouri some former advisors like kellyanne conway stephen miller and they're talking the former president through a whole bunch of issues economy border crime abortion the wars in gaza and ukraine and trying to get him up to speed on some of the talking points they expect from president biden and has also been focusing on how sharpening his responses to how they expect

some of the issues that come up on January 6th, as well as these convictions that he is just facing this trial that has really kept him off the campaign trail and has made it difficult for him to prepare for this debate leading into next week. Yeah, everyone will be watching. All right, season's events, Arlette Sine and Steve Contorno, thank you both.

And it's decision day at the Supreme Court. Although we do not know which opinions the court will release today, several major cases remain outstanding. They include former President Trump's claim of immunity from criminal prosecution, a battle between the Biden administration and Idaho over emergency room abortions, and a fight over whether January 6th defendants will face obstruction charges.

My panel is back. So, Elliot, the lawyer in the room. Lawyer at the garden party. The lawyer at the garden party. What, obviously, you're on pins and needles today. Pins and needles. Where do we expect from the Supreme Court today? Well, we don't know because they could have any number of...

big hearing, opinion release days today, tomorrow into July. Now, obviously you've said the January 6th case is a big one only in so far as how does the court handle it? They can give a full victory to Donald Trump calling him immune from prosecution. I highly doubt that will happen based on how the oral argument went.

full victory to the special prosecutor. I don't think that's gonna happen either. My guess, based on how oral argument went, is that they'll send it back down to the judge, Judge Tonya Shatkin, to decide which actions of the former president might count as official actions, which ones might count as personal private actions, which will just, in practice, add much more time to this whole saga. - Yeah, and that's the whole goal. This is what the New York Times op-ed writes about. There's a liberal op-ed page for the New York Times writing that.

even if the court rules that Mr. Trump has limited or no immunity, it is unlikely a verdict will be delivered before the election. I mean, that is the goal here. - Can I give you a hot take here? - Yeah, of course. - It doesn't matter if the case happens before the election because it matters to voters, and I know Kate just-- - I'm like, wait, what? - No, no, no, no, no, no. It does for what people care about. You know, it's an important issue for voters, for the political system, and so on, but we can't graft

the legal calendar onto the political calendar. They exist separately of each other. Now it happens that an individual who's running for president is tied up in a lot of litigation right now, but this idea that somehow courts need to bend the knee to the political process, I think to me is a bad idea. - But the perception among voters is that the Supreme Court is listening to the political calendar.

Absolutely. And the Supreme Court has given them a lot of reasons to think that. And I think one of the things that we know is that over the course of the last really 50 years, where the Supreme Court has shifted from this, we are objective, we are above, we are apolitical, to explicitly saying, you know, actually, we don't care. We can do what we want. Who's going to check us? Who's going to put us in jail?

you know under observation or accountability one of the things that we've seen is that the American public has increasingly lost trust in the Supreme Court as an institution but I think to Elliot's point you know the Supreme Court is not necessarily a democratic political institution it in fact is perhaps the opposite of that and in some cases we do need that. The devil rises in small days. Right maybe so that you're correct

But one of the things that it does that I think is really important here is that it, I think, is designed to really exist outside of the political system, even as the actors within it are political themselves. And that's how it's going to play out. So I want to ask you, just like, you know, as Elliot was talking about the political calendar versus non-political calendar, if Trump wins some sort of victory here, whether it's

as immunity claims or just delaying it until after the election. That's bad news for the Biden campaign. Is that not bad news for the Biden campaign? I think it's, look, there should be, I would, I absolutely hear Elliot's point. I do think that voters deserve to see this case adjudicated before the election because it goes to Trump's fitness to hold office. And so I think, you know,

there's a reason that voters should have this information. Ideally, yes, the court would hear this before and make a decision, sorry, not hear it, but make a decision before November. If it doesn't, I don't think that changes the way that the Biden campaign argues about Trump's unfitness. I mean, we've seen a conviction already, obviously, in the hush money case. So he is a convicted felon and the Biden campaign can say that and is saying that.

And I don't think that it dramatically changes people's perception of Donald Trump as dishonest, willing to break the law, frankly, to do what benefits him. And that portrait of Trump is the way that the Biden campaign is talking about it. So I don't know that not getting a decision, I should, to circle back to your question, I don't know that not getting a decision is in some way devastating for the Biden campaign. I don't think it changes the way that they talk about Donald Trump. I didn't think I'd come on here and Kate Knight

and Kate and I would be agreeing. - But there are Republicans who fear the immunity case, I'm sorry, the January 6th case, the classified documents case. They think it's much more serious than the hush money case, and if that were to come to verdict before November, maybe that would have a different impact

among voters. - That's a big maybe. It just doesn't seem likely at this point that that's going to happen. Yeah, I mean, I'm just not sure that really, voters are kind of baked in with, particularly with their opinions of both of these guys. So I'm just not sure that it's-- - Yeah, let me-- - We're talking politically here. - Let me add to what I said a little bit, 'cause I don't wanna suggest that I live in fantasy land that the politics don't matter. But seriously, think about it. And to Kate's point, if there were a question of Donald Trump's fitness to serve in office, voters had an opportunity to decide on that in 2016.

and chose to go a certain direction. In 2020, they had another opportunity to do so and chose to go a different way. 2021 after January 6th, there were many questions, including from Republican senators about Donald Trump's fitness for office. So the idea that merely because the litigation process is playing out on the timeline, that it was naturally supposed to

to play out on, which is that things take a long time to get to court, the idea that now voters are at some grave disadvantage based on the legal system, to me, is wrong. But again, I recognize that, again, this is not fantasy lawyer land, and we have an election coming up that people really care about. - And I have a feeling that we're not gonna get that opinion today. They're gonna let us wait. - Oh yeah, the final-- - And wait.

- Until maybe July we'll get the opinion. - And remember there's a firearms, a question about access to domestic violence and firearms, which actually plays, the domestic violence one also ties into Hunter Biden's matter a little bit, 'cause that's the same statute, the abortion case. There's a lot coming up. - All right, a lot to watch. All right, next, Elon Musk changing his tune after telling advertisers to go F themselves. Plus a new low in partisan politics. Wait till you see what one Republican lawmaker got caught doing to a Democrat.

Alright, 47 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Louisiana public schools are now required to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms. The new law mandates a poster size display with quote large, easily readable font in every school that receives state funding from kindergarten through the university level.

Police are looking for a suspect in connection with a double homicide in Oklahoma. He is considered armed and dangerous and was last seen across the state line in Arkansas. The bodies of an adult male and female were found at a business Tuesday night in Gans, Oklahoma.

And if you want to know just how low some politicians will go these days, take a look at hidden camera video of Vermont Republican Mary Ann Morrissey pouring water into the bag of Democrat Jim Carroll in the statehouse. She got caught doing it several times over five months and just offered this apology before the entire legislature.

I hope Jim, my legislative colleagues, all of our state house staff and those who work in this building and the citizens of Vermont can forgive me. You know, after five months of that, and it was torment, there's no doubt about it, with me anyway, there's going to be some work to be done between the two of us.

Yeah, you don't say. Perhaps not the best advice you would give as a political advisor to do that to your political opponent. I don't typically know.

Stealing yard signs, maybe. It's a pretty legendary way to punk somebody, though. I've never thought to dump a cup of water into someone's duffel bag, and I've got to respect that. It's kind of innovative. I'm just surprised this has not happened in the House of Representatives yet. That we know of. That we know of. She's giving them ideas. But the hidden camera, it will reveal the...

what happened here. So we'll see if there'll be more hidden cameras. Let's see. Anyways, we'll see. I want to know, wait, was the hidden camera placed to catch her in the act? Or was this just a surveillance camera? That's a very good question. I need to know more about the sting operation. But either way, there was a mea culpa offer because obviously they were guilty.

Okay, turning back now to the 2024 presidential race and next week's highly anticipated CNN debate between former President Biden and former President Trump. Over the past weeks, both candidates have been huddling with advisors and fine-tuning their message on a wide range of key issues, from the economy to foreign affairs to each other's fitness for office. But, as New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman says to CNN, there is one issue that perhaps looms above the rest.

For Biden, they are focusing on various issues that could come up. Abortion, health care, energy, COVID, and then very specifically, and this was one thing that came up last Thursday, what Trump will say when asked January 6th related questions.

All right, joining me now is Republican election attorney Ben Ginsberg. Ben, thanks so much for joining me this morning. You specialize in election integrity law. So what is your advice for President Biden if there is a scenario in which he and Trump relitigate the 2020 election results and January 6th?

He's going to tap into what's a reservoir in the country of thinking that Donald Trump has gone too far in an election integrity and talking about the 2020 election. I mean, out there in the country, what you see is a real split between people and, uh,

advocates locked into their own camps, but with a mega adjacent constituency, especially in the key suburbs, who think that maybe all this talk about elections, the basic institutions of elections, has gone too far. And so I suspect President Biden will appear to those people who believe in their communities, the integrity of elections, recognize the importance of

of accurate elections and reliable elections and don't want their communities to dissolve into a lot of the trauma that we saw in 2020. Yeah, and look, we know Trump has been dealing in his debate prep talking about how to respond to those January 6th questions. So, I mean, how does Trump, I mean, given the fact that increasingly he seems to have been almost embracing what happened on January 6th, how does he respond when this topic inevitably comes up?

I think he does what he's been doing all along, which is sort of take an offensive posture. He's going to say that the people who went into the Capitol were patriots, that the election was unfair. In other words, the Trump rhetoric, without any evidence to back it up, has painted him into a bit of a corner on what he can say on a debate stage to a very broad audience.

And he's going to have trouble pivoting from the message he wants to give to his rallies where people go wild and applaud to what sort of Americans who aren't part of the rioting crew think, especially the swing voters, the several hundred thousand swing voters in six or seven key states.

And those people hear the rhetoric about January 6th much differently from the self-selected group that goes to Trump rallies. And I suspect we'll hear Joe Biden talking about Donald Trump being a convicted felon. And I suspect Donald Trump will turn around and say, well, your son, Hunter Biden, has been convicted of a felony felonies as well. So if when Biden gets hit by Trump on this, what is your advice on how he should respond?

Well, I think he says that I went through and my son stood the force of the law, accepted the rule of law and the decision. Whereas even although you've been convicted, Donald Trump, and you lost those 64 court cases around the last election, you refused to accept the rule of law. That's a basic principle on which this country operates. And you continue to violate it with this inaccurate rhetoric of yours.

All right, so during the debate, the candidates are likely to discuss abortion, which is a key campaign issue. Of course, the Supreme Court expected to release a decision soon about hospitals' ability to provide abortions in an emergency. We didn't really get an ideological answer on the Mipha-Pristone question when this ruling was based on the grounds that those doctors did not have the right to sue. So what are you expecting in this Idaho abortion case?

I would be surprised if the Supreme Court dove to the extreme on this. And so I think there will be a similar non-ideological decision on that, but it's the Supreme Court and whoever knows. But the court,

I think realizes and has seen the problems of being painted into an ideological corner and how that can take away public credibility from the court's decision. They'll try and avoid that, I think, in the abortion decision and as well with the presidential immunity case.

Yeah, so much to watch out for. And we know you'll be tracking it. Ben Ginsberg, thank you for joining me this morning. Thanks, Manu. And turning now to the world of tech, where billionaire Elon Musk is on an apology tour of sorts, trying to woo back advertisers. Yes, the same advertisers he flipped off last November in this infamous moment. There was advertisers leaving. We talked to Bob Iger today. I hope they stop. You hope? Don't advertise. You don't want them to advertise? No. What do you mean?

If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f*** yourself. But go f*** yourself.

All right, Musk made those comments after a number of big brands pulled their advertising from X in the fall amid complaints that their ads were appearing next to white supremacist content on the platform. And after Met himself, Musk himself, spread an anti-Semitic conspiracy post. Now, Musk is softening his language and saying this about those remarks. It wasn't to the advertisers as a whole.

Advertisers have a right to appear next to content that they find compatible with their brands. That's totally fine. What is not cool is insisting that there can be no content that they disagree with on the platform.

- Hmm, so I'm no business guy, although I did get a business major, but I don't remember studying about cursing at your people or giving you money. - Generally you should not, although you could just do like when I'm texting, I meant to say ducking,

And I think that's what he could say there. I wasn't saying any bad word. I think, you know, just hide behind the AI. But no, it's hard to, like, if you're an advertiser, do you go back? And it's an open question as to when, yes, there might be a business reason for someone to advertise on X. A lot of people look at it, but you're also fueling someone who has contempt for your business. I don't know. And there were lots of big brands that pulled from X.

advertising on X last fall, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, which is our parent company of CNN, of course, Paramount, Sony, Comcast, Universal, and the like. Do you think that they go back now that he offered this, you know,

this is the occult love source he recognizes he made a mistake I this is still a site I don't know about you all I still go to it for news instantly reporters are constantly putting stuff out there on it so it's a site about free speech it's a side of you know and look he's clearly made some mistakes he's acknowledging that so I could see advertisers coming first because it is still busy and used is my point it's free speech that's gotten

way more toxic since he took over without question. And everybody on this panel is using it. - And way less usable. I mean, yes, people go for breaking news because they're sort of conditioned to, I think, but it is a much less useful product now than it was. It's hard to identify who is a verified user, who's putting genuine content out there.

it and so from an advertising perspective you know in addition to our use the risk of your your and company being advertised next to really horrific I'm but white supremacist content it's also just a less useful product so I don't know that the case to go back

uh... the business case to go back to the best really if this is a desperation move and so part of this is that the official numbers came out from twitter for acts whatever we're calling it and it shows that compared to a year ago it has lost forty percent of its revenue and that's purely from advertisers

so what we have is the on my going back he's groveling thing i'm sorry i'm going to turn this into venmo or paypal two point no and they'll be lots of different things and lots of different tools but he has not solved the problem that we are all concerned about in that advertisers were concerned about twitter slash acts is still assess pool is not a democratic platform in that the idea of free speech doesn't actually exist and i think it's

You know, there's a little bit of irony, perhaps, in somebody like Elon Musk championing this idea of it as being a platform for free speech while also simultaneously saying we shouldn't allow people who are woke, right, or who endorse DEI agendas to actually speak.

So I don't see-- if I'm an advertiser, there is no benefit right now to jumping back in when nothing has changed. To Kate's point about it being more or less usable, great personal example. I was looking up for something related to the Supreme Court. I was curious, wait, is there a Supreme Court account? And typed it in, and there's all

these clowns with verified quote unquote accounts now, Supreme Court info, Supreme Court this, Supreme Court news that aren't actually the entity. At least in the prior scheme, there was a way to know that who you were hearing from was who you were hearing from and the information that came out of them was accurate. Now I recognize the sort of need for quote unquote free speech.

as it's presented on the platform but it's just but that's just not how it's playing out real competition to this at this point though i mean there are competitors but no one's really topped them yet in terms of that's the one thing of why advertisers might still go back yeah and with the revenue generation if you look at that now versus then 2022 1.4 billion dollars in the first six months of 2023 under musk down 40 percent from the same period in

before Musk. So clearly there are some issues here. Yes. I mean, he has broken what was once a successful and prominent business, essentially. And I'm not sure, and done it in service of advancing some of these really hateful, really disgusting, really awful accounts. And he spent a lot of money to buy it. All right. Thank you, panel, for joining me this morning. And thank you for joining us. I'm Manu Raju. CNN News Central starts right now.

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