Now, front tonight, it's not going to be a sleep show. Well, that is from a close confidant of the former president, a direct quote, who tells the bulwarks, Mark Caputo, that CNN's upcoming presidential debate will not be like the 2020 fiasco. Caputo, who has new breaking details tonight, he'll be here in just a moment.

Says Trump realizes the chaotic debate four years ago cost him valuable support.

Of course, here is just some of what we saw play out.

The question.

Justice, rational left, would you listen? Who is on your list, Joe?

This is on your right. Gentlemen, I think this is unprecedented.

I'm not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he's a liar.

But you, I just want to make sure.

I want to make sure.

Graduated last in your class, not first in your house.

I want to make sure.

Mister president, can you let him finish, sir?

No, he doesn't know how to do that.

145 times, that is how many times Trump interrupted Biden or the moderator. 145 times. And Caputo is reporting tonight. Is it that maybe different this time tonight? Trump telling the Washington examiner, quote, I was very aggressive in the first one. The second one I was different, and I got great marks on the second one. And in the final two days before Thursday night's debate, the former president says he is not hunkering down, he's not spending hours upon hours preparing, saying, it's.

Very hard to prepare.

You've got to know this stuff from years of doing it. And I know all the leaders and.

I know what I know.

It's largely based on common sense. I think debating is more an attitude more than anything else. That attitude will be put to the test as we are now learning. The two podiums will be 8ft apart now 8ft apart. Think about that. That's not very far. It is much closer than the last Trump Biden debate during the COVID pandemic when they were more than 12ft apart from each other. Could be the closest they've ever been. Maybe at inauguration it was closer, but it's really close. As for Biden, he is leaving nothing to chance. He is ready to push back and he is engaged in formal, traditional debate prep. Our MJ Lee is reporting. The Biden's team believes if and when foreign policy comes up, there is no stark or contrast. We even know what one of Biden's comebacks might be when pressed. And MJ is out live, is out.

Front live outside the White House tonight.

And MJ, you've got some breaking news on what Biden is doing and the thinking here on some of these debate moments.

Yeah, Aaron. Even though domestic issues are really top of mind for the Biden team, I am told by a source that the debate prep sessions at Camp David have also focused on foreign policy, with Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, taking the lead on those discussions as the president is prepared for the possibility of foreign policy issues coming up. On Thursday night, one campaign official said that when it comes to foreign policy, really, the, the contrast that the president will try to draw against Donald Trump could not be more strike stark. This is how they summed it up. They said President Biden stands up to dictators and defense freedom. Trump is a loser who is too dangerous and reckless to ever be anywhere close to the Oval Office again. One famous Trump line that one source had said is likely to come up on Thursday night is this claim from Donald Trump recently that he would be a dictator on day one. But, Aaron, I think one thing that is important to note is that as you're talking about preparing to go up against Donald Trump on foreign policy matters, one challenge for the Biden team is that his positions have actually been quite murky and ambiguous.

When it comes to Gaza, for example, he hasn't actually said much. When it comes to Ukraine. He has said if he had been president, Putin wouldn't have invaded and he would have resolved the conflict in one day. But he's never elaborated. So all of that goes into the thinking and the preparations. And of course, we've reported that mock debates have begun at Camp David. The president is using a podium as a prop, and there are different aides that are playing the roles of Donald Trump are Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. And all of that, of course, is meant to replicate the exact experience that the president could have on Thursday. And that is really meant to test him on substance as well as stamp as well as stamina as well.

All right. Which obviously is going to be crucial here. MJ, thank you. And more breaking news on the CNN presidential debate about Donald Trump strategy. So let's go straight to the bulwarks, Mark Caputo, who broke this part of the story. So, Mark, you've got new reporting tonight that Donald Trump is that he gets it. It sounds like that the confidants close to him are telling you that he has directly told them that he's going to, he's not going to repeat that chaotic debate performance in 2020. What are you learning?

Yeah. Quote, it's not going to be like last time he told one person who had spoken to me about it. It's not 2020. That's what Donald Trump is saying. His team is saying that he learned his lesson from the rather disastrous debate in 2020. But like in 2020, his debate preparation is not being called debate prep. Don't call it debate prep. They're calling it policy refreshers. He's having informal, or better said, formal discussions with five top aides and some others who come in. But overall, it's not like what Joe Biden is doing.

Not at all. And you say, obviously they don't want to use the word debate prep. So, you know, you also report, you know, to the extent that he doesn't have anyone playing Biden in rehearsals, which is a crucial part of debate prep for moderators, as I can tell you, having done that, or for anyone obviously, preparing to debate. So what do you know about the preparations that are taking place and what are these policy refreshers entail?

Well, the policy refreshers entail him just having about these hour long meetings. There's been at least six so far. There's probably going to be at least one or two more before Thursday where Jason Miller is top communications advisor. Stephen Miller, no relation, his top policy advisor, the campaign co manager, Susie Wiles. Two other top policy advisors are in these sessions every day. And then other aides sort of cycle through and then there are sort of special guests who come in and highlight various issues. And so we have a little sense of the things that he's interested in talking about or preparing to talk about. One of them is abortion. Foreign policy is another, immigration, obviously another, and trade. So what he does and how he responds to some of these other questions, like, it's going to be in Georgia. So he's probably going to be asked about whether he won Georgia or not. Obviously, he didn't. We don't know how he's going to respond, but I'm sure that they're expecting that question to be asked.

Right. Right. And then, and perhaps even they will have no idea how he will respond until the moment that he does. So, Mark, you recently, you know, you and I were talking, you had reporting about Trump's VP shortlist, that you had learned that it appeared to have been whittled down to three names. Now, you have learned that when you talk about these, you just said hour long sessions, at least six of them, that Trump has turned to two of those three to help him in these policy refreshers. Tell me more.

Right. JD Vance, the Ohio senator, is there to talk about sort of the, what they call the America first movement and sort of heartland issues, being from Ohio, the Midwest, the rust belt being of great importance. He sort of participated, or he has participated in at least one of these sessions. And then Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been there and discussed with him foreign policy and national defense, the specialties of Rubio. Now, I wouldn't read into that too deeply as the fact that they might be favored or disfavored. Trump recently said that he knows who he's going to pick as his VP. That VP candidate will be at the debate, but everyone's probably going to be at that debate. So we have no idea of who it is or when he's going to make the announcement, right?