hillary clinton was endorsed by a veteran official. it was the language that is most shocking. the former acting cia director praised clinton as highly qualified for the presidency. his other backing is the alarm of a donald trump presidency. he said trump is not only unqualified for the job but he

may well pose a threat to the national security. he went onto suggest quote in the intelligence business we would say that mr. putin recr t putin recruited mr. trump. it has become a major theme of the democrats this year. >> imagine him in the oval office facing a real crisis, a man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. >> yes. i think the republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. i said so last week. he keeps on proving it. i think i was right and mitt romney and john mccain were wrong but i never thought they couldn't do the job. >> today the clinton campaign

debuted a new ad. the message, trump is too dangerous to be president. >> if he governs consistent with some of the things he said as a candidate i would be very frightened. >> it was talking about using a nuclear weapon. >> it is not somebody who has been handed the nuclear codes. you to ask, do i want a person of that temperament and as of now i would have to say no. >> jackson is in green bay wisconsin. i am also joined by republican strategist mike murphy. a former cia officer who is a surrogate. thank you for coming on tonight. i guess i want you to just take the time now to talk about this and how the president of the united states has the nuclear football. the codes for deciding on

whether to launch those missiles which hasn't been done when we had the two bombs over japan what do you think about trump in the nuclear age? >> the notion of donald trump having his fingers on the nuclear button is absolutely terrifying. it is august now. people are at the beach but i think they are sort of seeing this through the clouds of their vacation. his temperament simply is not up to it. as has been said, he is a man provoked by 140 characters. that is not the sort of temperament you need. you about 12 minutes when you're warned there is a possibility of an incoming nuclear attack. you have to determine if it is accurate and how to respond? do we absorb the first attack or immediately give the signal and

our nuclear weapons arsenal is launched. trump, time and again on this issue and so many others has shown his ignorance and rashness. >> do you think he has an itchy trigger finger? >> i think he hasn't really thought much about it, chris. he sort of answers on the fly. he said he could learn everything he needs to learn about the whole nuclear posture in an hour. he is such a good negotiator. he has said to many things you never know what his statement is except that maybe it's kind of true in his head at that moment. they include that he said, first of all, well, you know, sort of so what if other nations get nuclear weapons? i think he was referring to jap japan. he didn't take off the idea of using nuclear weapons in europe. it is very important for the

president to be very careful of how they speak about either the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons. he clearly thinks he is smarter than anybody else including putin. i agree he is in fact an unrecruited asset of putin. he is obviously manipulating trump for his own purposes. >> let me ask you about something. we know he carries the codes with him. the secretary of defense says no. what happens then? >> what happened? >> well, this, you know, the institution says, as you know that only congress has the power to declare war. there is no question that the president and president alone has this incredible

responsibility of declaring nuclear war. there have been cases notably when nixon in the waiting days of watergate when he was drinking a little too heavily that the secretary of defense and secretary of state quiet lent put out the nuclear command control that the orders needed to go through them first. it is not very clear. it is not made public exactly how that goes. they want to put it in the hands of donald trump. >> he called hillary clinton unhinged and unfit to be president. let's watch. >> unstable hillary clinton lacks the judgment, temperament and moral character to lead this country. she is a dangerous liar.

she is pretty close to unhinged. you seen it a couple of times but people in the background to people that know her know it. it proves she is totally unfit to lead. >> let me go to hallie jackson. it looks like he is translating from some other action. he has words like unhinged. he has words like unfit. he is trying to -- >> off of a note. >> somebody is trying to script him. your thoughts. why is he doing that? >> first of all, look at the language. it's language the democrats use

against donald trump. it's a bit of i'm rubber, you're g glue defense. it is more disciplined than we have seen with him. he comes out and instead of talking about polls he is hitting hillary clinton and he is hitting president obama. he also called president obama the queen of corruption. he said it at his rally. he liked it and he is unveiling this today. he said this week that he had a talk with donald trump about being more disciplined. coming from page that is kind of interesting. i think it shows that trump knows he needs to be more on message. he is telling his top advisers not only that he knows what he is doing but he knows what he has to do and that is continue to go after clinton and make sure that the spotlight stays on. after this, what we expect is an endorsement of paul ryan which

is significant for trump. it is a backtrack for him. that is something we rarely see from this can date. >> mike murphy, i want to prestage what you'll say. when you bring wild ideas you're hauling it as the brits would say. he is stocking up on them from la page. this is really a wild week. what do you think of this? i asked you what was the heart of darkness? what is the real reason you won't back him? you said his ignorance of policy. >> i don't think he has the s judgment to be commander in chief. i think we are going a little too far on the nuclear button stuff. i don't think he would be trying to launch our deter rant. it is a more every day problem

that it could get him into all kinds of foreign policy trouble. it is one of the only foundations. i don't think he understands nuclear deter raanswer. >> and back in march i asked guyed about using nuclear weapons. let's watch what he actually said. >> nuclear should be off the table. would there be a time line? >> the trouble is when you said that the japanese, they are hearing a guy running for president of the united states maybe using nuclear weapons. nobody wants to hear that. >> i would be the last one to use the nuclear weapons. >> can you tell the middle east -- >> i would never take any of my cards off of the table. >> how about europe?

>> i'm not talking my cards off the table. >> how about -- >> i am not taking cards off the table. >> here is the question. you have been in intelligence. you know how we think and what deter rans is all about. what would be the advantage of telling the europeans that we might use the weapon over there? what would be the need to keep that on the table? >> some times only a blind pig finds the acorn and trump hit it right on. why do we have nuclear weapons if we're not going to use them which is the broader question of our whole nuclear program. i am a firm believer that nuclear weapons in the 21st century do not make us safer. she s he is saying whaftever comes ino

his mind. he simply does not have the knowledge, the background for the discipline to even learn about this or understand what's the difference nuclear use, nuclear deterrence policy and how you speak without the rest of the world's leaders having their hair on fire over this. zb thank y >> thank you. coming up, some republicans are taking a hard look at the libertarian ticket. gary johnson and former massachusetts governor can have a real impact. they are coming to hardball right now.

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one place they might look is the libertarian party. it features two former republican governors. i carding to the wall street journal hillary clinton leads by 9 points and johnson getting 10% of the vote and jill stein at 5. a candidate must have a level of support of at least 15% selected by the commissioner and government debates. right now gary johnson has average of 8% according to clear politics. joining me is gary johnson his and running meate, bill weld.

mr. weld, are you making the 15 and is 15 fair. we know if you get into national debates anything can happen and if you don't it won't. >> well, you hit it on the head. yeah, we got some serious momentum and we are believing we will be in the national debates by all of our analytics things are picking up dramatically. a double in the amount of looking at what we are saying and what we are doing. that is over the last three weeks. >> your numbers of seeing high single digits for weeks. why is it changing? >> i have been looking at 8s and 9s for a long time now. >> i know you believe that is the case but it's ratcheting up.

bottom numbers, if you go back six weeks ago were 6%. top numbers are 13. so a different viewpoint here. >> not making it up. >> no. >> not making it up. >> let me ask him, what happens if you don't quite make the 15? would you walk away and say that's the way it works? >> you know, i'm pretty sure i can feel it in my bones you're going to get there. it feels different out there. we are getting incoming calls from republican offers. i might -- i'm thinking of announcing. i'm going to vote for you guys. i think people are coming to realize that the problem in this country right now is not so much an economic problem as the political problem. the ma notary publicly of power is starting to behave the way a

monopoly always does. absolute power corrupts in a strong way. the parties almost seem to exist for the purpose of killing each other. we think if we drive the car up the middle of the road we are fiscally responsible. we are socially open and inclusive. that describes about 60% of the american people, most of whom don't know who we are and when they learn more and more about who we are i think you'll see figures escalate dramatically. if we were able to pick up prominent endorsements or democrats it would accelerate figures even more. >> thank you. up next, inside the numbers, the new numbers are dire and the republican could suffer and what if anything can trump do to turn things around? this is a question. what is he up to?

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is that concerning? >> no. i think we'll do it very well. >> in spite of what the new polls are saying it is too early. hillary clinton is cutting in and trump needs to rebound fast if they have any chance to make this a race. hillary clinton has a strong lead moamong women and a growin advantage and white voters with college degrees. trump's lead has been erased. july he lead by 7 points. clinton is closing in with white voters. trump lead by 13 in july but today only 5 points ahead. the lead among white voters

without college degrees has head. clinton has cut trump's lead to 13. joining me now are people that know the numbers. what do you think of these? >> you're losing it -- >> well, it is a problem but i don't want democrats to celebrate too soon. when you look at the numbers she is moving at 42, 43% among whites. if you look at where obama got and where kerry got. what is problematic he is not running up against white voters. he has no way if he is not running up the score with whites. >> and he is not running against barack obama. >> and not a racial divide there. >> yes. >> and it's always good.

>> it's getting harder. >> well, i think you can't predict at this point. we are in all new territory. we have never had two nominees for the party, over 50% in the terms of the negative unfavorability. both of them started off at 55%. if you look at that hillary at 52% unfavorable. these numbers are fairly baked in. i think what a lot of people are looking at, movement every day on the polls is that they both have a ceiling and they both have a floor. her ceiling is higher than trump's and his floor is a little bit lower. there is a -- >> can't we elect somebody we like? >> that's for the upcoming election. >> and i check in and i know up there. when you say they are down on trump which i think people in my

family, some of them are, not all of them. i say what about hillary? >> what are those people -- >> that's the fluidity of it. she hasn't put this race away. if you look at where he is underperforming, those aren't people who have been voting democrat. you look at those reagan democrats. do they vote hillary or do they sit home? >> they are the guy they sit home. will they go to a libertarian? >> we are in uncharted wars. i don't believe a third party -- >> does he make 15? >> all bets are off. >> and it will be interesting. he would be the favorite. he is smart. >> we talk so much about the negatives. >> only 3% of the country like both of these. usually it is about 30%.

30% dislike both of these candidates. usually it is only 10%. that puts it into perspective and why it is such uncharted waters. >> thank you. we'll do this again. >> that's hardball for now. coming up, your business with j.j. healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. your blood pressure could drop to an unsafe level. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra single packs. legalzoom has your back. for your business, our trusted network of attorneys has provided guidance to over 100,000 people just like you. visit legalzoom today. the legal help you can count on. legalzoom. legal help is here.

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