Then i take responsibility. So really a stronger attempt here on the part of the Clinton Campaign to counter some of those negative perceptions about secretary clinton that she might be cold or aloof. But make no mistake, steph, she is still taking very sharp attacks against donald trump. Thanks, kristen. Turning now to jacob rascon in pensacola, florida where donald trump will hold a rally later today. Donald trump started defending his stance on the war in iraq during a speech on education. Take a look. Three months before the iraq war started, i said in an intervi interview that perhaps we shouldnt be doing it yet. Help me out here. What happened . He said during the forum he was totally against the war in iraq. The truth is he was, but not at least publicly until more than a year after the war started. The reference there is an instance where he said maybe the economy is a bigger deal than the war. But he wasnt totally against the war. And even before that statement, he was asked about it on Howard Sterns show an he said there, yeah, i guess so, we should go into iraq. So it seems very clear that he was not totally against the ar in iraq before it started, at least publicly. Not totally. I want to talk something he has been publicly backing. Thats Vladimir Putin. It is not just donald trump praising the russian leader. Mike pence doubled down on it yesterday. Right. Mike pence said what is clear, at least in his words, is that Vladimir Putin is a stronger leader in his country than obama is here. That was surprising to some because a lot of the time it ended up that mike pence cleans up or explains a little bit the statements from donald trump. Even paul ryan was asked about this. He didnt back trump, of course. He said that putin is an aggressor. Others like marco rubio and other senators also now left trying to defend the indefensible at least for republicans. This morning, ill end with this, the Campaign Manager for the Trump Campaign tried to clean it up by saying theyre not praising putin as much as theyre saying well work with him to defeat isis. Thats what where they want to go with the conversation. The saga continues. Jacob rascon, joining us from florida. Were following breaking news out of north korea. The regime says its conducted a new nuclear test the second in eight months. I want to bring in nbc chief global correspondent bill neely joining us from london. Bill, what can you tell us . You know what . Im afraid we may have just lost bill so we dont have him right now. Well move back here talking politics. National security is the topic as has been dominating the campaign trail this week. Both candidates have talked National Security. Joining us on ot commander in chief forum and the backlash since that forum continues. Many say donald trump won the night when talking about the state of our nation and the future of our safety. Joining me now, nbc news political director around moderator of meet the press, chuck todd. Chuck, i need your help here. Okay. Do you think donald trump won . Oh, no, i dont. I think it depends on look. I dont think it is one of those situations where i think i understand why they feel good in the moment, but i think the statements that he made have a shelf life that is not going to wear well for him. I think it begins with what youve highlighted here at the top which is these statements on putin. I think this whole putin situation and this whole decision to sort of Start Playing nice with a country and with so much evidence now in the last couple of years that russias doing everything they can to undermine u. S. National security policy, whether its undermining u. S. Influence in ukraine and eastern europe. We see whats going on with syria. Never mind the hack. I think this is going to be something thats not going to go away from him. Were already seeing, stephanie, that its splitting republicans. It is sort of a new wedge inside the Republican Party. Paul ryan basically said putin is our adversary, we shouldnt be cozying up to him. Then these verbal gymnastics that mike pence did about it. It is startling. Chuck, Lindsey Graham said saying Something Like this is the biggest mistake since saying hitler may be an okay guy. Could this be the moment where gop leaders say you know what, donald . Im no longer going to support you anymore. Stephanie, i dont know how many times ive heard that phrase, could this be the moment . Where this whole swath of sort of mainstream wing of the Republican Party just says thats it, were out, lets stop doing this. I guess the scary thing about this with putin, and with this cozying up to putin is how normal it is looking and how it is getting normalized. This is whats i think so alarming to some people here, is that this is a guy who is actively appears to be actively trying to undermine our democratic process and were normalizing this idea that its just sort of one side says say nicer things about putin and work with him. The other side says dont say things things about him and work with him when you have to. This is not one of those issues. Again, i think this is something that isnt going to go away but i dont think it becomes the moment either. Whats Donald Trumps motivation, whether he didnt know or it was a plan to appear on russian tv . Could one guess is he giving a wink saying you want to hack . Hack away, here i am, im your boy . You know, none of us can crawl inside trumps head on this one. I think there are two things you got to realize about trurl. One is hes fixated on the 80s and 90s. He makes a lot of 80s references. Larry king for him is a touchstone. So i buy about half of that argue. But i dont buy this idea that they didnt know it was going to be on putins propaganda network. Knowing trump, i think he sees it as a way he figures, oh, let them have at it. He is one of those that doesnt mind sort of sort of like shooting flack to like let bullets follow the flack . He doesnt mind creating little controversies like this. I think he sees it as helpful distractions to him. I think though on this one he is playing with fire. One other thing that donald trump isnt is Hillary Clinton. Many times when you talk to Trump Supporters theyre not praising him or his policies, they are saying hes not hillary. Ive known her for 30 years and i dont like her. In the last 24 hours Hillary Clinton is aggressively trying to soften up, trying to bring out of it a humanity. Is it too late . Weve known her for a long time. It may be too late to fix the trustworthy numbers and things like that before november 8th. But this is something she has to keep working on. If she wins, you got to have decent trustworthy numbers. You got to have decent personal likability numbers if you want to effective live govern. And it makes it easier to govern if you have that. So i think it is something regardless of whether she can repair this in time for november or does she have to sort of win as saying im not trump. Regardless, this is a project she has to do. One thing to keep an eye on is next week. Next week president obama goes back on the campaign trail. He hasnt been involved in the campaign in six weeks. Its been the worst six weeks for Hillary Clinton. I think when obama gets back on the trail, i wont be surprised if that becomes the most important helpful lift that clinton receives until the debates. Im not ready to think about next week. Do you know why . Because i got to think about this weekend. Meet the press. Hello. Well promoted. Watch mtp daily today on msnbc. You can join him again on me the press this sunday on your local nbc station. Back to the breaking news in north korea. Their latest nuclear test. Nbc chief global correspondent bill neely, what can you tell us . Good morning, stephanie. Apologies for the previous glitch. No glitches in north korea. This was way beyond anything it has tested so far. The most powerful nuclear test announced by their news anchor with great pride. She, by the way, is brought out of retirement any time there is a Huge National story to tell. This one, well, it was north koreas fifth nuclear test. So strong it caused an earthquake with magnitude 5. 3. According to the North Koreans with be it is proof that they can mount a Nuclear Warhead on a medium range missile. Now thats a big threat to its neighbors, principally to japan and south korea. But the bigger concern of course is that north korea is on the path towards a missile capable of reaching the u. S. West coast. Bill, for us here, it is so hard to even understand what its like there. You were just spending time in north korea reporting there. What is it like to be inside such an isolated country . Well, yeah. I mean it is very isolated. Ill give you just give you a quote from someone who was interviewed on the street this morning who said, it is really great news. I am full of confidence that if the enemies make any little provocations well make a counter attack and we will surely win. That was the kind of comment i heard all the time. North korea believes the United States wants to attack. And the Nuclear Deterrent is just that. The question is what on earth account world do to stop this . I was there just four months ago. They were already anticipating this nuclear test. President obama says the world has to ensure that there will be serious consequences. But what exactly . More sanctions . Well, no state on earth is more sanntioned, and all those tough sanctions and diplomatic pressure have no effect at all preventing this test. So this is a real problem for the international community. Stephanie . All right, bill neely joining us from london. Thanks, bill. Coming up, some republicans are out blasting donald trump over his praise of Vladimir Putin. Will trump support for the authoritarian leader hurt or help his campaign . Is. Are and later, what was Donald Trumps stance on the iraq war . We take a little history lesson. Weve just been hearing so much about how youre a digital company, yet here you are building a jet engine. Well, ge is digital and industrial. Like Peanut Butter and jelly. Yeah. Ham and cheese. Cops and robbers. Yeah. Nachos and karate. Ahh. Not that one so much. The rest were really good. Socks and shoes. Ok, ricky. And i make dog chow in denver, vcolorado. Es nick one of my fondest memories of khloe is the d we got her. I knew right there she was gonna be a great dog. Khloes a big influence on the family. She loved lincoln from the start. Shes his little protector. 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So many people in that community who lost loved ones, colleagues and friends. It is an important moment. Were going to take that moment of silence now. [ opening bell ] that bell concluding the moment of silence, remembering 9 11 victims. Something well never forget. Well be right back with more. Youre watching msnbc. At northrop grumman, our microchips are getting so small and fast. Theyre taking on far bigger roles. Completely transforming the world we live in. Enabling entirely new kinds of technologies. And helping keep this country safe, all thanks to our full breadth of capabilities. Beuse to us, a microchips impact should be anything but micro. Thats the value of performance. Northrop grumman remember here at ally, nothing stops us from doing right by our customers. Whos with me . Im in. Im in. Im in. Im in. One, two, wait, wait. Wait wheres tina . Doing the hand thing . Yep we are all in for our customers. Ally. Do it right. We are all in for our customers. 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That is not just unpatriotic, and insulting to the people of our country, as well as to our commander in chief, it is scary. I want to bring in former georgia congressman and Trump Campaign senior advisor, jack kingston. Good morning, jack. Good morning, stephanie. Do you agree, is Vladimir Putin a better leader than president obama . I think what mr. Trump was saying is hes stronger. Take, for example, obamas very famous apology tour once he was elected. He goes around the world apologizing for america. Consider him calling the isis jv or saying to the syrian troops assad, if you go over to the red line, use chemical weapons, were going to push back. Or maybe his embracement of the muslim brotherhood. I think barack obama and Hillary Clinton have led a very, very weak Foreign Policy and therefore send a signal that americas weak because the leadership is weak. What donald trump is saying is you need strong leaders. Hes going to be a strong leader. Congressman, strong leaders were talking oppressive dictatorlike leadership. Someone who kills journalists, who breaks International Law over and over, invading other countries. Do we understand do the American People understand who Vladimir Putin is . What he has done over and over . But donald trump was not praising his actions in that regard. He was just saying he was strong. Strong cannot necessarily mean that youre good and doesnt mean you agree on everything. But remember, it was Hillary Clinton to famously had the russian reset that she embraced putin and the russian policy saying this is great. A new era. The reset was a huge deal. She proudly pushed the button on international television. Then if you think about not really standing up to him at all when it came to the uk and crimea. We dont need to bring up i hope the Clinton Foundation and the transfer of uranium i would like to talk though about donald trump. Because to win the election, you need to do more than just not like the other candidate. Lindsey graham said it is the biggest miscalculation since people thought hitler was a good guy. Does donald trump understand even by saying, listen, if Vladimir Putin wants to praise me, so be it. Going and speaking on russia sponsored tv, does he understand the dangers . Well, stephanie, keep in mind, Lindsey Graham, a friend of mine, i like him, i serve in the house, but the reality is he is aesth 1 pr of the vote and he is a never trumper. Hold on. It is expected that he would make a reference, a comparison to adolf hitler . Thats expected . Well, i would just say that lindsey has ways of saying quippy comments. Thats lindsey in action. But he does not support donald trump and we understand that. Here is where donald trump is on the military. By the way, i was just reading a poll said were winning 58 35 on military family voters. Donald trump says we have to rebuild the air force. The thatnavy, the ships cut in. Troops going from 1 million to 2 million. Donald trump is talking to mill pear families about peace through strength and rebuilding the military. Congressman, exactly on that military front, when he talks about defeating isis and we dont know exactly what his plan is or if if he has one. He said he is going to be listening to generals and bringing in new ones. As far as the military goes, are there generals we dont know about that are waiting in the wings with some sort of game plan to attack isis . Stephanie, you know what . There actually are. There are a lot of plans out there and the commander in chief, as all commanders in chief do, kind of cherry pick their leadership team, if you will. As you remember, president obama fired stanley mcchrystal. President trum president truman fired douglas macarthur. A president has that right. I think what donald trump is saying is im going to have a team thats going to change things. If youre happy with the middle east and you think whats going on in iraq and afghanistan and syria, libya, if you think those are good things, then give barack obama a third term with his proxy of Hillary Clinton. But if you want change, im going to bring change and im not going to broadcast to the