[Keilar:] Another Republican breaking with his party to support Hillary Clinton. We're talking about former congressman Chris Shays, who wrote on Op-Ed for cnn.com about his decision, saying in part, "I know some Republicans dislike President Obama and have such a strong dislike for Hillary Clinton. They are willing to vote for a man they know does not have the temperament, knowledge, or experience to be president. In fact, I think many Republicans know Donald Trump could cause great damage to our country and the world at large and still plan to vote for him. But not me." Former Connecticut congressman Chris Shays joining us now. And tell us about your decision. How did you come to this conclusion that you were not going to not only are you not going to support Donald Trump, but you are going to support Hillary Clinton.
[Fmr. Rep. Christopher Shays , Connecticut:] Well, first off, I was a strong and am a strong supporter of John Kasich. He was my first choice, my second choice, my third choice, but now my conclusion is that Hillary Clinton is my choice. If you had told me I would have said that three months ago, I would have been really surprised. So I watched the conventions. Republicans had a very dark convention. It was almost like a lynching, you know guilty and lock her up. And I thought this isn't the party of Ronald Reagan and it ain't the party that I joined. And then I watched the Democratic Convention and Hillary did all the things that reminded me why I liked her. I worked with her on the 911 sicknesses of these incredible people who were cleaning up the debris and trying to save lives. And she came into our hearing I was chairing the National Security Committee and we were in New York. She came in the hearing, sat next to the other House members, asked me one or two questions, and then spoke. She was willing to work with House Republicans and Democrats and she wasn't partisan, she was solution-oriented. The biggest problem we have in this country right now is our government is not working. And our founding fathers formed the Constitution to help a diverse group of people find common ground. She'll do that.
[Keilar:] How many people do you think are in a similar situation to you, though? Do you think there are a lot of Republicans who are going to make this switch?
[Shays:] I think there are a lot of Republicans that know that Donald Trump is not qualified but they represent districts where a lot of Republicans a lot of Republican candidates know he's not qualified and they are in districts where a lot of Republicans, in particular, and maybe some of the affiliated voters are supporting him, and I would be really angry if they didn't support Donald Trump.
[Keilar:] You said that's not the party I joined when you're talking about Republican Party. Hillary Clinton sort of famously said she's said repeatedly because she was at one point a Republican, as a young person.
[Shays:] Yes.
[Keilar:] She said I didn't leave the party, the party left me. I wonder if you feel the same way about the Republican Party right about now. John Kasich had a lot more similarities, I thought, with some of the Democratic candidates than he did with many of the Republican candidates.
[Shays:] You know, the one similarity he had is he wanted government to work. He's a fantastic governor in Ohio. And it's almost like when Ronald Reagan came in he believed in small governments like Republicans do, but that got morphed into not liking our government and then it got morphed into we don't want government to work if it's bad. And this one quick story. I asked a senator who was a House member he just got into the Senate the youngest senator I mean, the newest. And I said how do you like being there? He said I love it, I can kill anything. The Senate one senator can stop anything. And so Republicans are not using government to do good things, they're just trying to just not have it do anything. How do you repeal regulations? You need a law. You need to work with both sides to repeal what you've done.
[Keilar:] You make the case that Donald Trump is dangerous.
[Shays:] He is dangerous.
[Keilar:] Why do you feel he's dangerous?
[Shays:] Well, first off, he's ignorant of the world and he's ignorant of what he says. He's casual about nuclear weapons, about our adversaries. He's giving our allies the impression that we may not be there for them. Words matter, particularly for a president and for, like, the head of the Federal Reserve. If they cough, the market goes up or down. And he doesn't have a principle that heads him in a good direction.
[Keilar:] Did the Clinton campaign reach out to you on this?
[Shays:] No.
[Keilar:] I know they've been courting some Republicans.
[Shays:] No. I knew John Podesta and I had a friend. I said tell John I'd like to offer my support and he got back to me and put me in touch with someone.
[Keilar:] But you have not always been supportive of Hillary Clinton. You had some pretty harsh words for her over the years.
[Shays:] I have.
[Keilar:] This is a bit of an about-face.
[Shays:] It is a bit of an about-face, candidly. I sat back and said OK, what do you like about her, what don't you like? I like the fact that she's smart, intelligent, hard-working. I like the fact that she knows the world community, she knows the Congress, she knows the White House, and she knows the American people. I mean, she's been around a long time out in the community. That's what I like.You know, I don't like the fact that she pushes things to edge. The Clintons do that.
[Keilar:] To the line.
[Shays:] They do, and it's hurting her. I mean, she should win this thing with no close second.
[Keilar:] Former congressman Chris Shays, thank you so much.
[Shays:] Thanks.
[Keilar:] We really appreciate you being with us Chris.
[Cuomo:] All right, another issue that's going to come up in this election, and it matters, is the intelligence assessments on ISIS and al Qaeda. Where they overly optimistic? That's what a Republican-led Congressional investigation they're report just concluded. Is that accurate and if so, what does it suggest? We have a national security expert weighing in next.