The Note: One More Joins the Fray

— -- NOTABLES

--FORMER CIA OFFICER LAUNCHING INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL BID: Evan McMullin, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, will run for president as a third-party conservative alternative to Donald Trump. The operatives working on McMullin's bid resigned from Better for America -- a 501(c)(4) organization that has been working for months on trying to select a candidate and get on ballots throughout the country -- in order to push his candidacy, reports ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE. In some states, like Texas, they will likely have to sue to get on the ballot. It's an extreme uphill climb, but his supporters are confident McMullin, 40, can act as a disruptor who they hope can peel off some red states. http://abcn.ws/2aG8iwg

--MCMULLIN SAYS TRUMP IS 'INHUMAN,' CALLS CLINTON 'WOEFULLY UNFIT' TO BE PRESIDENT: McMullin had harsh words for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, telling ABC News he believes both are "woefully unfit for the responsibilities they seek," notes ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY. But he reserved particular ire for Trump, calling him "inhuman," and an "authoritarian" who "does not care about anyone but himself." http://abcn.ws/2b97Arh

--HOW AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT CAN ENTER NOW AND COMPETE: The last independent candidate to claim the Presidency was George Washington. The most successful one in recent years was Ross Perot, who received 19 percent of the popular vote in 1992, but zero electoral college votes. ABC’s ALANA ABRAMSON and RYAN STRUYK take a look at some of the biggest hurdles McMullin and the conservatives backing him need to overcome: http://abcn.ws/2auXgcc

--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Donald Trump was finally on his best behavior – even smiling tightly as the number of protest-driven interruptions during his speech stretched into the double digits – and this is the thanks he gets? First came a letter from 50 former high-ranking Republican national-security officials saying Trump would be “the most reckless president in American history.” That was followed by a declaration from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that “Mr. Trump lacks the temperament, self-discipline and judgment required to be president.” Amid promises of pivots and course corrections, it may be that Trump is out of second, third, and fourth chances from the Republican establishment. Trump has consistently played first and foremost to his base; that, of course, explains his initial hesitation in supporting House Speaker Paul Ryan in his primary election. He’s kept most of the establishment out of anti-endorsements by promising a more mature candidacy around the corner. Patience, however, is wearing out. As Collins writes in her Washington Post op-ed, “Regrettably, his essential character appears to be fixed, and he seems incapable of change or growth.”

YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY

CLINTON ACCEPTS FALL DEBATE SCHEDULE, CHALLENGES TRUMP. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton said Monday night that she will attend all three general election presidential debates and challenged her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, to do the same, ABC’s BRIAN MCBRIDE reports. "Secretary Clinton looks forward to participating in all three presidential debates scheduled by the independent debate commission," John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, said in a statement. Trump tweeted last month that Clinton and the Democratic Party were "rigging" the debates by holding them on the nights that coincide with two major NFL games. http://abcn.ws/2baysnL

TRUMP UNVEILS MORE DETAILED ECONOMIC POLICY PLAN. Donald Trump, addressing the Detroit Economic Club, rolled out a new version of his economic plan. In it, he advocated tax-exempt child care expenses, adjusted his previous call for four income tax brackets to three and called for abolishing the so-called death tax. “I want to jump-start America and it can be done and it won't even be that hard,” Trump said Monday. “American workers have paid taxes their whole lives and they should not be taxed again at death,” Trump said of the estate tax, adding, “It is just plain wrong, and most people agree with that.” ABC’s CANDACE SMITH has more: http://abcn.ws/2b8i72E

CLINTON JOKES TRUMP'S ECONOMIC SPEECH WAS WRITTEN BY 'SIX GUYS NAMED STEVE.' Hillary Clinton wasted little time in criticizing Donald Trump's new economic plan, which the Republican presidential nominee unveiled yesterday during a speech in a Detroit. During remarks at campaign rallies in St. Petersburg and Kissimmee, Florida, Clinton slammed her opponent for trying to "repackage trickle-down economics" and for creating an economic policy that she believes would only benefit the wealthy, ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ reports. She also took a jab at Trump's new list of economic advisers, suggesting they were probably just "six guys named Steve." "Today in Detroit, he’s got, I don’t know, a dozen or so economic advisers he just named: hedge fund guys, billionaire guys, six guys named Steve apparently," Clinton told the crowd of roughly 2,000 people in St. Petersburg about her Republican rival, "And so, they wrote him a speech and he delivered it in Detroit. Now, they tried to make his old, tired ideas sound new.” http://abcn.ws/2basKSM

COMPARING TRUMP AND CLINTON’S STANCES ON ECONOMIC ISSUES. The future of the economy is going to be at the center of the 2016 campaign this week, as Donald Trump gave a major speech on the topic Monday and Hillary Clinton will share her views days later. When it comes to specifics, Clinton's campaign website goes into more detail. Trump's campaign website lists six policy positions, one of which relates directly to the economy, while Clinton has a page dedicated to the economy and jobs that breaks the topic into 17 sections, notes ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ and MEGHAN KENEALLY. Here is a rundown of where the two candidates line up on certain hot-button economic topics: http://abcn.ws/2aPaYCR

50 FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIALS SAY TRUMP 'NOT QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT.' Fifty former national security officials whose careers span more than four decades released a letter Monday critical of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, stating that they would not vote for the real estate mogul, reports ABC’s ADAM KELSEY. The statement is the latest in a series of public rebukes of Trump’s capacity to guide the nation’s defense and foreign policy by former government leaders. “Donald Trump is not qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief,” reads the letter. http://abcn.ws/2aGhU4d

TRUMP TRAILS HILLARY CLINTON BY DOUBLE DIGITS IN NEW NATIONAL POLL. Unable to consolidate support from steadfast Republicans and losing ground among white college-educated women, Donald Trump is trailing Hillary Clinton by double digits in a Monmouth University national poll released Monday. The poll shows Clinton leading Trump, 46 percent to 34 percent, among registered voters and finds a similar margin for Clinton among likely voters, writes ABC’s RYAN STRUYK. http://abcn.ws/2aPulf2

PAUL RYAN CAMPAIGNS TO FEND OFF TRUMP-FUELED PRIMARY CHALLENGER. After months of working to keep Republicans united in a tumultuous election year, House Speaker Paul Ryan is confronting the intra-party tensions at home in Wisconsin as he prepares to face off with a Donald Trump-supporting candidate in his own primary. Businessman Paul Nehlen, a first-time candidate with ties to the tea party movement and the support of Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter, has forcefully backed Donald Trump's presidential campaign throughout 2016. ABC’s KATHERINE FAULDERS and BENJAMIN SIEGEL have more: http://abcn.ws/2aGWpCx

GOP SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS: 'I WILL NOT BE VOTING FOR DONALD TRUMP.' GOP senator Susan Collins joins a list of prominent Republicans who will not be supporting their party's presidential nominee this fall, ABC’s BRIAN MCBRIDE notes. "I will not be voting for Donald Trump for president," the Maine senator wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday evening. "This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country." Collins, a four-term senator who is considered a moderate in the upper chamber, has been critical of Trump throughout the course of his campaign. http://abcn.ws/2avYKms

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

ANALYSIS: WHY THE NEW INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE COULD STILL MATTER. Evan McMullin, the 40-year-old former CIA operative who on Monday became the latest entry to the wild 2016 field, will likely not be elected president. He may not even be able to get on the ballot in enough states to even have a mathematical chance. But that doesn’t make McMullin irrelevant, writes ABC’s RICK KLEIN. http://abcn.ws/2aPMbP3