today. "at this hour with berman and bolduan" wistarts now. new this morning, an isis bomb attack or bad intelligence? u.s. and british sources say it was likely thorists that took out a passenger jet. russia and egypt say, not so fast? donald trump taking to the air waves paying for press for the first time as he launches new attacks against marco rubio, and rubio hits back. that involves one war, one defense secretary and two presidents. bush versus bush like you have never heard them before. the new book that has washington buzzing. hello, i'm kate bolduan. >> i'm john berman. new this morning, was it an isis bomb attack that killed more than 200 people? to hear it from u.s. and british

officials, it is highly likely that a bomb plant by isis or one of its affiliates destroyed that russian jet over the sinai peninsula. intelligence suggests the bombers may have received assistance from inside the airport, but russian and egyptian officials reject those theories. they say they're speculative, premature, they urge caution. they say there's no evidence to support any conclusions. >> britain is taking no chances, though. it has suspended all flights in and out of sharm el sheikh airport where, of course, the doomed flight originated. right now egypt's president is in london for meetings with the british prime minister. let's get over to senior international correspondent clarissa ward is in london. she's watching this meeting as this meeting has been taking place. what has been coming out of it? >> reporter: well, kate, the egyptian president, abdel fatteh

el sisi sat down with the british prime minister for two hours. in a statement afterwards he said the egyptians would do anything they can to cooperate with british authorities and british security officials on the ground in sharm el sheikh who are essentially trying to comb through the security processes that are going on in that airport and to improve them to get to a point where those flights can resume back and forth, to and from sharm el sheikh. now earlier in the day the before theish prime minister david cameron met with his cabinet. he held an emergency meeting and afterwards he made a statement saying, while it's not certain that it was a bomb that brought down this passenger jet, it was, quote, more likely than not. so still couching his language. he also wouldn't be drawn on the issue of whether or not isis is responsible for this attack. if, indeed, this was an attack, he also said that he had a conversation with president putin of russia to try to

explain some of the intelligence that has led the british government to take this fairly drastic measure. now the focus here in the uk, kate, is on really trying to get some of those roughly 20,000 british citizens who are stranded in sharm el sheikh, back to the united kingdom. that effort is expected to be under way tomorrow. >> we're hearing egyptian leader saying british have been asking us to look at our airports for ten months, which is natural. what's not natural is shutting down flights to this region. something the british would not be doing, something these independent airlines would not be doing unless they had real reason to worry. so far at least, from where you're standing, egypt and the egyptian leader haven't been offering real explanation. >> reporter: no, he hasn't really offered any explanation. we know the egyptians feel that the u.s. and the uk have been too quick to come out with this warning. what the prime minister here said, we can't take any risks

when it comes to the lives of british citizens. we'll take any preemptive actions we think are necessary. obviously, this is a sticky issue. tourism is a huge source of revenue for the egyptian government. president sisi was here on what was supposed to be a three-day state visit where they would discuss trade and security, and that has been marred by this issue, which obviously is now topping the agenda. >> clarissa ward for us outside 10 downing street in london. where british leaders have been meeting with the egyptian leaders. so much to discuss there. and not broad agreement at this point. >> lights bring in paul and cnn's intelligence and security analyst, bob bair. it's great to see you both. paul, i know you've been looking into this. the significance, essentially, if this is an isis affiliate putting a bomb on a plane, the significance of it can't be missed. >> the most significant terrorist attack since 9/11, second deadliest since 9/11.

but this would turbo charge isis's popularity in the global jihadi movement, increase their standing. there's so much anger right now in the sunni muslim world against the russians. it's also targeting an aircraft, so it's a spectacular attack, which will hurt the egyptian economy, lead to more unemployment, lead to more fertile environment for terrorists recruitment. all sorts of reasons why this is a significant event. and may lead to geopolitical reverberations. russia may play a bigger role in the syria intervention, may pivot towards striking isis. that could play into isis's hands. you can see even more foreign fighters going to syria. >> so, bob, the united states and britain say it was likely an isis bomb attack. that's where they're leaning right now. egypt and russia say, no, not so fast. we don't buy it. is this a case of not believing that it was a bomb attack or not

wanting to admit it? >> they don't want to admit it moscow nor cairo have good credibility, especially on terrorism. they are both in denying. putin is personally tied to this policy in syria. claiming he can suppress this movement. the islamic movement in syria. this is a huge setback for putin. it's something he doesn't want to readily admit. he'd like to put some time between a finding on this airplane so i would definitely go with cameron in london, their assessment. let's not forget, we're not seeing the intelligence. there's a lot of chatter, probably chatter before the attack as well as after. you look at the context, shrapnel wounds to some of the passengers, you look at the flash right before the plane went down and the rest of it. i think cameron's probably got good reason to suspect this was a bomb that brought that airplane down. >> so, paul, if isis is planting

bombs on planes, in sharm el sheikh, can they plant bombs on other planes? >> the capability may be an insider at the airport. if you have an insider at the airplane, you don't have to put the bomb through airport security scanners. >> it doesn't sister to be -- >> you can put it directly on the plane. all that expensive technology, not much point if someone's working at the airport, can smuggle a bomb on a plane. the worry is they'll have other recruits in other airports elsewhere in the middle east. the worry also is that potentially this mole hasn't been arrested yet. i think that may be one reason they're being so coy in all their statements, not giving detail saying it's up to investigators. we're not going to tell you. >> isis themselves. >> to protect someone working at the airport for them. >> talk to me about the sinai peninsula. what's going on there? is this a hot bed of activity. we know syria, libya, is sinai now the latest hot spot?

>> it is. the islamic state calls it the sinai province, claims loyalty to islamic state. a lot of groups there. it's an ongoing battle between the egyptian army and fundamentalists. places like sharm el sheikh, you'll see a lot of sympathy for the islamic state. as paul was saying, even in the airport, airport workers. this is a real war going on in egypt and that's the reason there are all these cautions from washington and london. don't go there. don't fly over there. and now don't even fly out of there because this battle is very much ongoing. and right now the egyptians may be winning, the egyptian military, but we're going to wait to see how this all gls with, whether they can suppress this movement or not. >> you touched on it earlier, paul, but how does russia respond? if isis have been able to plant a bomb on this russian jet,

passengers were russian, what is the impact? >> if russia comes to the conclusion that isis was, indeed, in some way behind this, all bets may be off in terms of their response, both in syria and iraq potentially against isis but also in the sinai peninsula itself. it's not impossible that russia itself could launch air strikes against the isis affiliate in the sinai affiliate. >> you think that plays into isis's hands. >> it may because there will be more anger about russians targeting muslims on the ground, potentially, collateral damage to civilians being killed. as bob was saying, this is a very powerful insurgency. this group is believed to have more than 500 fighters over the last couple years. they killed more than 700 egyptian security forces. they killed an american, an oil worker in 2014. they beheaded a croatian, who was in cairo, who was adopted just recently. this is a very powerful isis

affiliate in sinai. >> is this a new capability or just a new logistical capability? >> i have a theory on this. a lot of these sophisticated airplane bombs are -- technology is old. it goes back to the '70s, but the technology was being held by damascus in baghdad with the breakup of those two states. a lot of this technology, presumably, has gone to people like the islamic state. now, we obviously don't know, as paul was saying, whether someone put this on or came through the luggage check or not. but this technology is out there and in the last couple of days, i've been asking people, the experts on this, and they keep on saying, this stuff can get through european security checks, these sophisticated bombs, and american. and i said, what percentage? they said, 65%. i said this on tv the other day and i got a text from a senior official in the administration saying, right on. and so i think that's the

estimate in washington as well. >> that's unsettling. >> that's reason for concern right there. >> great to see you guys. thanks so much. coming up for us, donald trump for the first time launching ads in iowa and new hampshire. what he's promising and who he's attacking now. that's up next. father versus son, president versus president. the elder george bush like you have never heard him before. he says his son didn't have very good help while he was in the white house. a surprising new book about to hit washington. ♪ (vo) you can check on them. you can worry about them. you can even choose a car for them. (mom) honey, are you ok? (child) i'm ok. (announcer vo) love. (mom) we're ok. (announcer vo) it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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the fact is, i'm going to make the greatest trade deals we've ever made in our country. and i'm going to bring jobs and money back to the united states. i'll take care of our veterans and make our military so strong that nobody will mess with us. i'll secure our borders and, yes, we will have a wall. if the people of iowa vote for me, you'll never be disappointed. i don't disappoint people. i produce. >> there you go. trump in new hampshire is also hitting marco rubio over rubio's personal finances. his use of a gop party credit card back in florida. but rubio, he's not taking it. he's hitting back as well. cnn chief political correspondent dana bash is there, has been talking to him. dana, you almost had two different responses from marco rubio in the two days you've spoken to him. >> reporter: i did. i found it very interesting and perhaps telling about the impact that donald trump's pounding on

marco rubio now for the past 24, 48 hours and his credit card use or charge card use, as marco rubio would put it. last night when i asked him about it, he kind of blew it off. today he went after trump. watch the difference. >> that's donald being donald. whenever there's a bad poll he gets weird and does these sorts of things. he doesn't know what he's talking about. >> i find it ironic the only person rubbing for president that's declared bankruptcy four times in the last 25 years is attacking anyone on finances. >> reporter: but both times senator rubio did go on to explain what's at issue here, which is the fact that he had a party credit card, charge card, back in florida when he was in the state house, which he did use for personal expenses. and he explains it was not a bad thing because he paid it -- his personal expenses straight to the credit card company. you know what, this is playing

into a narrative trump and other opponents have been trying to hit rubio on which is whether it's this or the fact that he was part of a foreclosure on a house he had in tallahassee or the fact that he doesn't have a lot of money personally and had personal debt, all wrapped into a narrative that shows he's not ready to handle the economy and finances of this country. so, that's the reason why he's pushing back pretty hard on this. >> he's getting pushed pretty hard on it and will, i think, in the coming days. dana bash in concord, new hampshire. want to bring former communications director for senator ted cruz, who is a republican, in case you didn't know. >> i missed the memo on purple. what the -- >> it's purple day dana, too. >> those have been asking for months, why isn't donald trump advertising? when will he put a little money into this campaign? well, we're getting the first taste of it today.

he has a couple radio spots. people know are cheaper than division. it's $300,000 buy as opposed to putting $10 million in tv ads in a few states. still, what's the significance of him going on the air? >> i think this is a smart move by donald trump. jeb bush has been pouring $10 million into tv ads and his poll numbers are going down, not up. talk radio is a powerful medium for conservatives, particularly republican primary voters. and i think donald trump is putting money there, ted cruz is also putting money into radio before tv. i think that's where the smart money is and it moves the needle for gop voters. this ad is full of buzz words. repeal and replace obamacare. we have no idea what his position is. beef up the military. i'm all for that. if this is an invitation for donald trump to talk about the issues and his plans, i think that's a good thing. >> but to this point, his supporters haven't needed much more detail than those buzz words. they accept the trust me tag

line. to dana's reporting, trump is hitting rubio over the past 24, 48 hours on his personal finances, his use of this gop credit card. rubio says it is much ado about nothing. but have asked this about hillary clinton and her e-mails. do you think this issue for rubio, like hillary and her e-mails, will resonate with voters? is this something that's going to stick with folks? >> i think rubio's issue goes to his broader problem. it sort of fits into this, is he experienced enough to manage the presidency, manage the economy. it's a smart way to go after him. he has never been very clear on why he's had so many personal financial problems. it's not just about sort of the scandal and the improper use of the credit cards. it's, you know, his personal bankruptcy and things like that. he's right to hit donald trump back, but eventually he's going to have to answer this stuff for

himself. and i think rubio's got to get a ahead of this. >> what do you think about his answer, some of his personal finance issues. he's like, i'm not a rich guy. that's his answer. >> people can relate to that. people struggle with money. >> particularly when he's answering donald trump. he never got a million dollar loan from his dad. one point that's important to raise when we talk about these financial issues there was a state ethics investigation into it and they cleared him. they said there was some negligence, but he has been cleared. this came from charlie crist. he won a tough race in florida by -- it didn't stick to him. so, i don't think they're too worried about it. i like his response. like donald trump is down in the polls, he's going to come at me. but you think his team has done pretty good ground in making it a relatable issue to people about finances. it's a really strong move. >> but the larger question for him, though, isn't about the primary. it's really about what he says going forward and how he responds to democratic charges about this.

he got cleared meaning he didn't get, you know, indicted or anything in florida, but that doesn't mean that, you know, being negligent about your finances -- >> i will say -- >> hang on, guys. i want to turn a corner here because we'll hear a lot more about this in the coming days and weeks. rubio's own people say he'll release more paper. i want to take a look at the latest fox news poll that came out late yesterday which shows donald trump on top 26 to 23. what's interesting about this to me, donald trump for all the talk about ben carson taking over, donald trump dropping, he hasn't dropped at all. i mean, you know, this poll has him going up. so he stayed remarkably consistent for months and months now. does that mean at this point, amanda, he has a solid base of support? >> i think everyone should be worried about the fact that consistently in the polls over the past few months f you look at donald trump and carson put together, it's over 50%. you see other people potentially being dropped off the debate

stage like chris christie or bobby jindal. donald trump and ben carson organically have it. other candidates are working to cultivate it like cruz or rubio. guys that don't have it, don't understand it like a jeb bush. they're not going to be able to break through to the, you know, trump/carson stranglehold they have over primary voters at this moment. >> you remember -- to remind all our viewers, you remember this moment from cnn's democratic debate with bernie sanders and hillary clinton. listen to this. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails! >> thank you. me, too! me, too. thank you, bernie! thank you. >> so bernie sanders gives an interview to "the wall street journal" and he says even though he's sick of talking about the e-mails, it doesn't mean he doesn't think it's an important issue. so, why is he taking that turn now? if he wants to make that point

and make that distinction with hillary clinton, why not during the debate? >> i think a little debater's remorse set in. just on polling in general, and sanders is going through this with clinton, right now for momentum in the primary national polls don't mean that much. what means more is how you're doing in iowa, how you're doing in new hampshire, how you're doing until south carolina and nevada. and hillary clinton has overtaken bernie sanders in iowa and even in new hampshire, which was his stronger home turf. so, sanders, i think, is trying to scramble back, look at issues to hit at hillary clinton's negatives. it's national phase of the campaign. there's three months left to go right now before the first iowa caucuses. he's got to regain some momentum. hitting hillary's negatives are really his only shot because iowa voters like hillary clinton. new hampshire democrats like hillary clinton. he's got to find a way to sort of push back on that.

>> debaters are more something sigmund freud wrote about a great deal. thanks so much for being with us. amanda, your former boss, ted cruz is going to be on today with jake tapper at 4:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. coming up for us -- more fallout this morning from an illinois police officer's, quote, carefully staged suicide. now people who donated money to his family, they say they want it back. ahead, what led to the downfall of a police officer who investigators say was laundering money from a police program for young adults. and senator and presidential candidate lindsey graham joins us live. yes, he's running for president. but he is also a key member of the arm services committee. we'll ask him about this plane that crashed in the sinai peninsula and new information it's possible, some officials say likely, that isis took this plane out.

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new this moernrning, a grou that gave $15,000 to the family of lieutenant gliniewicz, who they now say carefully staged his own suicide. he was found in september, shot twice with his own gun. it appeared he had been killed in the line of duty. this sparked a huge manhunt. but just yesterday in a stunning announcement, his own police force spoke out and said it was a setup and huge betrailer. >> they say he had been stealing for a police program mentoring young kids and had been doing it for seven years. it's strange to talk about a suicide being a scam, but that's what's alleged here. >> that's right.

it wasn't good enough he was stealing from the explorer's program, but staging the suicide he was trying to have the government make sure his wife received his pension and whatever death benefits he was eligible to receive. now, we -- a civilian organization, kate, the one you mentioned, they now also want money back they gave to the family. $15,000. they gave that money thinking joe gliniewicz was killed in the line of duty. because it was a suicide, they say that money belongs to them and they want it returned. now, you think about the explorer's program and we went on the website. there's a woman on the advisory board. she is mrs. gliniewicz. her name falls right under that of lieutenant joe gliniewicz. so, whether she was part of the explorer program, we got a lot of calls out there and we're trying to get that officially confirmed. what we do know is the e-mails really show that joe gliniewicz's plan began to unravel even as early as march of this year. and there's a village

administrator doing internal audits and he is trying to get his program protected under a 53c, which is sort of a tax-exempt program, so he doesn't have access to the checkbooks. in one of the texts he says, the chief won't sign off to move it to the american legion. and if she gets hold of that checking account, i'm pretty well finished. we'll use that word. so, he really, it seems now as investigators continue to delve into who else was involved, he does make reference to this plot, this plan, essentially, to make this organization tax-exempt. he says, i want to keep it -- to a small group. it's only you, my wife and the chief who knows about it. and one interesting note. the chief was put on paid administrative leave and took retirement shortly thereafter. this all happened leading up to the suicide of joe gliniewicz. >> the investigator says, there are two other people they're

looking into. >> thanks so much. >> thanks, deb. coming up for us, presidential candidate and senator, lindsey graham joining us live. who does he believe brought down that russian jet? >> stories of a violent past. there was a stab, a fight, a baseball bat beating. just some of the stories told by presidential candidate ben carson. things he says he did when he was a kid. what are people who grew up with him, what do they remember about all these incidents? people who talked to us? not really anything.

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all of them died. u.s. and british officials now say intelligence suggests isis or an affiliate planted a bomb on that plane. >> but russian and egyptians officials are pushing back. they say there's no evidence to support this speculation right now. what is the truth? joining us now, senator lindsey graham, member of the arms services committee joins us live from manchester, new hampshire. good morning, senator. >> thank you for having me. good morning. >> morning. >> so, you are on the senate armed services committee. you're connected. you know that region very well. based on what you've heard and based on what you're seeing right now, what do you think happened? >> well, i really -- i don't want to speculate. i do know this, if it wasn't isil, it doesn't mean they don't want to do this. they would do this and more. first thing we have to realize, if they had nothing to do with this bombing, they still want to kill us all. i mean, they want to kill every christian, they want to purify their faith by killing every muslim that disagrees with them,

destroy israel and attack us here at home. so, i don't know if they have the capability to get a bomb on board an airplane in egypt. if they do, that's a great move forward for isil. all i need to say is they need to be de graded and destroyed and our plan to do so is not working. >> senator, i know you have concerns about the region, the fight against isis in the region. how concerned are you about the situation in sinai specifically and egypt's ability to clamp down on this or control this? >> well, radical islam is just running wild throughout the region. sinai is another hot spot. the terrorist organizations in sinai, aligned with al qaeda, now pledged loyalty to isil. you see that going on in afghanistan and africa. so, yes, a big -- it's a big concern. what would really be a big concern if they have the ability to communicate, share intelligence, and plan operations outside of syria and iraq. that would be a ginlt move forward for isil. yeah, egypt's got its hands full

in the sinai. but the whole region is on fire right now. the source of this problem is syria. isil's headquarters in syria. until you deal with isil in syria, you're never going to stop this. >> you have had some kind words for the egyptian leader el sisi over time. he is calling the battle the right way, that islam needs to be reformed. in this case, in this instance, he has been slow to come to any conclusions about what happened in sinai and very critical of the british move to suspend flights to sharm el sheikh. do you think he is being -- this is the right path for him? do you think he's being honest and forth right in this case? >> i just don't want to jump ahead of my government. i want to see what my government says. the egyptian president is moving down one path that's helpful, another path that's not. he's putting people in jail who disagrees with him.

he's really inhibited freedom of the press. it's a mixed bag in egypt. he's been a tough ruler but at the same time, he's kind of undercutting instruments of democracy but we need to help el sisi because he does have an attitude about radical islam that i think is overall helpful. but i don't want to say what happened here until i know. and i don't want to speak ahead of my government. i don't think the british would say this unless they really believed it. >> so, the british -- britain, they are halting flights to and from sharm el sheikh right now. is that a good idea, do you think? >> yeah. out of an abundance of cautious i wouldn't send anybody in there if i had any doubts. they fired the security chief at the airport. maybe that's because of something unrelated to this instance. all i can tell you and your viewers, it's a matter of time before isil does this or worse. if it's not them now, it will be them later. the idea of destroying them is the right idea. the strategy president obama has is not working. i've got a plan to destroy these guys. it would be a regional approach

with a big army to go in there on the ground and pull the caliphate up by its roots. it's just a matter of time they hit us here at home. >> and this is something you have discussed in the presidential debates. there is another debate next tuesday night. there is some news out, this new fox news poll that came out shows donald trump on top. there's an interesting development here up. may get a new member in the first debate club, in the first debate of the night. it looks like chris christie may not qualify for the later debate, so, you know, what do you make of the new addition to the lindsey graham debate? >> he's a great guy. they're probably getting tired of seeing me and i'm getting tired of seeing the other flthr, the bottom line, i think national polling is being abused here. the difference between fourth place and last is within the margin of error. it's not a good indication of how strong a candidate you are. i don't trust pollsters. i trust the people. let people start voting. then we'll weed out the field. if chris comes down, we'll have a good, healthy discussion. he's a great guy. we got good candidates.

and i think i'm the guy with the plan that will destroy isil. i've been talking about this for two years. you're going to need boots on the ground, more in iraq. you need a regional force in syria. we'll have to be part of that force if we're serious about stopping isil. they are coming here if we don't hit them there. >> so, senator, real quick, any advice to chris christie if he moves into your debate? >> yeah, have a sense of humor. take it all in stride. but one last thing about our national security, the tsa has had some -- congress has some responsibility here. these budget cuts are hurting the fbi and department of homeland security defend america. we've got a perfect storm of reduced capability, reduced spending at a time of great threat. hope america understands these budget cuts need to be replaced. >> senator lindsey graham up in new hampshire, thank you so much for being with us. >> thanks, senator. >> thank you. we'll talk more about politics coming up. ben carson in discussing his past, he says there was a

violent past. he said he was involved in knife fights, even an attack on his own mother. cnn has gone and investigated these clarnlgsz trying to find people to talk about these stories, his background. hear what they said coming up.

this morning, who is or who was the real ben carson? it's a key piece of ben carson's story, that he has discussed many, many times over the years. the calm quiet we see today only came after a tumultuous and troubled past. his books and speeches are filled with references of having a pathological temper. listen. >> i picked up a large rock, hurled it at his face, broke his glasses. i would go after people with rocks and bricks and baseball and hammers. >> fortunately under his clothing, he had on a large metal belt buckle. the knife blade struck with such

force that it broke. >> now, this is important, because ben carson is running, in part, on this biography, his story, a redemption from a violent past. we went to his hometown of detroit to look into this narrative. what did you find? >> my colleague scott glover and i actually set out to find the victims of these attacks that dr. carson has described, just as sort of part of the normal vetting process you would do for any presidential candidate. we wanted to know if those temper issues did actually end at that moment. what we found, talking to neighborhood friends, talking to people, was we couldn't find anybody who recalled these incidents ever happening. now, remember, we're talking about carson beating people with bricks and bats. so you would assume that these kinds of incidents would have gotten around. but we are still looking for the people that he's identified as

having attacked. he only uses first names. jerry, a kid he hit over the head with a lock. and bob, who was in the stabbing incident. but the neighbors we talked to said that person who would do those things was unrecognizable to them. i think we have some sound from them to listen to. >> i was shocked. i was surprised. because he was, you know, quiet and kind. >> i was really surprised when i read he tried to stab someone. like, what? >> does it fit with a guy you knew, that kind of activity? >> no. >> i said, you hid it from us all those years. and he said he was just too embarrassed to even talk about it. i was surprised at some of the things he said. but, you know, he said that, honestly, and i believed everything he told me. >> so it's really important to remember here that, you know, the ten people we talked to on the record, a lot of them were skeptical. they couldn't recall any of these incidents.

but nobody challenged his stories directly or said they thought he was a liar. they just found it very curious that they had never heard about these incidents at the time that they happened. so, really, it just raises a lot questions about that piece of his life, and the way he's telling the stories on the campaign trail as he connects with evangelical voters. >> maybe someone will come forward -- >> right, we're looking for them. >> again, it's ironic in a way that there's a story involved with people not remembering what a bad guy or violent guy a presidential candidate was. usually you would think you want to cover up the opposite here. but it matters because it's part of his narnarrative, right? >> absolutely. the evangelical voters have powered his surge to the top of the field. what's so important is god intervened, he says, at age 14, right after the stabbing incident. he prayed in the bathroom for three hours.

he says that after that moment, he never had a violent outburst again. so that's what we're trying to confirm and figure out as we think about someone who wants to be president in the oval office, you know, at the nuclear controls. >> maeve reston, thank you. a new biography out where former president george h.w. bush has remarkable criticism for the administration of his son. stay with us. (vo) what does the world run on? it runs on optimism. it's what sparks ideas. moves the world forward. invest with those who see the world as unstoppable. who have the curiosity to look beyond the expected and the conviction to be in it for the long term. oppenheimerfunds believes that's the right way to invest... ...in this big, bold, beautiful world.

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it's gotten squarer. over the years. brighter. bigger. thinner. even curvier. but what's next? for all binge watchers. movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. it's not often you have a 90-year-old man throw around words like iron-ass and it's almost unthinkable it's coming from a former president talking about his son's administration. >> that's exactly what happened in a new biography out about george h.w. bush. this biography, the former president calls dick cheney an iron-ass and says of rumsfeld,

there's a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. he's more kick ass and takes names, takes numbers. pretty scathing criticism from one president to another, from a father to a son. let's bring in peter baker. the author of a wonderful book "days of fire, bush and cheney in the white house." peter, much of the subject matter in this book, you actually write about in your book. what's different here is you have direct quotes from a former president, just lashing out at members of his son's administration. naming names here. why now do you think? why this significance? >> we, it's very interesting, right? of course george h.w. bush is 91. he's sort of decided that this is, you know, the record for history. he was going to talk to his biography jon meacham in a very candid way, and he decided he wasn'toing to hold back anymore. he says it in a way that's meant to be supportive of his son. he says it in a sense that he

thinks his son was ill served by vice president cheney and secretary rumsfeld. he also allows of course no one is more responsible than the president of the united states. in that case, george bush. >> he talks about george w. bush but also in the book talks about his other son, join bueb bush. why would they come out with this now? jeb bush is in the middle of running. what does he say about jeb in the book? >> it's an interesting question. there's not a lot of jeb in the book. a little bit here. in 1992, urged his father to replace dan quayle on the ticket for his re-election. but he also supported dan quayle on some of the things that the vice president had said. most notably, his comments about murphy brown, you remember, that sitcom, in which candice bergen played a television anchor who has a child out of wedlock. dan quayle criticized that. bush said he agreed with that

criticism. he also said quayle was a drag on the ticket in '92 and his father should consider replacing him. it's an awkward time for jeb bush to be answering questions because it's going to force him once again to confront what does he want to say about his brother's presidency as well as his father's and we saw how much trouble he had back in the spring, figuring out his position on the iraq war. >> there's a lot gossipy in the book. he calls mary lynn quayle a horse's ass and a pill. he talks about barbara bush's opinion toward nancy reagan here. it's going to be a little buzzy and gossipy. >> partly because what jon meacham has done with his book is go through the diaries that both george h.w. bush and barbara bush kept for many, many years. we're really getting an inside look into what they thought not today but at the time. that's pretty rare for a president and that's pretty good for history. it helps us put aside some of the hindsight, wisdom, which is obviously so easy. >> unvarnished views are rare to

get in washington, this country. >> going to be a lot to work through. >> peter baker, thanks so much. >> thanks, peter. thank you all for joining us "at this hour." >> "legal view" with ashleigh banfield starts right now. hello, everyone, i'm ashleigh banfield. welcome to "legal view." the only thing experts or government officials know for sure about the cause of the metro jet disaster is that it is going to be a while before they really know anything for sure. five days after the russian-leased airliner broke apart over the sinai peninsula, killing all 224 people on board, a gaping divide has emerged between the united states and britain. on one side. and egypt and russia on the other. the british prime minister today declaring it more