sought of at that time. it started to unwant after abu grave and we didn t find the weapons of mass destruction. people should remember what donald rumsfeld delivered for our country. it s interesting to listen to the biography for donald rumsfeld talk about the fact that he was understanding of the threat posed by terrorism and hi wanted to stop it over there to prevent it from coming here. that became the harsh imaginable reality on september 11th. yep. look how that endures. joe biden just ordered a military operation against syria and iran. the fact that we have a forward defend was set up in the bush administration and used by president obama, president trump and president biden. donald rumsfeld helped engineer that. martha: thanks very much, ari fleischer. former press secretary, of
white house and in to the pentagon as the youngest secretary of defense in u.s. history. it was a simpler world. we had one major problem, the soviet union was expanding. after president ford lord the election, he spent some years in the private sector as a top ceo. president reagan asked him to be the mideast envoy. a position that even brought rumsfeld face to face with saddam hussein, the man that would become his biggest foe two decades later. a rumsfeld biographer said he sounded early alarm bells on terrorism and threats to the u.s. homeland. he was trying to alert the american public to the idea that this is a new threat. it s a new kind of threat. he went so far to say we would have to hit the terrorists where they are. in order not to be hit by them
eisenhower passageway outside his office with eisenhower campaigning for rumsfeld in 1961 and 1962. he just lived this incredible life. was the chief of staff to a president who took us through an amazing transformation of our country after the watergate scandal and of course donald rumsfeld led the defense department through a very consequential period of time both during the cold war and 9/11. so, look it, he s a wonderful man. we re going to miss him. our country is going to miss him. it was a true privilege for all of us, included to have spent so much time with him. bret: marc, we went in with trepidation to those briefings that became, you know, daily tv because he could not answer the question and make you feel like he left a lot on the table as far as the question you asked. but, marc, when you are writing for a guy like that, tell me about your thoughts.
against it. bret: and he acknowledged that the fight would not be a short one. bret: how do you judge success in this war? it s very hard to do. first of all, are this is a war that s going to be a long war and it s going to take years, i m afraid like the cold war did. we do know that we re putting a lot of pressure on terrorists and life is more difficult for them, it s harder for them to raise money. it s harder for them to move around. it s harder for them to communicate with each other. it s more difficult to recruit people. but it s a difficult thing to measure. good afternoon and welcome to the white house. bret: amid the criticism, rumsfeld offered his resignation in late 2006. it s been quite a time. it recalls to mind the statement by winston churchill something to the effect that i have benefited greatly from criticism. and at no time have i suffered a lack thereof.
senator joni ernst counted them down. did that to honor the 22 veterans a day who commit suicide on average every single day. senator grassley is 82 years old and he dominated the challenge against senator cotton. great team work all around. jesse: grassley challenge president biden. he is always talking about how he can do all these pushups. let s see it, president. that s a challenge. greg: great point. jesse: special report is up next with bret who can also do pushups we think. bret: yes, but i want one of those gutfeld shirts. good evening. i m bret baier. breaking tonight, former defense secretary donald rumsfeld has died. rumsfeld served under four presidents and worked nearly a quarter century in corporate america. six decades had in public service for the country. we will have complete coverage in a moment. first, some of the other headlines today. comedian bill cosby is a free man tonight. he was released from prison a few hours ago after the pennsylvania supreme cou