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Britain: 'Significant Possibility' Plane Downed by Bomb; Rubio Promises to Release Charge Card Statements; Bush 41 Blasts Cheney, Rumsfeld in New Book; Carson Describes His Violent Past. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired November 05, 2015 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Intelligence suggests it was a bomb planted by ISIS.

[05:58:29] BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There was a definite feeling it was an explosive device planted in the luggage.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Britain and Ireland are suspending all flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would be the most significant terror attack since 9/11.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are American airports safe?

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would go after people with rocks and bricks and baseball bats and hammers.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco Rubio has a disaster on his finances.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The bottom line people need to understand is this is an American Express card. If there were personal expenses on there, I paid them directly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Marco Rubio doing much, much better. What do you say to that?

TRUMP: All I know is I'm No. 1.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Blasted by George H.W. Bush in a new biography.

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After 9/11, I saw my role as being aggressive, it was up to me to carry out with the president's policy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to you NEW DAY. There's a major twist in the Russian plane crash investigation. Both the U.S. and U.K. now saying it was likely a bomb and with ISIS likely behind it.

We're parsing the words, because that's the way to do this right now, because the Kremlin is pushing back, calling it, quote, "unverified speculation." And the Egyptians also say there is no evidence at all of a bomb.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So let's go through what we know, because there was a dramatic turn of the events that unfolded at a rapid pace Wednesday afternoon.

It started with British Prime Minister David Cameron announcing that the plane, quote, "may well have been downed by an explosive device." Three hours later, the U.S. agreed, an official telling CNN it's likely that a bomb brought down the plane, and it was possibly planted by ISIS or an affiliate.

Two hours after that, a Middle East source confirmed the bomb theory is likely. And shortly after that, a U.S. official even pointed the finger inside Sharm el-Sheikh Airport, suggesting someone there helped get a bomb on the plane.

CNN has this story covered around the world, starting with international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson in Russia where the Kremlin is issuing its strongest words yet about the crash. What do you know, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, Alisyn, it's very interesting, because they refuse to completely knock down the possibility that this was -- that the plane was brought down by terrorism.

However, they're sort of going as far as they can to say that -- that all this information is wrong. This is what the Kremlin has issued in their statement. They are saying any versions regarding this incident and its causes may only be voiced by the investigation, meaning Egypt.

We have not heard any statements from the investigators so far. Any other statements are either unverified information or some kind of speculations. Speculation.

The Kremlin here is trying to push -- Kremlin here is trying to push back and make it appear that -- that this information is somehow incorrect. But they're not offering their own analysis.

What we have heard here is that Metrojet's other two A-321 aircraft have been grounded. That is a surprise here. Because earlier this week, they were cleared for service. Again, it does appear at the moment that the waters here are being somewhat muddied -- Michaela.

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Initially saying, no, it couldn't have been a technical issue. It could not have been, and changing their tune now. Nic, thank you for that. So after initially dismissing ISIS, what got officials to take

another look? Well, it turns out that chatter online after the plane went down got some attention.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr picks up that angle on the U.S. intelligence, what we know at this hour -- Barbara.

STARR: Good morning, Michaela.

As you have said, all of this still being very closely looked at. None of it is certain. But U.S. intelligence officials do believe it is potentially likely the plane was brought down by a bomb onboard, either put on the luggage or somehow smuggled onto the plane.

That is why you are seeing so much focus on security at Sharm el- Sheikh Airport. They are not offering a lot of detail here about the intelligence they do have. They are saying after the attack, they monitored ISIS chatter. That is what's leaning them towards ISIS or an ISIS affiliate.

That, if it proves -- if it proves true, will change the calculation about what ISIS is capable of, if they were able to bring down an airliner. Do they have a bomb maker themselves that was able to put together some type of device. Or did they basically hire someone to do it? All of these still questions very closely being looked at, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Barbara. Thanks so much for that update.

British Prime Minister David Cameron set to meet this morning with the Egyptian president, el-Sisi. CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward is outside 10 Downing Street with more -- Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, the timing of this really could not be more awkward. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi just arrived in the U.K. yesterday afternoon. He's here for a three-day state visit, and he's expected to sit down with Prime Minister David Cameron in the next couple of hours. But this comes just as this British announcement that they will be temporarily suspending all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.

It was the foreign secretary, Phillip Hammond, who made the announcement late last night after an emergency government meeting, and he said that they had concluded that there was, quote, "a significant possibility" that the crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft. He didn't go into any details as to what the intelligence behind that claim is, but certainly, it does appear to be in step with U.S. intelligence.

The prime minister is now in another emergency meeting. Likely, he is discussing how to get all those British stranded tourists back from Sharm el-Sheikh to the U.K. That could start as early as tomorrow.

CUOMO: All right. Clarissa, thank you very much.

So this situation is setting up almost like a simple crime analysis. You have means, motive and opportunity. It's a simple, yet suggestive analysis here. So let's do it.

Let's bring in Ambassador Thomas Pickering, former ambassador to the United Nations, as well as Russia, Israel and Jordan. And CNN contributor Michael Weiss, co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror."

So let's start with motive here. And I'll start with you, Ambassador. Motive, for ISIS to start a Russian plane would be?

THOMAS PICKERING, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Well, it seems at the moment perhaps the most obvious is Syria, where Russia has said it was in bombing ISIS targets. There's some question about how many and what percentage. But that could be a reason for them to go after a Russian charter airport in Sharm el-Sheikh, where they may well have collaborators. The Sinai Peninsula has been, for more than a year, a wild west zone with very little, I think, significant Egyptian control over big pieces of territory.

[06:05:18] CUOMO: All right. Now that is the possible scenario that the ambassador is putting out. Michael Weiss, you've studied the area very well. This comes as somewhat of a surprise, because on the ISIS hit list, you would say Russia, relatively low?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Actually, no, if you look at Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's first Ramadan sermon from July of 2014, he names Russia explicitly because of the war in Chechnya. Russia has got all this Muslim blood on its hands. The phrase is something like, you know, America and Russian backed by the Jews are responsible for this global conspiracy against the Sunni Umaa (ph).

CUOMO: So you think ISIS could take up the Chechen calls, as well as they could be taking up their own calls in Syria?

WEISS: Well, I mean, they've got loads of Chechens and Dagestanis and Russian nationals from just the North Caucuses, just the Caucus in general, pouring into ISIS. In fact, these guys were on their own kativas (ph), or battalions, within, you know, the ISIS military wing. So they're a very powerful contingent. And yes, I mean, that would feed some of this sort of blood lust that they have for Russia. Although, you know, the idea of this being blowback, as the ambassador said, if you look at the number of sorties Russia has been waging...

CUOMO: Right.

WEISS: ... in Syria, most of them are not against ISIS targets.

CUOMO: Right.

WEISS: They're against the Free Syrian Army or other rebel groups.

CUOMO: Right. And that would be what makes this a little counterintuitive. So we move on to means. What do we know about ISIS and bomb making?

WEISS: Well, I mean, these guys are extraordinary adept, and they really kind of came into their own in Iraq. They were masters of the so-called vehicle-born improvised explosive devices. Some of these things are very sophisticated. You know, they've retrofitted cars to kind of blow through checkpoints. And they have whole bomb- making factories in Iraq and now in Syria.

But the question is, Chris, is this coming from ISIS central command, or was this the farm team, if you like? Reliath (ph) Sinai, which is an affiliate that declared allegiance to ISIS but started out as its own franchise.

CUOMO: And also, this is a group that openly advocates anybody to do anything that is terrible.

WEISS: Absolutely. But these guys, too, it's interesting. Last July, I mean, they've gotten involved in a fierce fire fight with Egyptian security personnel. Something like two dozen Egyptians were killed. And the Egyptian government said, "We had to fight them like a conventional military, not like a guerilla insurgency."

CUOMO: All right. So we have an idea of why they might target it. How they might have the capability to do this.

Ambassador, that takes us to opportunity. We remember what we saw with the widows attacking a Russian. That wound up being a function of an inside job. You know this country, the ground, and this airport and their security, very well. What do you think the chances of opportunity from inside here?

PICKERING: Chris, the airport has been judged to have lacked security, and so I think that adds to it.

In addition to the conversation we've just had, as you know, Russia has been supporting President Assad for three years and a half or so. That, too, given the Assad-ISIS contention in Syria, would add further, I think, to the number of reasons why they might go after it.

So I think that the allegation that security is poor probably has some reality to it. The Egyptians, of course, deeply hurt by that, because they depend very heavily not just on Sharm but other areas for tourist traffic. And the British and the Irish have shut that down, which is the other part of the story today, is an allegation of the fact that, even in the face of a visit by President el-Sisi to -- to Britain, which are really taking all precautions and sending people to Sharm and to look at the question of how they can get those 15,000 people out there without using the airport, which is going to be a very serious feat.

CUOMO: Well, Ambassador, as a diplomat, parse the language for us. Because as we all know, bomb signatures pretty easy in terms of the sophisticated analysis that is often done in a situation like this. So what do you make of the language from the United States using "likely," "possibly"? The same with the Brits. And then, obviously, a bigger step back from Russia, and a full step back from Egypt in terms of moving away from this.

PICKERING: Three points, fairly like, because they have a relationship with Egypt. They don't want to rupture any more than they have to. But fairly indicative, because they are leaking it or saying it. And as a result, they have, obviously, something to go on, and we've seen perhaps chatter between ISIS people, and they make that an important part of the case, as the question goes.

Final point, look at Lockerbie. It took a long, long time to find the computer chip made by the Swiss expert that apparently played a role in the detonation of that bomb. So, evidence on the ground may be harder to find. And that may be what you need to lead to this in addition to the intel work.

CUOMO: Right. Certainly, on the intel side of who did it, it will take time and sophisticated analysis, unless you get a big leak or more of an admission by ISIS and with some meat on the bones of how.

[06:10:05] But again, a bomb signature, though, Michael. They should be able to know that.

WEISS: Right. Well, I mean, one of the pieces of evidence was the satellite footage showing sort of the heat explosion. Then that doesn't mean, necessarily, an explosive device is on the plane.

CUOMO: Lots of things systemically and otherwise can go wrong with the plane that will detonate?

WEISS: Right. And one of the earlier theories was -- was something called explosive decompression. Remember, this particular plane 13 years ago sustained damage, because it was trying to take off. And the tail hit the runway, and I think was cracked open.

So they repaired the plane and, you know, went through subsequent owners. But this company Metrojet said, no, no, this was -- there's no sign of wear and tear that might have caused this explosive decompression. So who knows? We're trying to piece together exactly what happened, using the evidence.

Now, I think that the U.S. is probably relying heavily on signals intelligence, intercepts between, probably, Reliath (ph) Sinai and ISIS central command, or internally within Reliath (ph) Sinai. One of the things we might look at, for instance is, if they're putting together video: This is how we did it. You know, because ISIS is very famous for those slickly-produced propaganda videos. They might be sharing some of the rough cuts on the Internet, and we've Hoovered (ph) that stuff up, and that's how we've come to this determination.

CUOMO: Michael Weiss, Ambassador Pickering, thank you very much for your perspective on this. Appreciate this always. Now, later this hour, we're going to get a different view on it

from the New York police commissioner, Bill Bratton. He understands terrorism and the applications and capabilities very well. What does he make of ISIS's capabilities to do something like this? We'll talk to him about the news today with crime, as well -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, on to the latest in this presidential re- election. Donald Trump on top in the latest FOX News national poll. He is backed by 26 percent of Republican voters. Dr. Ben Carson, three points behind. And Marco Rubio surging into a tie for third place with Ted Cruz, as you can see there.

This as Rubio fights allegations about his personal expenses. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash is on the campaign trail this morning in Concord, New Hampshire.

Dana, what have you learned?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, you're talking about that new FOX poll. And I think what's most interesting about it, as we put it up on the screen, is the numbers now, but how much they are virtually unchanged when you look at the very top in the last month.

Donald Trump, as you said, is now at 26 percent. He was at 24 percent in October. Carson 23 percent now, 23 percent in October. And you go down the line, still, everybody else is really far behind.

But when you're talking about where I am now, New Hampshire, Marco Rubio is the man who everybody is looking at. Because in the polls here, he has really jumped since his debate performance last week or a couple of weeks ago. And that's probably why Donald Trump is going after him.

I spoke to -- I asked Trump about that, and I asked Rubio, who is also here in New Hampshire to respond. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco Rubio has a disaster on his finances. He has a disaster on his credit cards.

RUBIO: Bottom line, people need to you understand, this is an American Express card. If there were personal expenses on there, I paid them directly to American Express at the time. If they were political, the Republican Party paid for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And at issue there, Michaela, is the questions about which two newspapers in Florida reported on yesterday. Renewed questions about a credit card that Rubio used when he was in the Florida state house. It was a Republican Party credit card. He paid some personal expenses on it. He insists that he paid them. He didn't just charge the party

for things that he was doing personally. They say in the Rubio campaign that they are going to make that public to prove that he did nothing wrong. They won't say when that's going to happen, but they say it's going to be soon.

PEREIRA: Donald Trump stirring the pot and then, of course, the other candidates have to respond. Very interesting. Dana, thanks for that.

Breaking overnight "The New York Times" is reporting former president, George H.W. Bush, planning two of the most notable figures from his son's administration, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, in his new biography. John Berman is here, and he's got all this detail.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Michaela, George H.W. Bush criticizes then-Vice President Dick Cheney, saying Cheney built his own empire and asserted too much hardline influence, pushing for the use of force after the September 11 attacks.

Bush biographer writes that Bush said of Dick Cheney, he was "Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East."

Also the elder Bush goes after his son's defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, calling him "an arrogant fellow who served the president badly." The book quotes him as saying, "There's a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He's more kick ass and take names, take numbers."

And George W. Bush responded to his father's pretty harsh words about his administration. According to the "The New York Times," he says, quote, "I disagree with his characterization of what was going on. I made the decisions. This was my philosophy."

[06:15:05] Now as for the former vice president, Dick Cheney, he responded on FOX News. I think we have that. We'll play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I fully admit that, after 9/11, I saw my role as being this tough and aggressive as it needed to be to carry out the president's policy, 43's policy, to make sure we didn't get hit again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know what's interesting? Dick Cheney was George H.W. Bush's defense secretary. They've had a relationship, a good relationship over time. Donald Rumsfeld and George H.W. Bush, not so much. A bit of rivalry that dates back all the way to the Ford administration.

CAMEROTA: Fascinating, John, to hear that unvarnished assessment from the previous president. Not so much. CUOMO: Also a window into there was plenty of blame to go

around. There's plenty of finger pointing after the George W. Bush administration.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but I mean, George W. Bush, in true to form, says you know, "It was all me. I did it. I'm responsible."

PEREIRA: But it's such an interesting -- it's one president to another. But then father to son sort of adds these very interesting elements to it.

CUOMO: Just because the president takes one position. That's why you have other people.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: To point the finger for you.

CAMEROTA: Yes, right. There you go.

More presidential politics. Dr. Ben Carson says he was not always the soft-spoken and low-key man we see on the campaign trail. In fact, he says he has a violent past. He says he attacked classmates, even his own mother. So what do his classmates remember about his violent temper? We have a CNN investigation into Carson's background, next.

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[06:20:35] PEREIRA: He is meek and mild on the stump and on the debate stage. But GOP candidate Ben Carson says he wasn't always so soft-spoken. In fact, he says his past was riddled with violence. We spoke with folks he knew growing up to check out his story. CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns has that for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARSON: Candidates can come at people...

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ben Carson's quiet, dignified approach is a big part of his appeal. But he says his calm demeanor was carved out of a violent past.

CARSON: As a teenager, I would go after people with rocks and bricks and baseball balls and hammers.

JOHNS: Carson wrote in his book about striking a schoolmate in the face with a combination lock, nearly punching his mother, smashing a kid's face with a rock. Carson said he also tried to kill a friend identified as Bob in a disagreement over the radio. He describes his temper as "pathological," a disease that made him totally irrational.

CARSON: I had a large camping knife, and I tried to stab him in the abdomen. And fortunately, under his clothing, he had on a large metal belt buckle. And the knife blade struck with such force that it broke. JOHNS: It was, he says, a pivotal point in Carson's life,

depicted in a TV movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do?

JOHNS: But then an epiphany. Carson says he quelled his anger with prayer.

CARSON: I locked myself in the bathroom and started contemplating my life and realizing that I would never realize my dream of becoming a physician with a temper like that.

JOHNS: From that day forward, Carson says he was a changed man, now on a course from poverty in Detroit to world-famous neurosurgeon.

CARSON: I never had another angry outburst since that day.

JOHNS: But that early picture of violence is not recognizable to some who grew up with Carson.

MARIE CHOICE, FORMER NEIGHBOR OF CARSON: I was shocked. I was surprised. You know, he was quiet and calm.

JOHN: CNN reporters Maeve Reston and Scott Glover tracked down ten schoolmates and neighbors. None challenged Carson's story directly. Only one said they'd heard vague rumors about one of the incidents. But all said this was not the boy they knew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was really surprised when he said he tried to stab someone. I was like, what?

SCOTT GLOVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Does it fit with the guy you knew, that kind of activity?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

JOHNS: The campaign has refused repeated requests from CNN to help find witnesses for the victims Carson mentions only by first name, telling CNN it was a, quote, "witch hunt." CNN has been unable to locate witnesses or victims.

TIMOTHY MCDANIEL, CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF CARSON: I associate him with a lot of things, but never stooping to the level of a kind of street thug. So I was a little surprised by it.

JOHNS: Timothy McDaniels says he was one of Carson's closest childhood friends. He says he raised it with Carson after the book came out.

MCDANIELS: I said, "You hid it from us all these years?" 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 it honestly; and I believed everything he told me.

JOHNS: Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: OK. So let's talk more about this. Let's bring in CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston. She's been investigating Carson's story for more than a month.

Let's also bring back CNN chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.

So Maeve, tell us about this investigation into -- you know, Carson said that he had this pathological violence and what his, you know, old childhood friends say.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we went out to find these people in Detroit. We went through the yearbooks. We called many of his classmates. I found his close friends through every period of his life.

And the person that he describes in these anecdotes on the campaign trail as leading up to this religious epiphany that he had cannot remember any episodes of violence involving Dr. Carson. They describe him as meek, quiet. You know, someone who would never defy his mother's orders to cross the street. And so it's really just raised a lot of questions about these stories. We still are looking for this Jerry and Bob that he's described, but we've contacted all of the Jerrys and Bobs that we could in his class, and still has not been able to find anyone who was part of these incidents or who was involved in them. And we've not been able to find any eyewitnesses to them, either.

[06:25:12] CUOMO: Maeve, respect the gumshoeing, but if I might, let me take up the position of Carson counsel on this, as I redirect to Dana Bash.

Dana, this is a story he's been telling for a long time, before he had any presidential aspirations. Why would you want to depict yourself as a thug, if you were in his situation? And why would you expect people who now have to feel some ownership of his success to throw him under the bus?

BASH: Well, if you listen to the way he describes his story, it's not just that he was a thug. He talks about the fact that he was a kid with issues that he, you know, he got over. It's part of the story that he tells on how to explain what it was like for him in the inner city, as he calls them, the mean streets of Detroit, and how he got from there to where he is now.

So, I think that's -- that's certainly the answer to that question about why. But, you know, Maeve's reporting, actually, there in Detroit with his classmates, with his friends and people who knew him, you know, obviously, doesn't tell a different story. But it still leaves a question mark at the end of the story looking for the people, which I think is absolutely fascinating.

CAMEROTA: All right. So, Maeve, it doesn't mean that it didn't happen. It just means that you can't find anybody who was connected to him that remembers this side of him. I mean, what's your -- what's your take-away, after you've done all of these interviews with people in his past?

RESTON: Well, I think it raises a lot of questions about these stories that he's told and why his campaign won't put forward the people that he says were involved in these incidents.

The other important point is that this is at the crux of his appeal to evangelical voters, this violent, angry, pathological temper. He said he went into a bathroom and prayed for many hours and spoke to God directly and that God intervened and, essentially you know, helped him never to have a violent incident again.

And so when you're vetting presidential candidates, you want to talk to them about temperament and who these people have been at different points in their life. And I think that's a really important part of his story.

CAMEROTA: All right, Dana. Let's move onto your interview with Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump was talking about Ben Carson and different reasons that he believes he should be sort of disqualified for running for president. So let's play a little snippet of your interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: You were questioning Ben Carson's aptitude to be president. What do you mean about that?

TRUMP: Well, you know, aptitude to do any of the deals that you have to do. We have to take back from China. We have to take back from Mexico, Japan, from India. We've lost everything in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Dana, we've heard him say that a few times. He doesn't think Ben Carson could negotiate ever a trade deal or any other deal, for that matter.

BASH: That's right. It's the first time that we've heard him talk about it in such a fundamental way, about Carson's personality and demeanor. I mean, we've heard him call him low-energy and so forth. But saying he doesn't the aptitude, that he doesn't have the ability in his DNA to do that.

And actually, kind of is the flip side to what Maeve was just talking about when it comes to Carson's personality. Why he has such an appeal among so many potential Republican and primary caucus voters. It is because he is calm; he is cool; he has found God.

And you know, as we were talking about with these latest polls, show more and more that Carson is the biggest threat right now to Trump, particularly in Iowa. That's why he's, you know, obviously going after Carson in a more fundamental way.

CUOMO: Well, look, this is what works for Donald Trump, also, Maeve. The -- what I've been calling the attacktics (ph) that he has. RESTON: Yes.

CUOMO: There is a -- there's a legitimate criticism of him that he doesn't have the temperament, that he's never made a deal like this. So, he is turning a negative about himself into a positive and redirecting it to Carson.

Similarly, remember all of us chasing him about his finances, what he's really worth, how responsible he's been. Now he's using that against Rubio. And it seems to have enough impact for the senator to want to discuss it. What do you see in this?

RESTON: Well, I mean, certainly, Donald Trump has opened himself up to a lot of attacks. You know, all of us out here covering the presidential race are vetting all of these candidates going through and parsing every aspect of their story, from Rubio's finances to Trump's deals that he's made. And we're probably going to learn a lot more about them going forward.

And that will be the point at which voters will have to decide who they feel most comfortable with, you know, sitting in the Oval Office and having their finger at the nuclear controls.

CAMEROTA: Dana, you talked to Marco Rubio about his response to people going after his personal finances. What did he say to you?

BASH: He says there's no "there" there. And the issue -- excuse me -- at hand right now is the idea that he used a party credit card, a Republican Party credit card, back in Florida, when he was in the state house, and he put his personal expenses on it.