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Rumsfeld: Bush 41 ‘getting up in years’

by Jesse Byrnes - 11/05/15 1:31 PM ET

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is pushing back on criticism from former President George H.W. Bush about his service in the George W. Bush administration.

“Bush 41 is getting up in years and misjudges Bush 43, who I found made his own decisions,” Rumsfeld, 83, said in a statement to NBC read on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

{mosads}”There are hundreds of memos on www.rumsfeld.com that represent advice DoD gave the president,” Rumsfeld added in his statement.

The elder Bush spoke to Jon Meacham for a biography to be published next week in which he criticizes former Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld, two key figures in his son’s administration.

The Times and Fox News, which published excerpts of the book late Wednesday, included comments from George H.W. Bush blasting Rumsfeld, a rival of his since the Gerald Ford administration.

“I think he served the president badly,” Bush said, referring to Rumfeld’s treatment of his son, according to the Times. “I don’t like what he did, and I think it hurt the president having his iron-ass view of everything.”

“I’ve never been that close to him anyway,” Bush continued. “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. I think he paid a price for that.”

“Rumsfeld was an arrogant fellow and self-assured, swagger,” Bush added, according to the newspaper.

George W. Bush issued a statement Wednesday saying he was “proud to have served” with both Cheney and Rumsfeld, according to the reports.

The younger Bush said Cheney “did a superb job as vice president” and Rumsfeld “ably led the Pentagon and was an effective Secretary of Defense.”

Tags Donald Rumsfeld George H.W. Bush George W. Bush