"I believe we compromised our basic values by using torture to interrogate our enemies and detaining individuals in a way that ran counter to the rule of law," said Obama at National Defense University, referring to the Bush administration's national security policy.

But Donald Rumsfeld, who served as defense secretary under Bush from 2001-2006, said Obama has “blamed the Bush administration for practically everything since he took office."

Rumsfeld said that people “kind of conflated” the Defense Department with the CIA during the Bush years.

“The Department of Defense at Guantanamo water boarded no one,” he said of the detention facility in Cuba and harsh treatment of certain terror suspects.

”Three people were water-boarded by the agency with the authority of the Department of Justice and the president," said Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld said the United States has not engaged terrorism ideologically in the same way it took on Communism during the Cold War.

"I gave us a D-minus, and I'm an easy grader. I would give this administration an F, because they won't even use the words," said Rumsfeld.

"Until today, I haven't heard people use the word jihad. I haven't heard the people in the Obama administration talk about the fact that there are people that are determined to kill innocent men, women, and children that are attacking the whole concept of the nation state," said Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld also took issue with Obama's assertion that al Qaeda had "been gutted."

"That just simply isn't true. Al Qaeda is still effective. We have killed or captured any number of al Qaeda leadership, and they get replaced. Someone comes on behind them," said Rumsfeld, who also acknowledged that the threat is not the same today as it was in 2001 or 2002.

But he said there are still many unknowns.

"We know the number of people that have been killed or captured. We don't know the number of people that have been recruited. We don't know the number that are being trained. We don't know the amount of money that the al Qaeda and their affiliates are raising every year from supporters," said Rumsfeld.

Drones were not started by the Obama administration; there were drone attacks during the Bush years as well.

"We had very few when I came into office. They were increased, and this administration has the benefit of those unmanned aerial vehicles," said Rumsfeld.

But Rumsfeld said that it is a very tough issue, and agreed with Obama's statement that the administration would consider options for making drone strikes more transparent, like an independent oversight board, or a special court to approve the attacks.

"Going to the Congress and discussing it with them and getting them on board for some policy - that makes sense to the American people, so that he has that kind of support. He will need it," said Rumsfeld.

On the topic of his new book, "Rumsfeld's Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life," the former congressman, White House chief of staff, and two-time defense chief, responded to critics who doubt his leadership.

"These are not all Rumsfeld's rules. These are rules from people that are a lot wiser than I am. And I have collected them over my lifetime," said Rumsfeld. "And I guess what I would say to people like that is read the book."

Rumsfeld said there is one particular rule he would give to Obama.

"When I was a Navy pilot, the rule if you're lost is to climb, conserve, and confess. Get some altitude. Take a deep breath, and get on the radio and say, you're lost," said Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld said the administration changes its tune "week after week after week, whether it's Benghazi or whether it's the Internal Revenue Service."

"What you need to do is get the people in the office, sit them down, and find ground truth, because the currency a leader has is credibility," said Rumsfeld.

"To the extent that credibility gets eroded over time, you lose your ability to lead."

But now he is back, running for mayor of New York, and ready to open up to reporters. He gave an interview to radio station WNYC, and he is acutely aware that his scandal is not going away soon.

"I made very big mistakes. I compounded it immeasurably by being dishonest about it," he told WNYC. "I have apologized many, many times to my wife, and frankly I know that part of this process is going to be doing a lot of apologizing."

But can he apologize his way back into politics? Carly Fiorina, chairman of Good360 and former adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, Hilary Rosen, democratic strategist and CNN political contributor - whose firm SKDKnickerbocker's New York office serves as New York mayoral candidate Christine Quinn's media consultant - and Mark Leibovich, chief national correspondent for the New York Times Magazine, joined The Lead to dissect Weiner's apology tour.

The group also picked apart the latest development on the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.

"It's pretty inconceivable to me that the president wouldn't know. I'm just putting myself in his shoes. I deal with my senior staff every day. And if the White House had known about this, which now it appears they've known about it for about a year, it's hard to imagine it wouldn't have come up in some conversation," Speaker John Boehner told FOX News Wednesday.

The group debated whether Boehner may have overreached with those comments.

Check out the full politics panel in the video above.

The 8-year-old was a force on the soccer field. His stocky build earned him a nickname: "The Wall."

"Kids just bounced off of him," Davis' grandfather Marvin Dixon said Wednesday. "He just loved being with his Pawpaw and I loved being with him. I'm just going to miss him."

Kyle was among 24 people who lost their lives Monday when a massive tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City.

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"I would have detained and prosecuted Awlaki if we captured him before he carried out a plot. But we couldn't. And as President, I would have been derelict in my duty had I not authorized the strike that took out Awlaki," Obama said Thursday.

"The president said that he would have detained and prosecuted Anwar [al]-Awlaki, if that's the case, why did he never seek an indictment against Awlaki?" asked Jeremy Scahill, author of "Dirty Wars," a book on the United States' covert wars. Scahill is also the national security correspondent for "The Nation."

"Awlaki may have been guilty of all sorts of heinous activity, but no public evidence was ever presented against him, just pronouncements, usually in the forms of leaks from the White House," said Scahill.

Scahill said the president's speech was just an articulate re-branding of former President George W. Bush's policies.

"Effectively Obama has declared the world a battlefield, and reserves the right to drone-bomb countries in pursuit of people against whom we may not even have direct evidence, or that we're not seeking any indictments against," said Scahill.

There are no legal justifications for drone strikes against Americans, he said.

Three of the four Americans killed in drone strikes had never been charged with any crime. The U.S. had an indictment against the fourth, Jude Mohammad, killed in Pakistan.

Scahill said the U.S. had sought an indictment against one of the Americans, Samir Khan, and failed to get it.

"He was killed anyway," said Scahill.

On the killing of al Awlaki's son,  Abdul Rahman, Scahill said it is "just shameful that this administration will not explain why they killed this 16-year-old kid."

The administration has said Rahman was not specifically targeted.

"Are they implying that he was collateral damage?" asks Scahill. "That family and the American people have a right to know why this kid was killed."

Scahill's book "Dirty Wars" is now a documentary and will premiere next month. He said the most interesting thing he uncovered during the making of the documentary, was that the Obama administration is contracting out dirty work.

"While saying that they shut down the black sites, and they did, and saying that they don't torture anymore, [they] are actually using in Somalia a network of war lords to do the killing for America," said Scahill.

"They are outsourcing and directing foreign nationals to do it," said Scahill. "That really is a metaphor for how little things have changed on this particular front."

"I do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen – with a drone, or a shotgun – without due process," Obama said Thursday. "But when a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against America ... his citizenship should no more serve as a shield, than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a SWAT team."

The president did not discuss at any length the three other Americans his administration this week acknowledged it killed in drone strikes, including al-Awalki's teenage son.

He asserted that the core of al Qaeda is gutted, but said the menace of terrorism has mutated in the time since 9/11, to al Qaeda affiliates and wannabes, homegrown extremism, and threats to diplomatic facilities and businesses overseas.

Drones, he asserted, are often the safest way to conduct the fight.

The president said that civilian deaths in drone strikes outside war zones will haunt his chain of command for "as long as we live."

But he also asserted that they are legal because the U.S. is at war with al Qaeda. As an olive branch to critics, he said his administration will consider options for making drone strikes more transparent, like an independent oversight board, or a special court to approve the attacks.

The president ran into some trouble as he moved onto another long-standing controversy - the prison at Guantanamo Bay. A heckler slammed his failure to close the prison, despite signing an executive order to do so in his very first hours in office. More than 100 of the 166 detainees at Gitmo have been on a hunger strike for months now.

Before he could address that, Medea Benjamin, an activist with the group Code Pink, beat him to the punch.

"There are 102 on a hunger strike, these desperate people!" Benjamin shouted during Obama's speech.

"I'm about to address it ma'am, but you gotta let me speak," Obama replied, but Benjamin continued talking over him, saying "You are commander-in-chief, you should close Guantanamo today."

"Why don't you sit down, and I'll tell you exactly want I'm going to do," Obama said.

Benjamin interrupted the president several more times, eventually bringing the entire speech to a complete standstill. It took several minutes to haul her out.

Obama eventually diverted from his prepared remarks to address the situation head-on.

"The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to. Obviously, I do not agree with much of what she said," said Obama.

"Victory will be measured in parents taking their kids to school, immigrants coming to our shores... a citizen, shouting her concerns at a president," said Obama.

Producer Jerry Weintraub had been talking about doing the movie for years with director Steven Soderbergh. When Weintraub originally brought the idea to studios, they turned it down.

"The subject matter was a little risqué for them. They were afraid of it. And nobody under 50 had heard of Liberace until we started this campaign," said Weintraub.

The campaign paid off.

"Behind the Candelabra" premiered at Cannes earlier this week, ahead of its U.S. release this Sunday on HBO. The film stars Michael Douglas as Liberace, and Matt Damon as Liberace's driver, confidant, and secret lover.

Watch The Lead on CNN at 4 p.m. ET for our full interview with Jerry Weintraub.

"Now we're going to get a huge audience. And our sampling has told us that it's going to be a lot of young people," said Weintraub. "And it's coming at a right time with Prop. 8, and the Supreme Court, about gay marriage."

Proposition 8 is California's voter-approved ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in the state. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over Proposition 8 earlier this year.

The Liberace film deals with false images in show business. On stage, Liberace sported glittery, wild costumes, and even a rhinestone-studded grand piano. He was wildly theatrical - sometimes strapping himself to wires and flying on stage.

He was also gay, but denied it publicly until his death in 1987 at 67.

"When Liberace was on stage and was alive, people in the theatrical business that were performers could not come out and say that they were gay, because they would lose their complete audience. They would never have an audience again," said Weintraub.

Liberace's audience was almost entirely women, a fact that is addressed in the film. The piano virtuoso rocketed to stardom in the 1950s. Rock Hudson was a popular actor around the same time, and had crafted an image as a hunky leading man, often paired in movies with America's sweetheart at the time, Doris Day.

Hudson was also gay. He died of AIDS complications at 57.

"It was a different time in the world," said Weintraub.

"If Liberace would've lived now, like Elton John lives with his partner, with children, he would've been a happy guy. But he couldn't do that in those days," said Weintraub.

The legendary Hollywood producer knew Liberace - whose fame continued through the '60s, 70s, and even the early '80s – personally, beginning his career as a concert promoter. Weintraub worked with legends like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Neil Diamond. Liberace measured up to those performers, in his own way.

"He was a very flamboyant entertainer. He was Mr. Show Business, Mr. Showman. He was a showman. But he was a great pianist. And a lot of people never realized what a fantastic pianist Liberace was. But he was really a brilliant pianist," said Weintraub.

So brilliant that it took some work to mimic his talent on film.

Douglas - who Weintraub notes puts in an "extraordinary performance" - learned to play the piano, a stand-in played at times, and CGI was added in production to match Liberace's talent tickling those ivories.

"He didn't care much about the music," said Weintraub. "He cared a lot more about the flamboyance and the show of show business, which we show in the film. But he was Elton John before Elton John. He was Lady Gaga before Lady Gaga. He was Madonna before she was a thought in anybody's mind. And he was just an extraordinary showman."

Liberace's young lover, Scott Thorson, is played by Matt Damon.

Thorson is a controversial character in real life. His memoir, "Behind the Candelabra," served as the model for the film. But Thorson and Liberace parted ways bitterly, when Thorson sued him for $112 million in palimony. They settled out of court. Thorson is currently in jail for burglary and identity theft.

Weintraub said Thorson was not involved with the film.

"I bought the book. We had Richard LaGravenese adapt the book and make a screenplay out of it. It's an extraordinary screenplay. And that's what attracted Steven Soderbergh, and that's what attracted Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Marvin Hamlisch, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd, Debbie Reynolds," said Weintraub.

Liberace would have expected no less than a star-studded cast to recreate his dazzling, complicated life.

"Behind the Candelabra" airs  Sunday, May 26 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

"We are, we hope, in the recovery stages now," said Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. "They are starting to move the debris off the roadways onto the side or the curbs."

Clearing debris quickly is important as things begin to rot and smell quickly. Fallin said for now cleanup crews are not touching homes or private property, allowing individuals to come and look for personal things first.

People can take charge of their own property and clear the debris around their homes by themselves if they want to, "but if they need help, we're going to be here to help them," said Fallin.

In the wake of the tornado, which flattened two schools and killed ten children, Mayor of Moore Glenn Davis said Wednesday he wants all new schools to have shelters.

"That's going to be up to the local school districts," said Fallin. "It's certainly wise to put in some type of storm shelter, whether it is a room that is being fortified, and is being used for dual purposes as a classroom, or band room."

The reason so many homes and schools in the area do not have shelters is because of the geology of Oklahoma dirt makes it very expensive and difficult to build shelters.

Fallin said after the powerful May 3, 1999 tornado struck the area, the state began giving incentives, and started the first-ever state rebate program that would match money or give grants to homeowners and business owners for building storm shelters.

Fallin said it is worth discussing and doing more to get storm shelters in place.

Davis spoke with CNN "The Lead's" Jake Tapper about what needs to be done, and also shared news that the last six missing persons from Monday's tornado have now been accounted for - five of them were okay, and one is presumed dead.

Investigators now have names to go with the faces seen in surveillance video of the terrorist attack, the lawmaker tells CNN.

Several weeks ago, the FBI released pictures of three men seen on that video. At the time, it did not identify them as suspects. And it remains unclear whether these are the men who have now been identified.

The FBI will only say that the investigation is "ongoing."

Last week, CNN reported that the U.S. Military has updated plans to "capture or kill" those allegedly behind the attack.

"The tornado just came, I mean you can see the way it came. Dan McGuiness, which is the pub at the end, you could go in there and have a hamburger if they had electricity," said Lisa Talley, whose father owns the mall. "They didn't get touched. There were two beers still sitting on the counter, untouched."

Tally came to the mall Thursday to connect with the tenants, and direct the cleanup crews.

"There's a girl down there, working for Cheers. She lost her house yesterday. She has nothing. And she's up here helping him," said Tally. "She texted me last night ... and she said, I have no home. And I have no job."

Tally also heard storied of survival. Like the couple who owns the Chinese restaurant. They survived by hiding inside their freezer.

Next door are the remains of what was once Bodin Chiropractic. Owner Tyler Bodin came Thursday to sort through what is left, searching for the cash box and trying to secure patient files, and trying to salvage as much as he can.

"We're just going to start calling. I mean, there's a long list of patients. And we'll just do the best that we can," said Bodin.

"I just hope everybody is okay," he said, choking back tears.

Michael Morand's dream, his business, Nutrition 101, is now gone.

"We've been here the last two days ... trying to salvage what we can. Unfortunately I did not have insurance on the store. So everything I had I put into the store," said Morand, adding that he would "pick up the pieces and try to recover and move on."

Morand still seems shocked that he escaped in one piece, running as the tornado chased behind him, after hearing a dire warning on the local news.

"I was just missed being in this by about two minutes," Morand said, gesturing to the splintered remains of his business. "There's no telling what would have happened."

It is hard to imagine anyone surviving the destruction wreaked on most of the suburban strip mall. But the proprietors did survive, even if their businesses did not.

Now the hard work begins of putting things back together.

"I know my dad and his team of people, they're going to bust their tails to get this thing put back up real quick," said Tally. "Because people need to work. Not everyone can relocate, you know, pick up where they left off."

They would not have any other way, and they would not want to be anywhere else.

"I would never leave here, have you seen how amazing people are around here? It doesn't get any better than this," said Tally. "You can't live in fear."