Rep. Peter King: Wrong to call NYC attacker a lone wolf

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Rep. Peter King: Wrong to call NYC attacker a lone wolf

New York congressman speaks out on 'The Story' about the investigation into the attack.

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," November 1, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SANDRA SMITH, GUEST HOST: Thanks, Bret. We pick up "The Story" from here.

Breaking tonight, consumed by hate and a twisted ideology, that's how federal prosecutors described the man now officially charged in the first deadly terror attack in New York City since 9/11. And in a chilling confession, Sayfullo Saipov says he specifically chose Halloween so he could hit the maximum amount of people. Within the last hour, Saipov appeared in a New York courtroom in a wheelchair, handcuffed, and shackled.

Right now, the 29-year-old Uzbekistan immigrant is charged with providing material to ISIS and destruction of motor vehicles. Also, late tonight, prosecutors revealing some shocking statements, Saipov made, while lying in his hospital bed, including that he asked investigators to hang in ISIS flag in his hospital room, and that he "felt good about what he did." And there's more, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOON KIM, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: A search of cell phones found in a bag that he was carrying, a search conducted pursuing court-authorized wiretaps revealed thousands of ISIS-related images and 90 videos -- about 90 videos depicting, among other things, ISIS fighters killing prisoners by running over them with a tank, beheading them, and shooting them in the face. And Mirandized interview statements with law enforcement last night and today, Saipov allegedly admitted that he was inspired to commit the attack by the ISIS videos he watched and had been planning this attack for two months. He also admitted that he had rented a truck on October 22nd in practice -- to practice the turns he would make on his Halloween Day attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: We've got a big line up for you tonight, covering every angle of breaking details in the New York terror attack. House Homeland Security Committee Member, Peter King, tells us where the investigation stands tonight. And could the government have done anything to stop this tragedy? And we have an exclusive television interview with the father of one of the eight victims. New Jersey resident, Darren Drake, was killed while biking between meetings. His family saying, he was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. They will be here to share his story.

But we began with Trace Gallagher; he is live in our West Coast newsroom tonight with the late breaking details on what we've just learned about the terror suspect. Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL: Sandra, the charging documents is astonishing for two reasons: one, the vast amount of detail it includes. And two, the cold-blooded candor of terrorist suspect Sayfullo Saipov saying he's proud of the attack, telling investigators he feels good about what he's done. Saipov also gave authorities a timeline of what led up to the attack saying he was inspired by ISIS videos that he watched on his cell phone, some 90 videos found, along with nearly 4,000 ISIS pictures and pages of propaganda.

The suspect went on to tell investigators, he began planning the attack a year ago, and two months ago decided to use a truck to inflict the most damage. Then eight days before the attack, Saipov told authorities he rented a Home Depot truck to conduct a dry run, so to speak, so he could repeatedly drive by the attack area and practice making turns. He said he chose Halloween for the attack because he thought there would be more civilians on the street. Yesterday afternoon, he rented the Home Depot truck for two hours, although he had no intention of returning it, and after plowing down people on the bike path, his plan was then to continue on to the Brooklyn Bridge and further his attack. Initially, he wanted to display ISIS flags on the front and back of the truck, but he did not want to attract attention to himself. Here's more from the U.S. Attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM: A man consumed by hate and a twisted ideology, attacked our country and our city using a rented Home Depot truck as his weapon of terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: We know that Saipov was a 29-year-old married father of three with no criminal record, though he had numerous traffic violations. He came to the U.S. seven years ago and lived in Ohio, Florida and Paterson, New Jersey, which has a large Muslim population. He mostly worked as a long-haul trucker and Uber driver. In fact, he passed the Uber background check and did not have any passenger complaints. Some who knew said he was polite, kind, and loved living in the U.S. Another man who knew him in Ohio says overtime, he became more religious and more aggressive. Saipov's wife has been tracked down and interviewed by authorities. So far, no information about what she might've known. Sandra.

SMITH: We're likely to learn more in the coming days. Trace Gallagher, thank you.

Here now with more, New York Congressman, Pete King, he's of the House Homeland Security Committee. Congressman King, what new can you tell us tonight?

REP. PETER KING, R-N.Y., HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Sandra, one thing I can say is that there's a lot of smoke here and that people I've spoken to say this is going to get worse as the investigation goes forward. First of all, people that he was involved with -- several people he was involved with for serious subjects of investigations by the FBI, these were bad guys. These are serious -- again, guys who have very, very radical Islamist views, and he was involved with him, he was associated with them.

He also -- my understanding was when he had his wedding, everybody invited to the wedding from Uzbekistan was denied a visa. So, certainly, his associations back in Uzbekistan also raised serious questions. So, as we go forward, I think it's important to find out who those people were that he was involved with, associated with, and whether or not they had anything on him at the time. I heard they didn't, but what were these people up to? What have they done since, what are they doing now? And also, I think the FBI will have to say, you know, why they stopped the investigations of the others? And if they weren't, wasn't he on the radar screen.

SMITH: Too often we hear that, though, Congressman. Too often we hear that in the wake of these attacks: they were known to authorities. And we're left wondering how a man like this was able to carry out an attack like that in this country.

KING: I guess, all I would say -- we have to wait for all the facts, remember. I think the people who he was associated with were bad people, he used that term. He himself -- I guess there was nothing on him per se, but to me if you're associated with people like that, that should put you on people's radar screen. And so, yes, we'll have to see what happened here, why, you know, more was not done, was there any reason why it was closed out, or is it just the fact that you can only continue an investigation for so long? So, these are all the issues and everything that has to be determined. But this is not somebody you would call a lone wolf who just happened to act on his own. He obviously had deep ISIS beliefs, and the people he associated with were really bad characters from Uzbekistan.

SMITH: How this suspect being treated right now, is the discussion -- you are hearing this from White House. Senator Lindsey Graham urging the White House to declare him an enemy combatant, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: If you take up arms against the United States in the name of radical Islam, you should be treated as a terrorist. So, what I hope the Trump administration will do is break from the Obama administration's view that all terrorists are common criminals. The law does allow you to treat the terrorist differently than a common criminal. Declaring this man as an unlawful enemy combatant would allow the government to hold them, and it doesn't have to be at Gitmo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: What do you believe should happen with this, Congressman King?

KING: Certainly, in spirit, I agree with everything you're saying. I would have to analyze the law carefully on that and see if it would delay the process, but I have no moral objection, I have no constitutional objection to it, and if it can be done I would say yes. Really, right now it comes down to what's most efficient, what's most effective. That to me is what would influence me, not the fact that I have any problem with him being declared an enemy combatant, it's whether or not that would slow the process down. And you know, which is easier for us to get the result we want. And that's to find out who else could be involved, who else is part of his network, and also getting the most evidence of him, even though I think we have enough evidence now to put him away forever.

SMITH: And of course, we're all left wondering what is going to change to prevent this from happening again in this country. Congressman Peter King, thank you for joining us tonight.

KING: Sandra, thank you. I appreciate it.

SMITH: All right. We are also learning more about the eight-innocent people who were killed in that attack, including 32-year-old, Darren Drake, who was struck while riding a city bike yesterday and is now lovingly remembered by his father as a miracle baby brought home on Thanksgiving. Joining me now exclusively by phone as Darren's father, Jimmy Drake. Mr. Drake, are you with this?

JIMMY DRAKE, FATHER OF DARREN DRAKE: Hey, Sandra, how are you?

SMITH: We're still sorry for your loss. This country is grieving with you and your family tonight.

DRAKE: Yes. Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you very much. That really was a miracle, because we tried for almost 12 years, you know, to have a baby, and then finally we have one pregnancy, it didn't work out, but then Darren was born and his birthday was November 18th. And it was just so beautiful that his mother and I came home from the hospital with him on Thanksgiving Day. You know, it doesn't really get a lot more beautiful than that.

And, you know, he had a typical, normal upbringing, you know, going to preschool and then becoming a boy scout, then going to high school, playing football, and then going to college on scholarship. He is getting ready for Rutgers, and then he went into the corporate world, and he worked (INAUDIBLE), and then he went a long ways' away. And he went to work for Moody's, a great, great, great company. And you know, he had Masters in Business Administration of Internet Systems, and then he was pursuing a second one, and that's when this happens.

SMITH: And you have described him as the perfect son.

DRAKE: Absolutely.

SMITH: You've had nothing but wonderful things to say to him, and I can't imagine how difficult it is for you and your wife; your only child is gone, how difficult it is to talk about this tonight. But if you could, what were your thoughts, as we just let up this hour as we are learning more details about the suspect involved here that carried out this awful attack that killed your son?

DRAKE: What do I think about him?

SMITH: Yes.

DRAKE: I think that he -- he should serve the rest of his life in solitary. That's exactly the way I feel. Don't let them get communication with anybody. You know, these people, they come to the country and they hurt us. I mean, what do they expect? I mean, of course, there's a war going on between America and ISIS and Al Qaeda, of course, there's a war going on. But you know, I just think that vetting should be a lot more difficult, you know, to allow these people to come into the country, especially a single man.

You know, I understand he was married living in Paterson, but I think that when he came in, he came in as one person, but I'm not sure about. We have Syrian neighbors across the street, I love them. I love the lady like my sister, they wouldn't hurt a fly. But you get these, you know, these radicals, you know, my son is the victim. You know, it's just one of those occasions where there's nothing you're going to do about it, you just have to live with it.

SMITH: Mr. Drake, how did you first hear about the attack yesterday?

DRAKE: My wife and I had gone for a ride, and we put on the radio and we heard that there was an incident down by the World Trade Center where my son worked, and we just said, no, no, no, it would have to be too coincidental that our son would be there at that precise time. And then as the day went on, and we didn't hear from him and his cell phone went dead, and his office phone, he didn't answer, and then around 5:00 he normally calls, you know, and asked me what he wanted for dinner, and we just realized as longer the night went on he wasn't coming home anymore.

So, what we did was we called around and we found out that Bellevue picked up some victims and also Columbia down in the Wall Street area. And as the day went on -- as a matter fact, that lady right there that's on the screen right now with the FBI, the lady with the black uniform one, she was with us in Bellevue. What a sweetheart. She is one of the anti-terrorist FBI agents --

SMITH: Do you remember --

DRAKE: And next thing you know, all the people there were cops. You know what I'm saying, why are there so many cops here, but they were all aces, absolutely wonderful people.

SMITH: It's nice to hear that, they are the best.

DRAKE: Absolutely.

SMITH: Do remember the last exchange that you had with your son, the last conversation?

DRAKE: Yes. When I took him to work Tuesday morning, he had gotten a great amount of sleep all night long, and we were going down Hoboken -- to Hoboken where he got the train, and we got hit with senior citizens, red lights, school buses. And said, Darren, you're going to be late today, you're never going to get in on time and wouldn't you know it, he did. He says, yes, Dad, I don't think I'm going to ride the bike today, I have too many meetings. So, you know, that made me feel good that he wouldn't be riding a bike, and then when the day progressed, and what happened, traumatic.

SMITH: We're so sorry Mr. Drake. It feels horrible that we even have to talk about this tonight and your son is gone, Darren Drake, we'll all remember him, and we're mourning his loss this evening. And we thank you for coming on and telling you and your wife and your family's story. Thank you, sir.

DRAKE: Sandra, thank you for having me.

SMITH: All the best to you. All right. Well, still to come...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES O'NEILL, COMMISSIONER, NYPD: We're going to go backward and history, what he's done over the last couple of months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: So, how did this terrorist stay off the FBI's radar? And when did he radicalize? Former Islamic Extremist, Maajid Nawaz; and ISIS expert, Dr. Robert Pape, are here on that. And, the New York terror attack is sparking a fierce debate over the Diversity Visa Program, which allowed this suspect to get into the U.S. in the first place. Bill Bennett is here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK: What New Yorkers showed already is we will not change. We will not be cowed, we will not be thrown off by anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN MILLER, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, NYPD: The notes were handwritten in Arabic. They had symbols and words, but the gist of the note was that the Islamic State would endure forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: That was the NYPD deputy commissioner earlier today talking about the notes of paper found in the suspect's truck praising ISIS. Sayfullo Saipov has now allegedly confessed to his crimes, appearing in court within the last hour. Senior Correspondent Rick Leventhal is live at the scene in lower Manhattan with more. Rick?

RICK LEVENTHAL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Sandra, the NYPD has now cleared the crime scene here and reopened the Westside Highway. And as we heard from the U.S. Attorney's office and saw some of those first charging documents, in this case, the suspect has allegedly confessed his involvement in this crime, showed no remorse for the carnage he caused; he even telling investigators he wanted to display and ISIS flag in his hospital room, and that he was proud of what he had done -- killing eight innocent people and wounding a dozen more.

Today investigators went to the home of the Sayfullo Saipov in Paterson, New Jersey, a rented apartment right behind the Omar Mosque where he apparently attended services and where authorities questioned other worshipers and family and friends looking for clues to explain Saipov's loyalty to the Islamic State.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: If you examine the component pieces of his attack, obtaining the vehicle as outlined in the complaint, testing the vehicle for the high- speed attack, learning to use it properly, having secondary weapons inside multiple knives, and trying to achieve maximum lethality, certainly is indicative, along with the amount of material in his telephone that he was a follower of ISIS propaganda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVENTHAL: And late this afternoon, the damaged Home Depot rental truck was hauled away from the scene by the NYPD on a flatbed truck, very quick work by investigators who are now focusing on Saipov's cellphone, his internet history, his association with others and his travels to see who else might have been aware of what he was plotting, and who else might be plotting to make attacks of their own, Sandra.

SMITH: Rick Leventhal in Lower Manhattan, thank you. Here with more Maajid Nawaz is a former Islamic Extremist and Author of "Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism"; Dr. Robert Pape is Author of the "Report the American Face of ISIS", and is Director of Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism. Thanks to both of you for being here tonight. Doctor Pate, I want to start with you first, because you have done such in- depth analysis, specifically of ISIS terrorists in the U.S. dating back to 2014. What can you tell us about what we are learning about this suspect?

DR. ROBERT PAPE, DIRECTOR, CHICAGO PROJECT ON SECURITY AND TERRORISM AND AUTHOR: What we're seeing is almost a paradigm case of ISIS recruit that has been almost by remote control recruited by ISIS from overseas. We don't see ISIS trying to punch through fighters through immigration cracks in our immigration system. What we see are ISIS orchestrating through social media, online propaganda and especially video propaganda, detailed attack plans, and also detailed and targeted recruitment appeals. Uzbek had been specifically targeted by ISIS and multiple videos to glorify would be Uzbeks who would become martyrs in the service of ISIS. And what you're seeing with Saipov is somebody who took ISIS' lead.

SMITH: And that's what you're hearing, Maajid. In the wake of this, officials are saying he followed ISIS's playbook to a T.

PAPE: It's even more aggressive than that. You see, ISIS, unlike past terrorist groups, is really targeting its videos to very specific sub- audiences; very specific parts of a population. And what they're doing is producing videos within the case of Uzbeks, Uzbek speakers with Uzbeks who have traveled to Syria, who have died in Syria, coming to life in these videos. And then, essentially, calling for others to come and follow their footsteps.

SMITH: So, the question is how do we battle against that? And I want to get to Maajid on this, because as a former Islamic Extremist, yourself, you wrote about your journey out of that. If we know the playbook, as officials are saying, he followed it to a T, you're saying they went even further, Dr. Pape, in this scenario. How do we combat it? If we know the playbook, why can't we fight it and stop attacks like this?

MAAJID NAWAZ, FORMER ISLAMIC EXTREMIST: Well, partly, Martha, the reason we can't fight it is that we're the simply -- the frank and simple answer is we're not willing to fight it. And when I say we're not willing to fight it, I say as a society, we often are scared of calling out the Islamist ideology for what it is my name. The president before this one was even unable to name the threat, to call it Islamist Extremism for fear of fear of offending Muslims; weren't actually -- surely if Muslims are the first to say this is nothing to do with us, they also would be standing side-by-side with those who are able to name this threat and isolate it from mainstream Muslim communities.

And so, we have this problem that we are, for various reasons for fear of racism, fear of whatever political correctness, we're unable to even name and isolate and then challenge the threat. And then we've got a separate problem, which is that if we can't name something, we simply don't even have the ability to begin to challenge the propaganda about --

SMITH: When you say that -- when you say that, Maajid, are we even on the right path?

NAWAZ: Well, no. We've got to recognize this. This man, who was in Florida, he had -- I mean, incredibly privileged to come from Uzbekistan to one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and he's in Florida. And for him to turn against the country that was so hospitable to him, it tells us something, it tells us that the strength of the narrative that he subscribes to got to him before the American dream got to him. And that tells us that something's gone wrong with the way in which we are advocating are smaller, liberal, secular democratic principles. We've become scared to say that this is a better way of life than the dictatorship that is in Uzbekistan.

SMITH: Dr. Pape, only a few seconds left, go ahead.

PAPE: There's a second reason, which is that local community leaders, including Muslim leaders, really don't know about the strategies ISIS is using in its propaganda. I know because I meet with such leaders here in Chicago and I study the propaganda. And even though leaders may think they would like to talk people out of it, if they don't know what ISIS is doing, this is a major problem.

SMITH: And as you say that, as it was just revealed by authorities, two cell phones were found; one of the 90 videos of ISIS propaganda on one of those phones. We have to leave it there. Maajid, Dr. Pape, thank you for joining us tonight. I'm sure we'll hear more from you in coming days. President Trump, taking immediate action in the aftermath of terror in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am today starting the process of terminating the Diversity Lottery Program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Chief National Correspondent, Ed Henry, live at the White House with the backstory on the Diversity Lottery Program. Then, Bill Bennett is here on the president's response to the tragedy today. Plus, as we are learning new details and the terror suspects background, former CIA Officer Buck Sexton and former Navy SEAL Rob O'Neill are here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We need strength. We need resolve. We're going to get rid of this lottery program as soon as possible. He came in through the diversity program, as you know. We're going to as quickly as possible, get rid of chain migration and go to a merit-based system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Well, that was President Trump earlier today flanked by his top national security advisers vowing to end the visa program that allows the New York City terror suspects to enter the U.S. It's a program that some conservatives have been trying to end for some time. Chief national correspondent, Ed Henry, live at the White House with the back story. Ed, good evening.

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sandra, good to see you. Republicans were jumping all over Hillary Clinton when she focused on gun control so quickly after the Las Vegas massacre. Now that she was on the other foot as Democrats today expressed outrage that the president is already talking about extreme vetting measures hours after this terror attack. It started last night when he started tweeting about how he had ordered the homeland security department to step up extreme vetting of refugees. Then at a meeting today with his cabinet, the president said government officials have grown so politically correct in recent years that they're afraid to act to stop terrorist, citing specifically that diversity visa lottery program. The terror suspect in this case entered the U.S. from Uzbekistan during the Obama administration from this program.

It's been in place for over 20 years offering a small number of visas to people from parts of the world that has small numbers of immigrants in America. The idea of diversity driving this leads the president to charge it is all about political correctness. The president also jumping on the fact that as a house member in 1990, now-Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer sponsored the bill that helped create this program. The president tweeting, quote, that terrorist came in to our country to what is called a diversity visa lottery program, a chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit- based. That led Schumer to fire back that the president is politicizing this tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're so politically correct that we're afraid to do anything. We have to get tough, we have to get smart. We have to do what's right to protect our citizens.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing that President Bush did was invite Senator Clinton and me to the White House. The contrast between President Bush's actions after 9/11, and President Trump's actions this morning could not be starker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, interesting that rushing to Schumer's defense was Republican Jeff Flake, which drew cackles from people close to the president since the senator has been battling the president on a range of issues. Flake said that Schumer try to end this diversity program in 2013 as part of a broader immigration bill. It didn't go anywhere. Now the president vowing he's going to finish the job, Sandra.

SMITH: All right. Ed, thank you. Ed Henry at the White House.

Here with more, Bill Bennett is host of the Bill Bennett podcast and a Fox News contributor. Bill, thank you for joining us tonight. What about that though? Jeff Flake coming to Chuck Schumer's defense there after the president's tweet calling this a Chuck Schumer beauty, and this diversity visa program that this terrorist was allowed to enter this country back in 2010 on. Flake was saying, actually, the gang of eight including Schumer did away with the diversity visa program as part of broader reforms, I know, I was there.

BILL BENNETT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. Well, the diversity lottery program is done, it's finished. It's over. It was passed in the '90s. That was before 9/11. It's done. Look, I have no objection to the president bringing this up. I didn't have any particular objection to the Democrats bringing up the gun issue. You know, this is the way we talk about things in Washington. We turn them into political issues. And that's sometimes the way we solved questions. So let's not be so offended by that. The president's instincts here are right. But let me just say analytically we need to get smarter about this. The problem is not identifying countries where this trouble. The problem is not identifying countries where there's trouble. The problem is identifying individuals and sometimes it's not hard. The question is whether these people are Sharia supremacists. Do they believe in the supremacy of Sharia over the rule of law, over the rule of the constitution? And I would suggest if they do, they don't come in. And if you're not sure, they don't come in. I think the president instincts are right on this.

Look, we have all these police cars out there. We have these guys in the suits on the indictment, all fine. We're going to have the teddy bears and the candles, but can we cut out the baloney and just do what's obvious, Sandra? The guy first name is Sayfullo which I'm told translates as sword of Allah. Let's not let anybody in whose first name is sort of Allah, or whose first name translates as I want to kill Americans. Remember the car that Nidal Hasan had, the psychiatrist in San Antonio who killed everybody, the business card said soldier of Allah. These people are not embarrassed about it, they're out there telling us. So let's just be clear and let's be clear in our policy on immigration. And if they can't pass that test, Sharia supremacists over the constitution, they don't get in. That program, the lottery visa program.

(CROSSTALK)

BENNETT: This guy is sitting in his bed gloating, happy, gleeful was the word, asking for an ISIS flag, and we're lighting candles again. Let's get smarter and tougher and use common sense.

SMITH: And we've just heard from the father of one of the victims, lost his 32-year-old son in this attack, and he said we've got to do a better job vetting. You make another point though. You say we're overlooking something else and that is immigrant communities need to think like Americans. That's not happening you're saying.

BENNETT: Well, we all need to think like Americans. I will tell you this, the longer -- in many places in America, the longer you stay in school and the more education you get, the more likely you are to have an unfavorable view of America. That's just the way it is. There was a study done years ago, Sandra, of people before they started high school, people whose kids were born in another country. Before they started high school, they identified themselves as Americans. When they finish high school a majority of them identified themselves as hyphenated Americans. We're not doing our assimilation job by our own citizens, people who were born here and raised here. And for these people come over -- and again, this is not rocket science. The guy lives in this nest, as I think Catherine Herridge called it, next to the mosque with a lot of other sympathizers of ISIS. We ought to be able to figure this -- we have to be able to figure this out.

SMITH: Bill Bennett, we thank you for coming on tonight. Good to see you.

BENNETT: Thank you. You're welcome.

SMITH: Also breaking tonight, the terror suspect admitting he was inspired by ISIS, and picked Halloween to do as much damage as possible. But he wasn't on the fed's radar? The man who killed Usama bin Laden, Rob O'Neill, and former CIA officer, Buck Sexton, are here with their expert insights. Plus, the fight to get answers on the now infamous anti-Trump dossier and the new links between Hillary Clinton and the shady D.C. firm, house intel chairman Devin Nunes is here, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: We have Fusion GPS obstructing the investigation, the Democrats obstructing our investigation, and the government, the executive branch obstructing our investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Based on the investigation overnight it appears that Mr. Saipov had been planning this for a number of weeks. He did this in the name of ISIS, and along with the other items recovered at the scene was some notes that further indicate that. He appears to have followed almost exactly to a tee the instructions that ISIS has put out in its social media channels before with instructions to their followers on how to carry out such an attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: That was NYPD deputy commissioner John Miller earlier today, laying out the disturbing details of terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov's radical ties. And we've just gotten this new pix of the suspect taken outside that truck after he plowed into a crowd in lower Manhattan killing eight and injuring 11 others. You can see what police thought was a handgun at the time.

Here now, Rob O'Neill, former Navy SEAL and Fox News contributor. Buck Sexton, former NYPD intelligence officer, and former CIA officer. Rob, I'll start with you first, what sort of feelings to that picture just bring out in you?

ROB O'NEILL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: That this thing is going exactly the way it should according to the ISIS handbook. He did what he wanted to do, he rehearsed it, he had a vehicle, preferably, a truck they say to mow people down. He had ISIS inspired material inside, either a flag or a picture of a flag, a handwritten note about this is for ISIS, and then he had knives in there. Once the truck was stopped, which it will be, get out and inflict as much damage as you can until you're martyred, which is you have to be killed and then go to paradise. I believe that's what he had the fake guns because he knew he could die by suicide by cop. So he would try to get out and stab people, but he did drop the knives in the chaos, and then he ran with the guns knowing the NYPD with their quick response would be there and inevitably shoot him, but they didn't kill him.

SMITH: As the man who killed Usama bin Laden, I remember when you came home and you spoke publicly after the first time about that. And the families, answering to the families in bringing closure to the families who lost loved ones in 9/11 was so important to you. We spoke to the father of a victim at the top of this hour who said we've got to be able to do more.

O'NEILL: I was very impressed with his composure because it just happened at a time like this, just losing his son, a matter of hours ago. I don't know how he keeps composure. But he was right though, he was of sound mind saying we've got to do more. It's not just candlelit vigils. We need to find out where this is coming from and how to stop the ideology not with bombs and bullets, but getting to the key.

SMITH: Buck, you have been on the ground at the scene this morning. We started out with you in America's newsroom. You have now learned the details from authorities. He had two cell phones, one with 90 videos of ISIS propaganda on it. He planned to attack and kill more with that truck when he drove down the streets of Manhattan aiming at the Brooklyn Bridge. He asked for an ISIS flag to hang in his hospital room as doctors operated on him. The details coming out of this story just -- you have to stop and think who was this guy?

BUCK SEXTON, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Well, this is exactly what one would have expected. If we were to lay out early on based on the facts of the case as they were presented right after the incident and say, well, if it's a lone wolf, would we be able to find out more about him based on the social media profile?

SMITH: There was word there was a second person involved, but they have now said that that's not the case.

SEXTON: Yeah. And everything that we thought would come to bear here, all the different aspects of this case have come together exactly as one would expect, as Rob said. And in fact, part of this is that the Islamic state in -- which is its online magazine has put out exactly how to pull off, not just a terrorist attack, but this terrorist attack, meaning the site, the vehicle, all the different aspects of it, all the different components. And then people want to know what could we do to prevent this? The problem with vehicle assault specifically is because they require no skill, they require no ability, and they're so omnipresent in our day-to-day lives that it really weaponized the environment around us. And it doesn't allow for the red flags, the tripwires, what law enforcement and intelligence agents and intelligence officers do to try and prevent these attacks from happening. A lot of those barriers of getting explosive, learning explosives, those are no longer present by the vehicles.

SMITH: Not so sophisticated, Rob, but as we just look at that new image of the suspect on the ground shortly after all this played out, we have also just learned that he rented that truck on October 22nd, so that he could practice making turns.

O'NEILL: Right. He was doing what we call dry runs. What we're seeing here with the jihadist is they are -- they're evolving. They're adapting, they're realizing that the bombs don't always go off. They will get caught trying to buy the stuff to make it. They can get away with doing this. And we keep reacting, but they're being proactive. And they're realizing they've done it over in Europe a bunch of times. They can take something very, very simple, like Buck was saying with very little training and just mass casualties, hurt a bunch, and not only what they do at the time, but there's always the thought people looking over there. How many people are going to avoid the marathon tomorrow? Who knows what's going to happen? They're going to keep evolving once -- like, they're not going after the airports per se right now.

SEXTON: People always want to know why is it not easier, or why aren't we more adept at identifying radicalize individuals, because if you catch them in that indoctrination process, obviously, before they go operational with a plan, now you're preventing any casualties, you're not trying to mitigate casualties with first responders and an effective law enforcement response. And the reality is that sometimes law enforcements perspective, particularly, in this country, will know that somebody has radical ideas. We'll know that somebody has a hatred for America, wants to see U.S. troops failing overseas, once the body counts go up. That's not necessarily illegal and actionable for a legal perspective, and so.

SMITH: And what we know according to that federal criminal complaint, he was red and verbally waived his Miranda rights, and he said he was inspired by ISIS videos and watched on his phone. Thanks to both of you. I know you had long days.

(CROSSTALK)

SMITH: All right. Up next, Democrats working overtime to deny their role in that anti-Trump dossier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: We have not hidden the fact that we had opposition research that was done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: But the evidence is mounting. The Clinton campaign and the DNC are very much tied to that document. Chairman of the house intel committee, Devin Nunes, just got an exclusive look at FBI files on the Russia investigation, and he joins us next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PEREZ, DNC CHAIR: When their work was done, it was given to -- then it was continued by the Democrats. We have not hidden the fact that we had opposition research that was done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Developing tonight, that was DNC Chairman Tom Perez, trying to downplay their connection to the anti-Trump dossier and Fusion GPS. Here now is House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. Thank you for coming on tonight. In your search for answers, and you got a look at those documents, you issued the subpoena to do so, what are you learning?

REP. DEVIN NUNEZ, R-CALIF., HOUSE INTEL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Well, first of all, what the DNC chairman there just said is not true. The whole idea that Republicans started this dossier, we have absolutely no evidence of that. Republicans did not start the dossier as far as we can tell. What we still have yet to determine is who from the Democratic Party knew about this dossier, number one. Number two, who or what was this used for by the FBI?

SMITH: So let's start with the first question, who knew? Because Hillary Clinton's camp says, don't know anything about it. The DNC says -- Debbie Wasserman Shultz says she doesn't know anything about it. I think Hillary Clinton's exact words were it's all baloney. So who in your thinking and what -- based on what you know, who do you think knew?

NUNES: Well, here's who I know for sure knew about it. I know that the lawyer for the DNC knew about it. I know that it was briefed to many news outlets in the fall of last year. So many news outlets knew about it. It then shows up, it's briefed to the president of the United States and briefed to congress, leaked by the intelligence agencies, the fact of that happening, so those are the things that I know. What I do not know is did the FBI or DOJ use this dossier that was funded by the Democratic Party and the Hillary campaign to open up investigations into political campaigns or American citizens?

SMITH: What do you think the answer to that is?

NUNES: Well, look, the problem here is I'm not going to be able to speculate because we're just in the beginning now. We finally, after seven months of trying to get the answers from DOJ and FBI on this, we just had our first meeting on this yesterday.

SMITH: So what was that like, by the way? So you finally get to go in and look at these documents. They said, hey, you can make copies and take them, but my understanding is that you said no, we'll stay here. Me and my staff will stay here and look at these documents. Who else showed up?

NUNES: Well, I think it's even more bizarre behavior than that. So last minute -- all we're doing was sending two of our investigators down there to start to begin to go through the documents to ensure that the documents that we had subpoenaed were provided. When my investigators got there, they were four other staff from the other side of the aisle, including a member of congress, the ranking member from our committee, which seems to me to be very bizarre behavior since.

SMITH: Adam Schiff was there. Two Nancy Pelosi staffers were there, correct?

NUNES: Yes. So I think here's the bizarre part of it. They didn't support the subpoena. They said there was no reason to seize this documentation. So I don't know why they would run down there and be the first people to review the information.

SMITH: What does that tell you?

NUNES: Well, it tells me that they're very, very nervous about this dossier, who paid for it, and what we Republicans are going to find out about it. And I'm sure that they want to know about this so that they can figure out what narrative they're going to create to try to get us off the scent of what actually happened here. There's been obstruction by the media, by the Democrats, by the DNC. This goes on and on and on, including, we had obstruction from the executive branch of government.

SMITH: It was good to get you here, Chairman Nunes, right after you had to look at those documents. We thank you for that. We have to leave it there. Thank you for joining us, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SMITH: Tomorrow, Martha is back and live from Hawaii where President Trump will visit Friday on the first leg of his nearly two week Asia trip. So make sure to tune in tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. for that. Thank you for joining us. I'll see you at "America's Newsroom" 9:00 a.m. with Bill Hemmer. Tucker Carlson, up next.

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