'Sunday Morning Futures' on the consequences of the Afghanistan withdrawal

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Rep. Waltz: al Qaeda will come 'roaring back' amid Afghanistan exit

Afghanistan War veteran Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, weigh the consequences of Biden's overseas withdrawal.

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," September 12, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Coming up: changing the conversation. A major U.S. drone attack misses its target and instead kills children in Afghanistan days before 9/11. And Joe Biden pivots, going all in on mandating a COVID vaccine, no matter your rights and freedoms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we need to do more. This is not about freedom or personal choice. It's about protecting yourself and those around you, the people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love.

We've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us. So, please, do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Look over here, not over there at the massive blunder in Afghanistan, 13 military heroes dead, a nation still mourning 20 years after the worst attack on our country.

So who's accountable? And will any heads roll?

Coming up: Antony Blinken on the hot seat tomorrow testifying. And the first Republican to question him is here with us this morning. Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, gears up, the ramifications of shutting down Bagram Air Base, as China looks to move in.

Plus, the call that no one is talking about, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping on the phone for 90 minutes this week. But the origins of COVID did not come up. Florida Congressman Michael Waltz, the first Green Beret ever elected to Congress and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, assesses the China threat and the new government in Afghanistan.

Then, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North is here with breaking news on the wannabe terrorists on the flights back into Afghanistan, his analysis on the consequences to come.

Plus, 20 years ago, America knew who the enemy was. Dick Grasso was there. He will join me to honor our first responders and the military fighting for our freedom.

Plus, the Democrats are in scramble mode, trying to stay in control. Joe Biden drops everything to jet off to California and campaign for Gavin Newsom ahead of Tuesday's recall election. Coming up, the 2022 elections, can the Republicans take back the majority?

Famed football star Herschel Walker on the Georgia Senate seats up for grabs and whether outsiders like himself and Larry Elder in California can make the difference, all right here, right now on "Sunday Morning Futures."

But, first, not the headlines he was looking for.

We are mourning 13 service members lost in Afghanistan, as well as the nearly 3,000 Americans killed 20 years ago on this weekend, September 11, as America questions Joe Biden's decisions as commander in chief, including Afghan veteran and now Florida Congressman Brian Mast, an Afghan war vet, on this program two weeks ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BRIAN MAST (R-FL): It's Bagram. It's the embassy. It's every other place, because their mantra was withdraw at any price because of political optics.

Reach that 9/11 as your strategic objective, that 9/11 ceremony, where they can have a celebration and make a to-do about it to say they accomplished something political to get out, not a strategic objective of making America safer, getting our citizens out alive, making our service members in a safer world that they go out there and conduct their operations, making our homeland safer, no strategic objectives met.

Their only strategy was to say, how can we make things politically better optically?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: And joining me right now is Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Florida Congressman Michael Waltz. He is the first Green Beret ever elected to Congress. He's a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

Gentlemen, it is good to have you this morning. Thanks very much for being here.

REP. MICHAEL WALTZ (R-FL): Yes, thanks, Maria.

BARTIROMO: So, Michael Waltz, let me kick it off with you.

As a Green Beret, 20 years later after September 11, how do you assess the situation right now?

WALTZ: You know, Maria, I spent 9/11 with a bunch of Green Berets, first responders, FDNY at Ground Zero.

And, of course, we were reflecting on so much sacrifice and the loss that we endured as a country. But instead of just being able to focus on that, there was this cloud over -- over everyone, because we know now that, at some point, we are on a path for another 9/11, that the Biden administration, through this reckless withdrawal, through taking out all troops, all diplomats, all of our intelligence capabilities, and right now leaving Americans behind, that a next generation is going to have to go back to deal with it.

We are on a road to future attacks. The same team that's around Biden was around Obama that yanked us out of Iraq and led to the rise of the ISIS caliphate. I think you're going to see that in the next year with Al Qaeda 3.0 partnered with Haqqani and the Taliban, except, this time, when the next generation has to go back to deal with it, they're going to have no bases.

We have given them away. No local allies. They're being massacred by the Taliban right now as we speak. And we're going to have to deal with an army's worth of American equipment that the Taliban now have. It's just heartbreaking and infuriating.

BARTIROMO: So disturbing.

And, Michael McCaul, we want to show this video that I know came from your office. This is video of the Taliban looking through some of the things that were left behind, like the weapons, $86 billion worth of armament, as well as cash.

I want to get your take on what this cash is that they're looking at. Did we pay the Taliban for something? Why are there all these pallets of cash, along with all of these guns and armaments that the U.S. left behind with the cut and run out of Afghanistan?

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): Well, it's a cache of weapons that were left behind to the Afghan army, along with pallets of cash.

The intelligence community got this one right. They predicted the downfall very rapidly of the Afghan army, that the Taliban would take over. And the idea that this was left behind, along with our American citizens and interpreters, is unconscionable.

And now, as Mike said, they have a -- they're the most heavily armed terrorist organization in the world now, along with these pallets of cash that you're looking at, and the sad thing is, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

I mean, this is what infuriates me. There was no plan from the beginning. And all this was left behind for the Taliban. And what infuriates me even more are the American citizens left behind. The interpreters who fought with our Special Forces left behind, they're being executed as I speak right now.

And then, finally, no plan for an intelligence, ISR capability in the region. We are dark in Afghanistan. And we're also dark when it comes to Russia, China and Iran.

BARTIROMO: Well, this is a really important point that you're making, Congressman McCaul.

And I want to show this map of the Bagram Air Base, because we know -- and we have pointed this out in this program -- the distance between this air base and China is so small, miles, yards. And that is the distance between the air base and, for example, there's Xinjiang province, where the CCP is enslaving the Uyghur minorities, as well as just a few 100 miles away from the nuclear facility where China is expanding its nuclear armament and facilities there.

So, Michael McCaul, tell us about the Bagram Air Base and this monumental mistake of going dark, because I think there is also breaking news that you're going to share with us about Putin pressuring Biden to close that air base.

I would not be surprised if Xi Jinping, get this air base out of here, so that America would not have eyes and ears in this part of the world. Your thoughts?

MCCAUL: Well, the reason why it was -- it's so important is because it's a national security asset for the United States, or it was until the Taliban took it over.

This provided eyes and ears, not only in Afghanistan, but Russia, China and Iran, our adversaries. They are now emboldened We can't see. We are going dark now. And that's very dangerous.

The administration talks about over-the-horizon capability. This is like six, eight hours away in Qatar, UAE. Bagram -- the loss of Bagram, I can't emphasize how destructive this is.

And, Maria, I'm getting reports now that the Chinese, as they met with the Taliban in late July, are negotiating not only for the rare earth minerals, but also they want access to that base. They -- the idea that China is going to get access to Bagram Air Base.

And then, finally, to your point, reporting that Putin, the president of Russia, dictating to the president of the United States as to where he can build intelligence capability in the region, basically threatening him that he could not build that in what's called the Stans, the region around Afghanistan.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

Michael Waltz, your thoughts on this? We talked a couple of weeks ago when you joined me about the importance of the Bagram Air Base. Tell me about the ramifications long term. What a black guy, if the CCP will be moving into Bagram Air Base.

And I'm going to have Oliver North coming up in a few minutes. He's going to talk about the technology at that base.

WALTZ: Right.

BARTIROMO: He said that there are more sensors there than in the whole island of Manhattan. Your thoughts?

WALTZ: Well, Colonel North is absolutely right.

It was the epicenter of our efforts there the last 20 years. Every soldier that came in or left flowed through Bagram Air Base, but we had important intelligence capabilities and sensors that could see in the region.

I wrote an op-ed and sent a letter to the Biden administration and asked Secretary of Defense Austin directly during a hearing months ago why we would give away the only base in the world that we have that physically borders China in its back door, but also sandwiched between Russia and Iran. It's a 12,000-foot runway there, Maria.

If you want to get Beijing's attention if things start going south in Taiwan or in the in South China Sea, put a stealth bomber at Bagram and their backdoor, which is just a few hundred miles away from their new ballistic missile fields, as you mentioned, the Uyghurs, which the only thing Beijing cares about the most is an uprising from its own people, but also from things like its major semiconductor factories and other critical infrastructure that we could have held at risk, and even had eyes and ears into from that base.

But there's another critical piece too. And that's India, which is -- I think is one of our most critical strategic alliances in the 21st century, the world's largest democracy, and very, very concerned about the CCP.

Well, guess what? China now has a new ally against India with this axis from China to Pakistan to the Taliban.

BARTIROMO: Wow.

WALTZ: So we have left -- we have left our allies high and dry. We are blind in the region. There's not a single country in the region, as Representative McCaul mentioned, that have agreed to allow our counterterrorism forces to base around Afghanistan.

So we are in a horrible position.

BARTIROMO: Wow.

WALTZ: And it's all of our own making. This is of Biden's own making. And it's a strategic blunder of historic, historic proportions.

BARTIROMO: This is so disturbing.

We're going to slip in a short break.

But, Michael McCaul, I want to get your take on what's most important when you question Antony Blinken tomorrow.

And, Michael Waltz, I want to get your take on the government of Afghanistan. They wanted to do the swearing-in ceremony yesterday, on September 11. They have pushed the inauguration off a couple of days. But we will take a look at who that government really is.

Congressman Mike Waltz and Mike McCaul after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We're back with Congressman Michael Waltz from Florida and Michael McCaul from Texas.

And, Congressman McCaul, you will be questioning Antony Blinken tomorrow morning when he testifies in front of your committee. Can you tell us a bit about what you would like to hear from him?

MCCAUL: Yes, I want to hear from him, why did this go so bad? How did you get it so wrong? Why didn't he listen to the intelligence community warnings since April and May of this last year telling us, telling me that the Taliban was going to take over, the Afghan army is going to fall, and the embassy would be in trouble?

Instead, they listened to Zal Khalilzad, the special envoy. This rosy dream that they were going to somehow negotiate a last-minute deal with the Taliban was absolutely fantasy world. And it was like a Yale faculty lounge, rather than a war on the ground.

I want to know why he left American citizens behind. Why did the military evacuate before American citizens? Yes, I want to know why our interpreters who put their lives on the lines and fought with our Special Forces, why were they left behind and, as Mike Waltz said, are being executed as I speak in front of their families.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

MCCAUL: And then, finally, I want to know, why are we not building this ISR capability? What happened there?

I had an op-ed with Ambassador Crocker in The New York Times in May warning the administration that, if you're going to -- if you're going to not leave a light footprint, if you're not going to leave a residual force, then at least start evacuating American citizens, the interpreters, and establish this intelligence capability.

They failed on all three counts. And now we're in a far more dangerous situation.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

And so, just to be clear for our audience who may not know, ISR, intelligence, strategic, reconnaissance, is that right, ISR? And that means that we have none of it. We don't have any more intelligence. We don't have any more reconnaissance abilities, given the fact that we have closed down Bagram. And so now, as you said earlier, we are dark.

Michael Waltz, your thoughts on that and the fact that now Afghanistan has started a new government. And I want to run a sound bite of the Taliban when they were asked about women. How come there's no women in government? Watch this. You tweeted it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It is not necessary for a -- is it necessary that we should have a...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Why not necessary?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Why is it necessary?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Aren't women half of the society?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): But we do not consider them half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: "Aren't women half of the society?"

"Well, we don't consider them half."

Please assess for us, Michael Waltz, the new government in Afghanistan.

WALTZ: When is the administration going to let go of this fiction of hoping that we have an inclusive, diverse government coming from the Taliban, right?

I mean, when are they going to let this go? And Biden and Blinken keep saying, well, we're going to judge by their actions. Well, let's look at their actions. Let's look at the beatings and killings of journalists who are covering protests of women that have been told, you can't go to work, you can't go to university.

That Taliban spokesman, when asked, why aren't we seeing any women as ministers, he's basically said they can't handle it and need to stay at home and have babies. That's literally what the Taliban spokesman said.

So, here we have the Democrats that are the defenders of minorities and women's right, and yet they're silent and they're engaging with a terrorist regime. Oh, by the way, now the head of the police and their border enforcement and deciding who can come and go is a terrorist by the name of Sirajuddin Haqqani...

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

WALTZ: ... on the FBI's most wanted list that I personally tried to kill on multiple occasions, that's responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, and is holding an American hostage right now as we speak, Navy veteran Mark Frerichs.

That's who the Biden administration is engaging. And, meanwhile, our allies that still want to fight and still want to stand with us are suffering a genocide in the Panjshir Valley. The Taliban are literally pulling out young boys and killing them, so that no future generation can ever resist their rule.

BARTIROMO: Really?

WALTZ: And they're all partnered with Al Qaeda. And Al Qaeda is going to come roaring back. The intelligence is that -- on that is very clear.

BARTIROMO: So disturbing.

Michael McCaul, last word from you, because I did want to get some breaking news in on the origins of COVID. You did a great job with your reporting on all the circumstantial evidence, but tell me what else you have here.

We know that China wants the trillion dollars in rare earth minerals in Afghanistan. They want to get in there. But there's also news that they will not -- they will not acknowledge the origins of COVID. What did you learn in terms of the grant applications that you were telling me about this weekend?

MCCAUL: Well, this new information has come out through a FOIA request.

The grant applications that went to the NIH basically indicated it was for gain-of-function research, which is genetic modification. This was not a naturally occurring virus, Maria. This was a manmade, genetically modified virus.

And these -- the grant applications that I was denied access to that we got through a FOIA request now actually prove that what was going on at that lab was gain of function. And the worst thing, Maria, is that it was done through EcoHealth. Peter Daszak got a 30 -- $3.1 million from the NIH...

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

MCCAUL: ... $600,000 go into the Wuhan lab. And our intelligence community didn't even talk about it in their report.

BARTIROMO: And then we have to ask the question, was it an accident or not, given all of these revelations?

Thank you so much, gentlemen, for your work. We so appreciate it.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: With regard to the composition of this government, or interim government, I noted the fact that it certainly does not meet the test of inclusivity, and it includes people who have very challenging track records.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Challenging track records. Inclusivity?

That was U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitting that the new Taliban government, which the Biden administration relied on to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan after Kabul's fall, may not be trustworthy after all.

My next guest says the White House knew this all along and has been lying to the American people.

Joining me right now is Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. He is a decorated military veteran who was embedded with 66 different units over 17 years.

It is an honor to have you here this morning, sir. Thanks very much for being here, Colonel North.

LT. COL. OLIVER NORTH (RET.), U.S. MARINE CORPS: Maria, good to be with you.

BARTIROMO: So, I guess...

NORTH: Wonderful interview you just did with two very important people.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.

You are in touch with the National Resistance Front in Afghanistan. I want to ask you your thoughts on what's going on now. What can you tell us in terms of new information? U.S. citizens, allies, are they being held hostage?

Because I know, sir, we didn't just leave Americans on the ground in Afghanistan. We left Brits, Canadians, Ukrainians, Europeans, and other allies that have helped us along the way for 20 years.

NORTH: I spent yesterday, Maria, as you and I talked, with veterans of this war, Gold Star families, those who had been there when this whole incredibly aborted operation took place.

And everybody wants one thing. And that's accountability. Hopefully, there's going to be accountability as to why they gave away Bagram, one of the best military bases in the world. In fact, I know the engineer who built it. The Russians started it. We finished it. It was one of the finest military operations -- installations in the world.

There was intelligence collection. There was a main base, easily defended, all the kinds of surveillance you would need to protect it with a relatively modest number of troops.

Why did they give it away? It wasn't taken by the Taliban. It was given to the Taliban. And you showed some of the footage of the cash that was left there, the $84 billion worth of weapons, most of which was stored at Bagram, all of that left behind, none of it destroyed, when you look at that cache that we gave to the Taliban.

And it's not just the Taliban. It's ISIS. It's Al Qaeda. It's the Haqqani organization. They are all one. And right at this very minute, Maria, they are sitting in the presidential palace in downtown Kabul going through information that the GRU from Russia and the communist Chinese intelligence service is helping to collect on targeting those who are our allies.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

NORTH: And, as you pointed out, we still have NATO allies with people left behind.

The promise was at the very beginning of this no Americans left behind. It was a blatant lie. And there's so much anger out there. Today's Sunday. In the lord's prayer, it says, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Well, I'm not there yet. And neither are they. And they want accountability. And when Blinken goes up to the Capitol tomorrow, the building right behind me, when he comes up to the Capitol tomorrow, I hope that Congressman McCaul and people like Mike Waltz -- let me just very quickly describe.

I'm on the phone with Mike Waltz. I'm on the other phone with a U.S. army lieutenant colonel inside the wall at Hamid Karzai International Airport. And we're trying to get a group of about 160 American citizens, green card holders, and SIVs, people who hold a Special Immigrant Visa. They have worked with us over the 20 years.

And it's right outside. The lieutenant colonel says: "If I could reach through this gate, I could touch the bus that they're on."

And Mike and I were on the phone. And he called the White House. And Mike got the White House general counsel, who said: "I have talked to the president. It's going to be open."

And five minutes later, there's one of these phony calls that there's going to be an imminent attack. Everybody, spread out, get away from the gates.

BARTIROMO: Wow.

NORTH: That kind of thing happened dozens of time. And it wasn't a real attack.

In fact, the real attack that killed the last 13 Americans killed in this long war, it had no warning coming for. That's the kind of thing that happened repeatedly throughout this.

BARTIROMO: And...

NORTH: And they want accountability. The families, the Gold Star families, all of them deserve accountability.

BARTIROMO: Of course. Absolutely. They should do. And they are in our prayers every day.

What about these flights going out of Afghanistan? I mean, it was -- it was so disgusting to see Antony Blinken in that press conference recently tell us that the Taliban is stopping the flights from leaving because they don't have the right documentation. Are you kidding me?

And now he says the two flights have gone. But you and I spoke this weekend about who's on those flights going back into Afghanistan. Are these wannabe terrorists?

NORTH: Well, remember, we're being told by the State Department and by Blinken himself that there's Americans being rescued coming out on those flights and flying to Doha, Qatar. And, in fact, you can see the airplanes flying off the airfield.

By the way, we don't have any American correspondents left on the ground. There's nobody of ours, for example, from FOX News, like we spent -- I spent 17 years coming and going in and out of this place.

If those flights had Americans on them, who were they and what are their names? We have yet to hear from anybody who was one of those flights. Many of us suspect that what we're going to get is, at some point, the so-called businesslike Taliban are going to give us the names of people who they have sent out that who are going to be, let's call it, the Stockholm syndrome.

They're going to say nice things about the Taliban, nice things about how the State Department got them out. There are over hundreds, hundreds of Americans left on the ground inside Afghanistan. We don't know all their names. We don't know all of them.

They keep saying, if they wanted to get out, they could have gotten out. That's just not true.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NORTH: There were Americans around the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport who could not get out and we're now still trying to get out.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NORTH: And the folks that are on the ground out there incredibly brave, many of them former veterans from Afghanistan, trying to get out of the country.

BARTIROMO: Colonel, we only have a few seconds here.

Just tell me about China. Are they negotiating a status of forces agreement right now to acquire Bagram? That Bagram Air Base, you told me, has more sensors. It's so technologically advanced, more sensors than the entire island of Manhattan. Real quick.

NORTH: Very true.

And, by the way, they have a copy of the status of forces agreement, the SOFA, that we did with the previous government. All they have to do is change the words U.S. and put PRC in it, and they have got themselves a status of forces agreement...

BARTIROMO: Status of forces agreement.

NORTH: ... for the best base in the world.

BARTIROMO: OK.

NORTH: Yes.

BARTIROMO: Colonel, thank you so much.

Colonel, you have got to come back very soon. We need to continue this conversation, Colonel Oliver North.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY ELDER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: And it takes 50 percent plus one vote to get this guy out.

And about a third of all those who signed the petition to get him out were independents and Democrats who just voted for him two years earlier. The majority of Hispanics now want him out. The lion's share of Hispanics voted for him just two years earlier. Independents also want him out.

And 53 percent of all California voters say he does not deserve a second term. You add it all up, and many Californians want this man to go. And I believe, September 14, he will be out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: All right, September 14, this upcoming Tuesday.

That was gubernatorial front-runner Larry Elder with us on this program last month, and before this week's disgusting incident of nearly getting egged by a white woman wearing a gorilla mask who also assaulted one of Elder's security men. Look at this. She punches him in the face.

Of course, you haven't seen or heard any of this on the mainstream media, a white woman with a gorilla mask assaulting Larry Elder and his team.

My next guest is also a first-time candidate. Football legend Herschel Walker launched a U.S. Senate run in Georgia against Democrat Raphael Warnock. And according to a new Trafalgar Group poll, he is leading the GOP primary field by 70 percent.

He joins me right now.

Herschel, it's great to have you. Thanks very much for being with us.

I want to talk about your campaign in a moment.

But, first, give us your reaction to what you just saw, that incident in California this week and the recall vote coming up Tuesday.

HERSCHEL WALKER (R), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Well, that video is very disgusting.

And the people of California, if they feel the governor is not doing his job, they have the right to do a recall. And to have this young woman to do something like that, and then assault the security guard, and nothing be done, and the left do not say anything about it, it shows the intolerance that they have, because, if that was reversed and that was a Democrat that was being assaulted like that, you just think what would have happened.

And I think something needs to be -- happened. That's one reason I said we got to have law and order for all people, not just one side of the people. We got to have law and order for all people. Otherwise, we have no country here.

There are so many things right now the left is being intolerant of. That's the reason I decided I wanted to run, is because of that.

BARTIROMO: Well, I mean, look, this video and this incident does not fit with Joe Biden's narrative that we are all systemically racist. Of course, this is a white woman assaulting a black man. So you don't see it on the news. And you don't see it because it doesn't fit in with what Joe Biden has been telling us.

Here's an op-ed from James Freeman from The Wall Street Journal: "We live in an age of career cancellations over politically incorrect language and perceived microaggressions. And then there's Larry Elder, about one is allowed to say almost anything, and even attempt to physically assault without much fear of media condemnation."

Herschel, I wonder, do you believe you are going to get a fair shot? I mean, Larry Elder is obviously not getting a fair shot. Will you get one?

WALKER: Well, and I think that's one of the things that we have to think about.

I think one thing that they have done here in Georgia right now, they passed a couple of laws that I think is going to help me to get a fair shot. But, at the same time, we're going to have to keep an eye on everything. I think we got to be vigilant. And the people got to know what's going on.

And that's one reason I said I needed to run, because we got to put trust back in our government and our government officials. Right now, the rate of untrust in our government officials is very low. And I know that that's what we have to do.

We have to stand for to give people the right to vote, because that's one of the most privileged thing you have. And I'm going to fight right now that I'm going to get a fair election. And I think it's going to happen.

BARTIROMO: President Trump gave you his -- quote -- "complete and total endorsement." I know he's been encouraging you to run for a long time.

Last week, he said he gave you complete endorsement, total. What role did he play in convincing you to run? And are you surprised that, despite all of these crises in the country right now, from Afghanistan, to a wide open border, to now these new mandates that we're all having to follow and rules that Joe Biden is putting in place, he's dropping everything and going to campaign for Gavin Newsom, as is Kamala Harris?

WALKER: Well, I thank so much the president giving me his total endorsement, because I tell you what.

That was a -- I really want to say, thank you, President Trump, for your endorsement. And the people of Georgia know that I needed that endorsement, but they also know that Herschel is going to be running this campaign. Herschel is going to get out and I'm going to fight for the people.

And one of the things I want people to know is, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go out and try to bring some integrity back to the state of Georgia, because I'm representing the people of the state of Georgia, and they're going to see that I will fight for them.

I saw a -- and I need to say this. I have a Democratic neighbor who came up to me with a letter that they had gotten that was talking about Raphael, the senator, is running against Trump's chosen one, and they wanted to raise money.

And it's like they couldn't name the name Herschel because they know that I'm a uniter, that I want to bring people together. I'm not out here to separate people, the way they have been doing. I'm going to fight for the people.

And that's why I'm going to encourage people today to go to TeamHerschel.com and help me fight for you, because that's what we got to do together as people, is bring people back together.

BARTIROMO: Yes. And I'm glad that you mentioned how much support you have.

Today is the 40th -- this weekend, rather, the 40th anniversary of the 1980 national championship for the University of Georgia, an important weekend, of course, for Georgians. And we love looking at this video of you at the University of Georgia.

You have got a lot of support throughout Georgia. As we look at that, tell us what your priorities are right now. What is the main platform that you're running on? And what do you want to change once you get that seat in the Senate?

WALKER: Well, first of all, I think the main platform is to bring some integrity, to bring some honesty back to this country, to the state of Georgia, because I believe in those goals that should be goals everyone believes, that everyone should have law and order for all people, not just for certain people, but for all people.

I believe in supporting our military, which is what we should do. I believe in border control. We have got to have border control. Those are things that we should all be believing in, not just a certain group or anyone like that.

And I believe in like school choice. I think everyone should have school choice, education for our kids. And those are common things that everyone should be believing in. But it seems like the left doesn't believe in that. They believe in separation. And that's something that I do not believe in. I don't believe in separation.

I think the reason this country is the greatest country in the world is they brought so many great minds together and put them together. And you don't have just one, two classes, like you have a lot of other countries, the rich and the poor. In this country, we have people that have the freedom to go out and work and make the American dream come true.

And that's what I believe in, is helping people to get that done.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

Real quick, before you go, Herschel, we have talked with your son a lot, Christian Walker. He is a political commentator. I love following him on Instagram. Will he be part of your campaign? Will he be also campaigning for you, Herschel?

WALKER: Well, he's always going to be campaigning for me, because, Christian, I love him to death.

He has his way of saying things. And, sometimes, we may disagree the way he says it, but I believe in everything that he's saying. He just says it a little bit more tougher than I do.

But he's a smart young man. And he -- he's in college. He's still trying to finish his degree up, which he's finishing early with a couple of degrees. So he will. He will join in later and help me out.

BARTIROMO: All right.

WALKER: Because I love the little guy.

BARTIROMO: All right.

(LAUGHTER)

WALKER: And I better not say little guy, because he doesn't like me to say that.

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: You're right.

We will take a short break.

Herschel, it's great to talk with you this morning. Thanks very much.

Herschel Walker joining us.

We will be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Well, it has been now 20 years since savage terrorists hijacked four commercial planes and crashed them into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, killing 2, 977 Americans that day.

I was at the New York Stock Exchange that morning on another network, and I watched the horror while reporting in real time from the NYSE. I stayed on Wall Street just a few blocks from the carnage until late that night, as did my next guest. He actually slept at the New York Stock Exchange.

Joining me right now is the former chairman and CEO of the NYSE, Dick Grasso, who showed incredible leadership on a day that, boy, did America need it, that day and in the weeks that followed.

Dick, it's wonderful to see you once again. Thanks very much for being here.

RICHARD GRASSO, FORMER CEO, NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE: Good morning, Maria. Good to be with you.

BARTIROMO: So, I was just thinking about the day, the morning of September 11, when I ran out of my office at the New York Stock Exchange up to the corner of Wall Street and Broadway.

And we were all watching. A small group had developed on the corner. And we were watching just a couple blocks away the building on fire. This was the first plane that went into the North Tower.

And it occurred to me, Dick, that, at that point, there was so much camaraderie. I was giving my BlackBerry to people. They were giving me theirs. We were sharing phones to call home, tell people we were OK. We knew who the enemy was. We were united.

What a change 20 years later.

GRASSO: So true, Maria.

Yesterday, we honored the memory of 3,000 people, and we promised to never forget them today, and particularly important, the 343 firefighters, 23 police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers, 403 first responders who gave up their lives that day, so that 25,000 people could come out of the towers.

You're right, Maria. The camaraderie started that morning, sharing of phones, hugging, sheltering people from the clouds as the two towers came down.

Starting today, though, and look back 20 years ago, it was the beginning of the rebuilding process. America was one. We were united. Members of the House and Senate stood on the Capitol steps, sang "God bless America." Public and private sector leaders got together.

Here in New York, the great then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, our terrific Governor George Pataki, Harvey Pitt, the chairman of the SEC, and I were together. We resolved that we would be a team. There weren't Democrats and Republicans.

BARTIROMO: That's right.

GRASSO: There weren't (AUDIO GAP) and private sector leaders.

BARTIROMO: You're right.

GRASSO: We were all Americans unified in one purpose.

And I hope, Maria...

BARTIROMO: And you had -- you had that message -- you had that message on the podium the following Monday.

Quick break, and then I want to talk about how America rose again.

Stay with us with Dick Grasso next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I'm back with Dick Grasso, the former chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange.

Dick, you mentioned the 343 firefighters that we lost and the 23 NYPD and the 37. And the numbers here on the pin that you created. I love this pin that you gave me to honor our fallen heroes. So, thank you for that and for mentioning it.

I want to take you now back to September 17, the Monday that we reopened, after six days. And you sent a message to the world when you stepped aside and had the firefighters and the first responders ring that opening bell.

You were telling the world we were down, we were in mourning, but we would not be out. We would rise again.

Talk about that a bit, because I remember so clearly having interviewed everybody after they got down from the podium to talk about the resilience of this great country.

GRASSO: Well, the message was a simple one, Maria.

You have killed almost 3,000 people. You have destroyed billions in property. But you who committed this heinous crime will be found, will be killed, and you will never succeed in trying to destroy the American way of life, a very simple message codified in my words. If you bet against America, you will lose.

BARTIROMO: Yes. And we're looking at the pictures now of our first responders and how you honored them for days and weeks after that.

How tough was it to reopen the markets, Dick? Because it was six days, Tuesday. The markets never opened on the 11th. And then they reopened on that Monday. And I know that there was a real debate between you and others in terms of how to get things up and running again.

GRASSO: Well, it was both a technical challenge and a human challenge, in the sense, Maria, that no one wanted stock resumption or securities trading resumption to in any way be prioritized over the search that was going on in the rubble of the towers, hoping to find people alive.

So, we all, both in the private sector and certainly our...

BARTIROMO: Wow.

GRASSO: ... (AUDIO GAP) said, first and foremost, let's find...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

GRASSO: (AUDIO GAP) under those piles of steel.

BARTIROMO: Of course.

GRASSO: And then we will...

BARTIROMO: Of course.

(CROSSTALK)

GRASSO: And that was...

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: Dick, thank you so much.

GRASSO: ... I think.

BARTIROMO: Thank you for your leadership, Dick Grasso.

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