'Your World' on Bill Cosby's release, Trump's visit to the border

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This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," June 30, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: This is the scene outside Bill Cosby's home in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. He's a free man, and he is minutes away from speaking to the world after he was issued an opinion that allowed him to leave jail, after the court issued the opinion that he could not be charged in the first place because of previous agreement with the prosecutor.

There are supporters in Pennsylvania outside his home. And, as you can hear, there are protesters as well. Bill Cosby will give his very latest thoughts on all of that.

He was informed of this decision about three hours ago and was told, Mr. Cosby, you're a free man.

Alex Hogan with the latest developments, following this story very, very closely and what happened.

Hey, Alex.

ALEX HOGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.

Of course, this news is coming as a shock to many, especially after how long this trial dragged on back in 2018. Well, what we know so far, as we take a look at this story, the 83-year-old has left prison, released around 2:30 today, after nearly three years behind bars.

Pennsylvania's highest court overturning his sexual assault conviction, arguing that the prosecutor violated the agreement of a previous prosecutor in the case to not charge the actor.

This all comes after today's release of this 79-page court opinion, part of it calling the arrest "an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was forgone for more than a decade."

While supporters are celebrating the news -- we could hear them earlier, many of them clapping outside of his home, including the actor's former co- star. She was tweeting about it, as well as his spokesperson there, seen in this video making a statement today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cosby is excited, overjoyed. He was given an almost-three-year unwanted vacation.

But, as we have always said, this is bigger than Bill Cosby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOGAN: However, it is a devastating blow for the nearly 60 women who accused the actor of sexual assault.

Attorney Lisa Bloom, who represented three of the accusers, writing today: "It is appalling what money can still buy in the criminal justice system," and also writing: "Now that justice is taken away. It's a punch in the gut to these victims."

While some of these women did provide testimony, their cases would not hold up in court because of the statute of limitations. And I spoke to several of them outside of the courthouse back in 2018, who say it was very painful sharing their story, but it was worth it to see justice.

Now, the court case itself, of course, focuses around Andrea Constand. She's a Temple University employee. And her lawyers are telling us that they are going over these 79 pages of opinion before they make a statement.

And, as we just heard, Bill Cosby himself, Neil is set to come outside of his home to speak for himself.

CAVUTO: All right, thank you very much for that, Alex Hogan.

Again, we are going to be going to Bill Cosby in Pennsylvania as soon as he does address the press.

Ahead of that, we have got to Nicole Deborde with us, the criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, also Andy McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney, FOX News legal eagle.

Nicole, what happened here? Why is Bill Cosby a free man now?

NICOLE DEBORDE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's a free man because of the outstanding work of an appellate lawyer who was able to document for the court of appeals the fact that a previous district attorney had made a promise to not prosecute Mr. Cosby.

And, instead, the new district attorney who came in and for political aims went forward with the prosecution, the problem was that they had gotten a statement from Cosby under the idea that he -- it would never be used against him. And the court of appeals correctly said that just should not have occurred.

CAVUTO: So, Andy, what does this mean now?

There's no chance that the prosecutors can pry another trial here, right? I mean, this is it.

ANDY MCCARTHY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, this is it.

I mean, this trial, for the reasons that Nicole just described, should not have gone forward in the first place. It's one thing to make the kind of a commitment that the first prosecutor in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, made that Cosby wouldn't be prosecuted. They said that, like, technically, all the I's didn't get dotted in terms of perfecting that agreement in front of the court.

But once somebody detrimentally relies on that kind of a promise and gives up information, and essentially becomes a witness against himself, in violation of the Fifth Amendment, that's really the end of the story.

There were other aspects of this that disturbed the court of appeals as well and the Supreme Court. But that's the main one, Neil. And it really puts a harpoon in this case.

CAVUTO: How did we not know about all of this, Nicole, at the time? If any of this had come to light at the time, the case right then and there might have been thrown out. I don't know whether a new case could be tried at that time. But what happened here?

DEBORDE: Well, you would think that it might be thrown out. Unfortunately, Cosby's lawyers were complaining about this from the beginning, indicating that the statements that they were using against him were gotten unfairly, which is exactly what the Supreme Court decided was indeed the case.

The lawyers also complained that the additional evidence from unrelated cases that was allowed in front of this jury should not have come in. But the Supreme Court didn't even have to get to that question because of the complete damage caused by the essential -- the lie and the reliance upon that lie by the original district attorney.

CAVUTO: You know, I do remember, at the time, Andy, there was a great crush of cases. And this sort of like epitomized in and the MeToo movement, whatever, that he would be sort of the poster child for this abuse on the part of celebrities and those in power.

So he's a free man now. But that movement is obviously still alive and well. I often like to think of what awaits him now as a free man.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCARTHY: Well, I think I think his legacy is destroyed, such as it was before. I don't -- I think that part of his -- that part of his career is shattered. I don't know that that's anything but cold comfort to the 60 women who are involved here.

And I guess the one thing that you can say about this, Neil, is that, at least in our present moment, you're much less likely to have women who don't feel confident that they can report this kind of behavior because no one will hear them.

So, hopefully, you won't have the Bill Cosby cases that can't be brought because all the allegations are too stale in the future.

CAVUTO: You know, I'm also wondering, Nicole, for all of those women who made these charges and brought their case, and now they're saying Bill Cosby time served, a few years in prison, and that's it, but that is what it is.

And, obviously, some of the protesters who have gathered outside his Pennsylvania home are making their feelings known. But they have no fallback legal case to make, right?

DEBORDE: That's true.

It is also true, however, as I understand it, that some of these individuals received civil settlement and millions of dollars. So, while that may not be true across the board, there was relief in a court of law.

This criminal court had a much different obligation under the Constitution, and ultimately the Supreme Court did what was required under the law.

CAVUTO: Got it.

Guys, I want to thank you both very much.

The scene right in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. This is Bill Cosby's home. He arrived there over that 45, 50 minutes ago. He started this day having no idea this would happen, and told a few hours ago, Mr. Cosby, you are a free man, packed him up, let them out, drove him back home.

And he -- we are expecting remarks from him shortly. When he speaks, we will take you there.

In the meantime, the other big story today is this, more bad news, that condo collapse, 16 known dead now, 147 still unaccounted for, and growing concerns there were more-than-ample warnings that something like this could happen.

The latest from Matt Finn in Surfside, Florida -- Matt.

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, nearly a week after a portion of the Champlain Towers collapsed here, right now, search crews are still looking for survivors 24 hours a day.

This heartbreaking task has already been complicated by bad weather here in South Florida. Now there are two systems in the Atlantic that are being monitored. They could become severe. Florida's emergency management director says there are plans in place should a storm hit this fragile collapse site.

The latest numbers, as of this afternoon, Neil, 16 people now declared dead and 139 accounted for, 147 unaccounted. Miami-Dade's mayor says, right now, rescue teams are doing -- quote -- "everything humanly possible" to find every single person, using all types of equipment, people and dogs.

Detectives are working around the clock to confirm the status of every single name that's attached to these condos. It's a slow and methodical process. There are still search-and-rescue crews right now. Officials say they have gone through three million pounds of concrete so far at the collapse site, but no one has been found alive since a few hours after the collapse last Thursday.

Governor DeSantis, a Navy veteran, says he has a military viewpoint: Don't stop the search. Every person is missing until found.

There are tunnels and voids being uncovered where a person theoretically could be breathing. Mental health resources are being provided to families going through intense grief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really hard. It's an agony, because you do want to know where they are, if they're alive, if -- because, if they are, they might be suffering. What are they needing?

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): You have some people that have that have lived remarkable lives, have tremendous families, and to be able to see the real raw pain and emotion that this has caused is something that I don't think any of us are going to ever forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINN: President Biden and the first lady are scheduled to visit the collapse site here tomorrow, and we plan on bringing that to you -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Matt, thank you very much for that, Matt Finn following the latest.

With us now is Charles Burkett. He's become very, very familiar through this entire wrenching crisis, of course, the mayor of Surfside, Florida.

Mayor, thank you very, very much.

Is it your hope that, as this rescue continues, Mayor, that we will find anyone alive?

CHARLES BURKETT, MAYOR OF SURFSIDE, FLORIDA: It is my hope. It is my hope.

And we're expecting a miracle. I keep reminding people of the BBC article that I have been passing around that outlines how people have survived up to 17 days in building rubble and been pulled out alive.

So, given that, I think we're sort of just getting started. I mean, the Israeli captain -- commander, rather, followed up with my story with one of his own, where he said he personally pulled someone out of the rubble 30 days after a collapse.

I guess he hastened to say it was a grocery store.

CAVUTO: I'm wondering, Mayor, any signs, noises? I don't want to make the leap that any such noises would be necessary signs of life, but anything that has those on the scene digging through this rubble holding out hope?

BURKETT: Well, we have -- again, we have had -- we have had help from the White House on down, our U.S. senators.

Rick Scott calls me, Senator Rick Scott calls me every single day and leaves a message and says, do not call me back, but I'm here if you need, OK?

So, I mean, we are getting first-class treatment. And we don't have a resource problem at all. We have a luck problem. And I'm praying, we're all praying for better luck. But we're not giving up.

And along the lines of what our great governor said, we are going to leave no one behind. As far as I'm concerned, that's never going to happen.

CAVUTO: You know, Mayor, in the meantime, there are very nervous residents in the north tower, the sister tower here that still stands, but a lot of people are wondering whether they're safe in there.

Do you think they're safe in there?

BURKETT: Well, the answer is, I couldn't say they were when they ask me.

And I'm here at town hall right now. And I have got a nationally renowned engineer in the next room poring over the plans. He's the gentleman that did the work on the Pentagon after it was struck by the 9/11 hijackers. He's the gentleman that did the work on the FIU bridge that failed.

So I think we're in very good hands. And he's looking at the plans. And he's already asking some pretty tough questions. But, again, my priority is a laser focus to get those people out of that rubble and support the families while I'm doing it.

CAVUTO: You have got your priorities right, Mayor.

Charles Burkett, thank you, sir, very, very much.

BURKETT: Thank you.

CAVUTO: Charles Burkett, the mayor of Surfside, Florida.

By the way, we have told you separately we're also following this drama around Bill Cosby, is due to make a statement to the press momentarily from his home in Pennsylvania, and now his representative speaking about this.

The district attorney: "The majority decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court orders the release of William H. Cosby from state prison. He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime."

I should say this is a statement from Kevin Steele, the prosecutor in the case.

"My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and whoever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law, including those who are rich and famous and powerful."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, maybe it was just coincidence, but on a weird day that the president, the former President Donald Trump was at the border speaking to Governor Greg Abbott about a wall and the need to address the surge there, we get word that criminal charges are expected against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, the result of really years of a probe into the financial dealings of the vast Trump financial empire.

But the irony here is that it's for things like, well, not paying taxes on benefits and perks, such as a corporate-provided apartment, other benefits that normally and in the past would not elicit this kind of reaction or certainly this kind of punishment, which has Charlie Gasparino wondering as well.

We do know, Charlie, that Allen Weisselberg, the CFO in question, has not been cooperative with the authorities here, who probably wanted him to serve up Donald Trump or any information like that. And, even here, he seems to figure that whatever charges are going to be filed against him, he can beat. But update us.

CHARLIE GASPARINO, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And it's not just the former president that they want him to serve up. They want them to serve up Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. As you know, they are the principals who run the Trump Organization, the real estate, golf course, country club empire that the former president has.

The sons were running that, essentially, while the president was in office, although the president still kept his name on the door, obviously.

Let's get a little breadth here, I mean, just get a little sense of the breadth of this investigation and what it's turned up. They -- there was 100 subpoenas, from what I understand, issued as part of this thing. That's not just the Trump Organization, but to affiliated parties, banks, you name it.

Three million pages of documents five years. Vance's office, Cy Vance, the district attorney of Manhattan, was trying to build a case that -- along the lines with Michael Cohen, the former Trump fixer, said before Congress. He said that Trump would inflate his assets to get better insurance company -- coverage, deflate its assets, to get -- to pay less taxes, he did it on purpose.

And Mr. Cohen said it was fraud, and they have all the information, and Allen Weisselberg knows all about it. Allen Weisselberg came back after a lot of pressure from the Justice Department, from the Manhattan DA's office and said, I don't know what you're talking about. There's no fraud here. I'm not cooperating on any of this stuff.

And that's where we are. And so the case that came out of this -- and, by the way, at FOX Business, we were first to report that Cy Vance essentially -- not essentially -- he set up a task force of dozens of forensic accountants and lawyers that are experts in tax law to develop a really serious tax fraud case, along the lines of what Michael Cohen said.

One of the ways they want to do that is to get Weisselberg to flip. One of the ways to try to get Weisselberg to flip is not on the most serious thing in the world. I mean, this perk thing -- and I know people are going to say you should pay taxes on clothes or whatever, an apartment he has. And why should he get a free apartment and the average guy not?

I get that. But let's be real clear here. These cases are few and far between. I can't find any in a major setting.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Normally, Charlie -- isn't the idea normally, in these cases, that it's sort of a gateway to get into other matters or criminal intentions?

But if this is the way you're doing it, I'm no Perry Mason, but it doesn't seem like a good strategy.

GASPARINO: That's the problem.

If -- listen, we got to see what exactly comes out tomorrow. I mean, I don't have the indictment.

CAVUTO: Right.

GASPARINO: I just -- I'm talking to people I know that have spoken with the prosecutors, obviously.

This is kind of weak tea. I mean, Weisselberg will fight it. He thinks he's got a good case to win. These cases don't happen that much because the tax law is murky. By the way, you can give certain perks to people without paying taxes. Apparently, educational perks, which is -- this is part of it -- are OK. I mean, I have heard that.

So we're just going to have to see. But if -- usually--

CAVUTO: There's a lot we don't know.

And it depends, to your point, on when all of this stuff was given, if a lot of this stuff was legal years ago. We don't know if it covers the period at which it might have been legal.

GASPARINO: Right.

CAVUTO: And there's so much we don't know.

But, so far, what we do now is just what you outlined, that it's going to target Mr. Weisselberg. In the meantime, no intention to target the former president at this point.

GASPARINO: No, none, and his kids, and his kids, no, no.

CAVUTO: All right.

GASPARINO: And, by the way, when they made "Sammy the Bull" cooperate, he was facing life in jail.

This is not exactly life in jail stuff that Mr. Weisselberg is facing.

So, there you have it.

CAVUTO: Yes. All right. We will watch it very, very closely.

Bizarre. A lot of years, paperwork and research, millions of dollars, and a lot of people are saying, is this -- is this the end result? It does seem a little odd, but we will know officially tomorrow.

What we do know is, this did get leaked out today, on the very same day that the president was at the border, saying that his successors screwed things up.

We're there after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I mean, the real question is, do they really want open borders or are they incompetent?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Condoleezza Rice commenting on the death of Donald Rumsfeld, saying that he was "a remarkable and committed public servant, a good friend, and a steady presence throughout the many trials of the post-9/11 world. I will miss him as a colleague and a friend."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, Donald Trump at the border today taking a look at how he says things have changed mightily since he left office.

Griff Jenkins in Pharr, with a lot more on all of this.

Hey, Griff.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good afternoon, Neil.

We just got back from a tour in Pharr, Texas, of the border wall where former President Trump, Governor Abbott and 23 Republican members of the House in a delegation were touring that section.

This where, I am now, in Weslaco, Texas, is the headquarters for the Texas Department of Public Safety. That's where, before the tour at the wall, the president and governor held a roundtable with those members of Congress and a lot of sheriffs and local leaders.

And I will tell you, President Trump did not hold back on his admonition for the previous administration as it relates to the crisis at the border. Here's a little bit of what the former president said. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But, nevertheless, you're very important. We discussed it. And we did a great job. And within a period of a few months, it was all dissipated, remain in Mexico, so important, catch and release.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: And really one of the highlights -- or important points, I should say, of the roundtable discussion was hearing the sheriffs from so many counties, some on the border, some hundreds of miles away from it, talking about the cartels' grip on the border and the drugs, particularly fentanyl.

Governor Abbott saying to the media that fentanyl is up, the seizures and overdoses up some 2000 percent compared to this time last year.

Here locally, in the Rio Grande Valley sector, it's ground zero for the surge in migrants. And that's why you saw the governor and former president in this location. We have learned, Neil, in the last 24 hours, there were 2,429 apprehensions, which is a 544 percent increase from this time last year.

What is new, what was announced, you ask, about what the governor plans to do, not a whole lot, except he did say, standing in front of a section where the Trump wall had stopped being built, that it's time to seal up the border. We will have to find out exactly what he plans to do to build Texas' own wall.

One thing's for sure, though. The folks here, particularly those Republican members of Congress, many from Texas like August Pfluger, Ronny Johnson (sic), they definitely want something done, because this state is definitely feeling the brunt of the humanitarian crisis -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, thank you, my friend, Griff Jenkins, following that.

Well, the governor did make it very, very clear he's going to build that wall if Joe Biden is not, but it does cover a lot of federal land, that wall.

Now, that has not deterred a number of Republican governors from committing Guardsmen from their state to help out in this process and kind of deal with the migrant rush.

Brandon Judd is the Border Patrol Union president, joins us again.

Brandon, on the wall issue, that might prove a lot easier said than done. How would it be coordinated, if the governor gets his way and starts building this, because so much of the land he's talking about is technically federal land? And therein, the Biden administration, which hasn't comment on this one way or the other, could, could get in the way.

What do you think?

BRANDON JUDD, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL: Well, of course, something like that is always going to be an obstacle that they're going to have to overcome.

But what we're hoping is that the governor can find the ways to do it, because we know that wall works. It's proven in the past in many different locations, like San Diego, California; El Paso, Texas; even in Arizona. The wall has been extremely effective in deterring illegal immigration and the flow of drugs that comes across into our country.

So, we're hoping that the governor can in fact find the ways through the law in which he can continue to build on the wall to add to what has already been done.

CAVUTO: You know, Brandon, when governors bring Guards men and women to Texas to help out, what are they doing? Who are they reporting to? How are they helping?

JUDD: Well, they serve as our eyes.

Oftentimes, we're -- Border Patrol agents are stuck in fixed locations where they're watching cameras or they're on scope trucks. And when we're in those locations, we can't actually be out apprehending people.

So, the National Guard comes in and they serve as our eyes. They report directly to the Border Patrol. They radio in any traffic that they see. And then we're able to direct our agents to those locations where the illegal activity is taking place.

And it's extremely effective. It allows us to put more of our manpower in the field. So we always welcome as many National Guardsmen as we can possibly get.

CAVUTO: You know, the president made reference to the point that we used to try to adjudicate a lot of these cases on Mexican soil. In other words, if you're waiting things out, you're not going to be waiting on the U.S. side of the border. You're going to be on the Mexican side of the border.

That has all changed. And he made it very clear that has made the situation a lot worse. Do you agree with that?

JUDD: Oh, I absolutely agree. That's the main catalyst behind the explosion in illegal immigration. That forces us to bring back the catch and release program.

And any time we release people that cross the border illegally, we're actually encouraging illegal immigration to take place. And when that happens, we're going to see floods of people.

So, yes, we have to get rid of that magnet. President Trump was effective in getting rid of the catch and release program. And the Biden administration, unfortunately, has brought it back.

CAVUTO: All right, Brandon Judd, thank you.

Brandon, I'd love to check back with you and see how things are faring now, with some of these new troops coming in and trying to restore calm and get the wall completed, again, a task that might prove easier said than done. But, again, no legal issues as yet have been raised, which is probably telling in and of itself.

This is an issue that the Biden administration finds itself on defense, as it does on crime. But saying Republicans are to blame for that spike, yet again, they doubled down on that.

Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace on what she makes of that -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Bill Cosby is walking out of his home in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. He's a free man. He had his conviction for sexual assault overturned by a Pennsylvania appeals court, a decision that will set him free after three years in prison.

He had been serving a term of anywhere from three to 10 years. He had long claimed that he was innocent and that this ruling was unfair. His lawyers citing the fact that there were some unusual goings-on in the actual prosecution process, enough for an appeals court to say, all right, this thing can stand, nor will there be any new trials.

Bottom line, it's over, and Bill Cosby now a free man.

Now, there are protesters at his home and those who support him, 83 years old. He had refused a number of times to make any statements that he was guilty of anything more than inappropriate behavior with women.

He had long argued as well that the case wasn't fairly tried. This appeals court agreed. Let's listen into this.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can take this inside, if you want.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to thank the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court (OFF-MIKE) for reviewing Mr. Cosby's appeal, but also seeing the light, seeing the lies, seeing that Mr. Cosby had immunity.

This U.S. citizen who served our country in the Navy, not just in the Navy, but he served our country in so many different ways through his celebrity, him and Mrs. Cosby.

Mr. Cosby has always used his celebrity, his name, his likeness to uplift women. This is a man who refused to perform at the White House with Nixon. Nixon put him on a communist list in the '60s, along with so many other great names like Dick Gregory, Jane Fonda.

How could a man who was being watched by the FBI every day be raping and drugging women in the '60s and '70s, especially a black man?

Today, innocence came to Mr. Cosby, with the help of these wonderful attorneys. To his right, you will see Ms. Jennifer Bonjean. She argued the appeal. To my left, you see Brian Perry. To Brian's left, Ashley.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ashley Cohen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ashley Cohen.

And then you have--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are women and men--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They kicked ass!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- who -- from all walks of life.

As I said earlier, James Brown made a song, it's a man's world, but it would be nothing without a woman and girl. Mrs Cosby was that woman, 57 years the queen, the matriarch of the Cosby family, who fought for his vindication, who said he would be vindicated.

And today, on this hot day, this is a hot verdict for us that we will forever cherish, because we got one of the greatest, or the greatest entertainer alive today, Mr. Bill Cosby, this great American citizen, this American treasure, this icon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, hey.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- allow Ms. Bonjean to say a few words.

Ms. Bonjean?

JENNIFER BONJEAN, ATTORNEY FOR BILL COSBY: Yes.

Obviously, we are thrilled to have Mr. Cosby home. He served three years of an unjust sentence. And he did it with dignity and principle. And he was a mentor to other inmates. He was really, as I say, doing the time. The time was not doing him.

And I want to say this about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They demonstrated that they were impervious to the court of public opinion, which, frankly, the lower courts were not.

Mr. Cosby, we knew all along he never should have been prosecuted for this. He had every right to rely on the prosecutor's word. And they pulled the rug out from underneath him because of politics, because of the court of public opinion. And that is not how our system should operate.

When that happens, there cannot be a just sentence. And if there had been a just verdict and a just sentence, we wouldn't be here fighting. But there was not justice and then not a just verdict.

And I think it's really important that we keep our eye on the ball, that our Constitution is sacred, and that we need to uphold it at all times. And I'm glad that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brian Perry.

BRIAN PERRY, ATTORNEY FOR BILL COSBY: I'm very proud of the team that we put together. I'm very proud to be part of this case.

We always thought that, eventually, this is where it would end up. Mr. Cosby and I had many, many talks over the last couple of years. I predicted it. And we're here. It's a good day for the Cosby family.

QUESTION: Mr. Cosby, how does it feel to be home?

BONJEAN: Well, he is extremely happy to be home. He looks forward to reuniting with his wife and his children.

And, obviously, this has been a hard three years for this entire family. And it's really a blessing for him. And he's -- he says his heart is just beating really fast. And he's happy to--

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that we have Ashley here, who worked on the case too.

Ashley, say a few words, Ashley Cohen.

ASHLEY COHEN, ATTORNEY FOR BILL COSBY: Hi.

I'm just honored to be part of such an amazing team. These lawyers did an incredible, incredible job. And I am so thankful to be a part of it and to help Mr. Cosby. And I'm just proud to be here and watch him get released.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this wonderful attorney Haley (ph) you see right here -- I'm sorry -- her father was in prison with Mr. Cosby.

And he sent a message to Mr. Cosby before he left today for her.

Say a few words.

CAVUTO: All right, there have been a couple of questions directed at Bill Cosby, but lawyers or staff have jumped on them and don't give him the chance.

When he does speak, I want to take it to that.

But I do want to go to Ken Belkin, criminal defense attorney, Nicole Deborde back with us, criminal defense attorney as well.

Ken, what do you make of this whole thing, out of the blue?

KEN BELKIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, I think we have to divorce ourselves from the emotions of the allegations against him and look at the legal procedure that was mounted against him.

And I think, if you look at it, there was an agreement in 2005 with the district attorney. He felt they didn't have a case they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt. So, they agreed they would not prosecute him.

Flash forward to 2016. They renege on that agreement, and they decide to move forward with the prosecution. First trial, hung jury. So they say, hey, we're going to get a second bite at the apple. Second trial, they bring in five witnesses, they didn't have it the first trial, five witnesses alleging other incidents that Mr. Cosby took part in that he was never charged with, never convicted of, just allegations.

I think this is a just decision. There were a lot of problems with the case against him. And we cannot sacrifice the fairness of our criminal justice system because we are feeling emotional about certain allegations and want to get somebody.

CAVUTO: I'm looking at every time I see these lips moving, whether he's talking. It doesn't look like that.

But, Nicole, why aren't they letting him speak?

DEBORDE: You know, I'm sure he's still processing all of this. A lot of times, with the Supreme Court decisions--

CAVUTO: Well, wait a minute. That is it. That is it.

I don't want to interrupt you, but it looks -- I don't believe he spoke ever. He made a quick comment, a "Yeah" when he was coming up, when someone was saying, congrats. He's raising his arms of victory here. But he never spoke, to my knowledge, unless there was something I missed.

But, Nicole, I'm always wondering. You lawyers are very good at trying to make sure your clients don't do something to get themselves in trouble. What was going on here by not letting him speak?

DEBORDE: It's possible that he wanted his attorneys who really did all of the hard work about making sure that the proper procedure in this case was followed to have the opportunity to respond to questions and explain procedurally what happened.

I mean, it is a little bit complicated. And I'm sure he was bewildered as to how we got into this circumstance in the court process in the first place. So it makes sense that the attorneys can answer those types of questions.

CAVUTO: Ken, the district attorney, Kevin Steele, obviously not too pleased with this decision today.

I mentioned a little bit earlier he said that the decision and the release of William H. Cosby from state prison -- "He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime."

What did you make of that?

BELKIN: I couldn't disagree more.

If the trial is imperfect and flawed and violating Mr. Cosby's rights, he is entitled to the same relief as any other American. And that is throwing out this verdict. You can't have a sham trial. It's going to produce a sham verdict.

And that's really what we had here. We don't know if these allegations are true or not, but he is presumed innocent. And this trial was flawed on a number of levels.

CAVUTO: We raised it earlier, Nicole. And you're a very good lawyer, but it takes a while for it to penetrate my thick skull.

Why wasn't this the big issue at the time of the trial itself, 2018? How did this not get addressed? Or how was it slept over?

DEBORDE: You know, it was addressed.

And courts are put in the position of having to rule in real time, with all of the pressures that come from a very public trial. And in this circumstance, the court who tried the case didn't agree that the evidence should be kept out and allowed it in.

And, ultimately, those judges at the trial court level have their paper graded by the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court said, Judge, you got it wrong. The evidence shouldn't have come in. This case shouldn't have been prosecuted. And Mr. Cosby must be released.

CAVUTO: What happen to civil suits then as a result, and after all of this, Ken?

BELKIN: Well, he had settled a civil suit with this particular victim -- or alleged victim, I should say, back in 2005.

CAVUTO: Right.

BELKIN: The reality is, there's a different burden of proof in a civil suit and a criminal suit.

And I think people don't always get that. In a criminal case, where your liberty and sometimes your very life is at stake, the state has a very high burden of proof. They have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

In a civil case, where really the only thing at stake is money, they only have to prove it by what's known as a preponderance of the evidence, meaning it's more likely than not that it occurred. So it's a very low burden.

It's the same thing that happened in O.J. He won the criminal case, but he lost the civil. But, in this case, Mr. Cosby settled his civil case.

CAVUTO: All right.

Now, he's an 83-year-old man .He's at home right now. I don't know how much of his wealth from a decades-long career remains. But this isn't as much a legal, as just your own thought question here, guys.

And, Nicole, to you on what Bill Cosby does right now. Does he get his life back together? How does he resume whatever normal is now?

DEBORDE: I think he does his best to spend time with family and to try to recoup some of the time that he lost being in custody and make up for that with the family members he's been away from.

So I think that he will likely stay to himself and just try to get back to what normal life he can.

CAVUTO: You know, Ken, I also wonder how this will change going forward when such cases do come up.

Now, of course, I believe, when all of this was going on, it was near the height of the MeToo movement. So there was a great rush and attention to all of this sort of stuff.

But, obviously, there were stumbles here on the part of the prosecution in handling that. And I'm wondering what lessons we can learn from this in future such cases, because I have reason to believe there will be more cases down the road, just handled very differently.

BELKIN: I mean, I can think of one case that's coming down the road quite quickly, which is Harvey Weinstein's appeal over his New York invasion.

The reality is -- and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made note of this in their decision -- there is a trend in the judiciary to allow character witnesses to come in, meaning people that testify about the character of a defendant. Really, that testimony, for as long as I have been practicing law and was taught law, was considered irrelevant.

It's not probative of what actually happened on the night in question. It doesn't make it more or less likely that Mr. Cosby did this that a few other people came in and said some bad things about him. And we need to get away from that as a trend. It makes our judicial system less fair.

CAVUTO: All right, guys, I want to thank you both very, very much.

Again, for those waiting to hear from Bill Cosby, he didn't really speak, but lawyers and colleagues did in his defense and in complete support. He's going to spend some time with his family and enjoy life.

We will have more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, the rubble of search continues in South Florida, and looking for anyone who might have miraculously survived the Champlain Tower South collapse. We know 16 dead at the time being, 147 still unaccounted for.

Enter this next fellow. Philip Zyne lives in the Champlain Towers North. It's a sister building. There's another one east about. But this particular building, a lot of -- there's some controversy about it, whether those who live there should have evacuate. It's left up to their own discretion.

But, Philip, very good to have you.

You have noticed problems in your own building. So, tell me what you have noticed.

PHILIP ZYNE, RESIDENT OF CHAMPLAIN TOWERS: Well, first of all, thank you for having me on.

CAVUTO: Thank you.

ZYNE: Actually, I think our building is very well-maintained.

I have really never noticed any significant problems with the building. However, just like everything else, once a building collapses near you a block away, you start noticing little tiny things.

And, really, I haven't noticed anything major, but every now and then, you will see a crack here, a little bit of water leakage here. So now that we know what happened to the other building, we're paying much more attention to this. And if we see anything like that, we're certainly reporting it to the board and to the management right away.

CAVUTO: So, are you talking to us from your unit now in the north tower?

ZYNE: I am in the north tower right now, yes, uh-huh.

CAVUTO: And you feel--

ZYNE: Through the back, I think you can see our sliding doors. And that's our balcony out there.

CAVUTO: And you feel safe there?

ZYNE: I really do.

It's a concern, obviously. The first time, when we heard this building fell, we know it's a similar building. It was built like a year or two before ours. It's the same engineer, same architect, same developers. The design of the building is somewhat similar. So, naturally, we were concerned.

But we wanted to make sure that we had a thorough evaluation of our structure and our building. And, again, I have always felt safe here. I never saw any major issues in the building. I did hear -- we have heard that the building in the south tower that failed was not well-maintained.

CAVUTO: Right.

ZYNE: There were a lot of issues over there that apparently we have never had over here.

And so I never really was too worried about it. I thought the odds of that happening right away at the same time as the other was practically infinitesimal. But you always concern yourself. So that's why we think we need a thorough, complete examination of this building and all the others on the coast to make sure that the same problems that were in the south tower don't exist elsewhere.

CAVUTO: Now, how many other residents who normally stay there are indeed still staying there?

ZYNE: I don't have the exact number. We have 111 or 113 units in this building.

I heard from various people that about 25 percent of the building had evacuated shortly after the collapse of the other building. There was some mixed signals from the city, saying whether they felt the building was safe, whether we should stay, whether we should evacuate. So I think, initially, a lot of people were a little concerned. And they left. We have heard that some have come back to the building.

So, I'd say, overall, right now, maybe 20 to 25 percent of the building has evacuated.

CAVUTO: Now, we don't have a whole lot of time. You have been very helpful, Philip.

One of the things I heard, that is a condo board in the case of the south tower, that the president that board had warned residents, look, we have got some major fixes here, going to cost about $15 million. It'd be $100,000 per unit assessment.

Did that affect other towers? Or was that just a south tower issue?

ZYNE: That was just the south tower. We are completely different association. We have different management over here.

CAVUTO: I see.

ZYNE: We have also been going through the 40-year certification process, and we did have an assessment over the last couple of years of about $10,000 to $15,000, which has been used to repair different things in the building.

But everything looks like it's going well. So we're happy so far.

CAVUTO: How are you personally holding up?

ZYNE: Well, it's very difficult.

My wife especially has three or four people in the building there that she was close to that are still unaccounted for. We have another six or eight acquaintances we knew. We don't know them close, but we knew of them. And they're unaccounted for.

CAVUTO: All right.

ZYNE: We have talked to family members.

And it's -- we're very sad. We're -- you're always hopeful for a miracle, but, as every day goes by, it's getting tougher and tougher to find someone safe.

CAVUTO: Got it.

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