'Your World' on NYC mayoral election, US pulling out of Afghanistan

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Pro-police Democrat wins NYC Mayoral Primary

Fox News' Ted Williams joins 'Your World' to discuss what Eric Adams' win may mean for New York City's future

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," July 7, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Trace, thank you very much.

We are on top of crime that, job one right now, according to most voters in the country, but for today, with the president in Chicago and talking with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, it was not the dominant concern and certainly not the thrust of his remarks later on, talking about the next big stimulus measure and what he's going to do to spend more money still to help the American economy, but precious little time devoted to violent incidents that included today attacks on two ATF agents and one Chicago police officer.

This on the heels of record crime numbers over the weekend, in the Chicago area alone, more than 100 people shot, continuous summer crime wave that has folks wondering, will it ever stop?

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. And this is "Your World."

And the focus is right now on crime. We're talking about Chicago for the time being, but we could be talking about New York as well, where Democrats have gone ahead and nominated for mayor a guy who spent 20 years in the police force and says this defund police movement is hurting. He won and could be New York's next mayor. And this was a guy elected by Democrats, who cite crime as their number one issue.

Something to get into right away with Mike Tobin in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where the president was today -- Mike.

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And, Neil, we have got some weather whipping up right about the time the president is expected to board Marine One and head back for O'Hare Airport, where Air Force One is waiting.

But he had a very brief, very significant meeting today with Chicago's Mayor Lori Lightfoot. She is troubled by the fact that she cannot seem to get control of the bloodshed there.

The White House said, during the meeting, the president expressed his support for the two ATF agents and a Chicago police officer who were shot and wounded this morning, and the president promised that the Department of Justice would be in contact with Mayor Lightfoot soon regarding a federal strike force that will soon be working in Chicago and other cities for gun crimes.

The wounding of the officers was this morning. There was an ambush of undercover agents and a Chicago police officer in the Morgan Park neighborhood. Their injuries are not life-threatening. A person of interest is being questioned.

Now, with the gunfire in Chicago, innocents are often caught in the crossfire. And that is the case of Max Lewis, a University of Chicago student who had an internship downtown. He was riding the L Train home when a stray bullet came through the window and hit him in the head. He survived for days on life support.

And, ultimately, using blinking and a communication tool, he indicated to his family, if that was the way he was going to spend the rest of his life, he didn't want to live anymore. They took him off the ventilator and he passed away shortly after that.

Another frightening case out of Chicago, an Iowa man by the name of Keegan Casteel has been arrested after police and the terrorism task force raided his hotel room overlooking the Ohio Street Beach and Navy Pier. Police say Casteel had a rifle, magazines and a handgun on a window sill overlooking the crowds below. He's facing two charges now of unlawful use of a weapon.

But given all of the problems in Chicago, Mayor Lightfoot frequently blames gun laws and gun stores across the border. She reportedly said that she was going to ask the president for some tougher gun laws. And the White House said that what she will get is resources -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Mike, thank you very much for that.

Joining us now is Ted Williams, a FOX News contributor, but a former Washington, D.C., police detective, defense attorney.

Ted, we always talk under these circumstances. And I feel bad for that, because I enjoy talking to you, period. But this spike is nationwide. I mean, we isolate it to Chicago. I could just as easily be talking about New York or Philadelphia. We're going to go through some of the big numbers, but they're getting bigger.

And some people feel better that, oh, in some cases, they're not as big as they were last year, but they're still eye-popping. What's going on?

TED WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, crime is out of control in the country right now, especially gun violence crime, all over the United States.

And what you have, unfortunately, are politicians, Neil, that are trying to be politically correct, instead of looking out for the public safety of their various communities. And as a result of that, the little criminal on the sideline there is watching them. And he's the biggest cheerleader of some of these politicians, who apparently want to just go about defunding police departments.

And they believe that's the answer.

CAVUTO: It's interesting, Ted, because neither of us likes to play politics with this. And it's a good thing.

But I did see the response to at least talk about crime coming not on any of the statistics you and I were just going talking about and that we're running as we were speaking, but a big one in New York City, where Eric Adams, a 20 year police veteran in New York, was nominated for the -- for the mayor of New York City.

Of course, the Democratic nomination doesn't mean he's guaranteed to become the next mayor. But in a heavily Democratic New York, it's a good bet.

What did you think of that? Because that certainly got a lot of these politicians' attention. Number one issue for those New Yorkers, crime.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

And, Neil, I believe that he may win the general election down the road here. And if he does, we can say that there's a new sheriff in town. There will be someone finally that believes that defunding should be off the table.

The current mayor, de Blasio, has taken money, millions away from the police department. I think that he will restore that, meaning, if Eric Adams is the mayor of Chicago (sic), I also believe that he's going to have to bolster up the police department. And he has a police background. So he knows how to let police officers be police officers.

CAVUTO: You know, I was wondering too, Ted.

I was surprised to see that, in all the concern about people returning to their offices, New York included, the number one concern wasn't the COVID factor or the crowded train factor or the commute factor. It was crime. It's still top and uppermost on those returning to their jobs.

What did you make of that?

WILLIAMS: It is paramount.

Neil, you want to walk down the street safely. We saw recently in New York where you had two little kids holding to on each other while these guys were in a gun battle, while one guy was trying to shoot another guy. We just recently had a 10-year-old kid that was killed in New York.

And so what you're finding is people are saying, we need to be safe. If we're not safe in our community, then we can't have a job. And so, as a result of that day, then safety is paramount.

CAVUTO: Now, a lot of cities are strapped for cash, or so they say. They have gotten a lot of cash from obviously some of these rescues, but a lot of them are not necessarily earmarking it for crime or police.

You think that's a big mistake, right?

WILLIAMS: I do think it's a terribly big mistake.

Matter of fact, if I may say, governor there in New York has embarked now on what he defined as declaring violent guns and he's trying to get them off the street. And it was something that Eric Adams said this morning that was refreshing to me.

He said to Cuomo, where have you been? What took so long? Babies are dying in our city. And now all of a sudden you want to come up with a gun violence initiative.

And so politicians are playing politics with the lives of their citizens. And that's unfortunate, Neil.

CAVUTO: Yes, I was surprised by those comments, because you think about it, Ted, the governor, Governor Cuomo, has had a pretty fractious relationship with Bill de Blasio.

If, indeed, Eric Adams makes it to City Hall and Gracie Mansion, it could be even more so. So, we will watch that one closely.

Ted, thank you very much.

WILLIAMS: My pleasure.

CAVUTO: All right, we're keeping an eye on Elsa, right now a tropical storm, but pretty, pretty strong when it comes to packing winds and rain. It's really moving quickly out of Florida, but it could be hitting the entire East Coast. I kid you not -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, let's just say that Elsa ain't done, the tropical storm still packing winds and a lot of rain and a lot of flooding, and right now in Florida, but could be a problem up the East Coast.

First to Florida and Clearwater Beach, where Madeleine Rivera has the very latest.

Hey, Madeleine.

MADELEINE RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil.

Well, we are still feeling those gusty winds that we have been feeling all day. But other than that, things look almost normal here on Clearwater Beach. You can probably see behind me people heading to the beach. State and local officials say they were able to avoid significant structural damages, and so far no deaths.

Governor Ron DeSantis says the impacts have been less than what they thought would be reasonable, but they're still asking Floridians to be cautious and use common sense.

Elsa, though, now slamming the state's sparsely populated northern Gulf Coast with heavy rain and strong winds, increasing the threat of floods in an area that's already been saturated with rain the last few weeks.

Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane before weakening into a tropical storm as it passed just West of Tampa Bay early this morning; 33 counties were placed under a state of emergency. Though the worst is over for areas like Pinellas County here, there are still storm surge warnings, particularly for the state's Big Bend coast.

Tropical storm conditions are also expected along the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina later this week. As for power outages, a little more than 20,000 people are currently without power in the state, with 10,000 restoration personnel ready to respond to those outages.

The National Weather Service now reminding folks to avoid flooded roads and downed trees and power lines as the storm has to Georgia later tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN GRAHAM, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: You got to be real careful at night. The tropical rains, you just can't tell where water covers that road. So you have to be careful on the road. Never drive your car where water covers the road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERA: State and local officials say, though they were lucky this time around, that might not be the case the next time around. So they are encouraging people not to drop their guard.

We are still very early on in the hurricane season -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Indeed, we are. Thanks for reminding me of that, Madeleine.

Madeleine Rivera on all of that.

Adam Klotz was warning us about this as well.

And, Adam, this looks like a storm that could affect a lot more than folks in Florida, right?

ADAM KLOTZ, FOX NEWS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Neil, you said it.

We are not even close to where this will eventually die out, as we're just now making landfall over the last several hours. You saw it ran up on Big Bend, and now the heaviest rain moving into Southeast Georgia, up towards Jacksonville even. So we're talking about the Northeastern Coast of Florida, even though you see the previous path.

This ran all the way along the western coast. But now a very different area of the country is going to be dealing with this over the next couple of days, as we see that very heavy rainfall begin to batter portions of Southern Georgia, and again that Northeastern Coast of Florida, getting up in the Jacksonville area, winds currently at 20 to 30 miles an hour, fairly widespread.

These are the gusts as this system continues to lift. But we are still seeing winds at 65 miles an hour. So it is a tropical storm, will eventually weaken down to a tropical depression. But this is our forecasted path. And you see not running back over water for a while here. So we're running across Georgia, into South Carolina, and North Carolina, taking you into Thursday, before eventually we may be run back out over water.

It's not going to have time to strengthen again. But when it moves that direction, it's going to bring a whole lot of rain and eventually some wind also. We have seen so far widespread areas across portions of Florida three to five inches. I think that same amount of rain is going to continue to run up the coast.

That could be a problem for flooding here the next couple of days, particularly in some of those more mountainous regions. And I will leave you with this, Neil, very early in the season. So there's nothing else tropical back behind this for right now.

But, statistically, this is when we typically see the most activity, September. We still have a ways to go. So it's a good reminder of what could still come a little later in the year.

CAVUTO: Adam Klotz, thank you very much, my friend.

KLOTZ: Yes.

CAVUTO: Well, certainly, the flooding and everything else could have complicated the recovery efforts over at that collapsed tower in Surfside, Florida. It did not.

But the reality is, it also sped up that recovery effort, to the degree that they're finding still more victims, 46 by the latest count, 94 still reported missing.

Let's go to the lieutenant governor of Florida, Jeanette Nunez.

Governor, always good to have you.

Can you tell us anything new, any new discoveries as far as the rescue mission continues?

LT. GOV. JEANETTE NUNEZ (R-FL): Well, as it relates to the Surfside collapse, obviously, it's taken a tremendous physical and emotional toll on the entire community, on our first responders.

We have been blessed that we have had great task force members of our own. Miami-Dade County's finest have been there since day one. We have also been augmented by teams throughout the state, throughout the country, really.

As you mentioned, we have seen the recovery efforts began to expedite. What we have seen just this morning, announced 46 victims, obviously, when they were able to bring down the building, the rest of the building that was standing. That has helped expedite the areas which were unable to be reached by our search-and-rescue folks.

So that has sped up the process a little bit. Clearly, it's been very difficult the last couple of weeks here in South Florida. But Governor DeSantis and I have been on site, have been focused, have been supporting every step of the way.

CAVUTO: Governor, have we gotten any, anything like pings or noises, anything from under that rubble?

NUNEZ: Sadly, Neil, no, there has not been any voids discovered, both in the initial search-and-rescue efforts, and now more recently, with the new areas that have been uncovered due to the demolition of the existing building.

There's been no noise picked up by all the technology that they have been using. Unfortunately, there's been no survivors to date. But they're going to continue to look. And, obviously, the families, the friends, the loved ones are desperately awaiting news.

It's been a really difficult situation.

CAVUTO: No, I'm sure.

Governor, I'm curious as well. Where are the loved ones as the search continues? And how close are they to this?

NUNEZ: They get briefed twice a day. We provide them with all sorts of information. We answer their questions.

There are some that are staying close by. As you can imagine, South Florida, international microcosm, we have got a lot of family and loved ones that have come in from out of town, out of the country. So we have a whole host of individuals that are providing assistance. We have mental health counselors on site.

FEMA, as you know, is on site providing individual and public assistance in some cases, the Red Cross, the faith-based community. There is an outpouring of support unlike anything I have ever seen, quite frankly, here in Florida.

CAVUTO: You know, when I spoke to Governor DeSantis yesterday, Governor, I was left with the impression that he wanted to go slow on these sweeping measures that are out there to sort of inspect every single high-rise, for that matter, in the state of Florida, let alone the certification process that's going on right now for condo buildings 40 years or older.

This was the governor talking a little bit about where he sees these studies going. I just want you to react to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I think we need to figure out, what was the actual cause or causes of this? And then I think, once we know that, then we can try to figure out what would make sense from a policy perspective.

Obviously, people get involved in buying a unit here, to have a building collapse is like a catastrophic thing. And so it just doesn't happen in the United States. It shouldn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: Well, he was clearly saying, until we know exactly what happened here, let's not sort of institute statewide policies that might not address what happened here.

Do you share that faith and confidence in structures, building codes in Florida as a whole, Governor?

NUNEZ: Absolutely.

I think Governor DeSantis is correct in ascertaining that Florida has some of the strictest building codes in the country. Clearly, here in South Florida, due to Hurricane Andrew back in 1992, that was even further strengthened.

What I think it's incumbent upon those in office, those that are in a position to either address building codes or change laws, is to really understand what occurred and why it occurred. There's always a knee-jerk reaction when a tragedy of this magnitude impacts and rocks your community.

And, of course, I'm not saying that there may not be an opportunity to revise or adapt or enact new laws or regulations or codes. But I think it truly is important for us to understand what happened, how this could have been avoided.

It's really unfathomable to think that a building could collapse before your very eyes the way that this one did. So I think there's just a genuine zeal to do something.

But I do believe that we need to take a moment to understand exactly what happened. We have all sorts of experts, engineers of all kind. We have the National Institute of Standards and Technology, lidar scans. Everything that could possibly be done to uncover what occurred is being done.

And I think, obviously, the county has gone through their auditing process to make sure that there's no other buildings that have some significant structural damage. I think the audit has been released. I think that they have indicated that there's really nothing of concern in the county, per se, other than some balcony issues. And they have since addressed that.

But I do believe we need to take a look, understand what happened, address it if it needs to be addressed. But these families, clearly, they want answers. They want closure. And, quite frankly, Neil, they want a miracle.

CAVUTO: Yes, I hear you.

Governor, thank you very, very much, the lieutenant governor of the state of Florida, Jeanette Nunez.

All right, we have a lot more coming up after this, including something Joe Biden said that might have escaped a lot of people's attention. It certainly got mine. And it has to do with the filibuster, and this age-old rule that you need 60 votes to get anything big through the United States Senate.

I think -- and I want to stress I think -- he signaled maybe not for long - - after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: You worried about inflation. Well, investors aren't, the Dow and Nasdaq and the S&P racing forward today, but not so in the case of the S&P and Nasdaq, which hit records, all on the idea that all of this will pass. Will it?

Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm here to make a case for the second critical part of my domestic agenda. In Washington, they call it a reconciliation bill.

That's a fancy way of saying, for the filibuster that our friends on the other side use constantly, more than ever been used in history, it means you got to get 60 votes to get anything done. We're a 50/50 Senate, with a vice president who happens to be a Democrat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, just a point of correction there. That might be the president's view, but the fact is, both parties have used the filibuster to their own liking. No one party has providence over it.

But the idea in the Senate that you need 60 votes to get something big threw, I found that remark to be, well, remarkable, because it is the first clear sign that the president might be open to keeping it a simple majority, which would allow in that chamber, where it's a 50/50 split, the Democrats can get a lot through.

That worries Joe Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator, 2000 vice presidential candidate, because of what it could lead to.

Senator, always good seeing you.

I don't know what you thought. And maybe I'm overstating what the president was saying. But that is the clearest he has ever been about getting rid of this thing, so we can get some stuff through. You think it's a mistake. Why?

FMR. SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I-CT): Yes, I do, Neil,.

I admit that I have had mixed feelings about the filibuster over the years. There was a time when I thought it didn't make sense, because, after all, it's a country where the majority rules; 51 votes should be enough.

But, to me, the greatest problem that is faced in Washington today is extreme partisanship. And if you take away the filibuster, you're going to allow one party to do whatever it wants while it has the majority. And then as soon as the next party -- the other party takes over and gets the majority, it's going to change everything that happened before.

I think, today, the filibuster requirement is one of the major incentives, one of the few major incentives left for bipartisan work in the Senate, because you can't get to 60, almost never going to get to 60, without having members of both parties voting.

And I think that's in the general health of the country. So I hope the filibuster is maintained. The bipartisan deal agreement on infrastructure, which looks like it has more than 60 votes in the Senate, is an indication of how it forces people to negotiate compromise and solve a big national problem and get something good done.

CAVUTO: Yes, I often wonder. And I know you're a Democrat by DNA. And I do wonder, if the roles were reversed, would Democrats be complaining about a situation like this? I think not. But I understand how politics is played.

So I want to get your thoughts on whether there's even enough support within the Democratic Party for a reconciliation measuring on all of these spending plans. Just getting 51 votes there, 50 votes because of Kamala Harris, that's going to be an uphill battle, right?

LIEBERMAN: Yes. No, I think it will be.

Look, it depends what the president asks for. They're talking now in the second package, which was originally in the infrastructure bill, and it's been left out of this bipartisan compromise, they're talking about trillions of additional dollars of spending, which probably means trillions of additional dollars added to our national debt.

I mean, you got three different numbers out there for additional spending on this measure. Joe Manchin has said he could consider $2 trillion extra. Bernie Sanders has said he wants $6 trillion extra, and Chuck Schumer settling in the middle of a lot of money, says that he's going to fight for $4 trillion.

It's too much. And I'm not sure, if they go over the $2 trillion, which Manchin said he might be able to accept, that the Democrats are actually going to get 50 of their senators to stand by it.

But that ought to be separate. They ought to get the bipartisan infrastructure agreement passed. It's good for the country. President Biden himself says that it will create millions of new jobs and help us in our competition with China.

What more could you ask, really?

CAVUTO: You know, I don't know how you feel about this. I'm often confused by what the president says, right?

He, first of all, was very, very vague on the whole idea that you want to bust up the filibuster, just like he was very clear on -- when dealing on the infrastructure package with the Republicans that it was a bipartisan deal, and he would stick to that. Then he talked about linking it. Then he talked about unlinking it.

Today, it seemed to be as that he was linking it again and busting up the filibuster. I don't remember him being such a vacillating politician. But he's confusing people, isn't he?

(LAUGHTER)

LIEBERMAN: Well, I don't know if I can unconfuse you.

Once, years ago, when I was in the Connecticut state legislature, somebody said to me, if you're not confused, you don't understand the situation.

(LAUGHTER)

LIEBERMAN: It's not quite like that now.

But I think what you're seeing here is the president and titular head of the Democratic Party trying to be the leader of a party that has at least two major wings, maybe three, but certainly a center-left-wing, and then a left-left-wing. And the center-left-wing or centrist wing is really pretty happy with the current bipartisan infrastructure agreement.

They want to get it done. The people who are further to the left want to spend trillions more dollars on programs that are controversial. And I agree with you. It wasn't totally clear what President Biden was saying today about the filibuster.

I think his purpose today was to say to people who want that extra funding, I haven't forgotten about you. I'm for the bipartisan infrastructure agreement, but I haven't -- I haven't forgotten about you.

And, to me, the most important thing is to separate these two. Right now, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer are saying they're actually not going to take up the bipartisan infrastructure agreement until the reconciliation votes are there for this extra trillions of dollars.

I think that's wrong. They ought to do the infrastructure agreement while they have got it. Call the role while you have got the votes, and then come back and see if you can get enough votes to pass something more.

CAVUTO: All right.

All right, I'm confused that we're both confused.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: So, we will see what happens, Senator.

Always good seeing you, Senator Joe Lieberman.

(CROSSTALK)

LIEBERMAN: You too, Neil. Take care.

CAVUTO: All right, you too, my friend.

All right, we have a lot more coming up. If you're confused about what's going on Afghanistan, you're not alone, because our official pullout date is on 9/11. We are 90 percent there right now. And let's just say that the Taliban isn't waiting for us to go -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, we are getting a word out of Dubai that a container ship exploded in a huge port there, and it caused an explosion that sent tremors across the entire are. And the buildings were shaking nearby.

We are told as well that the fire itself is under control, no report of casualties at the moment, but all of this at a time under that, in the United Arab Emirates, it has been the holdout on oil discussions that have been going on policing supply.

This probably has nothing to do that. I only pass that along for the context here, but, again, an explosion a container ship, huge fire. So far, that's all we know. They say they have it under control.

We will keep you posted.

While we are still in that neck of the woods, we're following developments right now as well in Afghanistan, a pullout here.

After 20-plus years in that region, we are getting out. And we might be running ahead of our time schedule, as better than 90 percent of troops in the region have already departed. The goal for this from President Biden is to do so by 9/11.

John Kirby is the Pentagon press secretary, kind enough to join us.

John, welcome to you.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Thanks.

CAVUTO: You're probably familiar with some of these videos that are coming in of the Taliban celebrating and getting guns from retreating officers, some of those soldiers fleeing Afghanistan.

Is the president worried about this?

KIRBY: We are all concerned about the security situation the ground, Neil. There's no question about that, which is all the more reason why we continue to push for a negotiated, peaceful, political settlement to this war.

That's really the way forward here. We have said for a long time a military solution is not going to be in the best interests of the Afghan people, or, quite frankly, the region. We're still pushing and we still believe, and the security situation, I think, augers for and argues for a peaceful negotiated solution here.

CAVUTO: The Taliban doesn't seem to want a peaceful negotiation. And they might have been in talks before and keeping things relatively calm before because our troops were there.

Do you think all of this is happening because they're not, and, pretty soon, none of them will be there?

KIRBY: Well, we certainly don't want to see a full-on Taliban military solution here to the future of Afghanistan. That's not in anybody's interests.

We still believe that there's a path forward for a negotiated settlement, a peaceful political solution to this -- to this conflict. And that's where we want everybody's attention to be -- to be squarely focused on. And, certainly, that that's ours.

From a military perspective, Neil, our focus is on completing the drawdown that we began in April, under the president's order, and making sure that, as we do that, we transition to a new relationship with Afghan forces and the Afghan people that helps them continue to try to defend their country and defend their territory.

CAVUTO: It's pretty clear right now that they can't. That might change, to your point. But if the country is overrun by the Taliban, what will that say about our 20 years there? A waste?

KIRBY: I don't think we want to get into speculating and hypotheticals here about what may or may not happen.

Again, we're all watching the security situation with concern, which is, again, why we are putting so much diplomatic energy in this administration into trying to find a diplomatic solution and to fashioning a relationship with the Afghan forces going forward that allows them to stay competent and capable in the field.

Again, we're mindful of the situation. And it's -- and it's concerning.

CAVUTO: Right.

KIRBY: But we -- and we have -- as I think you have heard me say, we have over the course of the next few months, until the drawdown is complete, we still have capabilities, and we still have the authorities to assist the Afghan forces in the field, if we need to.

CAVUTO: I guess, looking at it -- John, and you're closer to this than I am. But, obviously, the Taliban doesn't think that any of their provocative actions and moving so early, before we formally pull out, that we will do anything about it.

Is there anything you know of that the president, the Pentagon will consider if the Taliban gets too aggressive here?

KIRBY: Sure.

Well, without speaking to specific future operations that haven't happened yet, I mean -- we want to be careful here -- as I said, the commander on the ground, he will transition authority to General McKenzie, the Central Command commander, here very soon.

And General McKenzie will retain those same authorities that general miller now has in Kabul. And those authorities right now do permit for the United States to come to the assistance of Afghan National Security Forces.

And, obviously, that's going to be a case by case situation. We're going to have to evaluate the situation as it's happening before we make those kinds of decisions. But we do have those authorities.

I would say, again, that we're going to continue to assist the competency and the capability of Afghan forces going forward after the drawdown .It will include some financial support, some logistical support, some technical support, some aviation support, to include the provision addition to their aviation fleet of helicopters and aircraft.

So we're not turning our back on our Afghan partners. We really think that there's still space here for a negotiated settlement. And we urge the Taliban to return to the table.

And the other thing I'd say, Neil, is that, should the Taliban have governing aspirations here that they intend to force them -- to force their way into, I mean, if they want to be a representative in the international community and respected in that community, they're going to have to behave in that manner.

I mean, there's still international community pressure that can be brought to bear.

CAVUTO: All right, we will watch it closely.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention today's other huge development in the world, the assassination of Haiti's president. His wife was injured badly enough that she had to be flown, and I think is in the process of being flown to a Miami hospital.

But it happened right at his home, right at their home. Do we know anything about it, who was behind it? I know there's been great upheaval in that country. It's as poor as you can get. It's been running without a working, functioning Parliament. A mess.

KIRBY: Yes.

CAVUTO: But do we know anything about this?

KIRBY: I don't have additional details about the actual crime itself. It's horrific.

And you heard the president condemn this earlier today. We certainly extend our condolences to all the Haitian people in this particular situation, and certainly to the first lady of Haiti, who, you mentioned, is going to get some medical care.

And we stand by to continue to support the Haitian people, as we have. But I don't have any additional information about this horrific crime.

CAVUTO: Do you know whether the Pentagon, the State Department, any other entities are now saying Americans shouldn't travel to Haiti?

KIRBY: I would leave that for my State Department colleagues to speak to. I'm not aware of any travel advisories.

And, as for DOD, we have not been requested or asked for any support at this time. And we will just kind of have to take this as it comes.

CAVUTO: All right, John Kirby, thank you very, very much. Good chatting with you again.

KIRBY: You too, Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, we have a couple other developments we're following.

The virus, it might be under control largely in the United States, and, indeed, it is, but, in other countries, where the overall vaccination rates are surprisingly low, they're forcing the issue. In France, they are now requiring or certainly consider requiring all health workers get vaccinated.

Now there's talk that it would expand way beyond health workers. The fallout -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Some sad news to pass along out of Surfside, Florida.

The search of that collapsed condo has now shifted from a rescue effort to a recovery operation, apparently, hope dwindling now close to two weeks after the disaster of finding any survivors, again, from a rescue effort now of recovery operation. We will keep you posted on that.

Keeping you posted as well on the virus. It's big news around the world, not so much big news here, but concerns about low vaccination rates in a lot of countries, including France, where they're very close to instituting a law that will demand mandatory vaccine shots for all health care workers.

Other countries are looking at varying degrees of doing much the same.

Dr. Bob Lahita joins us right now, St. Joseph Health Institute for Autoimmune and Rheumatic Diseases, the director there.

Doctor, what do you make of this, that they're trying to force it to lift those numbers up? And we have kicked around the idea of even door-to-door vaccinations to get the numbers up, not forcing it, but strongly suggesting it. What do you think?

DR. BOB LAHITA, ST. JOSEPH UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Well, I think the door-to- door thing is a little bit unusual, Neil. I don't think that's going to work very well, because the people I have talked to are really, really hunkered down and are saying they're not going to get vaccinated.

There's a lot of vaccine hesitancy out there. But as far as the other countries go, like France, Australia, Africa, in Africa, less than 2 percent of the population has been immunized, in Australia, 5 percent or less have been immunized, vs. here in America, we're almost approaching President Biden's wish to have 70 percent of the population vaccinated.

So, that's a big difference. And I can understand the efforts in these other countries.

CAVUTO: I'm just wondering, are we safe when you get to a certain number of people? Let's say you're at, where are we, 65, close to 70 percent who have had at least one shot.

LAHITA: Yes.

CAVUTO: I'm surprised, Doctor, in some of these other countries, it's much, much lower than that.

At what level do you think, if there's such a thing, immune -- herd immunity steps in?

LAHITA: Yes.

Well, we're saying that herd immunity steps in between 70 and 80 percent of the population being either infected or vaccinated. Now, I have spoken to my -- some of my virological colleagues, who say that herd immunity is out of the question, it's not going to happen.

But we're seeing the fact that the vaccines have worked. The numbers of infected people are really, really super low. And that is really a good sign, because it just means that you're not going to see it take off in this country, just because of the fact that we vaccinated a good portion of the population.

CAVUTO: Dr. Lahita, thank you very much. Wanted to get some clarifications from you on this.

Just want to let you know, before we take a quick break here, out of Surfside, Florida, news you might have suspected was coming, but confirmed, that the search of that collapsed condo has now shifted from rescue to recovery, recognizing the bitter reality that, after close to two weeks, the odds of finding anyone alive don't look good.

We will have more after this.

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CAVUTO: All right, we are following up on an AP story that's out that they search of that collapsed condo almost two weeks ago has shifted to -- from rescue to a recovery operation, that the thinking is that, after close to 14 days, the odds of finding survivors under that rubble have dramatically shrunk.

We're trying to get the authorities at the scene to update us on what this will mean as they move forward now with a rescue to a recovery operation.

Alicia Acuna certainly has covered her share of tragedies just like this one.

And it's a tough moment, Alicia, if you think about it, when they have to make that shift, isn't it?

ALICIA ACUNA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It's so tough, Neil.

And it's heartbreaking when you hear the difference that comes in the tone. We knew we were headed here when we moved from recovery -- rescue to recovery. Even when it's something that officials and family members and those who are waiting know we might be headed there, when that moment comes, everything changes.

I interviewed the mayor of Surfside over the weekend. And he was -- and as you have interviewed him multiple times, he was still holding out a sense of hope for the families who were there, because, at that point, he didn't feel it was his place to do anything other than provide them everything that he possibly could.

And this was as they were leading up to the demolishing of the rest of that building. So, this has been a tragedy upon a tragedy upon a tragedy. And now we are here at this moment, where the families and all of the officials and the people who have been working this for the past two weeks have to take stock of what has happened over the past two weeks and move forward, as they try to begin the recovery operation, again, just incredibly heartbreaking.

CAVUTO: Alicia, we're also learning what might have prompted this decision was seeing the rubble and getting access to it in ways that they hadn't before of the demolition of the part of the building that was still standing, that everything is compacted, to the point where there are no air pockets allowing for potential survivors.

Now, we know and there's still the very remotest of possibilities that maybe there are those in there. But to make this decision might offer closure for families, but not necessarily happy closure.

ACUNA: No, it's not.

It's the turning of a corner on a journey that has just felt so just impossible for so many of them. And this moment comes just in the days after they had to demolish the second half. And they had to do that, a reminder, because of Tropical Storm and then ultimately Hurricane Elsa that landed on Florida earlier today.

They had to do that because the winds were going to do it in a less controlled fashion. Once they were able to do that, bring down that other half of the building that had been standing there so precariously, what that did was that provided them actually more access to the entire area.

And once they were able to do that, they were able to see an end try to hear what else was left. And that was the part that was so hard, because, once they started to search the remaining area, the rescue workers who had been there this entire time were no longer hearing noises that they were before that were giving them some sense of hope--

CAVUTO: Right.

ACUNA: -- someplace to search.

So, that actually dissipated. And it moved the investigation further along, because they could access this entire area that had been too dangerous for them to approach.

CAVUTO: All right, Alicia, thank you very much.

And, as we might have surmised here, it was the lack and apparent inability to find any pockets at all in that rubble that have prompted this decision to say now it is a recovery operation, 46 known dead.

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