Gov. McCrory: NC firebomb attack is an assault on democracy

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," October 17, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST:  All right, local Republicans are still trying to figure out who exactly was behind the Hillsborough, North Carolina, firebombing of a GOP office there.  It was over the weekend.  No one was hurt.  It could have been a lot worse.

North Carolina Republican Governor Pat McCrory still looking for answers.

Governor, very good to have you.  Have you learned anything?

GOV. PAT MCCRORY, R-N.C.:  Not at this point in time.  It's rather discouraging at a time when our state's really coming together to help thousands of people impacted by Hurricane Matthew that some foolish person would throw a Molotov cocktail through this window and catch a local Republican headquarters on fire, which is -- it's basically an assault on our democratic system.

And, thankfully, no one was hurt.  But it was a clear act of intimidation.  There was also graffiti written on another building.  I assume they thought this building would burn down, but it didn't.  And it's something I have asked the SBI to investigate and help the local authorities to investigate.

And I want the local authorities to take this attack toward our democracy extremely seriously and hopefully find the individuals or individual who did this.  It's a very clear sign of intimidation.

And I would feel the same way if it was toward a Democratic headquarters, too.  I would take the same seriousness.  This is -- no act of violence is acceptable.  And we have got to do everything we can to allow our democratic process to proceed in a peaceful way.

CAVUTO:  Now, you talked about how this would trigger bipartisan outrage, and indeed it has.  Hillsborough's mayor, Tom Stevens, a Democrat, was telling me earlier today on FOX Business, Governor, he, too, was appalled by this.

I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO:  This heavily Democratic area, do you think that had something to do with it?

MAYOR TOM STEVENS, HILLSBOROUGH, NORTH CAROLINA:  Well, you know, I certainly just hate the rhetoric that has been going on.

Certainly, yes, the Republicans in this particular county are in a minority.  And, you know, I just find it troubling when I find people who feel like they can't even speak up.

That being said, I don't think it represents the Democrats or really anybody of this community. In fact, a lot of local Democrats before the evening was over did a GoFundMe and raised $10,000 instead to get that office back up and running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO:  Do you know how soon, Governor, that office could get back up and running?

MCCRORY:  I don't think it's going to happen between now and the election, but I do appreciate the mayor making those very positive comments.

I think we have people who -- in both parties who take this stuff a little too seriously and take these -- they don't realize the impact of their actions can be deadly, can impact the democratic process.  And it's a clear act of intimidation.

And I'm going to do everything I can to find this individual or individuals who threw a literally a firebomb into a window in Hillsborough, North Carolina.  It's unacceptable.  And we're going to make sure that this doesn't impact the free elections that we have in our country and in the state of North Carolina.

CAVUTO:  Governor, we heard from Josh Earnest earlier today in his regular briefing that it seemed he had not briefed or they had briefed the president or he with them what happened.  I think we have some audio of that, but if we can just react to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:  I haven't talked to the president about this, but, obviously, having seen the reports, there is no justification for the use of violence to advance a political agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO:  Have you had a chance, Governor, to talk to the president about this?

MCCRORY:  The president has not called.  I haven't called him.

We actually were not made aware of this by local authorities for a fairly long period of time.  I think the local authorities frankly dealt with this in the first several hours just as an act of vandalism.  And this is much more than an act of vandalism.

And that's one reason I called the SBI to ensure that we have an SBI agent actively involved with local authorities in this investigation.  But I think, initially, this wasn't taken that seriously by some of the local authorities.  But it is now.  And, again, I appreciate the mayor's comments.

But I hope this White House treats this as seriously as they would if it happened to the other party.  And I would as governor, and I'm sure the president would, too.  But this type of a Molotov cocktail being thrown into a window in probably the dead of night, I'm just glad no one got hurt.

But it is a clear sign of intimidation, and it's unacceptable in our country and it's unacceptable here in North Carolina.

CAVUTO:  And it comes certainly after Matthew.  And you have dealt with 26 people dying from that storm.  That's the latest count I have, many homeless as a result.

And yet today, on this, your 60th birthday, a group called Writers for a Progressive North Carolina purchased a full-page ad blasting you, blasting your leadership of the state, chasing business away, saying that the progressive bent of North Carolinians has been compromised under your leadership.

I think they're going back to the transgender bathroom, the visa issue.  But what do you make of all that?

MCCRORY:  I wish they would have saved their money and not spent it on ridiculous political propaganda, and maybe would have donated that money to a lot of the homeless people that we have right now that are flooded out of their homes over about a 200- or 300-square-mile area of North Carolina, actually about a 600-square-mile area of North Carolina,

That money would have been much better spent helping people who are in shelters at this point in time from Lumberton, North Carolina, all the way to the Tar River area of North Carolina.  We have got a lot of people that are hurting right now.

And this is not a time for those types of foolish politics, nor is it a time for this type of violence trying to impact our democratic system.  This is all a propaganda campaign brought in from the outside in North Carolina that sadly the national media brought in to regarding this ridiculous gender debate which the left started, not the right.

And, sadly, it is probably going to be determined by the Supreme Court.  
But, right now, I have much more important issues on my plate regarding trying to get our state back in place.  I'm having areas of the state being flooded right now, as we speak, even though the hurricane left North Carolina over nine days ago.

CAVUTO:  Governor, thank you very much for taking the time, the governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory, dealing with quite a bit simultaneously.

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