Sen. Tillis: We need to get started on hurricane recovery efforts immediately

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Sen. Tillis: We need to get started on hurricane recovery efforts immediately

Hurricane Dorian knocks out power to more than 200K homes and businesses in North Carolina; Sen. Thom Tillis on the damage.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," September 6, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, ANCHOR: FOX on top of a hurricane and an economy slowing down.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto, and this is "Your World," busy world, at that.

Dorian might be down, but not out, still hitting the Atlantic Coast and still heading north. And while the economy is still adding jobs, some new worries things could be heading south, or not as north.

We have got you covered with both Susan Li in New York on a job market that might be, well, kind of slowing down, and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis on a state that's just trying to hold its own.

We begin with Susan.

SUSAN LI, FOX BUSINESS: Neil, yes, the job growth is slowing, but it's still pretty solid in the economy, and shows that the U.S. is still expanding -- 130,000 jobs added in the month of August, less than economists forecast, who were calling for 158,000.

But the jobless rate stays near that 50-year low, hovering at 3.7 percent, indicating that Americans are enjoying job security. Government hiring for next year's census added over 25,000 in the month, health care, hiring for ambulance and hospital workers, finance and insurance, tech and professional services, and even manufacturing with some small jobs gains in the month.

And that's important, given that Elizabeth Warren and some economists have warned of a manufacturing recession. Retail, meantime, shedding jobs in the month of August. Now, other signs of a solid jobs market, more Americans looking for work once again, being encouraged by what they see as a stronger jobs market.

Also, pay increases held up after slipping in the springtime. And the average workweek extended last month. You would usually see hours cut back if there was a serious crack in the jobs picture. Employers do tend to cut back on the workweek before they actually start firing.

And Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also encouraged by this report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: So, we're not forecasting or expecting a recession. As I mentioned, the incoming data for the United States suggests that the most likely outcome -- outcome -- outlook for the United States economy is still moderate growth, a strong labor market and inflation continuing to move back up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LI: No recession, but the markets are still expecting help from the Central Bank later on this month, with 100 percent of the market expecting a rate cut in just a few weeks' time, 90 percent predicting a quarter of one percent, while the rest say that half-a-percent will be cut.

I guess we will see, Neil.

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

Not to worry. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell seem to indicate that -- as she pointed out, that no matter what the president keeps saying about him, when it comes to this trade fallout, he's got the president's back, even if the president keeps hitting him slightly below the back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: We would never comment on trade policy. We don't do trade. It's not a responsibility of the Fed. But I think it is the case that uncertainty around trade policy is causing some companies to hold back now on investment.

And so our obligation is to use our tools to support the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, what got the market's attention, "We will act as appropriate."

How many times have you heard that from this Federal Reserve, do whatever it takes to sort of backstop the economy deal with it if there is hell to pay for all this trade back and forth?

We have got Lizzy "Wicked" MacDonald with us, also a very good read of these markets, Melissa Armo.

I think, Melissa, what the Fed was making clear, no matter the back and forth between us and the White House, the fact of the matter is, we're here to support if things go bad, right?

MELISSA ARMO, THE STOCK SWOOSH: Right, which is a good sign. So I'm not really sure why Trump is upset at the Fed chairman right now at this point, except for the fact that this number came out today.

But you know what? Every single economic number that comes out cannot blow it out of the water. And it has. It almost has when you look back, so now people are getting used to it. So if something just goes a little bit shy of being perfect, then everybody is all up in arms and they're back talking a recession, recession again, and rates have to be cut a half-a-percent.

CAVUTO: Yes.

I was just trying to look up as you were speaking there what the president tweeted just today, that the Fed should lower rates, Lizzy: "They were way too early to raise, way too late to cut, And a big dose of quantitative tightening didn't help matters any. Where did I find this guy Jerome? Well, you can't win them all."

(LAUGHTER)

ELIZABETH MACDONALD, FOX BUSINESS: Well, he's pretty blunt, right? That's our president.

CAVUTO: Not a fan, I guess.

(CROSSTALK)

MACDONALD: Not a fan. You could put him in that category.

There's debate about that, about what the president's saying. Do we want to go to negative yield territory, like Europe, flattening growth?

Naturally, the GDP growth will go down when inflation goes down. It costs less to buy things for companies and businesses and people. I mean, his -- I hear what the president is saying. However, a strong dollar does draw in investment into the U.S. Capital investment has been slow here.

What we also didn't like in that job number was the number of government workers. Without the government workers...

CAVUTO: Right. Without the census workers...

(CROSSTALK)

MACDONALD: Yes. It would have been lower.

CAVUTO: Let me explore that a little bit, because it was still a good jobs report. I want to posit that. We're still at 3.7 percent unemployment rate.

We added 130,000 jobs. I guess they were expecting 150,000 or more. The fact of the matter is, though, Melissa, we are down from the pace we were establishing last year.

Does it worry you that we're not going into reverse, but it's slowing?

ARMO: No, it doesn't worry me at all.

When you look at companies, we recently had earnings with Target. And Lulu reported. They made brand-new all time highs, and it's so usual for retailers like that to make brand-new highs before the holiday season. Usually, they lag. And that's why they call it Black Friday. They go into the black at the end of the year, right?

CAVUTO: And that's the sentiment of consumer, right?

ARMO: That's right.

CAVUTO: That's something you watch closely, right?

MACDONALD: Yes, that's right.

And Melissa is absolutely right. You don't have a recession when wage growth is strong or job growth is pretty solid and labor force participation is solid and the jobless rate is at 50-year lows.

You never -- hardly ever have a recession with those good numbers. The question is, how will the trade deal be settled? Will the president say, you know what, we will just -- this is a stalemate, it ain't going to get any better.

We know multinationals are leaving China. The president...

CAVUTO: Well, is the answer to that then, let me just cut -- the consensus is they're going to cut next -- later on this month.

MACDONALD: For the Fed, yes.

CAVUTO: For the Fed, a quarter point. Maybe more to come.

Is that what you're buying?

MACDONALD: Well, the Fed can't carry it all.

And you're absolutely right. There is a slowdown. You look at agricultural exports to China plummeting from $24 billion to $1 billion. The Farm Belt is hurting. The president can easily plant a flag, declare victory. He's the only president who has really taken this on full force. And he was right to do it.

Critics say on Wall Street that he was absolutely in the right to do it. No rational person can think it's normal for any country to take half another country's I.P., yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: I don't want to get into a trade argument with you, but I do want to know, Melissa, do you think that what's going on here is something the economy can weather, if we don't get a settlement or some sort of a deal before the election?

Because the message coming from the Federal Reserve was, to Lizzy's point, we're going to do what we can, but we can't go nuts here.

ARMO: Yes, I think the economy can weather it for two reasons. One, people are working. And you can tell that because they're spending money two.

And, two, the corporate tax cuts really helped companies. So even though they are...

CAVUTO: These are the same companies, though, that are sort of drawing back from their hiring.

ARMO: Yes, because, of course, they don't -- exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: I knew it was a stupid question, but I raised it.

(LAUGHTER)

ARMO: They saved money, OK, with the tax cuts.

But when you look about it, think, 40 years ago, in China, a city like Shanghai, people don't have heat, they didn't have electricity. I mean, China grew like, poof, like that, in 40 years.

And why? Because a lot of U.S. companies moved manufacturing to China, and a lot of people may not know this.

CAVUTO: And that might be unwinding, right? OK.

ARMO: Right.

And a lot of people may not know this, but when you're over there, they actually pay for three meals a day and housing. And so the people that work there, the Chinese, they may get a low wage, but they -- companies provide housing and meals for them.

So you can't have it both ways. These companies have benefited by the low wages and also not paying health insurance and all this stuff.

CAVUTO: Got it. Got it.

All right, ladies, I want to thank you both very, very much.

Now to Dorian, down to a Category 1 storm, but still causing some major flood damage in North Carolina, and reports there are people climbing into their attics to avoid the rising waters.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis on all of that.

Senator, good to have you.

What's the latest you're hearing from back home?

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Well, right now, we're more concerned with the Outer Banks.

It looks like we dodged a bullet a little bit further south, not that we didn't have damage. We had several tornadoes and we had structural damage. But, right now, we're worried about the sound flooding and some of the flood warnings and flood emergencies that were declared.

And when the skies clear tomorrow, we will be able to sort out the ultimate damage.

CAVUTO: So, the fact is that it seems to be kind of petering out, still a very dangerous storm to your point, Senator.

But a lot of people are looking at this now and saying, all right, I can get out. The flooding is a problem here, but, like, everything is hunky- dory and back to normal.

It really isn't, is it?

TILLIS: No, it's not, Neil.

And I'm glad you brought that up. When you start the expectations with a Category 5 storm down in the Bahamas, but there are a lot of people who are harmed. We had a couple of deaths in North Carolina, more than 30 overall.

And there's a lot of structural damage. There are people displaced from their homes. And we have got to get to the work of recovery starting today.

CAVUTO: I would like to switch gears, if you don't mind, Senator.

We have talked about the Federal Reserve. The chairman, for the first time, had a chance to address some of the things the president has said about him, and he chose not to, said that he tries to be about politics, doesn't get into it with the president, says he would act appropriately as necessary to respond to the impact of all of this trade stuff on the economy.

That assumes that he's going to cut interest rates at least one more time, maybe more. What do you think?

TILLIS: Well, I think that's possible.

And I think it's also appropriate for the Fed chair not comment on the president's strategy. The president is trying to do his very best to get to a fair and free trade posture with China.

But China is a bad actor. And I think the president's right in taking them to task.

CAVUTO: All right. So what do you think happens now? Do we avoid a possible recession here or at the very least a pronounced slowdown?

I mean, the fear seemed to be with the questions they were peppering Jerome Powell with today with a banking audience in Switzerland was that, maybe not.

TILLIS: Well, I think the president, the administration know what people in Congress know, that the Chinese government, the Chinese people need normalized relations with the United States for them to continue to grow at the pace that they need to.

You and I both know that a 6 percent GDP in China is teetering on recession. And I think now is the time to get to a policy that could be great for the United States, American businesses.

We do need the certainty, because we have got a lot of capital on the sidelines waiting for that certainty.

CAVUTO: All right, well, 6 percent GDP might be a slowdown from what they have experienced, but it's triple our growth rate right now, right?

So the argument the Chinese have kind of been telling folks is, it's the U.S. who needs this deal more than we do. What do you think?

TILLIS: Well, it's an apple and an orange.

CAVUTO: Right.

TILLIS: A 2 percent GDP rate in the United States is a positive progression. We have seen a dip and we need to see the job creation numbers go up.

CAVUTO: Got it.

TILLIS: China knows that they can't afford to go much below 6 percent before they deal with a lot of internal problems.

The president knows that, which is why we have got to support putting pressure on China to stop stealing our intellectual property and stop trading unfairly.

CAVUTO: OK, Senator, thanks for taking the time.

My best to the fine people in your state dealing with this and yourself. Be well, sir.

TILLIS: Thank you.

CAVUTO: Border Chief Mark Morgan telling me that the president is delivering on that border wall to make America safer.

It's how he's doing it that has Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner so upset.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MORGAN, ACTING COMMISSIONER, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: One of the things they need to effectively do their job is more wall. And the president is delivering.

CAVUTO: All right, but, nevertheless, it worried some in Virginia and Arizona, Virginia Democratic Senators Tim Kaine, Mark Warner among them, saying that this is something the president shouldn't be doing, and that it does risk national security, precisely because he has done so.

MORGAN: So, again, the -- I have full confidence in the secretary of defense, that he is not going to take money that's going to impact his ability to safeguard the national security of this country.

This wall is part of a national security crisis we have right now, Neil, on this southwest border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, the dustup is over this, taking $3.6 billion from the military and channeling it into this border wall.

Other people are saying the president is technically breaking the Constitution doing that, that he failed to get that extra funding going about the normal route, and he did get some funding anyway, but you just can't do that.

Among those espousing that view is Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner.

Is this illegal? Is that what you're saying, Senator?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, what I'm saying, Neil, is, this is not how we set up our Constitution.

We gave the Congress the power of the purse. And what we have seen not under just this president, but under previous presidents as well, is Congress continuing to cede power to the executive.

That's not the way our Constitution works. If -- the president had a proposal to increase funding for his wall. Congress turned it down. And now for him to kind of arbitrarily declare a national security emergency and take this $3.6 million -- billion dollars, $74 million of which comes from my state of Virginia, I got to tell you, I didn't -- I heard only part of the previous clip.

But the gentleman who said that it's not degrading national security, I don't think he has his facts straight. For example, one of the projects the president took was $10 million from a cybersecurity center at Langley Air Force Base.

I can assure you, cybersecurity is one of our top priorities in national security. And taking those dollars away is not making our nation safer.

CAVUTO: Senator, you hear the counter of the White House, other presidents have done variations of this and reallocated funds. What makes this different? WARNER: Well, what we have seen with this president -- and, again, I think my earlier comment, Neil, was, this is not just something that Trump has done. This is something that previous presidents have done as well.

CAVUTO: Right.

WARNER: But I don't think he's taken it to the extreme, for example, that Mr. Trump has.

We saw earlier in some of the trade practices, when he declared Canada a national security threat. Now, I didn't agree with that. And, frankly, Pat Toomey, senator, Republican senator from Pennsylvania, and I have got legislation to try to restrict him from making those kind of declarations.

Now, after this taking of $3.6 billion from the defense budget, you have actually got both of my Republican colleagues from Utah, Senator Romney and Senator Lee, who have gotten legislation again trying to walk back the president's ability to make this kind of declaration.

So, I think there's a specific case here that the president is weakening our national security by arbitrarily taking this money. But I think there's a broader question as well that says, if we allow presidents to try to get something from Congress, and then, when they get turned down, basically to go back and rob the cookie jar in another way, then you basically undermine the -- the basic Section 1, Article 1 of our Constitution that leaves the power of the purse with the Congress.

So I believe I would have these same constraints no matter what kind of party.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: I'm sorry, Senator.

WARNER: Right.

CAVUTO: This wasn't an issue that you don't think walls are the answer?

The president likes to point to the San Diego border in Southern California. That wall is working just fine. He wants to see more of that, think it's urgent enough with what's been happening at the border the last -- particularly the last year, that it is an emergency, and a military one at that.

You disagree?

WARNER: Well, Neil, what I believe is that we need enhanced border security.

But what I would do, as opposed to what the president's offered, I don't think a fourth century wall that every expert I have talked to said you can either dig under or climb over necessarily is enhanced border security.

I think it'd be much better to go with what the experts have suggested, electronic fencing, drones, advanced technology. There's a lot of ways -- I can tell you from my vice chairmanship in the Intelligence Committee -- to keep people out that are much more sophisticated than the kind of political promise I think this has become for the president of fulfilling an obligation to build a wall.

CAVUTO: Senator, thank you very much. Good seeing you. Wanted to get your perspective. Glad we did.

WARNER: Thanks, Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, in the meantime, President Trump is nuking that nuke deal. You thought that was bad enough.

Did Iran just nuke any chance of getting it back?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MATTIS, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Anything that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is in our best interest. That is...

CAVUTO: So, was that deal, as it was originally constructed, in our best interest?

MATTIS: The deal was working. It wasn't a deal I was especially fond of when it was signed. I thought the sundown provisions were too soon, that we'd surrendered it too soon.

CAVUTO: So, was it a mistake for this president to rip it up, say, I want to start from scratch?

MATTIS: I'm not willing to say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, the former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis acknowledged the Iran deal was a lousy one, but it was better than no deal at all, seem to be intimating that.

The 2015 nuke deal that we walked away from and a lot of those key provisions have a lot of people questioning now what happens, as Iran revs up the ante after we walk away ourselves and others are urged to do the same.

Former adviser Vice President Dick Cheney George Beebe with us now.

George, what do you think? It was what it was, is what it is. And now the Iranians are doubling down with an all-but-guaranteed promise to sort of get reactivated?

GEORGE BEEBE, VICE PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Well, I think what's going on here is that the United States and Iran are really playing a game of chicken on this accord.

The United States clearly believed that the JCPOA was inadequate to contain not only Iran's nuclear ambitions over time, but also to restrain its aggression, its activities in the region that threatened U.S. interests and threatened Iran's neighbors, and it needed to do something about that.

So we withdrew from the agreement. We have embarked on this campaign of maximum pressure. All of this is designed to force the Iranians to come to the negotiating table and to agree to some new and better terms.

Now, the Iranians obviously don't want to do that. They were not particularly happy with the terms of the JCPOA, but they were willing to settle for half-a-loaf.

CAVUTO: Right.

BEEBE: What they're not willing to do is to make even further concessions.

And, of course, there was a debate inside Iran prior to that old agreement between hard-liners and pragmatists. The pragmatists won, but the hard- liners warned that the United States wouldn't abide by the terms of the agreement.

So what's happened since the U.S. withdrawal is the hard-liners have said, hey, we told you so, this is what we warned you against.

So there's not a lot of sentiment in Iran to make concessions right now.

CAVUTO: And, obviously, not a lot of sentiment here for Iran to change their minds.

The president was open to meeting with Iran's leader at the U.N. when the general assembly gathers in a couple of weeks. But what will -- what will happen if that happens?

BEEBE: Well, I think that's an opportunity for both sides to back away from the head-on collision that we appear to be on.

And there's incentive for both sides, I think, to avoid a real conflict.

President Trump has said he doesn't want regime change in Iran. He's not at least trying to force regime change. He doesn't want a war. He recognizes that the United States has been in too many wars already and has a difficult time finding an exit to those wars once it's involved.

And that's not a situation he wants to get into. And the Iranians don't want a war either. But each side also is trying to leverage the other side here.

And sitting down together, as President Trump has offered to do, offers both sides a way of avoiding that collision. Now, I don't expect...

CAVUTO: But do you think anything would come of that?

I mean, doesn't Iran's behavior confirm all the doubts the president had in the first place?

BEEBE: Well, I think Iran's behavior is very disturbing. No question about that.

On the other hand, what do I think might come of that? I think you might find a new process starting that would offer a long-term potential for some sort of deal. I don't expect that we will find a near-term solution and near-term agreement that both sides would be happy with.

But I do think we could start a new negotiating process that would take some time, but ultimately might bear some fruit.

CAVUTO: We shall see. George, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

BEEBE: You're welcome.

CAVUTO: All right, George Beebe.

Well, the Bahamas reeling, the Red Cross scrambling, and our own Ellison Barber on the ground with what she's seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're hearing people dying. Some areas you walk in, you can smell the scent of everything. I mean, it's a disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, we had a sinking feeling it was more than 30 who likely died in the Bahamas, but we never had any idea it would be way off.

And it's going to get way worse -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: We knew we were off. We didn't know this far off.

The death toll in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian is still officially at around 30, but we're getting indications that we're off. We're off by a lot.

FOX's Ellison Barber with the latest -- Ellison.

ELLISON BARBER, FOX NEWS: Hey, Neil.

This is an area, Nassau, an airport where they are bringing people that have been evacuated from places like Grand Bahama and also Abaco Island, where they are reuniting them with family, or they are treating them.

If you look behind me over here, you can see this is an area behind this ambulance where they are treating people. We have seen helicopters land on the other side of that bay, then patients come through the middle there.

And if they are -- if it is needed, some of them are then put in an ambulance and taken to a hospital.

We are expecting -- actually, that looks like right now we have the commander, General O'Shaughnessy, the commander of Northcom, walking over here for a press conference, Neil.

Northcom has been leading the mission efforts here in Grand Cayman. Their main goal so far has been trying to clear off the runway, so that they can get a lot of those people trapped out. From everything we are hearing, this -- the death toll, things are a lot worse than initially reported.

If I can, Neil, I will send it back to you right now. And if you guys want to, you can listen into us a little bit on...

(CROSSTALK)

BARBER: So far, everything we're hearing, as people go through rescue missions, is that this is a lot worse than we think.

Let's listen in.

CAVUTO: All right, Ellison, I don't mean to jump on you, my friend, but we do want to monitor this and see what they can tell us about the hunt for those who might not have survived, and just trying to track down anyone and everyone who might have been affected.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MARVIN HANLON DAMES, BAHAMIAN NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER: We have just returned from an overflight of Grand Bahama, as well as the Abaco Islands, myself, General O'Shaughnessy, Admiral Jones, and charge d'affaires for the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas, Mrs. Bowers.

We stopped off in Grand Bahama for about 30 minutes at the airport, got an opportunity to speak to some technical persons there from the United States who were surveying the runway, and would have gotten a really good briefing.

After spending some time there, we left and continued the overflight of Grand Bahama, with some concentration on the eastern end of the island. And that was the -- that's the section of the island that was most impacted. And from there, we went on to do an overflight of Abaco, with particular concentration on Marsh Harbour.

And so we got a good look at the level of devastation there. But we're here today to say, certainly, on behalf of my prime minister, the most honorable Dr. Hubert Minnis, and the government and the people of the Bahamas, we are grateful to the United States of America for their kind consideration and support.

The fact that we have General O'Shaughnessy and Admiral Jones here today is testament of the relationship between the Bahamas and the United States.

And this is a relationship that hearkens back to decades. And so, immediately, after this incident, it was a no-brainer that the U.S. would be the first to come to our aid and to provide significant amount of resources, from expert personnel, to aircrafts, and to other equipment and food supplies and water.

And we're still examining and assessing what those additional needs may be.

This is a -- it's a long road ahead for us. We recognize that. We would have been here before, but not as bad as this. And so, having said that, search and rescue and recovery mission is in full throttle. We have our teams being placed in those strategic areas, understanding that we're dealing with one land mass.

We're dealing with any number of land mass. So we have two major islands in the Bahamas, Grand Bahama and Abaco. And, oftentimes, we forget about the many keys around the Abacos in particular. They themselves, we have to put tremendous focus on those keys, because we have residents living on those keys as well.

We have, as I said before, a lot of resources currently in the area and a lot more moving to the area. Our National Emergency Management Agency is hard at work. The entire arm of the government is hard at work.

And we are grateful to nations from around the world coming and demonstrating their support to us here in the Bahamas, as well as nongovernment organizations and local and private organizations.

And so the support has been overwhelming. We now have to structure it in such a way so that it does not go counter to what we're seeking to achieve.

And so with that, I thank you so much. And I turn it over now to charge d'affaires Bowers.

STEPHANIE BOWERS, CHARGE D'AFFAIRES, U.S. EMBASSY NASSAU: Thank you. As Minister of National Security Marvin Dames just said, we are working hand in hand in partnership with the Bahamian government. We are communicating nearly every minute with different parts of the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Minnis, as well as the National Emergency Management Agency.

I know there's been some false information circulating on social media here that the Bahamian government hasn't welcomed the Department of Defense from the United States. As you can see, I have next to me General O'Shaughnessy, who is the Northern Command commander. He is -- he is in charge of the U.S. government's response for the Department of Defense.

We did just do the overflight, as the minister said, of Grand Bahama and Abaco. There's a long road ahead, but we want to assure everyone we're standing with our Bahamian partners, and there's more assistance on the way.

I also want to say thank you for Rear Admiral Jones for all of the systems he's helped us with the U.S. Coast Guard, with particularly the helicopters and the medical teams that have been assisting us evacuate to Nassau those that have been injured in this devastating hurricane.

And as the minister said, there are keys that are very remote and difficult to reach. Under the leadership of USAID, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the Fairfax County search and rescue team is on the ground and has developed a plan that -- to get out there and walk those keys and make sure that we're reaching all populations that we can.

Thank you.

GEN. TERRENCE O'SHAUGHNESSY, NORAD COMMANDER: Well, let me start by saying thank you to Minister Dames and Commodore Bethel for their strong leadership and the close collaboration.

As we are part of a broader effort, we look forward to continuing to collaborate with our great partners and all of our -- all of the global push that's being made here to help in the Bahamas.

I would also like to highlight the great work that the charge d'affaires, Stephanie Bowers, have done in order to coordinate the U.S. government response and initial making sure that we are all in synchronization.

As that continues now under the USAID, the Department of Defense is a great enabler. What we're focused on is, what can we do to enable the broader relief effort to have the intended effect?

We were able to go out with Minister Dames and Commodore Bethel and the charge d'affaires today to go look at some of those key places where we need to put some of the U.S. Department of Defense resources in order to enable the broader effort, for example, getting the airports open to the full capacity, getting the seaports open, allowing us to have air traffic control, so we can have safe aircraft flights, and allowing the broader effort that needs to be able to -- for the actual help places where it needs to go.

The United States Department of Defense is primarily focused in flying from Florida in particular, because it highlights that we are literally 50 miles away from the impacted areas. It shows we are neighbors, we are close, and we don't want to add additional burden here by bringing in a force that then has to be supported.

And so we're able to fly our helicopters. We have over 20 helicopters right now in Florida dedicated to this mission set. We have additional aircraft , like the Ospreys you see behind me, the MV-22s from the Marine Corps, that are helping out in this effort and trying to make sure we can get the right things to the right people at the right time, in accordance with -- in full coordination with the minister -- the minister of national security and Commodore Bethel and his team, as well as our efforts within the USAID and OFDA.

All in all, the efforts that we are doing are in place now, we will continue to beef up, and we will continue to collaborate with the government of the Bahamas to make sure that we're bringing the need that they need when they need it.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. The press avail is over.

CAVUTO: All right, there you go.

We wanted to get -- get to you. And we really interrupted Ellison Barber, but officials there in the Bahamas have spelled out the fact that they are going to continue this search and rescue, what some fear is turning quickly into a search and recovery right now.

There are 30 official known deaths from the -- in the Bahamas from this storm, which entered and hit the Bahamas in excess of 180-mile-per-hour winds. It was a Category 5.

And the trouble that happens in these remote areas, as we saw in Puerto Rico a little bit more than, what, a year-and-a-half ago, is that in the rural hard-to-reach areas, you get information on those who are missing much, much later. And that was rather deadly.

Thousands more discovered, bodies discovered. We hope it's not into that number here in the Bahamas, but we're already getting indications, with thousand still missing, that a good many could have been killed.

Back to Ellison Barber there at the scene.

What are they saying now, Ellison? What's next there?

BARBER: Right.

Yes -- your last -- the last bit of your question cut out there, but I can tell what -- what we have been seeing here on the ground in Nassau is, you have seen people coming, looking, trying to become reunited with family members.

I talked to one woman today who told me she didn't want to speak on camera. She was waiting, hoping that some of her family members would be getting on some of those few flights that had been able to trickle in. I asked her how many people were missing in her family. She told me 32.

You have a lots of people here who still have not gotten word from their families, as we hear from people who have made it off of hard-hit areas like Abaco Island. They are telling us that they have seen bodies floating.

Almost everyone we have spoken to knew someone who passed or potentially was injured, or they say that they knew someone who had seen some sort of body floating. They say the situation there is dire, that they have no water. They're completely cut off from everything.

What you just heard from General O'Shaughnessy is what the U.S. focuses. They are focusing on -- and they told us this a couple days ago -- they are focusing right now on logistical aspects to try and get the runways cleared in Abaco, in the Abaco Islands, and also in Grand Bahama, so that rescue missions can get in there more easily and that nonprofits, as well as the Bahamian government, can get in there and get supplies and resources to the people who desperately need it.

Right now, Neil, what we have seen is efforts still going on to try and get people out, but, for some Bahamians, it's simply not fast enough, because, when it's yourself or it's a family member or a loved one, every minute feels like a lifetime.

So, for now, there are a lot of people still here waiting, looking, trying to get information about their loved ones' whereabouts. And we met someone yesterday who they were chartering a boat with family friends to try and go pick up their brother, who they knew he and his wife were OK, but they hadn't heard from them for days.

They didn't want to wait for any other effort to get them out, so they were taking it into their own hand, taking a 10-plus-hour boat trip to try and get to the islands and bring them here to Nassau for safety -- Neil.

CAVUTO: The mood there -- and they talked about -- there was this report of friction between U.S. military members and those there that seemed to be overplayed and even was acknowledged as overplayed.

But how are they working together, Ellison, right now?

BARBER: Well, one of the main things that we're seeing happening from this standpoint is, they are allowing the U.S. Coast Guard to go on many missions.

The Coast Guard officials we have spoken to, they say that Bahamian authorities have helped them in those. The Coast Guard says right now they have 13 helicopters on the ground carrying out search and rescue missions, spending six, eight hours a day going back and forth to the islands, picking up people when they can.

They say, so far, they have rescued 250 people, and they say none of that would be possible unless the Bahamian government was allowing them to get to those islands and help.

They're saying on the ground here that they have had good access, but, obviously, as you alluded to, there are some rumors that there's been tension between the two.

But in terms of what we're hearing, going on those missions, Coast Guard members, they're saying that they feel like they are in a good position right now to be responding as best they can at this point in time.

CAVUTO: Now, I know you have just only recently gotten on the ground there, but we also heard reports of looting and other issues that have come up that have affected this -- this search, rescue, recovery, whatever they're calling it.

BARBER: Right. Right.

CAVUTO: Any updates on that?

BARBER: Yes, we have heard that as well from a number of different sources, some law enforcement officials who have ties to different efforts, where they're going to try and help get people evacuated.

They have told us about some of that, some of the looting. I spoke to one woman this morning who had evacuated. She'd been in a shelter with her 5- year-old son and her 5-week-old infant daughter. She said that, when they were sleeping, part of the concern there even in the shelter, she said people were going through their things and stealing items.

So she was saying how grateful she was to be out because it was a scary situation sleeping in the shelters. Not only were they worried about a lack of food and limited resources when it came to food and water, though they had some at the shelters, but she said the concern was so many people were stealing things, even from each other in that situation, just so much desperation, that that was another hurdle, another challenge for them.

We have heard from people in Grand Bahama that they have seen some stores being looted. But it's -- people seem to be looting for basic necessities, food, water, grabbing whatever they can, because they don't have access to it.

But, yes, that is another challenge, another uncertainty that, when you have these Coast Guard teams going in, they have to be prepared for, whether it's Coast Guard or Bahamian officials, for different variables on the ground.

And some people that we have spoken to who have made it out have mentioned theft and things like that as an issue and a concern they had when they have been on that island for the last few days. And they said, at times, it felt unsafe and they were worried about their children.

CAVUTO: Ellison, thank you so much, Ellison Barber from Nassau.

As Ellison pointed out, one man's version of stealing could be another man's version of a dad just trying to feed his family.

We will have more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MARCH 13, 2019)

CAVUTO: You are definitely running. It sounds like you are definitely going to do this.

HOWARD SCHULTZ, FORMER CEO, STARBUCKS: What I -- in the next few months, I will make a final decision.

But I love America. I'm profoundly concerned for where we are. But I know we can fix things. But we cannot fix things with both parties constantly and consistently involved in revenge politics every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, that was then. It's over now. He is out.

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announcing that he's dropping his bid to run for the White House, even as an independent, warning that the Democratic Party, though, is still moving too fear left, fearing that an independent bid, though, just might help reelect Donald Trump, which bothers him more, apparently.

FOX Business Network's Charlie Gasparino. We have got Turning Point USA's Rob Smith, Democratic strategist Capri Cafaro.

Capri, end it with you, begin with you.

What did you think of this? I guess, not a shocker, but what do you think?

CAPRI CAFARO, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, certainly not a surprise, I don't think.

I don't know how many people actually took this seriously. Certainly, as a Democrat, I am glad that we're not seeing a third-party candidate or an independent candidate enter this race. It always spells trouble for somebody in our predominantly two-party system, whether it's Ross Perot, who basically gave Bill Clinton the election in 1992, or Ralph Nader that gave the election to Al Gore -- or -- excuse me -- to George W. Bush in 2000 in that race.

So I happen to agree with the former CEO of Starbucks that Democrats and Republicans are playing too many revenge -- too much revenge politics. I also agree that we need more of a moderate candidate in order to be competitive in the general election against President Trump.

But only time will tell if that's what's going to happen.

CAVUTO: You know, Rob, he seemed to rest on the possibility that, if Joe Biden's the nominee, he can accept that.

But Joe Biden might not be the Democratic nominee, but, even still, he turned on this independent run. What did you make of that?

ROB SMITH, TURNING POINT USA: Well, look, I think that the thing that I'm trying to find out is, where are the moderates?

Even Joe Biden, you see him moving a little bit further to the left with his wholehearted embrace of the Green New Deal. Look, the most popular candidates on the left right now are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Look, I'm telling you, I was in Iowa just a few weeks back. The crowd for Elizabeth Warren was huge, OK? These are very, very far left candidates.

And the thing about Howard Schultz maybe using this influence that helps some of these -- quote, unquote -- "more moderate candidates," I don't know if that will make a difference, because, number one, people do not know who he is. He polled very low even when he was in the race, and now he's not.

I don't know how he is going to help anybody on the Democratic side.

CAVUTO: I'm wondering, Charlie Gasparino, whether Schultz's heart was in it anyway.

He had had back surgery, was dealing with that.

CHARLIE GASPARINO, FOX BUSINESS: Right.

CAVUTO: And there were a lot of other issues.

Even though he's a billionaire, maybe there was the recognition that you spend a lot of money in an independent run. Ross Perot was the last billionaire who made a third-party go of it.

GASPARINO: Right. Right. Right.

CAVUTO: He got 19 percent of the vote, but he didn't get any electoral votes. So...

GASPARINO: Yes, but he did cost the election for George H.W.

CAVUTO: A lot of people go back and forth on that.

GASPARINO: Sure.

CAVUTO: But what do you make of that? And what ultimately crunched this decision?

GASPARINO: Well, we -- yes, we broke this story on your show on FBN a couple of months ago.

And we had, I believe, Schultz...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Which, if you don't have, you should really demand.

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARINO: You should get it.

I reported it out that Schultz was saying that it was unclear that -- or unlikely he was going to run. He was basing his run on the Joe Biden ticket, whether Joe Biden would do well enough and whether there was room for another moderate.

So we threw cold water on it back in May. And, by the way, when we had his press secretary on, she didn't exactly deny the story, if you recall.

Two things I would say. The Democrats were scared to death of Schultz. I don't care what anybody says. They believe that, if he ran as a third party in a tight election, he could pull some votes away from the Democratic nominee, and that would be a real issue for them.

The other thing I would say is, yes, Bernie Sanders and, yes, Elizabeth Warren, they're pulling big crowds among activists in Iowa. No Democratic Party -- no Democratic candidate is going to get elected based on the activists, the woke left.

There are just not enough of the woke left to put a Democratic candidate in the White House, even against Donald Trump. And I suspect that everybody kept saying, better, better.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: All right, could I ask you this, Capri?

CAFARO: Sure.

CAVUTO: What role, if we do elect a Democrat, would a Schultz play in that administration? Would he be a treasury secretary? What would he be -- I'm getting way ahead of myself, but what do you think?

(LAUGHTER)

CAFARO: You're -- I think you're getting way ahead of yourself.

I think it depends on...

CAVUTO: Charlie told me to ask that, yes.

CAFARO: ... whom out of these candidates would be actually elected and what kind of relationship they have with corporate America.

CAVUTO: Got it.

CAFARO: I don't know. Maybe that's something that he's trying to angle for. Who knows.

CAVUTO: All right. So, you're dismissing the question. That's fine.

Rob, I will ask you the same question. What would he be, if he wanted to join a Democratic administration?

SMITH: If he wanted to -- I -- honestly, I think that that is way far...

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARINO: He wouldn't fit in with any of these guys.

SMITH: But I don't think he would fit in.

But what I will say to Charlie. I mean, don't discount the energy that the woke left has, especially in choosing in the very early races, like the Iowa caucuses.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: You never know. You never know, guys.

GASPARINO: Don't discount what the Trumpkins have.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Keep talking over each other.

We will go to a break, and they will still be talking.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: We will have more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Who would have thought, more than a week after this thing first was making noise, that it would still be making noise, that Dorian would still be doing what it's doing?

Well, Rick Reichmuth did. He joins us now with an update.

What are we looking at?

RICK REICHMUTH, FOX NEWS CHIEF METEOROLOGIST: Honestly, we thought that probably Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic would tear this storm up, and we wouldn't even have a storm.

But that didn't happen. It made its way in towards just to the north of the Caribbean and ended up on the -- our shores, producing these kinds of winds. Strongest one reported was 94 miles an hour out of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, so certainly a really strong storm.

It's still here, moving away from the Mid-Atlantic Coast, but continues to pull up towards the Northeast, and a lot of the moisture now spreading in across areas like New York City, up towards Boston. And it's been a really breezy day, all part of it.

And it made landfall, Cape Hatteras, the outermost point here, out of the Outer Banks. It finally made landfall across the Eastern Seaboard. Now, it's going to continue to grow in its size.

And take a look at that, tropical-storm-force winds across eastern parts of Massachusetts, and eventually landfall in towards the Canadian Maritimes. And then we're done -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Amazing, which is why, because you have been working nonstop, I requested you for tomorrow in our live coverage.

And they said, don't bring it up with Rick right away.

(CROSSTALK)

REICHMUTH: Yes, right now.

CAVUTO: All right, you're the best, my friend.

REICHMUTH: All right, you bet.

CAVUTO: Thank you for the stellar job with all of this and following this.

The fallout from this and the latest we're getting on the Bahamas. Of course, we're live tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to give it to you all.

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