Swecker: San Jose shooter was 'efficient,' had 'high level of commitment'
Former FBI assistant director reacts to the workplace massacre on 'Your World'
This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," May 26, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: So many questions.
We're probably minutes away from answers in that San Jose shooting that has
left at least nine people dead, including the gunman.
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. And this is "Your World."
So much we don't know of what was the motivation behind the shooting today
in San Jose. We have a pretty good idea of the shooter. We have very little
about his motives and whether he might have been working with others.
Again, this press briefing is going to be a little bit later in this hour,
but, ahead of that, to Claudia Cowan on what she's learning in San Jose --
Claudia.
CLAUDIA COWAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.
Well, right now, investigators are actually combing through two crime
scenes, the light rail yard maintenance facility a few blocks behind me
here in San Jose. That's where a gunman opened fire, killing eight people
this morning, before turning the gun on himself.
And authorities are also investigating the shooter's house about eight
miles away, which went up in smoke right around the same time.
It all started just after 6:30 a.m. this morning, local time, when police
began getting calls of multiple shots fired at the maintenance facility
here run by the Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA. It operates trains
and buses for commuters all over Santa Clara County.
According to one witness, there was a union meeting going on and a possible
shift change happening as well. More than 2,000 people work for the VTA,
and the gunman was one of them. He's been identified as 57-year-old Sam
Cassidy, a technician who worked here at this yard.
But, again, as you mentioned, the motive behind this shooting remains
unknown, whether he was targeting anyone specifically. Those are questions
that still need to be answered. Meantime, families are reuniting as we
speak, hearing accounts of what went down. In the rush to escape the
gunfire, some people hid out in empty railcars.
Police have not said what kind of weapon was used or how long the shooter
had worked at the VTA.
But, in the meantime, the bomb squad is looking into that house fire. We
are hearing reports it was filled with hundreds of rounds of ammunition,
and officials with bomb-sniffing dogs also checking for explosives and
other devices at both crime scenes and say there is no immediate threat to
public safety.
President Biden, we're told, carefully monitoring the situation. FBI agents
also on scene helping local officials gather and process evidence and also
try to determine a motive.
Neil, Mayor Sam Liccardo was here just a short time ago. He called this a
horrific day for the city of San Jose. No doubt about that -- back to you.
CAVUTO: Claudia, thank you very much.
And, again, we will be hearing from local officials and whether the bomb
squad has already been called off in that area and outside this building.
When they speak, we will take you there.
In the meantime, back in Washington, D.C., and the battle over that
infrastructure package of that has Republicans being criticized because
they're being cheap. The idea behind their being cheap? That their
infrastructure package is only $1 trillion.
It is the times in which we live.
To Peter Doocy at the White House with more -- Peter.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good to see you.
The first White House offer for this infrastructure package was more than
$2 trillion. And officials here say they think they showed a lot of good
faith whittling that down to just $1.7 trillion. Well, now they're waiting
for the GOP negotiators to send them back something a little bit smaller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: As we
all know, this is negotiations working in this really funny way. We make an
offer, they make a counter, and then we counter.
So, as you all know, we made -- we have made our offer and our counter, and
we're waiting to hear from Republicans, which we're hearing will happen
shortly, what their counter will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOOCY: Yes, and the shrunken Republican counteroffer expected to be about
a trillion dollars.
The biggest hangup the last couple days has been how to pay for any of
this. Some Republicans now claim they think they can scrape together unused
COVID stimulus money to do it. But the White House says there just are not
hundreds of billions of dollars in spare cash lying around.
Things that -- things are still preliminary enough, though, that
Republicans on the outside of closed negotiations still haven't even heard
how their side wants to define infrastructure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R-IA): If it's an eight-year figure, it's only
about $100 billion off of what we have talked about before. Some compromise
with the president is going to be necessary.
But the most important thing isn't the money. It's that we don't have non-
infrastructure things in the bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOOCY: The other big story here at the White House, the president told us
for the first time the American intel community is split about whether or
not COVID-19 originated as the result of a laboratory accident or
originated in nature.
So, now the president tells us this: "I have now asked the intelligence
community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that
could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion and report back to me in
90 days."
It is still worth pointing out, though, that none of the intel agencies the
president is consulting about this have higher than a low to moderate
confidence in their prediction one way or the other -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Peter Doocy at the White House, thank you very, very much.
That inflation concern is real. It's popping up in the darndest of ways in
a myriad of numbers, from the price of chicken to pork or a variety of
other things, including gas, including plane tickets, including cruise
tickets. They're going up, up and away.
What is different this time is, Americans seem to be willing to pay for
those higher prices because they want to break out of this pandemic. You
can't blame them for that.
But when some big banking CEOs were on Capitol Hill today, they were asked
about the threat of inflation and how real it was.
Susan Li, what did they discover?
SUSAN LI, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Neil, Washington
stimulus has been great for stock markets, but tough on consumers,
stretching budgets and wallets.
And consumer prices, we saw that last month, growing at the fastest rate in
12 years. And you're right. The CEO of the world's biggest bank, Jamie
Dimon, says that Americans should brace for even much higher prices, thanks
to D.C. money printing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE DIMON, CHAIRMAN, J.P. MORGAN CHASE: As all that spending takes
place, but, yes, it will raise inflation. I think there is nothing wrong
with 1.6 percent. I would expect it to go considerably higher than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LI: You're already seeing much more expensive prices. Used cars went up by
the most since 1953 last month. Bacon prices were up 16 percent.
And, yes, meat lovers are shelling out more money. And if you're driving
somewhere this Memorial Day weekend, you're paying the most at the pump in
seven years. Now, the White House and the Federal Reserve, Neil, say that
the price spikes are only temporary, should come down. But it does risk
overheating the economy, which will force interest rates to go up.
And that usually means that stocks fall and consumer spending drops as
well.
CAVUTO: All right, we're not at that point yet, but we will see.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Susan Li, thank you so much.
Susan Li of FOX Business fame, which, if you do not get, you better demand.
She's part of that.
All right, let's go to Senator Roy Blunt. He's a key figure in all of this
about spending and the inflationary concerns that Republicans. He is, of
course, the Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair, the Missouri senator.
Senator, always great having you. Thank you for taking the time.
SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): Hey, Neil. Great to be with you.
CAVUTO: You know, Senator, you and I might be a tad old enough to remember
inflation when it gets out of control. Some of your colleagues are
concerned it could be happening again, and that there's something to worry
about here.
Do you think that's the case?
BLUNT: Well, I do think that's the case.
And I think the largest reason for that is just the massive amount of
spending that the Biden administration is talking about. They have proposed
$7.1 trillion in spending since the 1st of the year. Very little of it,
almost none of it has anything to do with COVID.
It just has to do with spending, not paying for it or threatening to pay
for it out of a tax bill that we believe was working very well whenever the
pandemic started. And it's a big mistake.
Let me make one example here. The $7.1 trillion, the normal discretionary
spending to the federal government is $1.5 trillion. Every year, when you
have covered us as we try to move that appropriations process forward, how
much are we going to spend on defense, how much are we going to spend on
everything else, that's total about $1.5 trillion by now.
Used to be smaller. Last year, it was $1.5 trillion. This year, it would be
about $1.5 trillion in the actual budget that the Biden administration
gives us later this week. But in the off-budget spending, there's --
they're talking about almost four, five times what they're -- what we would
normally spend.
And it'll have an impact on the market. You can't give people check after
check after check and not expect them to be competing more vigorously for
what's out there than they would otherwise.
CAVUTO: You know, Senator, the fact of the matter is, though, that
spending was excessive under Donald Trump. So were deficits and a building
debt.
I'm not trying to politicize it one way or the other. But there's a
bipartisan deal to spend money. And I'm just wondering, does that mean that
you are against this infrastructure package, even the one that your
colleagues seem to be embracing closer to a trillion dollars?
BLUNT: No, I think we're looking at an infrastructure package that we
could pay for, and not pay for by getting into the 2017 tax bill.
Our two guidelines on infrastructure have been, it has to be really
infrastructure, the kinds of things that people six months ago or every --
just people that talk about this issue would have believed, roads, bridges,
highways, ports, airports, water infrastructure, not the caring
infrastructure, not that we're necessarily saying those things are bad.
They're just not infrastructure.
And the other guideline was, we are not going to get into the 2017 tax
bill. It was producing great results at the beginning of the pandemic.
Corporate rate made us more competitive all over the world for the first
time in a long time. No inversions were occurring during that entire period
of time between the time that bill went into effect.
A lot of good things were happening. I think we can pay for the
infrastructure part of the president's program, or at least the amount that
-- what we're willing to do the infrastructure apart with user fees, with
leftover money from the COVID spending.
And you're right. We spent a lot of money during COVID in five bipartisan
bills last year. But the Biden proposal for spending this year is double
what we spent last year, when our economy was truly in a crisis.
It -- we're no longer in a crisis. If we're in a crisis, it's likely to be
the crisis of inflation driven by government spending.
CAVUTO: Right.
BLUNT: But we need infrastructure. It's one of the things that we cannot
do for ourselves.
And Republicans want to have an infrastructure bill.
CAVUTO: All right.
BLUNT: We just want it to be about infrastructure.
CAVUTO: It just sounds to me, Senator, that this isn't going to happen,
this infrastructure measure, because the president, leaving aside his
difficulty trying to woo Republicans, he's having a devil of a time with
fellow Democrats.
Do you think this is going to happen?
BLUNT: Well, I think it should happen.
One of the things we did talk about under the entire Obama administration
and every six months in the Trump administration, the next thing we were
going to get to was infrastructure. The country needs better roads, better
bridges. We can compete more effectively if we are able to connect more
effectively.
We need that to happen. The option that the Democrats have that at one time
they thought they were going to use was take this entire $2.5 trillion or
package, where you had the caring infrastructure, the manufacturing
infrastructure, the helping-people-at-home infrastructure, and they were
going to do that as a reconciliation bill with 50 Democrats and the vice
president.
If they decide they're going to do it, that's the way they're going to have
to do it, because I think Republicans are committed to infrastructure,
infrastructure, and paying for that without getting into the 2017 tax bill
and costing people jobs.
CAVUTO: Yes, but they might not even have those 50 votes, to your point
here. So, we will see how it goes.
Senator Roy Blunt, very good catching up with you. Thank you very much.
BLUNT: Hey, great to be with you.
CAVUTO: All right, Senator Blunt.
In the meantime here, we told you about how inflation sticks. Normally, it
happens when price increases are passed along to consumers and the
consumers this time pay for it, sometimes not happily, but they do.
That makes those higher prices stick. And that's why it's sticking right
now, because you are willing to pay for a little bit more, so you can have
more fun, which is what we're doing getting into this holiday weekend.
We're willing to pay up for having some fun.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, here is a sure sign is any that Americans are pent up
to get out and have some fun. They're willing to pay big bucks to have that
fun, because the cost of vacations, the cost of booking a flight, the cost
of a cruise, the cost of a concert, movie, et cetera, they're all moving
up.
But people are happily slapping money down.
Phil Keating following all of this in Florida at Miami International
Airport.
Hey, Phil.
PHIL KEATING, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good afternoon, Neil.
Long gone is the ghost town that Miami International and pretty much every
airport around the country was last summer. Well, I remember walking
through this airport wants to get a rental car and I was lucky to see 12
people on the whole walk. In fact, we actually shot video of it. Look at
how dead this place was.
The pandemic shutdown was in full effect, and people were simply not
traveling. Airplane tarmacs became jumbo jet parking lots, today, almost
back to normal and full of people. Memorial Day weekend this year far
different than last year's.
This is America's first holiday weekend with scaled-back travel
restrictions and mask rules, and, of course, tens of millions of Americans,
about 40 percent of the whole population, have now been totally vaccinated.
And this translates into higher prices for pretty much everything travel-
related. Flights are more expensive and difficult to books -- book.
Planes are 90 to 95 percent full. Hotels are quickly filling up, all from
pent-up demand after 16 months of pandemic. And that's also true for
Airbnbs, whose prices are soaring, up 35 percent from a year ago.
Rental cars are also very high in demand, and there is a national shortage
of availability. Some travelers are actually paying 400 bucks a day to have
some wheels.
And on the ground, gas prices are high too, about $1 more per gallon than
this time last year. And if you want to have a panini for lunch, well,
Disneyland out in Anaheim, California, has got a deal for you.
One panini, price tag, $99.99, yes, basically 100 bucks for a sandwich. But
Disney says it does serve six to eight people.
Meanwhile, I just bought this panini next door here at the terminal at
Starbucks, $8.03. That's a bargain. Oh.
(LAUGHTER)
KEATING: Neil, back to you.
CAVUTO: Yes, that one is -- that one is more my speed.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: All right, thank you, my friend, Phil Keating on all of that,
although I would love to see this $100 sandwich that Disneyland is pushing.
In the meantime here, my next guest of characters and experts, great folks
all, but I'm talking to them as consumers, people like you, whether they're
going to pay some of these prices.
I don't know whether Gianno Caldwell would spend 100 bucks on a panini. He
might. He's with us.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: We have got Larry Glazer, Mayflower Advisors, Kristal Knight,
Democratic strategist.
Welcome to all of you. I appreciate it.
So, Gianno, people are paying these prices. I don't know how many for the
panini, but they're paying them. What do you make of that? Would you?
GIANNO CALDWELL, FOX NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
And -- well, no, I absolutely would not. If I had your wallet, perhaps I
would get three or four of them.
CAVUTO: Oh, listen to you.
CALDWELL: But in this case, no.
(LAUGHTER)
CALDWELL: But you know what? I got to tell you, there is a pent-up demand.
We see that AAA has projected there will be about 37 million people
traveling, 34 million of those folks being driving. Now, the interesting
part about it is, we have been talking about the fact that gas is going up;
46 percent of travelers have said that the gas prices will impact their
plans.
So that's an interesting thing to note. But what we also got to keep in
mind is, folks do really want to get out the house. They want to celebrate
summer, certainly the start of summer. And I can appreciate that.
But we just need to open up the country so people can enjoy life once
again.
CAVUTO: All right, I'm going to buy the panini, guys. I think we all share
it. It's up to six people. But I think I can down it myself.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: But, Kristal, let me get your take on this, because the backdrop
of this -- and we can get very academic about it and say prices don't stick
unless people are willing to pay those prices. And people are willing to
pay those prices.
So, it's a good reflection on the economy, I guess. But are you worried
this goes on too long, in other words, this uptick in prices leads to still
higher prices and leads to a problem for the president?
KRISTAL KNIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think what we see right now
is, retailers are really trying to recoup the losses that they suffered
during COVID-19 and over the last 16 months, as Americans have been in the
house.
And so I don't think that these prices, these high price tags will stay
much beyond the summertime. But while Americans are eager to get back out
and spend money and to travel, we will see retailers have a higher ticket
price for just everyday things that we didn't really intend to had to pay
high prices for.
CAVUTO: I know a lot of you worry about where things are going right now
with these prices, Larry.
But, of course, I'm old enough to remember when inflation really was a big
problem. We had long gas lines. I don't know if I ever shared how much my
wife and I had spent on our first mortgage, but that's for another day.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: But the point is that, for a lot of people, this might be a bit
jarring. But I can't remember when it was a lot more so. Is it going to get
a lot more so?
LARRY GLAZER, MAYFLOWER ADVISORS: Neil, we have an entire generation that
has never experienced inflation.
And, look, the gloves are off. The masks are off. The consumer is ready to
roll. Vegas is open for business. People want to get out. They better stock
up on the buffet, because it's going to be all you can eat this summer.
But, look, I think -- my kids are already in line for the panini. That's
how young people think about the inflation thing.
(LAUGHTER)
GLAZER: They don't realize it.
And my son said, but does it come with fries? And the tragedy here is,
there's a ketchup shortage. So I think not even the inflation coming out of
Washington due to misguided policies can slow down the U.S. consumer. It is
the most resilient creature on the face of the Earth. And people earned i.
They have been stuck in their house for a year.
But I think the bigger issue is, they are going to defer major purchases.
You're going to see it in the housing market. People can't afford houses
anymore. You're going to see in the auto market. There are no cars. There
are no chips. Bad policy is creating more problems.
You're going to see in lumber, construction. It is going to show up in
major purchases. It's not going to show up in Vegas. It's not going to show
up in the panini, but it's going to show up elsewhere. And I think that's
where we're going to pay for it.
And the consumer pays for inflation. Never forget, we all pay for these
higher costs, and it passes through to every one of us.
CAVUTO: Gianno, is there anything for which you would say, all right,
that's enough? I want to go on a trip. I want to have some fun.
You already indicated you're not going to pay 100 bucks for a panini. I can
understand that. It sounds crazy to me, but you're thin and fit. I get it.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: But what would you say no to? In other words, what would you just
say, all right, that -- that's drawing the line?
CALDWELL: Well, you know what?
When you look at the fact that airline prices have increased about 14
percent, especially over this period of time, you're looking at average
rates of hotels have increased by 34 percent in some cases, I think that's
enough, in and of itself.
So, if I want to go on a special vacation because I feel I have earned it,
sure, maybe I will split -- spend the extra buck or two. But in the event
that I really don't have to go, I don't ever want to feel like I have
gotten taken advantage of, if you will.
So, I will just say, no, forget all of that. And I will wait for the next
guy to do it. That's just my take on it.
CAVUTO: All right.
And what would you do, Kristal? Where do you draw the line? You want to
have some fun. It's been a crazy past 14 months. A lot of people have an
itch to celebrate, to treat themselves. What would you do?
KIGHT: Well, I would look at my pocketbook and see if I could afford the
things that I want to treat myself to.
I think, much like what he just said, ticket prices really are rising. And
it doesn't make -- it doesn't make a lot of sense to overpay just for a
temporary experience. And so I would probably wait until the fall to really
go back and enjoy the pleasures of life that I have previously enjoyed,
once summer is over, once people start to settle back into school and into
work.
CAVUTO: All right.
I just think Larry's the Wall Street guy. I think he treats us all. I mean,
it would only make sense.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: So, guys, I want to thank you all.
GLAZER: We're all going out. We're all going out.
CAVUTO: Happy summer.
Yes, we're all going out. But watch. It's probably going to be a fast food-
place, knowing you.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: All right, but thank you very much, guys.
Don't forget that panini. You know, panini just sounds fancy. The 100 bucks
makes it even more fancy, right?
All right, we have a lot more coming up, including, did you see what's
going on, on Capitol Hill today? We told you about all the banking CEOs who
were there. But, man, was there a shellacking going on, particularly when
it came to Elizabeth Warren going after the head of J.P. Morgan Chase.
Senator Daines was there, of course, Steve Daines, the Montana senator who
sits on the Senate Banking Committee.
What he made of today's events and some of that nastiness -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Why did he do it?
We are minutes away from trying to understand how a gunman took down eight
people and later himself, possibly. What was behind that?
After this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN MOYNIHAN, CEO, BANK OF AMERICA: The access for people who are
eligible to vote is paramount to having a great democracy. So, it came out
of our teammates, like we make a lot of these decisions, expressing grave
concern.
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): If you're actually making it easier to vote, but
harder to cheat, what part of that law was discriminatory or restricted
access?
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Mr. Diamond, how much did J.P. Morgan
collect in overdraft fees from their consumers in 2020?
DIMON: Right. Your -- I think your numbers are totally inaccurate, but we
will have to sit down privately and go through that.
WARREN: Sir, these are public numbers.
DIMON: And I also want to point out we did not overdraft--
(CROSSTALK)
WARREN: Can you just answer my question?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All righty, that went well, the big bank CEOs on Capitol Hill.
They're not done with this. It was the Senate today. It's the House
tomorrow.
Blake Burman on where all of this is going -- Blake.
BLAKE BURMAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Neil.
Yes, the -- some of the biggest CEOs representing the biggest banks all
across the country testifying before the Senate Banking Committee today.
There were a host of issues that the senators got into with the CEOs, one
of them including something that you were just talking about in your prior
segment, the cost of certain things right now. Specifically, what in the
world is going on with the housing market?
The question came from the senator from Montana, John Tester, who asked the
bank CEOs a twofold question. One, do you believe right now that we are in
a housing bubble? And then, two, if there is a bubble at some point, how
well-capitalized are the banks to potentially deal with that?
Here are the heads of J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
when asked about the possibility of a housing bubble. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID SOLOMON, CEO, GOLDMAN SACHS: I don't see it as a bubble. But I think
there's a lot going on that's -- that is inflating asset prices, and I
think we have to continue to watch asset prices, watch inflation, watch
monetary and fiscal policy.
And, hopefully, the Fed will get the right balance.
DIMON: While it is a little bit of a bubble in housing price and stuff
like that, unlike '08 and '09, there, there was tremendous leverage and bad
mortgage underwriting.
JAMES GORMAN, CEO, MORGAN STANLEY: Not a bubble nationally. Certainly,
some suburbs look very frothy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURMAN: Some suburbs look very frothy, he says.
Now, Bank of America's Brian Moynihan made the argument that the standards
for underwriting mortgages have certainly changed over the last 15 years.
And he says the amount of leverage at the consumer level is much different
than when things collapsed in the housing market back in 2008 and 2009.
Neil, you are right. We are going to hear from these CEOs again, round two
tomorrow, as they appear before the House Financial Services Committee.
Like you saw in some of that video there, they will do so once again
virtually. A lot of topics and a lot of follow-up to get into tomorrow --
Neil.
CAVUTO: Man, oh, man, if it's anything like the Senate, this should be
like a pay-per-view thing.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Thank you, Blake, very much.
BURMAN: You got it.
CAVUTO: Blake Burman on all of that.
Senator Steve Daines was at this big shindig today, of course, on the
Senate Banking Committee, Montana senator.
Senator, great to have you.
How did you think the banking CEOs fared? Now, they were criticized even
going into this for all the money they have been making and the fact that
they have made a lot of it during the pandemic, the fees they charge and
all of that, that Elizabeth Warren brought up.
What did you think?
SEN. STEVE DAINES (R-MT): Well, the concern I have what is going on across
the banking industry, and is even beyond that -- it's in the boardrooms
across America -- is, once upon a time, Neil, we looked at what's going
with liberal ideology across our universities and colleges, which exist
today.
Well, that now has infiltrated the boardrooms of America. If you take a
look at what capitalism, you see these woke mobs now, that CEOs are
spending more time listening to these woke mobs than making sure they're
doing the right thing for their shareholders and their customers.
In banking, they should be focused on creditworthiness. I asked a question
about, what about lending to oil and gas companies? What about lending to
ranches? Of course, the climate change folks think they're terrible.
And the answer I got was, frankly, pretty chilling. It says, we will
continue lending to them, as long as they continue to meet their goals here
basically to net zero carbon emissions.
That's like saying, Neil, OK, you make widgets. But as long as you stop
making widgets someday, we will keep lending to you. And so I'm very
concerned that their ear is more in tune with this woke mob, woke
capitalism than it is with doing the right thing for shareholders and for
their customers.
CAVUTO: Now, I have rarely met a banker who doesn't like to make money,
including for his or her own portfolio.
So, I think you're on to something, Senator, to say it's not in their
interests or even in their customer interest if this gets out of control.
Do you think it's already out of control? They're too woke, too politically
correct?
DAINES: I do.
And look what happened today with Exxon, where two climate change activist
folks now grabbed two board seats at Exxon. That would be like putting one
of our leading oil and gas executives on the board of the Sierra Club.
I mean, it's truly shareholder activism. But it's controlled by this
duopoly that control 97 percent of the proxies in this country, that
business. And I'm very concerned that, once upon a time, what was on the
university campuses here, this liberal ideology, now is all over our
boardrooms.
The data suggests that.
CAVUTO: All right.
DAINES: And I'm very, very concerned about what's going on, not only in
banks, but, frankly, across corporate America.
This woke capitalism, it's a real threat to our country.
CAVUTO: All right, Senator, I hate to interrupt you, but we want to take
our viewers right now to San Jose, California, where authorities are going
to update us on that shooting that's left at least nine dead, including the
gunman.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
RUSSELL DAVIS, SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, DEPUTY SHERIFF: Deputies
responded and received information that there are multiple shots fired
calls located from that building. During this time, this was during a shift
change, where deputies from the midnight shift and day shift were on at the
same time going through a transition into different shifts.
Once we received that information, deputies and surrounding officers
immediately responded to the location and addressed the threat and the
situation. They did not wait. They merely went into the scene and rendered
first aid and rescued victims out of the building as fast as they can to
figure out what was going on.
I can tell you, this was a -- at a Valley Transportation Authority light
rail yard, which is next door to sheriff's office headquarters.
Immediately, once we received information of shots fired called, we
immediately activate the Santa Clara County active shooter protocol, which
activated multiple law enforcement agencies in the surrounding counties, as
well as multiple fire department agencies, to initiate and activate the
rescue task force, which is part of the active shooter protocol, which we
will go into more detail.
Multiple agencies showed up and assisted from local agencies within Santa
Clara County, state level from the Office of Emergency Services, governor's
office, the California Highway Patrol, and multiple federal agencies, from
the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, ATF, and Department of Homeland
Security.
I will tell you right now, with the numbers -- and it's still preliminary
and it's subject to change -- we have eight victims that are pronounced
deceased from today's incident from gunshot wounds.
We also have one suspect who is deceased as well from this morning's
incident. I can confirm with you that deputies did not exchange gunfire.
And, right now, we're going to preliminary -- go with the assumption that
it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound from the suspect, and deputies did
not exchange gunfire.
At this point, we have investigators on scene interviewing anybody that was
on scene to see what exactly happened. And we have our CSI teams as well
outside with -- along with conjunction with the Federal Bureau of
Investigations assisting.
Right now, if you're looking for a family member or loved one involved with
this incident, we ask you to contact our reunification center, which is
over here at 70 West Hedding. It's located at the Isaac Newton Auditorium.
We have grief counselors on scene. The phone number to call is 408-209-
8356. I will repeat it one more time, 408-209-8356.
So, this incident is going to take some time. And the reason why is because
we're going to use the necessary methods to ensure the public safety for
everyone. We actually had an explosives dog on scene which detected to --
some type of explosives material at the crime scene itself.
At that point, we activated the sheriff's office bomb squad, who is
currently on scene and render any type of suspicious packaging safe at that
point.
I will tell you, it's going to take a long time to render these areas safe.
They have to go through every room in every building to ensure that
everything is safe. So, that's such as in bringing in a bomb robot in
there. And it takes time.
So, I ask for your patience on gathering further information from here.
It's going to be some time.
Other than that, we have detectives on scene. We're doing everything we
can. But I will tell you this. With the training that we have been doing
with our active shooter protocol, this could have been a lot worse of a
situation. This is a very unfortunate situation.
But with the training and everything that we have with this protocol, this
-- this could have been a lot worse than what it was, unfortunately.
So, that, being said, I'm going to pass it on to Sheriff Laurie Smith,
who's going to give you further information from there.
QUESTION: What are the areas that you're covering with the bomb squad?
DAVIS: The bomb squad is pretty much activated, and they're searching
every crevice of the whole building to ensure that everything is safe. And
that's where it's going to take some time.
QUESTION: The VTA Transit Center.
DAVIS: The VTA Transit Center, which is a light rail -- it's pretty much a
light rail facility, pretty much, light rail garage.
QUESTION: What is the reason that Homeland Security is involved?
DAVIS: You know, we appreciate having federal agencies coming out.
They come out here just to provide resources for us: Hey, do you need any
assistance in that case? And if we need help, we will ask them out in that
case. So, they're just being an entity to help us out.
QUESTION: How many rooms will the robot have to (OFF-MIKE)
DAVIS: It depends how big this building is. I haven't been in the building
myself, but it's going to take some time. So, we ask you for that patience.
QUESTION: Any indication on motive?
DAVIS: Any indication on motive? We don't have that information right now.
This is still preliminary. This is still ongoing. All the information I
have is that I can give out at this point. And we're still getting it as we
get along.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) search area for an explosive device, and is there any
indication that the people who were killed were specifically targeted, or
was this someone -- an employee showing up at work with a grudge and just
spraying indiscriminately?
DAVIS: So, this is a big building. I can't get into the details how big
this building is, but it's a pretty decent-sized building.
In regards with motive, I don't have that information. This is still
preliminary, and I'm still trying to get that information at this point.
QUESTION: Do we know if the shooting took place inside, outside or (OFF-
MIKE)
DAVIS: We don't -- I don't know at this point if it's inside or outside.
We have--
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
DAVIS: Yes. I'm going to pass it off to Sheriff Laurie Smith. And then
she's going to take over from here.
LAURIE SMITH, SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, SHERIFF: So, what I'd first
like to do is tell everyone that my heart really goes out to the victims.
These were county employees. And we're doing everything we can to help
them, including the family reunification center.
But I really want to commend the law enforcement in Santa Clara County.
Several years ago, the sheriff's office, in conjunction with the county
fire department, began a series of trainings for active shooter. And that
training has happened throughout the county with law enforcement and all
fire agencies.
And why that differs is that, at the time there's an active shooter, as
soon as we can get one team together, we go in. The first teams through the
door were the sheriff's office and San Jose Police Department.
And they're my true heroes. There was active shooting going on at that
time. There were victims shot in two separate buildings. But they
responded. They responded the way that they should. They took their life in
their hands. And I know for sure that, when the suspect knew the law
enforcement was there, he took his own life.
Our deputies were right there at that time. So, it's a very complex
investigation. We now know that San Jose is working on the house fire, and
we're still putting that together. But our detectives are on scene and
we're doing everything we can to identify the victims as soon as possible,
so their loved ones can know.
So, thank you very much for covering this. And we will continue to give you
updates as the investigation progresses.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
SMITH: It's still too early for us to know. But the suspect was an
employee also.
Thank you.
DAVIS: I'm going to pass it on to Governor Gavin Newsom.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Thank you.
Let me thank the sheriff, the mayor, our police chief captain, all the men
and women in uniform. You're going to learn over the course of the next
number of days and weeks about the heroism of the San Jose police, saved
lives, deputy sheriffs that ran, quite literally ran moments after, seconds
after hearing about this incident, without any consideration of their own
lives, and did an extraordinary job to save other people's lives.
That said, there's a numbness I imagine some of us are feeling about this,
because there's a sameness to this, anywhere USA. It just feels like this
happens over and over and over again. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
It wasn't that long ago I was standing out here talking about the tragic
loss of two children, one in a mother's arms, the Gilroy Festival, just
here in this community down in Southern California and San Bernardino.
Remember, a few years prior, Santa Barbara. Pick a state, and here we are,
in the United States of America. We're experiencing something just not
experienced anywhere else in the world. There's a sameness to this. And
that numbness, I think, is something we're all feeling, all of us gathered
here today looking at this scene, listening to governors, mayors, chiefs
speaking, similar tone and terms, expression of condolences, all the right
emotions and perhaps the right words.
But it begs the damn question, what the hell is going on in the United
States of America? What the hell's wrong with us? And when are we going to
come to grips with this? When are we going to put down our arms, literally
and figuratively, our politics, stale rhetoric, finger-pointing, all the
hand-wringing, consternation that produces nothing except more fury and
frustration, more scenes like this repeated over and over and over again?
I say that not as a governor. I just say that as a father of four. I say
that as a member of this community who cares deeply about it. So, we will -
- we will have time to work through all of that.
But one thing I just wanted to briefly speak to is the pain in those
victims. I just spent -- we just had the privilege to spend the last few
hours with the victims that are waiting to just learn if their loved one is
still alive. They're dialing the phones. They can't find it.
They are trying to go on and find a phone of the loved one, waiting to hear
from the coroner, waiting to hear from any of us, just desperate to find
out if their brother, their son, their dad, their mom is still alive. Just
imagine being in their foot.
I know everybody wants all the answers to all these questions, but there's
no more important question and no more important answers that we owe than -
- the victims of this senseless and tragic shooting.
And so I'm not just going to express my condolences. I'm not just going to
just express the usual platitudes. But let me just thank the heroism of
those victims. The fact they can even stand up and support one another is
remarkable. What a human act.
And so I just want to -- we just want folks to know we're going to be there
for the victims. I want folks to know, I'm here for you, Mr. Mayor, and the
county, the state.
And I know we have elected officials of all political stripes who want to
be here for this nation. But it's time to deal with the endemic before this
pandemic of gun violence, the preexisting condition, that, somehow, was
sort of pushed aside last year, but now has raised its ugly head again this
year, and wake up to this reality, and take a little damn responsibility,
all of us, to do a little bit more and a little bit better this time, and
move beyond the platitudes and the usual rhetoric that tends to mark not
just these moments, but the aftermath of these moments, as all of you go
away and this fades out of you, and then we rinse and repeat someplace else
in this country.
So, again, to the victims, to those that lost their lives and the families
who lost their loved ones, yes, our hearts go out, but we are resolved to
not make this meaningless, but to bring meaning at this tragic moment in
our state and our nation's history.
Again, thank you to all the men and women behind me and their
courageousness and the incredible, incredible bravery that was demonstrable
of the men and women of our San Jose Police Department and Sheriff's
Office.
QUESTION: Governor, what do you say to the people who say California has
some of the toughest gun laws--
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: So, next, we're going to introduce Valley Transportation Authority
Chair, President Glenn Hendricks.
GLENN HENDRICKS, PRESIDENT, SANTA CLARA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY:
As you all know, a horrible tragedy has impacted the VTA family, the
organization, and our whole community.
And our thoughts and love go out to all the employees who have been
directly and indirectly impacted by this horrible event.
I want to let you know that the families have been moved to the family
assistance center at the Red Cross to continue to have -- meet with
counselors about what's happening. We're really grateful of the outpouring
of support that has come from union leadership and transit organizations
from across the country.
The VTA has suspended its light rail service, and will probably be
suspended for several days, as we work through being able to get back into
the yard. We'll be setting up bus bridges to go ahead and help get our
customers around.
We're asking that our customers be patient with us as we work through this
event to try and recover our service. And I also want to thank all the law
enforcement that's been involved in their quick reaction and the way that
they've been dealing with everyone who is involved by this.
And once again, I want to say how terribly sorry I am, and I want to thank
everybody in the VTA family who's been so affected.
DAVIS: Next, we're going to introduce the president of the county Board of
Supervisors for Santa Clara County, Mike Wasserman, and County Supervisor
Cindy Chavez.
MIKE WASSERMAN, PRESIDENT, SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS: It was two years ago, the mass shooting in Gilroy, and law
enforcement responded quickly, and minimized the number of fatalities.
Last year, we had COVID, still have COVID, but last year was the big year,
and the people and the county responded, so as to have the lowest
positivity rate in the state.
Today, we had this mass shooting here, and it was the Santa Clara County
Sheriff's Department and the San Jose Police Department that responded so
quickly to minimize the loss of lives.
As you can see, our flag now is at half-mast to help commemorate and
remember the people that have passed today.
It is an extremely sad day in the history of Santa Clara County, but I'm
also very proud of the response by law enforcement, and then the VTA
family, taking care of the loved ones, the survivors of those that passed,
and the district attorney's office that has stepped forward with the
services they provided two years ago to the people in Gilroy and continue
to provide every day and will provide to the survivors, loved ones, and
family of those that passed.
It is a sad day in Santa Clara County history. But I'm very proud of the
response, including the unions, that have come forward with funding and
help. Santa Clara County is a family. And you're seeing that go into effect
today.
My condolences to all the family members and friends of those that passed
today.
CINDY CHAVEZ, SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, SUPERVISOR: Thank you.
You know, let me start by just reminding everybody that the backbone of
Santa Clara County throughout COVID-19 was all the essential workers, and
none were more essential than making sure people could get to their places
of work. And VTA never stopped. It didn't stop light rail. It didn't stop
buses. It didn't stop helping move people from point A to point B.
These heroes that -- we all learned how to call essential workers heroes.
We're now calling on them to be heroes again.
There is a fund that's been set up for these families. And by going to
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__workingpartnerships.org&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=tgDLkJy54PfJyWJwul3dKe54qGxqO7b7d5vjo7RcZds&m=VW9t3jvVu5dKgJyYE3T4iUoCsFaQ_XZSOaZAN575-Ik&s=sFNpb-3ZGvCouZzTj2Zw369HrtjIPQ2qLyughaNvrF0&e= , anybody who wants to make a contribution to the
families that have been impacted, the VTA families that have been impacted,
can do that directly by going to https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__workingpartnerships.org&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=tgDLkJy54PfJyWJwul3dKe54qGxqO7b7d5vjo7RcZds&m=VW9t3jvVu5dKgJyYE3T4iUoCsFaQ_XZSOaZAN575-Ik&s=sFNpb-3ZGvCouZzTj2Zw369HrtjIPQ2qLyughaNvrF0&e= .
I just want to close with this point.
While my heart breaks, I can't stop thinking about what we could all be
doing differently to stop this in our community, so that this doesn't
become something that just happens here, but something that should never
happen.
And thank all of you for being here. Thank you.
DAVIS: Next, I want to introduce the mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo.
SAM LICCARDO, MAYOR OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: It's been said before, but
it's worth saying again, our hearts are broken for the family members who
have lost their loved, ones for VTA family members who have lost their
friends and colleagues.
I'm joined here by Councilmember Raul Peralez, who himself lost a dear
friend, and Councilmember Matt Mahan.
These are members of our community. These are members of our families. And,
right now, this moment is for mourning and for supporting those families
and friends and loved ones. And we're going to do everything we can here at
the city with all of our partners. And I'm so grateful for how everyone has
stepped up, the Valley Transportation Authority, the county.
And to have the governor come down here, he really came down here, said: I
don't need to speak to anybody on any stage or anything. I just want to be
here for the families.
For hours, he spent with the rest of us simply to be here with us. Everyone
has stepped up in such a tremendous way, showing the heart of our community
and how we care in times of tragedy.
Tomorrow, we're going to have a vigil at 6:00 p.m. at San Jose City Hall.
We know that our entire community will need this moment and many others to
mourn together. And so we want to bring people together to be able to at
least share a common humanity.
Particularly given all that we have been through over the last year-and-a-
half, this is a time when we need to be together. I want to thank Working
Partnerships USA and South Bay Labor Council for setting up a fund.
And we encourage anyone who wants to give to help support families in this
difficult time to please give generously to that fund.
These are, as Council -- as Supervisor Chavez said so well. These are the
women and men who supported our community through this pandemic. They
showed up at work every day as essential workers, despite risk to their own
health. And they did it because they understood their mission, their
commitment to public service.
We owe them and their families so much. And I am so grateful for the San
Jose Police Department and the Sheriff's Office that responded so quickly,
undoubtedly saving lives as a result.
We will continue to show our resolve as a community to come together. And
as the governor--
CAVUTO: All right, we are continuing to monitor this press event now in
San Jose.
We did get some confirmation there were indeed eight victims, eight killed
in this attack. And we don't know the motivation behind it, but that the
shooter is also dead. It appears that this was a self-inflicted gunshot
wound.
Jonathan Hunt with us out of L.A.
So much we don't know, outside of the fact that there's a lot of explaining
to do what led to this, right, Jonathan?
JONATHAN HUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And chief among the things we
don't know is the motive here, Neil.
The shooter has been named as 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy. We do know that
he was an employee of the Valley Transportation Authority. We do know that
all of his eight victims, the eight people he shot dead, were also
employees of the VTA.
Now, that, in itself, of course, may speak to a motive. But no officials,
as you heard in that press conference, are confirming anything about why
Mr. Cassidy may have carried out these horrific shootings today.
One other thing to note, Neil, is that the home where Cassidy apparently
lived, there was also a fire, which people were at -- the fire,
firefighters responded to minutes after, after -- I want to emphasize --
the first calls, the first 911 calls about the shooting came in.
So that may speak to a slow fuse in that building or perhaps some sort of
device on a timer. That, in itself, speaks to what we heard about in this
press conference, that they are concerned about the potential for explosive
devices on the property of the VTA.
The bomb squad is right there right now. Apparently, a bond-sniffing dog
alerted at least twice to the scent of explosives. That's what gave them
the alert. That is why the bomb squad was sent in. And that is why the
sheriff says this will be a long investigation, but, bottom line, eight
people killed, the gunman apparently shooting himself -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, Jonathan Hunt, thank you very, very much.
Want to go to Chris Swecker right now, the former FBI assistant director.
Chris, so much we don't know, but we do now it could have been a lot worse.
What do you think?
CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Yes, but it's hard to
envision worse than what we have.
I mean, we have a lot of fatalities. That speaks of some fairly efficient
shooting going on. I would suggest had be another one of the ubiquitous
assault rifles, semiautomatic rifles.
We have the complexity of a fire at his house, which signifies to me some
pre-planning and some high level of commitment not to come home again. He
knew he was going out today.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Yes, and what does that mean, Chris? Could it also have been meant
to divert attention, as he was then presumably going to move on to this
facility?
SWECKER: Yes, I don't -- I think that's unlikely. I think it was done to
destroy whatever he had in the house.
It was a -- I think it was a point -- this was committed -- it reflects his
level of commitment: I'm not going back there. I'm burning down my own
house. I'm going out.
It's going to make it very difficult for the investigators, because, when
you're looking for motive, you look into their media, their computers,
their notes, their possessions, and then that all that is presumably not as
accessible now. They can always get it in the cloud, but it takes a lot
longer.
But I see this person as unusual, in the sense that he was committed. He
had a plan. He obviously was planning this out for a while. He had the
wherewithal to make a bomb, plant a bomb, and kill eight people and
himself, without a lot of wounded people.
CAVUTO: Right.
SWECKER: I mean, from what I understand, there's only a couple of people
in the hospital.
So, this was a -- I hate to describe it this way, Neil, but this was an
efficient shooter. He went in and he finished his -- finished off the
people that he encountered.
CAVUTO: So, when the authorities were saying that, as tragic as this was,
that it could have been a lot worse, that they were there very, very
quickly, but he did seem brutally efficient on this, it makes you wonder
whether those particular people were targeted.
SWECKER: Yes, when you -- this does look like workplace violence, like
some sort of grudge in the workplace. He worked there.
These were eight co-workers that he killed. He knew where to go in a very
specific place at a very specific time. So, I think we're going to find out
over the next couple of days what his motivation is.
But I think it's going to be related to his work. I think that's a
developing theory, or that's a theory that law enforcement has now and just
want to talk about. This is going to be the type of investigation where
talking to people is going to be huge, getting within his social network
and talking to the people that are close to him, because these mass
shooters always flash red.
There's always outward signs. There's things that they say. It's bizarre
behavior. It's things that they post on social media. People close to them
know things. And, often, they just fail to report it.
CAVUTO: Chris, thank you very much, sir. We always meet under these kind
of circumstances, my friend.
Chris Swecker, the former FBI assistant director.
We still don't know. They're still asking. And so are we.
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