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U.S. Navy to Blockade Strait of Hormuz After Failed Peace Talks; Iran Responds to Threat of U.S. Blockade; Iran-U.S. Talks Hit Impasse Over Iran Nuclear Ambitions; Several Democrats Call for Representative Eric Swalwell to Resign Amid Accusations; Crude Oil Prices Spike Again After U.S. Announces Blockade; Representative Eric Swalwell Suspends Campaign for California Governor. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired April 12, 2026 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[20:00:36]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in Los Angeles.

And breaking tonight U.S. Central Command saying starting tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern forces will start blocking all traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, entering and exiting Iranian ports. Now, that announcement coming just hours after President Trump said the U.S. Navy would block, quote, "any and all ships" trying to enter or leave that critical waterway following the failed talks with Iran.

Trump describing the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran as very friendly, but said Iran refused to give up its nuclear ambitions and that caused an impasse in those marathon talks. But Trump's decision to block vessels from passing through the strait could risk even greater spikes to oil and gas prices.

CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now from Florida. The president has been there over the weekend.

Julia, tell us more about the Trump administration's demand for Iran and also what comes next as we await this next move, which will be the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, going into these talks, Jessica, U.S. officials had a number of key points where they needed to see significant progress in order to declare success. And according to sources familiar with the discussions that hours into these talks, the U.S. and Iranian negotiating teams, it was clear that they were at an impasse on some of these critical points.

And for the U.S., that included the refusal by the Iranians to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as you mentioned, and to get rid of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. President Donald Trump commenting on these failed talks today. He still says that he thinks that they went well, that he was happy with his negotiating team. That, of course, was led by Vice President J.D. Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He says they got a lot of what they wanted in these negotiations, but that there was only one point that really mattered, eliminating Iran's nuclear capabilities.

I want to pull up part of one of his posts today. These were quite lengthy, but part of it he did say, "I could go into great detail and talk much about what has," excuse me. "And talk about much that has been gotten. But there is only one thing that matters. Iran is unwilling to give up its nuclear ambitions. In many ways, the points that are agreed to are better than continuing our military operations to conclusion. But all of these points don't matter compared to allowing nuclear power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people."

As Vance left those negotiations, he did say that this was the best and final offer from the United States, but seemed to leave the door open that the Iranians could accept the conditions that the U.S. has laid out.

And Jessica, Trump, he's on his way back to Washington, D.C., right now. We're keeping a close eye to see if he talks with reporters that are on Air Force One, but also on his social media, because that's where a lot of these big announcements have been, on his Truth Social. In recent hours, though, he posted about the UFC fights that he was here for in Florida and also the Masters. But no update on these negotiations.

DEAN: All right. Well, certainly it won't be the last we hear of that. OK. And Julia, what else have we heard? Tell us more about, I know you said that the president has talked about UFC fights, he's talked about other things. Are we expecting any more from him in the coming hours before this blockade starts?

BENBROOK: Well, we do know that he is continuing his threats. He is ramping up those threats, saying that he could target energy infrastructure. In an interview with FOX News earlier today, he said that he could take out Iran in just one day. And that comes after, you know, right before the ceasefire, he was saying that he could take out an entire civilization, and he was pressed on those comments.

He said that he believed that those comments were OK and that those comments actually are what got the Iranians to the negotiating table.

[20:05:00]

But like I said, he is continuing to threaten energy infrastructure and bridges. I want to play you part of those remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We could have them all down. And I mean down like you couldn't have electricity for 10 years because it takes you 10 years to build those plants from scratch. You'd never probably be able to build them again. And the bridges. So that's really the only thing. We still have some more missile manufacturing plants. We know every one of them. We'll do that. We still have other things. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And then of course there is the Strait of Hormuz that we've been talking about. U.S. Central Command says that they will be preventing ships to and from the Iranian ports starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.

DEAN: OK. Julia, thank you so much. We appreciate that.

I want to go now to Saudi Arabia, where CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is tracking how the Gulf region is viewing all of this -- Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been hearing from a number of Iranian officials over the course of the last few hours, Jessica. Most notably the head of the Iranian delegation in those Pakistan talks, Mohammad Ghalibaf, who responded to President Trump's threat of this blockade that is anticipated to go into effect tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, as you just said.

Mohammad Ghalibaf warning in a post on X, quote, "Enjoy the current pump figures. With the so-called blockade, soon you'll be nostalgic for $4 to $5 gas." That, of course, a reference to the likely spike that is anticipated in oil prices as a result of this action. We also saw a post from a senior adviser to Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who said that Iran still maintains levers that it has not used at its disposal to inflict damage upon any attempts to take over, if you will, or blockade completely the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, we have also heard, in a slightly different tone from Iran's foreign minister, who was representative at the talks in Islamabad. He says in a post that they were just inches away from coming to an agreement when the U.S. suddenly shifted the goalposts and injected more maximalist positions into the conversation. Now, obviously, this is just the perspective of the Iranian delegation. We've also heard from Iran's president, who has said that the door to diplomacy is still open.

That is a nod to the fact that technically, Jessica, there are still 10 days left in this ceasefire. That means there is potentially still room for another round of talks, although, of course, right now it remains to be seen whether that will be possible if this blockade goes into effect.

DEAN: All right. Clarissa Ward from Saudi Arabia, always great to have you. Thank you.

And still ahead, pressure growing for Congressman Eric Swalwell to drop out of the race for California governor following sexual assault and misconduct allegations. How that could shape the race for Democrats. And 100 days into office, how Mayor Zohran Mamdani is marking the milestone in New York City.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [20:13:10]

DEAN: Talks between the U.S. and Iran faltering this weekend, hitting a snag over Iran's nuclear ambitions. A White House official telling CNN some of the Trump administration's non-negotiables for Iran included ending all of its uranium enrichment and retrieving more than the 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium believed to be buried underground.

Joining us now is Andy Weber, senior fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks. He's also the former assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs.

Andy, thanks so much for being here with us on this Sunday. We appreciate it. So we just talked about some of the U.S. goals in all of these negotiations. Do you think this is realistic and how possible do you think this is?

ANDREW WEBER, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON STRATEGIC RISKS: Well, I think it's the most important goal of this whole war is to get this highly enriched uranium removed from Iran. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to do in a military operation. The problem is we withdrew from an agreement where they had no HEU just eight years ago, in the first Trump administration, and now they have enough for at least 10 nuclear weapons.

DEAN: And so the idea of getting that, we've talked about this with military experts and others, but the idea of getting that uranium, it's quite complicated and it's dangerous. It's difficult. If they don't willingly, if Iran doesn't willingly let some third party or somebody come in and take it out, right?

WEBER: Yes. To do it as a -- like a special operation, sending in military forces, would require thousands upon thousands of troops because it would be in the middle of Iran, subject to attack. So ideally, we can make this a condition of the negotiations and remove it methodically, carefully, under international supervision.

[20:15:06]

DEAN: Yes. Talk us through in your expertise, what the past several weeks of this war, which really started February 28th, and here we are now, April 12th, what has it had -- what kind of impact has it had on Iran's nuclear program, its ambitions, and where that stands today?

WEBER: Well, because the regime has been under attack, they seem to have even hardened their position from the negotiations that were ongoing just before we started this attack with Israel. So they're dug in. They believe that by not losing, they're winning, I think they're wrong. But the current regime really has its back to the wall and seems at least initially unwilling to negotiate on this most important issue of removing the highly enriched uranium.

DEAN: And you've said previously America's goal in the war should be to create conditions where the U.S. could capture or destroy Iran's nuclear material. Where do you think we are if that is a goal? WEBER: Well, we failed to negotiate that at the meetings that just

ended in Islamabad. My understanding is that some level of negotiation will continue and we need to keep pressing hard for that. There might be a, you know, a fig leaf, for example, the right to enrich is something that the Iranians have proclaimed for 30 years. Of course, there is no such right. They have a right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy. But we have removed uranium before to Russia under the agreement that the Obama administration negotiated. So I believe with help from perhaps China, Pakistan and others, we could find a face- saving way for Iran to allow for the removal.

DEAN: And what might that look like?

WEBER: Well, it would require some type of an international effort with experts on the ground for weeks or perhaps months excavating the material and preferably with the cooperation of the Iranian experts on the ground who are custodians of this material. And then either by air or overland safely removing it to a third country. In this case, I believe Pakistan or Russia would be more than willing to receive the material.

DEAN: All right, we'll see what comes.

Andy Weber, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

WEBER: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Still ahead, new leadership is preparing to take over in Hungary after 16 years under Viktor Orban's rule. What the historic change could mean for the relationship with the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:22:19]

DEAN: Tonight growing fallout from multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Congressman Eric Swalwell. A letter signed by more than 50 former staffers of his described the allegations as serious and credible. Several Democrats are calling for him to resign from Congress and also end his bid for California governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Would you vote to expel him?

REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): Yes. We need to be crystal clear on this. The accusations are absolutely heinous, and his admissions betraying his family are deplorable. So Eric Swalwell needs to resign.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Will you vote to expel Eric Swalwell?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): And Congressman Gonzalez, I would.

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Oh, he should step aside. And I have said that not only does he need to step aside, but there needs to be House Ethics investigation and law enforcement investigation. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Congressman Swalwell is denying those allegations, calling them false. His attorney, in a statement to CNN denying Swalwell ever had non-consensual sex with any woman or sexual relations with any members of his staff.

I do want to bring in "Los Angeles Times" political reporter Seema Mehta. She joins us now.

Seema, thank you for being here with us. Obviously, you're here in California. You've been covering this race. How -- were you surprised by how quickly things have moved in the sense that this reporting came out on Friday and things have escalated quite quickly. But noting that Swalwell still in this race for California governor as of 5:23 Pacific Time.

SEEMA MEHTA, POLITICAL REPORTER, L.A. TIMES: Right. I mean, there were a lot of rumors swirling, you know, or allegations that were circulating. I mean, for quite some time, honestly, in Washington, D.C. but then especially in recent weeks in the governor's race, and there was, you know, obviously a number of media outlets are trying to pursue them and try to nail the staff down. But the rumors were largely or the allegations or claims were largely about inappropriate relationships, inappropriate flirtation, inappropriate messages.

What the "San Francisco Chronicle" broke on Friday it went so much beyond that in terms of allegations of sexual assault, you know, by a woman who was too inebriated to consent. And so that just kicked it up to a whole new level. And obviously we've seen politicians over the years who have dealt with allegations of sexual misconduct, whether it's, you know, Bill Clinton or, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Gavin Newsom, Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles, who's also running for governor.

But those did not involve the type of allegations that that have been leveled against Swalwell in terms of, you know, forcibly, you know, assaulting a woman when she couldn't consent. So that's why I think the, you know, the backlash has been so swift.

[20:25:06]

DEAN: Yes. And this California governor's race has been pretty hard to pin down before all of this, much less now with this as a layer on it as well. How do you -- what are you watching for in the next few weeks? Just to remind everybody, the primary is not that far away. It's June 2nd and voting, the ballots go out in May.

MEHTA: Right. The ballots got out in early May. So we're really close to ballots going on. And I'm actually, the reason I'm in San Diego right now is because I was covering the California Republican Party Convention, where it was an endorsing convention. And there's two main Republicans running, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former FOX News host Steve Hilton.

And there's so many Democrats running. I mean, there are eight prominent Democrats running that even though California's electorate is overwhelmingly Democratic, I mean, Democrats -- registered Democratic voters outnumber registered Republicans nearly two to one. But because of the number of candidates running on the Democratic side versus the number on the Republican side, you know, Democrats are increasingly fearing that split -- that their voters would splinter, you know, across their large field of candidates and that the two Republicans could end up in the top two.

And as I suspect, you know, California has a unique primary system where it's not just one person from each party moves on to the general election. Under California's jungle primary, whoever gets the most -- the two people who get the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, move on to November. So while Republicans haven't elected a statewide candidate since 2006, there was concern, growing concern that because of the way the math works out, that it was certainly statistically possible that the two Republicans would move on to November.

DEAN: Yes --

MEHTA: And so -- and Swalwell was obviously one of the frontrunners.

DEAN: Yes. And it's important -- yes, it's good you explained to everyone because your primary system here in California is different than I think we see in so many places.

MEHTA: Right.

DEAN: I'm curious what your sense is. I know you're covering the Republicans right now, but what your sense is of the Democratic establishment. We had the lieutenant governor on in our show an hour or two ago. And when I asked her if there was anyone she specifically would be, you know, supporting, she mentioned Tom Steyer. She didn't outright say that that was an endorsement, but she mentioned him.

What is your sense of where the Democratic establishment is going on this, or if they will get involved?

MEHTA: I mean, I mean, it's been the drumbeat from the Democratic establishment, whether it is elected officials or labor unions, powerful labor unions who have urged Swalwell to drop out of the race and, you know, some of whom have urged him to resign from Congress, is remarkable. The question is, where do the people who are supporting him go? And I think, you know, Tom Steyer, you know, hedge fund co- founder turned environmental warrior, billionaire, and former Congresswoman Katie porter, those are the other two, top two Democratic candidates in the race in terms of polling.

And they also occupied the same lane as Swalwell, like the progressive fight, Donald Trump lane, you know, because obviously California is constantly arguing with the president. So it seems like the two of them stand to benefit the most. But also this gives, you know, ammunition or fodder or reason for some of the lower polling candidates to remain in the race because who knows what the heck is going to happen between now and election day.

DEAN: Truly. All right, Seema, thank you. We appreciate that.

MEHTA: Thank you for having me on.

DEAN: Thank you.

And again, Congressman Eric Swalwell to CNN denying all of those allegations.

President Trump threatening a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after no deal was reached in those marathon talks with Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian officials. How that move could impact already rising oil and gas prices. We'll talk about that.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:33:26]

DEAN: After peace talks with Iran failed this weekend, President Trump saying the U.S. military will now blockade ships trying to go through the Strait of Hormuz. And what you're looking at here is a map that is tracking the traffic there. Today, the U.S. Central Command saying that blockade will begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. It will apply only to ships going to and from Iran. Meantime, Iran's Revolutionary Guard says any such action will be dealt with harshly and decisively.

And so with all of that as the background, new concern tonight about the economic impact of all of this. Joining us now is Natasha Sarin. She's an economist, former deputy assistant Treasury secretary for economic policy.

Natasha, thanks for being here with us. We now have these plans for this blockade, and there's still a big question mark over when, what, you know, the disruption of this global oil market will be resolved. We don't know. Crude oil prices are surging once again tonight. We're watching these. You can see this is real time right here.

How do you -- how do you think about all of this as we head into this new week?

NATASHA SARIN, ECONOMIST: Yes, I think we are at a moment of tremendous uncertainty for the American economy. And frankly, we got an inflation print on Friday that was at its highest level that it had been in the last two years. And that indicated, it started to indicate the impact of this war on consumer prices, and particularly, as you were mentioning, Jessica, on the price of energy and the price of oil, where energy markets have seen their largest price increase in the last month than they've had in the last 20 years.

[20:35:04]

So we know that there is massive disruption that is coming from this closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and we know that a prolonged closure that affects some 20 percent of the world's global oil supply is going to have an increased effect on consumer prices and is going to depress the size of the American economy and its strength by several hundred billions of dollars over the course of the next year.

So these are difficult times for the American economy and, frankly, for the global economy, as we're watching all this uncertainty and tumult play out in real time.

DEAN: Certainly. And for people who are here in the U.S. watching at home, I think they kind of look at all of this and they're like, OK, I already see really high gas prices. They are noticeably higher. What happens now? Like, what does this mean now? What would you tell them?

SARIN: Well, what I would tell them is it's so interesting, Jessica, because, you know, just like less than a few months ago, this administration was in the face of a ton of inflation that was coming from the global trade war that had been initiated, that was raising consumer prices by something like $1,000 plus annually. They were pointing to energy. They were pointing to gas prices in the State of the Union and saying, this is an area where consumers have seen some relief.

And that was true. Over the course of the first year of the Trump administration, we saw gas prices fall. That has all been erased. And then some, of course, as a result of this conflict. And I think the thing that the American people need to understand and are already grappling with in some sense is that this isn't just about gas prices. This is also about aviation fuel and what that translates to in the form of higher ticket prices and some types of routes not even being available because the airplanes do not have the fuel that they need to be able to be flown.

It translates to higher food prices because as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, there's a significant disruption in terms of global fertilizer markets. And so these consequences are so wide- ranging. And what's also so significant is it is not yet clear, even if magically tomorrow, the Strait of Hormuz was opened, fully open and fully operational, the destruction of the infrastructure of the markets that we've seen over the course of the last many weeks, that doesn't magically go back to the way things used to be. And we are far from a resolution to this conflict, as this weekend's talks illustrated.

DEAN: Yes. And to that point, the head of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, said that the inflation is temporary, and in his mind is going to go away very quickly.

Do you agree with that?

SARIN: I don't agree with that for a few reasons. One is that I think part of what is important for us all to remember is, and the American people experienced it, so they remember it well, over the course of the post-pandemic period, we have been dealing with the aftermath of increased and surging inflation and high consumer prices, and that sort of inflation uptick had started to come down at the beginning of this second Trump administration when this president campaigned on lower prices on day one and decreasing inflation is being kind of a central pillar of his economic promise. But every action that's been taken since then, be it the tariffs that

are at their highest level that we've had in this country over the course of a century or more recently this conflict with Iran and the consequences for energy markets and so much more, all of that is actually pushing in the direction of increased inflation, not decreases in inflation and relief for consumer wallets. And so I think that this is all going to be with us for quite some time.

But I think what's also going to be with us is the nature of how sort of unstable and uncertain the American economy feels. And you're starting to see that even in the context of this conflict, where there's some discussion that if there is some sort of tollbooth in the Strait of Hormuz, maybe rather than those markets being anchored in dollars, those markets are going to be anchored in currency like crypto.

And I think that is just like a statement about how the dollar, which has really benefited from being this reserve asset of the world and the American people have benefited from being a stable hand in the entire globe, like all of that is sort of starting to fade away with real and significant and frankly lasting consequence.

DEAN: Yes. Really something to think about.

All right, Natasha Sarin, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

SARIN: Thanks so much for having me, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes. And still ahead, history in Hungary following the defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Plus history at the Masters with back-to- back title wins for the champion, Rory McIlroy.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:44:36]

DEAN: And we do have breaking news to bring you. Congressman Eric Swalwell officially suspending his campaign for governor. This came out just a few minutes ago. He wrote on X, "To my family, staff, friends and supporters, I am deeply sorry for the mistakes in judgment I've made in my past. I will fight the serious false allegations that have been made, but that's my fight, not a campaign."

Again, it was Friday when CNN and the "San Francisco Chronicle" both reported on these allegations against sitting Congressman Eric Swalwell.

[20:45:10]

We do have Brian Stelter with us right now to talk more about this.

And, Brian, look, this fallout around this came pretty quickly. As I was mentioning those stories broke here in California, it was Friday afternoon. And now here we are Sunday afternoon, 5:45 here. And we're hearing from Eric Swalwell that he is suspending his campaign for governor. Not a surprise really.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: And those whispers about Swalwell, they have been circulating at least for weeks before the reporting brought the proverbial receipts. You know, you think about the stories published by "The Chronicle" and by CNN on Friday afternoon, both with extensive details.

I was astonished, as a reader of the CNN story, looking at our colleagues on the investigative team, looking at how much corroboration, how much evidence was presented in the story. And it was the kind of damning evidence that ultimately Swalwell could not avoid or dodge for very long.

His post on screen saying he's suspending the campaign for governor, notably apologizing to people for mistakes in judgment he's made in the past. People are going to want to hear more about exactly what he is admitting and what he is not admitting because he strongly denied the sexual assault allegations.

But as the CNN team reported, there was an entire spectrum of alleged behavior, of wrongdoing from four different people. And as I said, it was really about the corroboration, the level of detail, the evidence from text messages, from photos, from all of it, that made this insurmountable for Swalwell made it impossible for him to continue to campaign.

And of course, Jessica, as you know, you're out there. This is going to completely reshape the California governor's race.

DEAN: There's no question about it. We were talking to the California's lieutenant governor just a little bit ago in our show. And, you know, talking about how this will really reshape a race that was already really didn't have a lot of and no front runner. And it was quite fractured, especially for Democrats. So there's the political piece of this. And then --

STELTER: I think there's one other factor here.

DEAN: Yes, go ahead.

STELTER: Yes. Just this afternoon, I think one other factor that's really significant, as CNN reported this afternoon, 50 plus staffers for, excuse me, former staffers of Eric Swalwell coming out and calling for him to step down, voicing support for these women. You know, you had staffers in the office wanting to quit, wanting to step down, feeling pressure, you know, figuring out what to do. That had to have been an important factor here for the congressman.

DEAN: Yes. And then you add on the layer, too, from yesterday that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is now pursuing a criminal investigation in that sexual assault allegation. You layer all of that together and here we get him suspending his campaign for governor. There's also been calls for him to step down from his seat, but we'll see if that happens.

Brian, stay with us. Thank you so much. I do want to bring in Ron Brownstein, who also, of course, lives here

in California and covers California politics extensively. He's joining us via phone.

Ron, as we were just talking with Brian there, when you put this all together, not surprising that we hear from Swalwell that he's suspending his campaign, but there are still questions about what comes next, both for the California gubernatorial race but also for Swalwell himself.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (via phone): Yes. Well, look, I mean, the California, the Democratic side of the California gubernatorial race was a mess and a muddle before this. And now we're looking at mess and muddle squared or, you know, some exponential increase.

Look, I mean, you know, the parties -- this is another reminder that on this whole set of issues about gender relations and inappropriate sexual -- the parties are just fundamentally different. I mean, the contrast between this and everything we have seen for years in the Republican Party about Trump is just, you know, it's just so striking how quickly and irreversibly and unequivocally this became untenable for Swalwell.

And it reflects not only kind of different mores among kind of party leaders, but really different visions among the electoral constituency of each party. And they're really, you know, his path forward was dubious at best after this. And here we are.

DEAN: Yes, here we are indeed. What is your sense, Ron, of what's facing Congressman Swalwell back in Washington? Because there's also all these calls, obviously, for an ethics investigation, the Manhattan D.A. is now pursuing a criminal investigation.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

DEAN: What do you see there?

[20:50:00]

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, you have a number of members of Congress in both parties facing ethics allegations. And I think it will be very hard to kind of move forward on any of them individually without some larger movement against several of them. I know Republicans certainly are going to move to expel Swalwell, but they have their own member who was involved in, you know, equally horrific allegations or even more horrific allegations of sexual misbehavior.

And so I suspect there's going to be a lot of strain in each caucus. But on balance, I think there may be willingness to move in kind of a package way to expel several of these members.

DEAN: Yes. Brian -- is Brian Stelter still with us as well? OK, Brian, let's go back to you for a second because building off of what Ron and I were just talking about there, it comes back, too, to abuse of power potentially and what you're doing when you're in these powerful positions.

STELTER: When you read the story by CNN on Friday, when you read the "San Francisco Chronicle" story, these are thoroughly reported stories, thoroughly vetted stories that were the result of really serious and difficult interviews with these women who had these detailed accounts. What they described, whether in one case sexual assault, in other cases a spectrum of misbehavior, unsolicited photos of his penis, you know, inappropriate touching, messaging, et cetera, all of this ultimately it's about abuse of power.

And as Ron was saying, we are seeing different reactions from our two major political parties in the U.S. to those allegations of abuse of power. But that's the through line to all of this. And one of the women who came forward on Friday, Ally Sammarco, she wrote that on X earlier today. She said, none of this is our fault. This is about an abuse of power. She said no one paid us to come forward.

She's having to deal with some of the criticism that's been leveled at her this weekend from people that think this is part of some Democratic plot or some broader attempt to push Eric Swalwell out of the race. And in fact, it's about journalists trying to figure out what is true and what happened in Eric Swalwell's past. And here we are, 48 hours after those stories have hit, and Swalwell realizes he has to suspend his campaign.

DEAN: All right, Brian Stelter, Ron Brownstein, our thanks to both of you.

And again, Congressman Swalwell denying those allegations in his tweet there, saying that he -- they are false allegations. He's vowing to fight them.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:14]

DEAN: OK, it's an all new season of "EVA LONGORIA: SEARCHING FOR FRANCE." From the vineyards of Bordeaux to the lavender fields of Provence, her journey is taking us across the country as she explores the culture, history and cuisine of each region. And I sat down with Eva to talk about her first stop, Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Eva, last time we saw you, you were in Spain.

EVA LONGORIA, CNN HOST, "SEARCHING FOR FRANCE": Yes.

DEAN: You've now moved to France. Why pick there? Why go there?

LONGORIA: Well, I have such a connection to France. I mean, I think I've lived 18 past lives there. I speak French, I was married to a Frenchman. I've been with Loreal for 22 years. Every time I'm in France, I just feel at home. I feel like I'm home. DEAN: You start in Paris. I mean, where else would you want to start?

And obviously you've been there many, many times in your life.

LONGORIA: Yes, I lived there. Yes.

DEAN: Lived there. But when you're filming there and you're looking at it through this lens, did it change anything for you?

LONGORIA: Paris is my favorite city in the world, but there's more to France than Paris. Visiting Alsace and Brittany and Provence like you go, oh, my god, there's so much more to this country. Culturally, with the language, and then of course with the cuisine. There's so many things in the world that are not endemic to France, but, boy, did they perfect it. Like the potato. The French would not eat it. They thought it caused leprosy.

And this pharmacist named Parmentier got captured, and while he was in prison, they fed all the prisoners mashed potatoes every day. And he was like, oh, my god, you can eat this. And he did a marketing campaign. He was the first influencer. His whole grave was full of potatoes. I left my potato.

DEAN: The Hotel Lutetia, which is on the left bank.

LONGORIA: Yes.

DEAN: Tell us what you found there.

LONGORIA: The Hotel Lutetia has such a rich history. During World War II, it was occupied by Nazi spies. So the entire staff had to serve the Nazis. And what was happening during this time was the Nazis were really looting all of the fine wine, fine art, and just hoarding it, and taking it back to Germany. And so at the Hotel Lutetia, they built a fake wall to hide the good wine so that they could preserve all of the bottles that they had, these amazing bottles.

And when the Nazis went down to the wine cellar, they left a couple bottles out not to tip off that they hid the rest. But it's so interesting that they were Nazi spies and they never found the wine.

DEAN: I mean, the irony.

LONGORIA: The irony.

DEAN: They were living there, you know?

LONGORIA: Really. The wine was underneath their noses. But after World War II ended, then the Hotel Lutetia became a Red Cross. So the lobby, they had photos on one side of people who had passed and photos on another side of people who were staying there. People would come to the Lutetia to see if their relative was alive or dead. And it was in those hallways that they really, you know, stepped up for the people of France.

(END VIDEOTAPE) DEAN: It is such a beautiful -- these shows are always so beautiful, but especially in France. And Eva is a great person to take us on the tour. And you're going to be able to watch it in just mere seconds right here on CNN.

I do want to say thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. We have back-to-back premier episodes as we just mentioned of "EVA LONGORIA: SEARCHING FOR FRANCE." She's going to take you to Paris first. It starts right now. Have a great night.