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Swalwell Scandal Could Trigger Series Of House Expulsion Votes; GOP Sees Opening With Crowded Dem Field To Win CA Gov. Race; Trump Endorses Steve Hilton In California Gov. Race; Gas Prices Surge In California To $5.89 Amid Iran War; Trump Promotes No Taxes On Tips With Door Dash Delivery. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 13, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:00]

REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D), VIRGINIA: -- and his admissions betraying his family are deplorable. So, Eric Swalwell needs to resign. He needs to drop out of the race.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: And just to be clear, because he's also running for California governor, you're saying that he should not only drop out of that race, but he should resign his seat in Congress?

VINDMAN: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Ron?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, you know, in some ways this reminds me, you'll remember, the spate of scandals in the early 1990s in Congress that helps banks --

BASH: I kind of remember.

BROWNSTEIN: -- the house banking scandal. Like, you know, the backdrop for all of this -- and I think one of the reasons everyone is so quick on it, is not only because these are such heinous allegations, it is because the image of Congress to begin with is so negative and people view the political leadership as essentially focused on their own needs, desires, personal enrichment, not really worrying about the public's problem. And I think that this can become this kind of behavior.

Right now it's pretty, you know, as you say, there's a kind of a balance, but it becomes an advantage for challengers of all sorts against either party, you know, as it was in the early 1990s. I mean, basically, it is pretty -- it is becoming easier for anyone running against an incumbent to basically say, look at what your members of Congress are doing with their time. They are not solving your problems. You know, they are behaving in inappropriate ways or trying to enrich themselves. So I think members of both parties feel a need to show that they are taking this seriously.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I agree. And I also think it seems much more likely now that they're going to get both of these expulsions. I mean, there was a lot of questions among Republicans as to how to handle Gonzales --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HOLMES: -- just given the small margin. And in this case, it actually gives them some cover if it's a twofer here. And of course, this is not to undercut anything in these heinous allegations, but there was a math issue when it came to Gonzales that was almost openly spoken about by Republicans. And this obviously would take care of that.

BASH: Just by way of history here, because you might think expulsions --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BASH: -- happen a lot since it happened with George Santos just a couple of years ago. It's very, very rare. If you look up on the screen, the first three here, they were expelled because of their support for the Confederacy. And then you've only had three since. One convicted of bribery, another bribery and racketeering. And then, of course, we remember George Santos.

Ron, I want to talk about the governor's race --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BASH: -- which is obviously very much a part of this conversation because Eric Swalwell was --

BROWNSTEIN: Emerging?

BASH: -- emerging.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BASH: And he had a wind at his back, and now he has suspended his campaign. This has been a very weird governor's race, to say the least. And I'm just going to put up on the screen --

BROWNSTEIN: Sure.

BASH: -- as you talk kind of where we are right now, not in the polling, but just in the money that they're spending, and it gives you a sense.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BASH: Tom Steyer, who has a lot of his own money to spend --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BASH: -- is far and away ahead. And then it kind of goes down the list.

BROWNSTEIN: I mean, it's been a mess -- it was a mess and a muddle before this happened. Now it's a mess and a muddle square. California, under Schwarzenegger, improved -- approved this top-two system where everybody runs in a single primary. The top two advance on to the general election.

Democrats have been concerned that they are splintering the votes among eight relatively plausible candidates, and that would allow two Republicans to finish one-two, even though they might win only 35 percent of the total primary vote. Swalwell getting knocked aside does leave more votes -- more of the Democratic vote to distribute to someone else.

So in that sense, it helps to consolidate, except it leaves you with Tom Steyer and Katie Porter, probably as the two frontrunners, each of whom, in the eyes of many California Democrats, have serious liabilities. Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, probably will have the most money after Steyer.

But he's raising money from a lot of kind of right-leaning Silicon Valley sources that are sympathetic to Trump. And you can just imagine the -- and the ads write themselves if Steyer wants to go after him as Trump's Trojan horse in this race.

So it's really, I think, I do not know any California Democrat who feels they have a really good handle on where this is going to go from here until -- and ballots go out --

BASH: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: -- in like three weeks.

BASH: Yes, very soon.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BASH: Very soon.

All right, everybody stand by. Speaking of the California governor's race, up next, I'll be speaking with Republican candidate Steve Hilton, who was endorsed by President Trump. How does that play in California?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:39:01]

BASH: It is a wide open race to be California's next governor and Eric Swalwell's implosion only makes it more uncertain about who is emerging from the upcoming primary. In California, all candidates compete in one primary and the top two, regardless of party, advance to the general election. This year, a Republican, Steve Hilton, is well positioned to claim one of those two spots. He's a former political strategist in the U.K., former Fox host, and was endorsed last week by President Trump.

Steve Hilton, thank you so much for being here. Let me start with Eric Swalwell ending his campaign. How do you see that change in the dynamic of your race?

STEVE HILTON (R), CALIFORNIA GOV. CANDIDATE: Well, I think as you were discussing earlier, it'll probably lead to some consolidation on the Democrat side, but in the end, I don't think it makes much difference. Because the truth is, after 16 years now of one-party rule, exactly as you were saying earlier, the incumbents in California, the Democrats, who've run everything without any constraint, the record is not great, let's put it that way.

We've got the highest poverty rate in the country, the highest unemployment rate, highest cost of living, and so it is obviously time for change.

[12:40:10]

And so whether it's -- whether it was going to be Swalwell, and I agree that it looked like the machine was getting behind him, whether now it's Tom Steyer or Katie Porter, I really don't think it matters because we need some balance in California, and we desperately need change, and no Democrat can provide that.

BASH: Let me just ask you about something I've heard you saying since Eric Swalwell, since the allegations came out that he is still denying. You have said that it's sickening that Democrats endorsed him when you allege this behavior was an open secret and they all knew about it.

I don't -- maybe you have. I haven't seen any proof that people knowing about allegations that he raped people. But that aside, as I mentioned, you got the endorsement of President Trump. He was, of course, found liable in a civil suit of sexual abuse and bragged about grabbing women by the you-know-what. You're OK accepting that, but clearly upset about --

HILTON: Well --

BASH: -- the allegations of Eric Swalwell?

HILTON: Well, it's really the hypocrisy. I mean, the fact that it was an open secret about his behavior on Capitol Hill, and the extent of it. We'll see where the allegations go, and there's many more accounts, I think, that are going to come forward from all the accounts that I've been hearing, including from many Democrat friends involved in politics in California.

As to the President, look, that was all litigated many times, including in two general elections in America, and people came to their view about that. And I think the most important point is that actually that helps really get the energy that we need to get a big Republican turnout, as well as all the other support that we need to build to win a majority here in California. That's why I'm so honored to have his endorsement.

BASH: Well, let me just push you on that, because you used the word hypocrisy, and it is true that the President was re-elected after he was found liable in that civil suit, but it's just a question about you and what you're comfortable with. You're still comfortable with this endorsement, even though you are, understandably, condemning the allegations against Eric Swalwell?

HILTON: Well, I voted for the President, as so many millions of Americans did. So I think that is the clear response to something where you get an endorsement from somebody you've already supported and you've already voted for. I think that speaks for itself.

I've not weighed in specifically on the allegations, more on the hypocrisy of the Democrats, who've been lecturing us for all these years about their values and Me Too and how they're there for the fight for women and so on, and yet, knowing about some of this stuff --

BASH: Yes.

HILTON: -- they continue to back and endorse Eric Swalwell.

BASH: Yes. Again, unless you can tell me, I have not seen or heard any Democrat who knew about allegations of rape. I do want to ask you about that presidential endorsement, because you were telling me before the break that you were surprised. Did you seek it out?

HILTON: Yes. No, look, I know the President a little bit. I've interviewed him, and we speak and text from time to time, not very frequently, but we do stay in touch. I never asked him for his endorsement. I didn't expect him to get involved in the California governor's race, to be honest.

There's a lot more -- a lot of other things going on right now --

BASH: And do you think it's going to help you?

HILTON: -- was a complete surprise very well for me.

BASH: Could it --

HILTON: I do because --

BASH: Could it backfire at all in a state like California?

HILTON: I think it's a clear help for two reasons. First of all, as you know better than most, in a midterm election, it's all about turnout. Who can get their voters out to the polls? And this will very much help with Republican turnout. Obviously that's not enough to win in California, but my message about how we're going to make our state Cal-affordable, $3 gas, cut your electric bills in half, your first 100 grand tax-free, a home you can afford to buy, that's got broad appeal across the board. But I think getting that Republican turnout energized is a huge help. Secondly, in terms of the Democrat response, of course it's true that they will be using it as an argument in the general election, but they would have been doing that anyway because going on about Trump is basically the go-to argument of Democrats when they don't have anything else to run on.

And in California, the record is so bad, they don't have any new ideas. All they've got is to label you as Trump and MAGA, and they would have been doing that anyway.

BASH: Let me ask you about that platform that you just mentioned, your promising $3 gas under your leadership. As you well know far better than I, that was already a tall order in California where the gas price is always higher --

HILTON: Yes.

BASH: -- than the rest of the country. That's what you're trying to change. But the fact that there's a surge even more because of the Iran war, doesn't it make what you're trying to promise harder? I mean, just for example, I'm putting up on the screen here, the average price of gas in California is $5.89 a gallon. It was $4.55 just two months ago.

[12:45:17]

HILTON: Yes, exactly. You're seeing the prices of gas in California have been surging for years as a direct result of Democrat policies. That was true before the situation in the Middle East, and it's going to be true afterwards unless we change direction.

And that's what I'm talking about, is to open up, as long as we're using oil and gas in California, we should be using oil and gas from California rather than shipping it halfway around the world on giant supertankers spewing out carbon emissions. There's common-sense things we can do to bring prices into line with what's in the rest of the country.

You have some states where it's $3. It has been even during the Iran situation. The spike in gas prices in California as a result of Democrat policies is more than double the spike, which is obviously temporary from the situation in the Middle East. So I think that over time, once that temporary spike is reduced and we can move in a new common-sense direction on energy policy in California --

BASH: Yes.

HILTON: -- we can bring costs down to what they are in the rest of the country.

BASH: Steve Hilton, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. The aforementioned President Trump --

HILTON: Of course.

BASH: -- is taking questions now from reporters at the White House, so we're going to go to that right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, did you post that picture of yourself depicting as Jesus Christ?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it wasn't the picture, it was me. I did post it. And I thought it was me as the doctor and had to do with Red Cross. There's a Red Cross worker there, which we support. And only the fake news could come up with that one.

So I had just heard about it. And I said, how did they come up with that? It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.

As an example, the 11,000, I have -- I understand your husband is going through treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. He has cancer.

TRUMP: He's going through some very serious cancer treatment, so --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: -- this goes a long way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir. It sure does.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, are another round of talks planned with Iran? And if so, will you send Vice President JD Vance again?

TRUMP: Well, he's done a good job. And Steve and Jared, they've all done a very good job. And I can tell you that we've been called by the other side. They'd like to make a deal very badly. Very badly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was the stinging point over? You said it was over nuclear.

TRUMP: It was over nuclear. Very similar. Yes, very good. I guess you're listening. It's over the fact that they will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran -- you're marking it down. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn't agree to that. And I think they will agree to it. I'm almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it. If they don't agree, there's no deal. There'll never be a deal.

Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we're going to get the dust back. We'll get it back either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, as far as the naval blockade is concerned, what's the endgame? Is it to force Iran back to the negotiating table? Is it to open up the straits so that gas prices ultimately come down? TRUMP: Maybe everything. I mean, yes, both of those things, certainly, and more. We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world because that's what they're doing. They're really blackmailing the world. We're not going to let that happen.

And, you know, the amazing thing is we don't -- can you believe this? We don't use the strait. We don't need the strait. We have our own oil and gas, much more than we need. We have more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia.

Think of this. We produce more. Saudi Arabia and add Russia to it, substantially more. And by next year, we'll have double that amount. So we don't need it, but the world needs it. And many ships are heading to our country right now as we speak to load up with the best, really, I guess you could say, somebody said the best and sweetest.

I don't know exactly what sweet is, but when it relates to oil, it's a good thing. But they're coming to our country. Right now, there are many boats coming to our country. Now, it could very well be this is going to be settled before then. We've been called this morning by the right people, the appropriate people, and they want to work a deal. They would like to work a deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it your anticipation, Mr. President, that other countries will assist in this effort to blockade Iran in those --

TRUMP: Yes, other countries are going to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which countries, sir?

TRUMP: We don't need other countries, frankly, but they've offered their services. We'll let it be known probably tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has the blockade started, sir?

TRUMP: Yes, it started at 10:00.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bishop Robert Barron supports you and your policies. He praises you for defending religious freedom.

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He now says you owe Pope Leo an apology. Will you apologize?

[12:50:04]

TRUMP: No, I don't, because Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result.

You have hundreds of millions of people dead, and it's not going to happen, so I can't. I think he's very weak on crime and other things, so I'm not. I mean, he went public. I'm just responding to Pope Leo. And, you know, his brother is a big MAGA person, and he's a great guy, Louis. And I said I like Louis better than I like the Pope.

You have to have law and order in our country, and that's what we have now. We have the lowest crime numbers we've had in a long time, despite the fact that many criminals were allowed into our country. But we've gotten a lot of them out.

We've done a great job on crime. So we have the lowest murder rate in 125 years, since 1900, the lowest murder rate. So we believe strongly in law and order, and he seemed to have a problem with that. So there's nothing to apologize for. He's wrong.

The other thing is he didn't like what we're doing with respect to Iran, but Iran is a -- wants to be a nuclear nation, so they can exterminate the world. Not going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Iran, deal is not reached by the end of this ceasefire, does your threat from before still stand?

TRUMP: Yes, I don't want to comment on that, but it won't be pleasant for them. Let me put it that way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you still plan to charge (INAUDIBLE) Strait of Hormuz, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has your timetable changed in any way in terms of ending this conflict?

TRUMP: No, I would -- it's going right. Because right now, there's no fighting. Right now, we have a blockade. They're doing no business. I didn't like seeing boats come out. If they were doing business with Iran. But if they weren't, no boats came out. So now they're doing -- Iran is doing absolutely no business and we're going to keep it that way very easily.

Don't forget the navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti- aircraft is gone. Their radar is gone, and their leaders are gone. That's a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you still want to charge (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) something from predominantly going to China?

BASH: OK, we've been listening to President Trump answer questions at the White House. A couple of headlines. Number one, the picture that we were talking about, if we can put it up, that the President has since deleted of -- that he put on his social media page of him looking certainly like he was Jesus and healing somebody, his face sort of superimposed as Jesus.

Hopefully we can get a control room as we're talking. We're working on it. What he just said there is, he thought it was really just a picture of him as a doctor. Just keep that up. He thought this was him as a doctor.

Kristen Holmes, you cover the White House for us. I'm not Christian, and I see that's Jesus.

HOLMES: Well, it's also -- like, the hands have --

BASH: Yes.

HOLMES: -- some kind of healing powers in them.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HOLMES: I don't know. I mean, there are some incredible doctors, but I don't know any of that --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, right.

HOLMES: -- have healing magical powers in their hands or religious powers. He said something about Red Cross and that he didn't know what it was, and only the media was the one who put this idea that it was a picture of him linking him to Jesus Christ. It was interesting.

He took responsibility for posting it himself. I mean, I'll remind you of the Obama video. He said a staffer, and the White House said a staffer posted it. And he wasn't totally aware of everything that was in it. But clearly the message was made clear to him --

BASH: Yes.

HOLMES: -- regardless of what he thought, to take it down.

BASH: Yes. But he's also getting a lot of pressure to apologize for the things that he has said about Pope Leo. He was asked directly, will you apologize? And he said flatly no, and then went on to sort of reprise his criticisms of Pope Leo, including the fact that he is soft on crime.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BASH: Again, you're Catholic, I am not Catholic, but my impression is that part of the papal job is not to be in charge of crime on the streets anywhere. He is, you know, he's a spiritual leader.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CO-AUTHOR, THE WASHINGTON POST "EARLY BRIEF" NEWSLETTER: Yes, especially in the United States. Yes, so he repeated again, like you said, the criticism of Pope Leo, and he's digging in. He doesn't apologize. He --

BROWNSTEIN: Doubles down.

CALDWELL: I don't know, Kristen, have you ever --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

CALDWELL: -- do you remember any time he has apologized? It's not really in his personality or what he does. That's an admission of defeat for him.

BASH: Yes. CALDWELL: And so I guess he's going to continue this. I guess it might be up to the Pope to turn the other cheek and drop the side with the President.

BROWNSTEIN: Which is also in the job description, right.

CALDWELL: Yes.

BASH: That is in the job description.

BROWNSTEIN: Right, right.

BASH: Absolutely. That is a very papal thing to do. Before we go, the reason why reporters were there with the President at the White House is because it is tax week, and as Kristen mentioned, that is really one of the things that the White House wants to talk about.

[12:55:07]

There you go. Yes, DoorDash. Knock, knock, knock at the Oval Office. Oh, hi, Mr. President. I have your McDonald's for you. This is not AI. This happened.

You know, it's a bit, and it is a --

HOLMES (?): She stood next to him the whole time while he was answering questions.

BASH: Yes, and it is, you know, certainly an interesting, modern way of getting your message out, Ron Brownstein.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, I remember when he went to the McDonald's in the campaign, remember?

BASH: Yes, but DoorDash at the Oval Office, that's --

BROWNSTEIN: DoorDash at the White House --

BASH: -- that's next level.

BROWNSTEIN: You know --

BASH: And by the way, he's trying to promote the idea that there are no more tax on tips.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. And, you know, I will just -- what we were talking about before, just put a pin in. The CNN poll this week had his approval rating among non-college whites below 50 percent. He's won two-thirds of them in all three of his elections, 61 percent approval in 2018.

If it stays down that low, that is the key to the Democratic --

BASH: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: -- map widening, and that is the kind of positioning that he's trying to use to combat that.

BASH: It's so good to have you on this coast. It's always good to have you guys here.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics on this very busy Monday. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.