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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
World Awaits High-Stakes Negotiations In Pakistan; Iran - Peace Talks Contingent Upon Ceasefire In Lebanon; Artemis II Astronauts Return To Earth After Historic Mission; NASA Official Praises Success Of Artemis II Mission; Sunday's Vote Could End Viktor Orban's 16 Years In Power; Exclusive - Former Staffer Says Rep. Eric Swalwell Raped Her; California Governor Candidate Denies The Accusation; Kamala Harris floats Potential 2028 Presidential Run; San Diego Mayor On Priorities For U.S. Conference Of Mayors; Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 11, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: German discount store Lidl is building its first ever pub in the suburbs of Belfast in Northern Ireland. The pub will be next to an existing store and have a liquor store too. Lidl has been tied up in legal challenges to the pub's construction, but it is now expected to open this summer.
Thanks for watching this hour of "The Story Is." The next hour with a whole lot of news starts right now.
And welcome to "The Story Is." I'm Elex Michaelson live from San Diego. We are here because of what happened in terms of space today. We're following multiple breaking stories. The Artemis II crew has just returned from their journey to the dark side of the moon. They splashed down here off the coast in San Diego. The astronauts are now undergoing a medical evaluation not far from where I'm sitting.
Plus, it is now Saturday morning in Islamabad, Pakistan where ceasefire talks are set to get underway as the world wants to see whether the United States and Iran will be able to come to an agreement to end the war. High level delegations from both nations are in Islamabad for those talks. The U.S. team is led by Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Iranian side headed by the speaker of their Parliament and their Foreign Minister.
President Trump says the focus of the talks will be ensuring that Tehran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon. His proposal includes Iran handing over its highly enriched uranium, accepting limits on its defense capabilities, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The President Trump says the Strait is going to open with or without Iran's cooperation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They're militarily defeated, and now, we're going to open up the gulf with them -- with or without them, but that'll be open. We're going to be, or the strait as they call it. And I think it's going to go pretty quickly. And if it doesn't, we'll be able to finish it off one way or the other. It's going well.
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MICHAELSON: As for Iran, it has two conditions before the talks can even start. Lebanon being included in the ceasefire and the release of Iran's black blocked assets. Let's go to Berlin now where CNN Producer Sebastian Shukla joins us live. What's the latest?
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yeah. Good morning, Elex. High stakes diplomacy is one way to phrase what is about to take place in Islamabad, Pakistan today, but the reasons for being here and how we got here have been in the making for some 40 odd days. You alluded to already the difficulties that will face the negotiating teams on both sides here. You said led by Vice President JD Vance along with the President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff, both people who have been key to previous negotiations for the U.S. administration on multiple different conflicts, including one here in Europe, in Ukraine.
And on the Iranian side led by speaker Ghalibaf, who has been a very prominent critic and a hardliner coming from the Iranian side as to how Iran will respond and retaliate to any attacks made against that country from the United States. And we've seen over the last few days these competing agendas or at least points of a discussion in order to lay a ceasefire, 10 points from one side, 10 points from another, and then another one appearing from President Trump, which has alluded to 15 points.
But they are so divergent in their content that it makes it very difficult for us to fully understand, or at least give any idea about what the agenda for these talks may be. Just to give you an idea, Elex. We've got President Trump saying that he wants Iran to be able to give up all ability to create and make a nuclear weapon. But we have Iran, on the other hand, saying it wants to exercise complete sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Both of those are diametrically opposed to what each side is prepared to negotiate with and led by JD Vance.
As I said, I want you to take a listen to what his message was just before he left the U.S.
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JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're looking forward to the negotiation. I think it's going to be positive. We'll foresee. As the President of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand. If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.
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SHUKLA: And, of course, outstanding in all of this is also what is happening in Lebanon. The Lebanese capital has been under cons -- near constant bombardment, from Israel since, this ceasefire came into place between U.S., and Iran, but competing narratives also exist, between whether Lebanon was part of that agreement. The Iranians say that no discussions can begin without a ceasefire, be also being upheld in Lebanon. So, Elex, that gives you a little bit of a flavor about how just precarious these talks are. And the thing to note is that absolutely nothing is guaranteed today.
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MICHAELSON: Yeah. I mean, it does not sound like they're close based off of everything that you just laid out, but we will see. Both sides do have some incentive to try to bring something together. Thank you so much, Sebastian Shukla, for us live from Berlin.
Now to something that a lot of folks do agree on. The mission to the moon is now over. Cheers and celebrations at NASA as the astronauts of the Artemis II mission returned here to San Diego a short time ago. They splashed down off coast shortly after eight o'clock Eastern Time, five o'clock on the West after flying more than 700,000 miles to the moon and traveling farther from Earth than any human has ever done in history.
They will reunite with their families in Houston in the coming days. We expect to hear from them directly in the next week or two. They got a little bit of a break before they got to deal with the press. CNN's Marybel Gonzalez has more on the significance and legacy of the historic Artemis II mission.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at 5,000 feet.
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A historic moment watched around the world. The four astronauts aboard Artemis II returning home to Earth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete.
GONZALEZ: The Orion capsule landing off the coast of San Diego Friday evening. But to get to this moment, the crew endured a high stakes journey, traveling more than 30 times the speed of sound at temperatures between 4,000 and 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: The air molecules outside the capsule will be so hot they will split apart creating what we call plasma.
GONZALEZ: This marks the end of a 10-day journey where the crew traveled to the far side of the moon, reaching deeper into space than any human has traveled before and capturing stunning images of the moon's surface.
KELSEY YOUNG, ARTEMIS II LUNAR SCIENCE LEAD: And ultimately, we're building toward a moon base to establish a sustained presence on the lunar surface. GONZALEZ: The crew will undergo a series of medical exams, and NASA says their bodies will go through a transition after being in space.
SCOTT PARAZYNSKI, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Maybe a little bit of wobbly legs for the first three to four hours after landing, but it's not the equivalent of say a long duration International Space Station flight in terms of the rigors on the body.
GONZALEZ: Families of some of the crew members say they couldn't be more proud of this moment.
VICTOR GLOVER SR., FATHER OF ARTEMIS II PILOT VICTOR GLOVER JR.: It makes me really, really, really proud of the fact that I know that there are probably millions and millions of young people around the country and around the world that will look at him and point to him and look at their mom and dad and say, I can do that.
GONZALEZ: In San Diego, I'm Marybel Gonzalez reporting.
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MICHAELSON: So when we come back, more of our coverage on the Artemis II mission. NASA now analyzing the data and the technology as they plan for future missions. One day, a permanent base on the moon. We'll discuss that with my next guest who's one of the leading thinkers when it comes to space here in San Diego as we take a live look at America's finest city on a Friday night.
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HOWARD HU, NASA'S ORION PROGRAM MANAGER: This mission has been historic and has demonstrated new capabilities for Orion spacecraft, has taken our crew farther than any crews that have ever gone to the moon and packed safely. 252,756 miles, and that is a fantastic feat. We got a lot more to do.
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MICHAELSON: NASA officials are looking to the future of space for exploration now that the astronauts of the Artemis II mission have returned to Earth from their historic journey around the moon. One senior official says this mission paves the way for returning to the surface of the moon and eventually a permanent lunar base.
In the meantime, NASA will be evaluating the data and technology from this mission as they gear up for the next phase with Artemis III set to launch next year. Let's bring in Professor of Space Systems at UC San Diego, Aaron Rosengren. Thanks so much. Welcome to "The Story Is." What a beautiful background.
It's a beautiful background.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. It's a great place to be. Let's talk about today. I know you headed out to Torrey Pines, which is one of the most beautiful parts of San Diego. Thinking maybe you'd be there with yourself, maybe a friend or two, and it was packed.
AARON J. ROSENGREN, PROFESSOR OF SPACE SYSTEMS, UC SAN DIEGO: Torrey Pines was absolutely packed, and I had a bit of a watch party with some folks from the space industry and NASA JPL. I had a colleague in town. So we set up a watch party to watch it, and we ended up watching it on our phones because the clouds were a bit too much.
MICHAELSON: Couldn't see it, but --
ROSENGREN: Couldn't see it, but it was a really wonderful experience, I think to be part of it.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. I mean, literally, the people going out because they want to have this communal experience, which sort of speaks to what's going on right now in terms of NASA kind of having a resurgence in popularity at a lot of years that felt kind of dormant.
ROSENGREN: Yeah. And a lot of that is, I think the space industry has sort of galvanized the public with what is happening. A lot of my students are very motivated actually to work in this field now, and to be a part of this, I think at the moment that we're at, I -- it's not just that we're going back to the moon. We're going to establish a sustainable presence there, and that's going to lead us to something more.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. You call that because the idea of all this is to have a moon base. You call it the lunar economy. What does that mean?
ROSENGREN: Yeah. The lunar economy. So there is a number of startups, and we saw that Intuitive Machines had had sent a probe to the moon, landed on the moon with a robotic mission, and we have a number of other missions planned.
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There's in the next 10 years or so, there's more than 30 nations going to have some type of presence in this economy. And so I think right now, the entire infrastructure of doing deep space operations and missions has really grown, and it's at a point where we can now think about what is going to motivate the next thing.
MICHAELSON: And 30 different nations, but the two biggest economies in the world, U.S. and China are really going at it. I mean, how much is all of this that we saw today really being driven by that U.S. and China fight?
ROSENGREN: I don't know if it's a new space race that we had before. We're really doing things in a more sustainable fashion. We're thinking about the long-term presence that we want to have there. But, certainly, China being -- doing what they have done -- they landed the first robotic mission on the far side of the moon, which we call the dark side inappropriately, but there's nothing dark about it. But, China having done that and succeeding in how they've done, I mean, they have really motivated us to care about this region of space again.
And there's been a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Space Force and NASA to understand and track objects that are in these distant regions beyond our traditional zone, like LEO to GEO where communication satellites and things are residing.
MICHAELSON: I mean, why does it moon base matter? What does that do for us? Why was it may be good for business? Why is everybody so focused on this?
ROSENGREN: Boots on the moon? I don't know. Well, a moon base, there's a lot of still science to be done at the moon. We collected moon rocks during the Apollo age, and we have understood a little bit about the composition of the moon, and that that has revealed a little bit about our understanding of where our presence is in the solar system, but there's still a lot of things to be understood.
For instance, the moon has a very volatile composition that we don't quite understand yet. And so this is going to allow us to do a number of things in science that that we couldn't do otherwise.
MICHAELSON: Including get to Mars.
ROSENGREN: Including get to Mars.
MICHAELSON: Right because the whole idea is how do we get and you got to get to the moon before you can get to Mars. And it's a lot faster to go back and forth to the moon.
ROSENGREN: It's not that you have to get to the moon to get to Mars. It's just that we found some interesting aspects about the moon since the Apollo 8, right? We found that there's water ice on the moon, and that could be used for rocket fuel to get to Mars. But that it has -- the whole economy has led to building up to a Mars mission as well.
MICHAELSON: And so and if you had to put it real simply, what's the legacy of the Artemis mission of today, of this week?
ROSENGREN: Well, Artemis II is akin to Apollo 8, that was the one that we sent the astronauts around the moon. But we've gone a little bit further. But what we've done is we've tested the modern equipment in an age where we've lost a lot of that know how from the Apollo era.
MICHAELSON: Yeah.
ROSENGREN: And so we have to redo it, right?
MICHAELSON: I mean, it's amazing because we talked in the last hour with Garrett Reisman, a NASA astronaut.
ROSENGREN: Yeah.
MICHAELSON: And it was like they're like, well, the biggest challenge is we got to figure out a way to build something that can land on the moon. It's like, we did that in 1969.
ROSENGREN: Yeah. It sounds --
MICHAELSON: It's 2026, and now we've got to come up with technology that we did all those years ago.
ROSENGREN: When you think about it in that way, it doesn't sound like we've made that much of an advance, right? Because it's 54 years since we've gone back. But what we're doing now is, we're testing our modern equipment that that really, I mean, if you've seen the Earthrise photo that we took from the audit, it's incredible. We have now laser links that allow for communication, and we're trying to establish that position navigation timing that allows us to do a lot of the science and exploration that we want to do in this decade.
MICHAELSON: Well, thank you for sharing your insights with us, Aaron Rosengren. And how cool for San Diego to get to have the touchdown happen here.
ROSENGREN: It's a great place to be. Yeah.
MICHAELSON: Yes, it is.
ROSENGREN: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Thanks for being with us. Now we want to talk about politics that maybe doesn't bring people together quite as much ahead of an election which could end his 16 years in power. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is accusing the opposition of trying to seize power and colluding with foreign secret services.
Mr. Orban is facing a major challenge from center right leader Peter Magyar in this weekend's elections. Melissa Bell reports from there.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban has had no shortage of friends willing to travel to Budapest in his hour of need.
JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Go to the polls in the weekend. Stand with Viktor Orban.
BELL: From the American Vice President to the Secretary of the State.
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE, UNITED STATES: Your success was our success.
BELL: Not to mention that of the European far right.
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Several of its leaders also traveled to Hungary mid campaign to support the man who leads their fight against the European Union.
VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER (translated): The left-wing elite in Brussels is weaker every day. On the other side, we -- the patriots, are getting stronger, getting stronger in Central Europe.
BELL: But as much as Viktor Orban rails against the European Union, he's never quite shied away from taking its money. Take this $1.5 million roundabout in Western Hungary that was meant to be part of a logistics hub. It was built with money from European taxpayers, and yet the railroad and the container terminal that it was meant to link were never built, leaving behind just this monument to Viktor Orban's vision of Europe. A road to nowhere.
Instead, Orban has continued to milk Russia for cheap gas and oil in defiance of Europe and to look to U.S. President Donald Trump as a champion with both leaders sharing disdain for Brussels.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My best wishes to Prime Minister Victor Orban who I am endorsing, as you know. I am endorsing his election.
BELL: On Sunday, Orban and his Fidesz party will come head-to-head with Peter Magyar who's standing for the Tisza movement. For all the support that Victor Orban has received from abroad, it's been Peter Magyar's campaign inside the country on very domestic issues that the polls suggest might be about to make the difference even in traditional Fidesz strongholds like this town to the Southwest of Budapest. Melissa Bell, CNN, Szekesfehervar.
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MICHAELSON: The husband of a missing American woman will remain in police custody in the Bahamas. Local investigators are trying to determine what led to his wife's disappearance. Brian Hooker told investigators his wife, 55-year-old Lynette Hooker, fell out of their small boat and vanished in rough water several days ago. His attorney says Hooker's detention has been extended to Monday. He's considered a suspect and was arrested for additional questioning. Hooker has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.
Cuba held defense day military drills as part of its new nationwide defense strategy. The drills took place Friday and included artillery fire and tank deployments. Havana has declared this year to be the year of defense preparation. Officials plan to hold exercises every weekend. The drills come amid Cuba's growing tensions with the U.S. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, recently said he expected to have "Honor of taking Cuba in some form." Trump also said he could do anything he wanted with the country.
Powerful storm is lashing Hawaii, bringing over a month's worth of rain to parts of the islands. The storm has lasted for several days, and flash flood watches are in effect for most of the Hawaiian Islands through Saturday morning local time. CNN affiliate Hawaii News now reports one community on Oahu's North Shore was forced to evacuate due to the rising waters. This comes as the Hawaiian Islands are still recovering from major storms just last month. Those storms triggered the state's worst flooding in 20 years.
It was another dominant display for Rory Mcllroy during round two of the masters at the halfway point of the competition. The reigning champion goes into the weekend at Augusta with a historic lead. Our Don Riddel is there with all the latest on Mcllroy's journey so far.
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DON RIDDEL, CNN WORLD SPORT: It took Rory Mcllroy 17 attempts to win his first masters title, and when he finally did it last year, it was by the skin of his teeth. But this year, he's making it look easy. At the halfway stage of the tournament, Mcllroy is utterly dominant, and he goes into the weekend with an extraordinary six stroke lead.
On Friday at Augusta, the 36-year-old Mcllroy was back to the swaggering golfer of his earlier days, building on his five under par score of Thursday and posting a breathless round of 65. On the second nine, he was just exceptional, birdying six of his last seven holes for a tournament score of 12 under par, and nobody has ever been so far ahead after 36 holes in the history of this tournament.
What for you would be more fun, eking out a victory by the skin of your teeth or potentially running away with it and lapping the field? What do you think?
RORY MCLLROY, 2025 MASTERS WINNER: Look, I've built up a nice cushion at this point. And I guess my mindset is just trying to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas.
RIDDEL: And having secured the rare feet of winning the career Grand Slam last year, Mcllroy has now put himself in pole position for another very rare feat. If he can see this through until Sunday, he would join only Jack Nickolas, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods as the only men to have won back to back green jackets. Back to you.
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MICHAELSON: And we know the crowd will be cheering for him.
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Rory, probably the most popular person currently actually playing golf. You are watching "The Story Is" for our international viewers, inside Africa is next. For our viewers here in North America, I'll be back with more here from San Diego, including a huge bombshell today in the race for California Governor, new exclusive reporting from CNN and analysis. Plus, while we're here in San Diego, a sit down live with the Mayor of San Diego, who is also the Vice Chair of the National Mayor's Conference. Stay with us. You're watching "The Story Is."
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MICHAELSON: New tonight, CNN with exclusive reporting about Congressman Eric Swalwell, who has ascended recently in the California gubernatorial race and has faced recent rumors on social media about sexual misconduct that he has denied. CNN's Pamela Brown and her team have spoken with four accusers, including a former staffer who went on camera to share her story, a warning her report contains graphic and disturbing details.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kept figuring out ways to blame myself. I shouldn't have reached out to him at all. I should have left. I should have done this. Well, Eric shouldn't have raped me.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: This Capitol Hill staffer is coming forward for the first time on camera to talk about her experience with Congressman Eric Swalwell. He is now a leading Democratic candidate for Governor of California.
ERIC SWALWELL, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Let's get together. Make the biggest wave this state has ever seen.
BROWN: Swalwell was in his late 30s and married when she joined his office as an intern and became a junior staffer. She's speaking in shadow as she fears professional consequences.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was in 2019, I was again driving him to an event. This was my job.
BROWN: And you were 21-years-old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I was 21-years-old, we see some sort of parking lot and he says to pull over. He pulls out his penis and instructs me to give him oral sex. And I started too, again, I felt incredibly uncomfortable. And I stopped and I said to him, this feels really uncomfortable and anyone could see us right now. And he said to me, you're right. It's probably not good for a Congressman to be caught with his pants down.
BROWN: Swalwell calls her allegations false. His campaign responded earlier to vague accusations on social media related to his behavior with staffers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever behave inappropriately with female staffers?
ERIC SWALWELL, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: No. No. It's false. And also some of the allegations I've seen, which is that we've had NDAs in the office, never -- there's never been an allegation, and there's never been settlement. And I will also just take stock that, look, we're 27 days before an election starts.
BROWN: Did he ask you to send him nude photos?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BROWN: And did he ever send nude photos?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. He would send short Snapchat videos of him rubbing his penis through his pants while on the airplane. BROWN: The staffer says she liked Swalwell's attention at first and nervously went along with it, which included sending back nude photos of herself. But in September 2019, she says she and some friends met up with Swalwell. After a night of heavy drinking, she says she woke up naked with Swalwell in a hotel room with no memory of what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The five of us were having some drinks. At some point, it was time to go home. I got in an Uber. I was taken to the Aloft Dublin-Pleasanton where he was staying, and I don't remember what happened that night. But I know that we -- there was sexual contact, because when I woke up in the morning, I could feel that there was, and he said as much too.
BROWN: What did he say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That last night was great. It didn't feel great to me because I didn't remember it.
BROWN: And so you blacked out and you end up in his hotel room and wake up with him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BROWN: She says another incident occurred in 2024 after this event in New York where Swalwell gave a speech.
ERIC SWALWELL, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Some of us are working hard on Capitol Hill.
BROWN: At the time, she no longer worked for Swalwell's office.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I decided to ask him to meet me for a drink, and I did this because I was so far removed from what had happened in 2019. I felt safe because I was established. I had a partner. I felt more secure that I could have a strictly professional relationship with this person. After that bar closed, we went to another. I went to the bathroom, and I don't remember anything after that.
BROWN: You don't remember anything?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember the next day. I can see flashes of that evening of him on top of me, me pushing him off, him grabbing me. It was a lot more aggressive. It was aggressive.
BROWN: Did you say no?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I said no. I said in my flash that I can recall, I was pushing him off of me saying no.
BROWN: And what did he do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't stop.
BROWN: He didn't stop. And you woke up the next morning?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I woke up the next morning naked alone in his hotel room.
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I -- for a moment, didn't even know I was in his hotel room. That's how intoxicated I was. And I called my mom, the only person I could think that could help me.
BROWN: Her mother confirmed her account in an interview with CNN. CNN also reviewed screenshots of texts she sent to a friend saying she was "Sexually assaulted by Eric." She also shared this note from a physician's assistant calling her a "Survivor after she went to get tested for STDs one week later."
Why do you feel like it's so important to speak out now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I found out there were others who might have been impacted by Eric in different ways, I realized I couldn't be scared anymore because that is how he keeps us quiet. The fear, the shame.
BROWN: In addition to this former staffer, three other women who spoke with CNN also alleged sexual misconduct by Swalwell. One said he kissed her and touched her without her consent. Two of the women said he sent them unsolicited explicit messages or nude images of himself, something the others say Swalwell did with them as well. One shared this message where he commented on her photo and wrote, "That swimsuit with an expletive. You like it?" She responded. Yes. Very much like, he wrote.
In a statement to CNN, Swalwell said, "These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the front runner for Governor." For nearly 20 years, I have served the public as a prosecutor and a Congressman and have always protected women.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is another me out there. There is another young girl who dreams of working in this field and believes in him and could fall into his trap.
BROWN: And that's why you're speaking out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
BROWN: You want to protect others like you when you were young.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one protected me. Sorry. No one protected me, and I don't want someone else to suffer because I know what I know.
BROWN: A lawyer for Swalwell sent two of the women CNN spoke with seasoned assist letters on Thursday, a day after CNN first reached out to his campaign to request comment. According to copies of the letters they provided to CNN, the letters called the women's accounts false, ordered them to retract their statements, and warned a potential legal action if they continue speaking out. The women stand by their accounts they gave CNN. Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Representative Swalwell's attorney responded to those allegations in an exclusive interview with me last hour here on "The Story Is," and I asked him whether the Congressman is suggesting that all four of his accusers are lying.
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ELLAS DABALE, ATTORNEY FOR REP. ERIC SWALWELL: As an attorney, I look at credibility. I look at motive, and I have to question the timing of these allegations 25 days out from an election. Many of these allegations are from women who claim that the wrongdoing took place many years ago. And in those years, the evidence I've seen demonstrates that these women certain of them have reached out to the Congressman on multiple occasions wishing him nothing but the best, supporting his campaign, saying that they'd vote for him for Governor, asking for references for jobs, attending social events with him.
So from my perspective, looking at the facts, I do have to question the credibility of these allegations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Let's get some insights now from Seema Mehta, who is joining us here live, in San Diego. She is a political reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Seema, welcome. Good to see you. We know the respond to what the attorney just said that some victims of sexual assault often do have a relationship with the person afterwards for a variety of reasons, and sexual assault experts have talked about that. But let's talk about the politics of this. I mean, just completely blew up the race for California Governor, right?
SEEMA MEHTA, POLITICAL REPORTER, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Absolutely. I mean, there are so many democrats as you know running for Governor. There's eight prominent democrats while there are two prominent republicans. And there was real fear already before all of this happened about Democratic voters being splintered. But Swalwell was one of the leading Democratic candidates in the race. And what happens after this? And, I mean, we've already seen so many of his supporters back away from him, push him back saying he needs to drop out of the race. So what happens next?
MICHAELSON: That's what was so surprising to me about this. We've heard whispers about this for months.
MEHTA: Absolutely.
MICHAELSON: We've talked about this, right. I mean, you guys were looking into this. The San Francisco Chronicle published a story on this. Politico, Wall Street Journal. This has been out there.
MEHTA: Right.
MICHAELSON: And yet all these folks endorsed him.
MEHTA: Right. MICHAELSON: And they all backed away like they were totally surprised by this, including his co-chairs of his campaign, Jimmy Gomez, Adam Schiff, Ruben Gallego probably his best friend in Congress.
[01:40:00]
All of them saying, we don't endorse him. He should drop out of the campaign. Not one person of prominence came out and said, I believe Eric Swalwell. I don't believe the women. And it's said in politics. My old professor Dan Schnur taught me this. You need money organization message. In terms of money, the super PAC who's funding his campaign said we're not putting any more ads out. In terms of organization, the California Teachers Association, which helps them with that, they said, we're not backing them anymore.
MEHTA: They not scare you as well.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. And by the way, what's his message?
MEHTA: Right. Yeah. It seems like -- it's -- he hasn't said what he's doing going forward, but it seems like he has a very difficult path to continue.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. But yet he says he's going to continue to fight.
MEHTA: I mean, his message tonight on Instagram where he basically said he denied the allegations of sort of criminal sexual behavior, but he sort of admitted to transgressions.
MICHAELSON: Maybe not being a great husband, but didn't explain exactly what that is. And when I tried to pin the attorney on that, he wouldn't answer that immediately.
MEHTA: And the interview with the attorney was amazing. And I but -- I thought the -- and the attorney's words were really telling in terms of somewhat digging in, but also leaving some openings in terms of what he -- what the Congressman does now.
MICHAELSON: So we're here today in San Diego covering Artemis. You were here in San Diego originally to cover the California Republican Convention, which is happening just over our shoulder all weekend long. And the big headline out of that was supposed to be a question of whether somebody would win the endorsement. 60 percent of delegates need to endorse somebody for that. There's Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, and then there's Steve Hilton, who just this week was endorsed by President Trump. Does that mean the party now backs him?
MEHTA: I mean, that's the open question. I mean, President Trump endorsed him, I believe, at 10:21 p.m. our time on Sunday nights, which is really fun for my Sunday night. And then yep that totally shifted -- I think that totally shifts the dynamic of the race because the Republican Party base, I mean, these are Trump voters.
So before there, I think there was a real question I -- if whether either candidate could get to 60 percent. Now I think there's more of a feeling there can, but we don't know. MICHAELSON: And the other big news, a Californian that we both know pretty well, Kamala Harris, saying once again she might run.
MEHTA: Why not do it another time?
MICHAELSON: Yeah. So that's interesting making those comments to the National Action Network, a reminder that the 2028 race is already here, and we could have two prominent Californians running this so Governor Newsom. Seema, great to see you. Lots to keep you employed. That's right. That's great.
MEHTA: Thank you for having me on as always, and I look forward to seeing you.
MICHAELSON: Have more coming up here on "The Story Is," including while we're here in San Diego, the Mayor of San Diego. Stay with us.
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[01:45:00]
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MICHAELSON: Welcome back to a Special Edition of "The Story Is" live in San Diego. And while we're here in San Diego, who better talk to than the Mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria. Great to see you.
TODD GLORIA, SAN DIEGO MAYOR: Great to see you. Welcome back to your old town.
MICHAELSON: Thank you. That's right. So I started my broadcasting career here in San Diego. At the time, he was, like new in the political world, and we used to do interviews together. So this is a weird, cool, amazing, full circle moment for both of us. But let's start with the reason we came here today, Artemis.
GLORIA: Yes.
MICHAELSON: We had the splashdown off the coast of San Diego. What a day for the country. What a day for your city?
GLORIA: We have been preparing for this -- for days and days. So much excitement, so much anticipation. I told that our Air and Space Museum, our Fleet Science Center, all of them have packed to the gills with people just coming together to enjoy the experience, the viewing here on CNN live with a group of people to celebrate this tremendous accomplishment that has many, many tiebacks to San Diego.
MICHAELSON: And it really does bring people together at a time when so much is not bringing us together. And one of those things not bringing us together is what's going on in Iran.
GLORIA: Yeah.
MICHAELSON: Which impacts this place more than anywhere else because there's more defense folks here in San Diego than anywhere in the country, right?
GLORIA: We had the highest concentration of naval assets. One in four active duty marines are here in San Diego. And so while we all are glued to the television concerned about the welfare of our service members, in San Diego, that often means that's your spouse, your neighbor, or your relative.
And I always have to tell you this, it weighs heavily on my heart. I was visiting an elementary school earlier this week where the principal was talking about having to comfort children of service members who've been deployed, who missing daddy and worried about his well-being. So this is deeply personal in our city. We know that our freedom isn't free, and we're very much concerned for our service members.
MICHAELSON: Do you think it's worth it?
GLORIA: I only -- well, I certainly know the gas prices are not worth it. I don't know that I see how this is going to resolve successfully. We'll certainly hope and root for our troops and hope that our President and others will get a result that's positive. But it's hard to ever justify any loss of American lives. But I think right now, it's very unclear why we're there. It's very unclear how we'll get out of there. And in the meantime, we worry very much about the San Diegans on ships like the Boxer and the Roosevelt, Lincoln who are deployed over there and in harm's way.
MICHAELSON: You are the Vice Chair of the U.S. conference of mayors, which is all the mayors in the entire country. And you all come together to use your collective group to advocate for certain issues. What's issue number one for the nation's mayors?
GLORIA: Issue number one is housing. Law discussion about the cost of living, the affordability crisis, and that's often expressed through gas prices and grocery prices. But the fact of the matter is the biggest consumer of any family's budget is their housing cost. And this is not just a San Diego blue state coastal city thing. My colleagues in Lansing, Michigan or in Lincoln, Nebraska tell me that this is an issue in their cities as well.
So the conference of mayors, nearly 100-year-old organization, advocates at the national level on behalf of America's cities. In June, I'll take over as the President of the association. First time the Mayor of San Diego will lead this group. And, obviously, there's a lot of turmoil and a lot of challenges in the federal government right now, but we need to be a voice back there for America's cities on a bipartisan basis.
MICHAELSON: So what can be done specifically on housing that's not being done? What's the number one ask?
GLORIA: Well, for our federal partners is to pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. This is bipartisan legislation by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott. You might think that you could never find common ground within those two.
[01:50:00]
Well, it reauthorizes multiple federal programs that currently need that and modernizes many of them. One that I'm particularly excited about. Here in San Diego, I have -- I'm a pro housing mayor. I believe we need to build more housing for working middle class people. And what this legislation says, cities like mine that are actually producing more housing will get more federal resources. That will incentivize cities across this country to get in this game because, again, it's not just a San Diego issue or California issue. It's a national one. So my hope is that the -- this bill has passed the senate.
We need to get it through the house signed by the President. Doing so will reinvest in these programs, but I think it will send a message clearly to cities to build more housing. We're doing that here in San Diego, but we need every city to do it.
MICHAELSON: Mayor Gloria, great to see you. Congrats on your success, and it looks pretty nice around here.
GLORIA: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: It's the reason they called America's finest city, right?
GLORIA: That's exactly right.
MICHAELSON: We'll be right back to wrap things up from San Diego next.
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[01:55:00]
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MICHAELSON: Popular grocery chain is expanding into the pub business. German discount store Lidl is building its first ever pub in the suburbs of Belfast in Northern Ireland. The pub will be next to an existing store and have a liquor store too. It had been tied up in legal challenges to the pub's construction, but it is now open to -- expected to open this summer.
Japanese and American officials gathered in Washington for a ceremonial planting of 250 cherry blossom trees. The trees are a gift from Japan, symbolizing the enduring bond between the two nations. The new trees add to the thousands of cherry blossoms that are already at the tidal basin. The first trees were gifted by Tokyo's Mayor in 1912. The trees attract visitors annually to the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which wraps up this weekend.
Thanks so much for being with us for this very Special Edition of "The Story Is." Big thanks to our crew for making it happen here, and way to go America, Canada, and the world for what happened with Artemis. I'm Elex Michelson. Hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you on Monday with more of "The Story Is."
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