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Trump Says War is Close to Over; New Accuser Comes Forward Against Swalwell; Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) is Interviewed about the Swalwell Accusations; Joe Bertler is Interviewed about Severe Weather. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 15, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Fired for having an inappropriate relationship with her. Moore was fired from the University in December after coaching for two seasons.

So, Powerball jackpots are about to grow faster. The game is going global for the first time, expanding the summer to England, Scotland and other parts of the U.K. For players in the United States, the lottery association says the $2 ticket costs and the odds of winning remain the same, which basically means you still won't win, though you can share your not winning with your friends in the U.K. The chances are one in 292,000,000.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, President Trump says the war with Iran is now very close to over. How is that different -- a different close to over from a month ago when he said it.

For -- and people across the Midwest are cleaning up now after a brutal round of weather that brought tornadoes, hail, flooding. You have to see some of this video coming in. The threat from that system also not over. Who needs to be watching out for what? We have the forecast.

And A.I. has been criticized for sometimes outrageous and sometimes dangerous responses to users. Why one tech giant is now turning to religion to try to steer its platform down a more moral path.

Sara is out today. I'm Kate Bolduan, with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: He has said it before, but does he mean it this time? According to President Trump, the war with Iran is very close to over. This is what he said in an interview out this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Is this war over?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's close to over, yes. I mean, I view it as very close to over. You know what? If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we're not finished. We'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He has said it was close to over for more than a month now. So, what is new this morning?

The president has suggested that talks with Iran could resume this week. If so, Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to lead the U.S. team again.

The temporary ceasefire is set to expire in less than a week. There are reports this morning about efforts to extend it, but a senior U.S. official tells CNN the U.S. has not formally agreed to that.

Then there is the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been shut down. President Trump, in a post mostly about China this morning, said he is, quote, "permanently opening the Strait," but he didn't give any details as to how.

Let's get to CNN's Alayna Treene live at the White House this morning for if there really is anything different to his promise this morning that the war is almost over compared to a month ago when he said it.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I think the big difference is, obviously, we're in the middle of this ceasefire now. And what I can also say is, it's very clear that the president and his team want diplomacy to work. They do not, from the conversations I've been having with Trump administration officials, John, want to see the kind of carpet bombing and fighting really resume. They are hoping that this ceasefire will hold. I -- you mentioned it, but a U.S. official told me they have not formally agreed to an extension but that is something that is on the table I'm told if they believe that negotiations are progressing really in a substantial way by the time this expires next week.

But again, they do not want to see, you know, these military operations resuming. They are hoping to get a deal out of this.

But there are still many sticking points that remain. The biggest ones, of course, being how long the Iranians will agree to suspend, you know, trying to enrich uranium. And also that commitment that the president has been very clear he needs from the Iranians about, you know, committing to never developing a nuclear weapon.

And those are huge, obviously, sticking points, things we've seen in these kind of talks for years now. And so, there's a lot they still need to work out. But they are hoping and working toward this potential second round of talks. The same team that we saw in Islamabad on Saturday, meeting with the Iranian officials, are expected to go if this does move forward, if a second round of talks does materialize. That includes the vice president, but also Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law. Look, I will say as well, from some of the other things we heard from

the president in that Fox interview this morning, he talked about the economy. I actually thought that was one of the most -- one of the biggest things I took away from this, this idea that, you know, he's trying to reassure Americans that he believes, yes, the economy might be bad for the time being, but he hopes it will recover, as well as oil prices, by the midterms.

But that is a huge thing that they are weighing as well. When I say that they are very eager for a deal, part of that is because they recognize how impatient Americans are growing with this current war.

[09:05:01]

The president has promised to end it quickly and decisively. And so that's really where they are at this moment and in these negotiations. But again, a huge question of whether or not they can actually get there.

BERMAN: All right, we will wait and hear more from him this morning on some of this.

Alayna Treene, thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau is investigating after a new woman has gone public with allegations against former Congressman Eric Swalwell. Lonna Drewes says Swalwell raped her in a hotel room in Los Angeles in 2018. And she's now speaking to CNN about it.

CNN's Kyung Lah sat down with her. She joins us right now.

You sat down with her, along with her attorney. What did she tell you, Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, she's explaining, Kate, what happened to her in 2018. She says that she was interested in running for local office. That she was also trying to make some connections with Silicon Valley. And she saw a connection there through, you know, a rising star legislatively here in California, Eric Swalwell. So, she reached out to him.

They met three times. And she says on that third visit, that third encounter, she thought she was going to a political event, but it ended up just being a dinner between her and Swalwell. And she says she believes that at that dinner, while she was having a glass of wine, he put something in her drink. And that's when she says an assault took place.

I want you to listen to what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: In short, what did he do to you? LONNA DREWES, SWALWELL ACCUSER: He raped me for hours, and then he choked me until I lost consciousness.

LAH: Why have you decided now to become public?

DREWES: My motivation was for other girls. I know that I can't be the only one.

And so I kind of wanted to be a voice for other women, that they could feel that they could come forward and say something. And for a long while I've wanted to say something. When I knew he was running for governor, I was like, oh God, this can't happen. Like, somebody's got to -- I've been waiting for somebody else to come forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: And as you indicated, Kate, the Special Victim's Unit of the L.A. Sheriff's Department is indeed looking into this allegation. She did file the report yesterday. The district attorney here in Los Angeles says they are certainly going to look at the information that is presented to them once the sheriff's department concludes its investigation.

We did request that her lawyers provide us corroborating information, but they said that they are going to hand that over to the sheriff's department first, instead of trying to litigate this through law -- through the media.

And we did reach out to Swalwell's representatives. From his lawyer we got this s statement. And in part it says, quote, "Swalwell categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has be leveled against him."

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Kyung, thank you so much for bringing us this story and the care with which you always do your reporting. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico, who we should note was one of the first Democrats who came out and said that Swalwell should be expelled.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us.

Just your reaction to this newest allegation.

REP. TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ (D-NM): So, John, women have been silenced for too long. And men who abuse us have relied on the silence of women. And this woman, as well as others, their silence has enabled this, but they are not being silent anymore. And in Congress, we acted quickly to hold Representative Swalwell important (ph) Representative Tony Gonzales accountable. Because if there are no consequences for this behavior, this behavior will continue. BERMAN: I want to play some sound from Alex Thompson, a great reporter

at "Axios," who raises one of the questions that is being asked, I think, to a lot of people in and around Capitol Hill, in and around Eric Swalwell.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: For Democrats to act like they had never heard, you know, of these rumors before, just, you know, strains credulity. If they really wanted to look into it, they probably could have. And they didn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He's suggesting there had been rumors and word that Eric Swalwell had been engaged in inappropriate behavior before. So, why didn't anyone do anything. How fair is that and what questions do you have?

LEGER FERNANDEZ: I think that that goes to my first point is that women have been silenced for too long, and the consequences for women speaking out have been too high.

When we hold men like representative -- former -- I love being able to say former Representative Swalwell and Tony Gonzales accountable, when we say, you are going to be expelled for this conduct because you violated the code of conduct of Congress, and they are forced to resign, then I think that sends the message that you can't do this.

[09:10:05]

And if we hear about it, we are going to move on it.

Now, remember, Tony Gonzales admitted to the sexual transgressions to basically what is rape, because you cannot consent to sex with your boss, six weeks ago. And Speaker Johnson did nothing. And that's why my resolution and Representative Luna's resolutions were so essential, because we could force a vote on them. It was that vote that we were going to hold in Congress this week that forced the resignations.

BERMAN: Congresswoman, changing subjects here. President Trump just posted or reposted on his social media site a new image. The one today is him with Jesus. I think we have this here. And I understand -- the last words are, you know, God may be playing his Trump card here. You can see Trump with Jesus there. This is, of course, after he posted one before that showed him as Jesus, although he claims it was not that. He claims he was a medical worker.

What's your view of the president's use of Jesus and his discussions about the pope lately?

LEGER FERNANDEZ: So, it shows that he is not fully in control of his faculties or he is so insensitive to those of us who believe and have faith that he would say these things is an insult to our own faith. And it shows how he has lost touch with reality.

Listen, Jesus was a man of peace, and Trump is a man of war. And the issues that the pope are raising are beautifully phrased as we must be the peacemakers. We must care for the hungry. We must feed and give drink to those who are thirsty. Jesus' words are the exact opposite of what Trump is doing. And he is reminding of those of us who believe and actually know what faith is, which is about love. He's reminding us every day that he is the opposite of Jesus.

BERMAN: I want to play you some new sound from President Trump this morning. He did an interview where he was talking to Maria Bartiromo of Fox about the impacts of the war on the economy. Listen to what he said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, look, there's a hit because, you know, we go through it for whatever it is, six weeks. There's going to be a hit. But it's going to recover, I think, fully. Somehow they misquoted me. I think oil will be down to the levels it was. You know, they said I expect oil to be high at the -- at the midterms. I don't expect that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, he said he was misquoted when he suggested that oil prices might be higher, but he -- it's something he said out loud to the same Fox News anchor on Sunday.

Listen to what he said Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: So, do you believe the price of oil and gas will be lower before the midterm elections?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hope so. I mean, I think so. It could be. It could be or the same or maybe a little bit higher. But it should be around the same. I think this won't be that much longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, what's your reaction to his assertion now that he was being misquoted when really it was just them playing the sound that he was saying out loud?

LEGER FERNANDEZ: So, Trump lies all the time, right? He -- Israel sold him on this war. He bought in, and Americans are paying the price.

And Trump chose to enter this war understanding or refusing to follow his generals' advice that this would have an impact on the Strait of Hormuz. He chose war over investing in what we need in America, which is health care and housing and, yes, daycare, Medicaid and Medicare. He is choosing war over Americans' economic prosperity. It's very clear he doesn't care. He doesn't fill up a truck or a car at the gas pump.

I represent a huge, rural district. Those trucks are taking a lot of money to fill up. People are just suffering in my district. And we're going to suffer for a long time because of his choices to go to war.

BERMAN: Congresswoman, we do appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, a high school principal is a hero today after jumping into action and tackling an armed former student. New details this morning about the moments leading up to this what could have been an absolute tragedy.

And massive tornadoes, baseball-sized hail. The extreme weather that has already hit a big part of the country and is coming for more.

And it's not exactly buried treasure. Snow that's just now melting in Massachusetts has revealed a half-dozen cars crushed under a mountain of filthy ice and debris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:19:25]

BOLDUAN: So, right now, millions of Americans are under a severe weather threat. Unwelcome news, of course, after the devastation that the storms have brought already overnight. Heavy rains -- just take a look at some of this video -- it stranded dozens of people. It's left many, many more without power across the Great Lakes.

And then there's the video of tornadoes. Look at this video from Iowa. More than a dozen tornadoes were reported this week across parts of Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, damaging more than 100 structures and leaving one Wisconsin dairy farmer with absolutely nothing.

[09:20:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's what we work hard for every day. And sun up to sun down, seven days a week. And now what do you do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: There's also new images this morning and out of Wisconsin showing some of the devastation and damage. Obviously, we're looking at it from helicopter images coming in.

And water rescues, we're told, are underway still as thousands of residents remain without power as they're trying to figure out and move forward and keep an eye to the sky with more to come.

Joining us right now is Joe Bertler, he's a fire chief and emergency management director in Suamico, Wisconsin, for the very latest.

The long days you've probably been dealing with already. Thanks for coming in.

The area -- your area is under a flood warning until early this morning, or at least was until early this morning. What's the very latest you can tell us?

JOE BERTLER, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, SUAMICO, WISCONSIN FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, thanks for having me this morning. I do appreciate it.

So, yes, let's back up about maybe a month ago. And we had a winter storm here, a blizzard, which dumped about 30 inches of snow on our village. So, we -- up here we name our winter storms. And that winter storm's name was Elsa. So, down in the south, I know you guys name hurricanes, but we name our winter storms up here. So, that's been kind of thawing over the last month or so, which raised the river levels high. And we've got some additional rains the last few weeks.

But on Monday night, we received about three inches, 3.5 inches, up to four inches of rain in a -- kind of a short period, which caused the Suamico River to flood surrounding, you know -- drown -- or flooding nearby homes and washing out roads.

BOLDUAN: I was actually taking -- I was actually looking this morning and saw one resident about the Suamico River say that he's been there for 53 years and he said, I've never had it like that. Never seen anything like it when it came to how the Suamico River acted.

You grew up, I believe, in the village. How do you describe it?

BERTLER: Yes. So, that's the resident that we rescued on Tuesday morning. We got a call about 6:30 in the morning. He called us stating that his basement was completely flooded. Water was impinging his first floor, and that he needed help -- basically a rescue out of his house in order to get out. So, we deployed our water rescue team. I arrived on scene and thinking maybe just a few inches of water in his front yard. I mean he's a couple hundred feet away from the river, so I figured it wouldn't be that bad. Got on scene and realized there was about three to four feet in his driveway.

So, put our -- deployed our boat and our water rescue team rescued him and the rest of his family members to drier ground. And he is safe today.

BOLDUAN: And very thankful, I'm sure of that.

This is, obviously, what you and your teams are trained to do and prepared to handle. What is your main focus? What's the focus for all of emergency management right now as, you know, we're still just kind of in the beginnings of spring and this system is still kind of wreaking havoc?

BERTLER: Yes. So, we just want residents to, you know, adhere to the warnings. The -- if a road's closed, don't attempt to go past them. We had residents yesterday, one road was washed away, creating a sinkhole, actually. And we had about 30 residents kind of wanting to get a closer look at it. And, you know, that ground could give away at any second.

So, we just want residents to, you know, proceed with caution and take it slow. And if there is water in the roadway, just, you know, the old saying is, turn around, don't drown. So, just adhere to the warnings.

And if you -- if your house is flooding, definitely call 911 right away. The faster we can get there, the faster we can get you to safety.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

Thank you for what you do. Thank you for jumping on this morning. I really appreciate it. Joe Bertler of Suamico, Wisconsin. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new video of an Oklahoma principal tackling a man with a gun in the school lobby, potentially preventing a mass shooting.

And a bit of a philosophical question this morning, can an A.I. chatbot be a child of God? Why this is an issue for religious leaders and tech developers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:54]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, there's new CNN reporting that California's governor, Gavin Newsom, is facing growing pressure now from top Democrats to help clean up what is the scrambled situation left in the wake of the allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by Eric Swalwell. The whole thing having also rocked the race for California's governor. According to a dozen leading Democrats, Newsom has now been in a marathon of calls and meetings about this race, the race to replace him, as he's term limited.

With Swalwell out of that race, as well as out of his seat in Congress, there are now seven Democrats in the running and two Republicans. Swalwell had been considered a front runner until the events and the allegations that surfaced in the past week. And now there are a lot of concerns in what has long been a Democratic-led state among Democrats that a fractured race here now could mean Democrats could get locked out given the way that California's elections are set up.

So, what does this all mean for this race and the primary coming up on June 2nd? Joining us right now is San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. He's one of the Democrats running for governor here.

Thanks for being here. I appreciate your time.

[09:30:00] I was just looking and saw that Tuesday a super PAC backing you launched an ad campaign in pretty much every state media market after getting about $12 million.