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Reps. Swalwell, Gonzales To Resign After Sexual Misconduct Claims; Pelosi: "Not True" The Democrats Turned Blind Eye Toward Swalwell; Two House Members Face Ethics Investigations, Possible Expulsion; Trump Attacks Pope Leo For Third Straight Day; Higher Gas Prices Risk Overshadowing Larger Tax Refunds; U.S. Eyes Potential Second Round Of In-Person Talks With Iran. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 14, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Power, proximity and fallout. Disturbing sexual misconduct allegations force two politicians out of Congress.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Two congressmen accused of serious sexual misconduct are out, within minutes of each other. Last night, California Democrat Eric Swalwell and Texas Republican Tony Gonzales announced they will resign amid bipartisan calls to expel them from the House. The allegations follow a similar pattern. Two men in positions of power allegedly using that power to engage in inappropriate relationships with aides, subordinates and or young women starting out and trying to make their way in politics.

Gonzales is accused of pressuring a staffer into an affair. He acknowledges the affair but denies pressuring her. That staffer later died by suicide. As for Swalwell, he was accused by a former aide of sexual assault and by three other women of sexual misconduct. He denies the assault allegation, but apologized for, quote, mistakes in judgment I've made in my past.

CNN's Pamela Brown, who, along with our investigative team have been out front on this story, sat down with one of Swalwell's accuser's Ally Sammarco.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Tell me more about the unsolicited photos he sent you.

ALLY SAMMARCO, SWALWELL ACCUSER: Yeah. So, the messages gradually became more inappropriate, and they became later into the night, times that nobody should be talking to a congressman, or congressman should be talking to a young girl. And he would say things like, what are you doing? What are you wearing? Send me a photo of what you're doing right now. And then eventually, one night, we were talking, and he just sent me a photo of his genitals.

BROWN: Unsolicited?

SAMMARCO: Unsolicited, yeah. And I thought he could help me. I felt like, again, I had just made a huge connection. Who was interested in helping me. And if I were to push him away in any way, he might not, he might just stop talking to me altogether.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here. Tia Mitchell, I'm going to start with you, and just that last part of the interview really sums up this horrific, repugnant dynamic. And that is, not only was the almost former congressman allegedly doing this, you know, sort of crude stuff, but he was doing it knowing that she felt that he was going to help her and that she, you know, it's the power versus power list dynamic. And, well, let me let you weigh in on this and then I'm going to bring up on that point.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yeah. I think, you know, Liz, reading the coverage and CNN, the San Francisco Chronicle, listening to this woman who has courageously decided to come forward with her face and her name attached to link credibility, because we know so many times when a woman accuses a powerful man, her credibility is attacked, her motivations are attacked.

But what strikes me is the brazenness of what Representative Swalwell is being accused of. You know, that -- you know, sending unsolicited pictures, reaching out to impressionable women with his, you know, with his name attached. You know, he's on Snapchat. He's a married man, you know. And so, I just think that just the brazenness, the way this seems to be a pattern of behavior that he seemed to have lied about, and it seems like he didn't think it would ever catch up to him.

BASH: Listen to what Senator Elizabeth Warren said about all this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): What surprises me is how these guys keep doing this over and over. He's not the first. He probably won't be the last. That they get into positions of authority, and they think they can have whatever they want. And ultimately, it's good to see a little accountability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:00]

BASH: I mean, Senator Warren is all of us on that particular note. Did they not know about the MeToo movement and what happened from 2016, 2017 on. I mean, that is one of the many things that is just jaw dropping, which is that there was supposed to be a reckoning and there wasn't one.

TAMARA KEITH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NPR: There was a reckoning.

BASH: Well, there wasn't one that's stuck.

KEITH: And then there was an erosion.

BASH: Yeah.

KEITH: And it's, sort of you return to the mean. And what has happened here is, there is that power differential. And no member of Congress can ever have a relationship with a member of their staff or an intern and have that be an equal power dynamic. The member of Congress is always going to have the upper hand, can always influence or coerce a staffer, because they're just on a different plane.

And so, there -- I believe there is a prohibition on relationships between members of Congress and their staff for this very reason, because there is no way to do this fairly and the right way, without putting staff members in a very difficult position where they feel like they are choosing between their jobs and their freedom, their rights.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Just like there is in almost every workplace in America, prohibition, but you say the reckoning. What I've been thinking about that too. Like we as a society went through this moment in 2017, but you know what, Dana, it didn't really reach the corridors of political power. That reckoning, but not a ton. It happened much more in Hollywood, in media. That's where a lot of the public record was in business. But it wasn't as much of a reckoning in the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

BASH: I guess it was kind of a fake reckoning, to be honest.

CHALIAN: Well, maybe so --

MITCHELL: And I think it's piecemeal. I think some members of Congress have been, you know, alleged to wrong doing. I'm thinking about the Matt Gaetz's of the world, who kind of got ostracized for that and other reasons. But some, I'm thinking about --

CHALIAN: He also nominated for attorney general. Yeah.

MITCHELL: But you know, some like Brett Kavanaugh have been accused of really horrendous things, and he's serving on the Supreme Court. So, it's not -- there's not a consistent pattern either way.

BASH: Yeah. And I should say that he denies.

MITCHELL: Yes.

BASH: He does. Just real quick on how we got to the resignation in the case of Eric Swalwell, the former speaker and fellow California Nancy Pelosi. I am told, picked up the phone and called Swalwell on Friday night and said, you got to drop out of the governor's race because, remember, he was a leading candidate, and also made clear that he should resign from Congress. She was at GW with our old friend and colleague, Frank Sesno yesterday, and he asked about the situation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): If you have a challenge that you have to address, it's best addressed, not as a candidate for governor and not as a member of Congress.

FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Some of some Republicans and others are saying that Democrats turned kind of a blind eye that they knew what he was up for the allegations ever.

PELOSI: No, it's not. That is absolutely positive. And it's true that they may say that, but it is absolutely not.

SESNO: You had no idea.

PELOSI: No, whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH: She performed that same service when Anthony Weiner, former congressman, was having headlines for also sending in appropriate text messages and Snapchats.

BASH: And she was the leader then.

KEITH: She was the leader then and she took him out but made it clear that it would be more painful for him to try to stick around than to leave.

BASH: And then the question now is, what's next? Because there are two other members Democrats -- a Democrat and a Republican, who are facing varied kinds of allegations. First of all, the Democrat, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida. She has pleaded not guilty to federal charges stemming from allegations that she funneled COVID relief funds to her congressional campaign. There's an ethics probe going on. There's actually a public hearing in the last couple of weeks.

And then on the Republican side, you see there, that is Republican Cory Mills, an ex-girlfriend, was granted a restraining order out over allegations of threatening messages from Mills, including threats to release sexually explicit photos and videos. Mike Johnson, the House Speaker, talked about these two other individuals with Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I do think certainly on Cherfilus-McCormick, the ethics committee has gone through all of its processes, and they found some alarming facts. I think the facts are indisputable at this point. And so, I believe it will be the consensus of this body that she should be expelled. With regard to Mills, I'm not sure the status of the ethics committee investigation, and that's one of the things I'll be looking into today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:10:00] BASH: David?

CHALIAN: Yeah. I mean, notice it's not like he -- he had a difference of opinion between these two cases of where they are in the ethics investigation, but I didn't hear some full embrace or defense of Mills there from the speaker either, said he would look into it. I think the follow up will be interesting to see if he sort of uses the same metrics applied to his own party as he does the Democrat.

But this is -- these members going through a process, two totally different circumstances, going through the process of the House that governs itself along these rules. And Speaker Johnson saying, I think there's enough evidence here for expulsion in the one case. Whereas, what we saw with Gonzales and with Swalwell was, they got out before that could be fully implemented. They understood that there was no way that their fellow members thought it was appropriate for them to continue to serve in the body.

MITCHELL: What I think is interesting is we are seeing, to me, more and more of the dynamic of, you know, not blindly supporting someone accused of wrongdoing just because you play for the same team. You know, plenty of Democrats immediately were like, Swalwell has got to go, like, we're not going to stand up for you just because we're friendly, or just because we were both democrats. It's like, right is right, and wrong is wrong. And I think there are plenty of Republicans who feel the same way about Tony Gonzales.

To me, that's a little bit of a shift than the instinct of like protecting your own, especially early on. You know, this was pretty quick. I mean, this was, you know, in the course of a few days, he went from the frontrunner for governor to leaving Congress.

BASH: Yeah. And just to be clear on the numbers, it was easier politically for them all to allow it to happen quickly because it was a political wash.

MITCHELL: Yeah.

BASH: You lose a Democrat and Republican, and they're talking about maybe doing the same thing with the other two. All right, everybody standby, coming up. Why President Trump is calling an Italian prime minister whom he has heaped praise on? Quote, unacceptable. Here's a hint. The Italian prime minister, yep, it does have to do with the pope. Plus, new Senate race ratings are out, and there are some shifts that you're going to want to hear about.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: For the third straight day, President Trump is attacking the pope. In a phone call with an Italian newspaper. Yes, he was speaking with an Italian newspaper, and in that conversation, he said this about the pope. He doesn't understand and shouldn't be talking about war, because he has no idea what's happening.

President Trump also took a shot at the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who you see the two of them there. They have had pretty friendly relations up until this moment in time. He said -- she had said that his attacks on the pope were unacceptable. President Trump responded to that, saying it's her who is unacceptable because she doesn't care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if they had a chance.

My panel is back now.

CHALIAN: It is mind boggling that he wants to continue this, and yet, it's totally within character. So, it's not terribly surprising, but when you say, as he said, as you just read, that the pope shouldn't talk about war, that's like saying the fed chair shouldn't talk about the economy. I mean, like he is, like part of the mission of him guiding his flock is to a place of peace, right? Like that is at core. So, to say the pope shouldn't talk about war just, I think, misunderstands what the pope's reason for being is.

MITCHELL: And I think to take it personal that a pope, any pope, would have an antiwar message, further misses the mark like, this is what -- like every pope has --

(CROSSTALK)

MITCHELL: Yeah. What they do is they speak out against war. They speak out against innocent lives being lost.

BASH: Three years ago, not so much, but recently --

MITCHELL: Yes. Modern day pope, tend to be against war. Tend to be against human suffering and things like that. So, it's like, you know -- and I would just note this current pope is from Chicago, like, he's made it clear that he's not going to back down in a few, you know, he said, I'm not scared of the Trump administration. So, it's like, do we really want to back and forth?

BASH: OK. So, this is happening, and this is where a lot of the presidents' at least public facing attention is. And then we do have this little economic issue that is certainly staring him in the face, not to mention the Republicans on the ballot in November. Gas prices did go down about a nickel today, which is -- which is very good news.

But the question is, what happens next? I want to play the Energy Secretary Chris Wright, what he said to Meet the Press in March and what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NBC NEWS: Are you confident that gas will be back under $3 a gallon by the busy summer travel season, Mr. Secretary?

CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: Like, there is a very good chance that will be true. By the summer is aggressive time frame now. WELKER: So, you think it will go higher before it goes lower.

WRIGHT: It depends how the conflict goes, but it's a very real possibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:00]

KEITH: This is a very real problem for President Trump and Republicans in the mid-terms, because the longer gas prices stay high, the more fresh that will be in the minds of voters. And I can tell you that voters I'm talking to right now, including voters who voted for President Trump and still like him, they are very mad about the gas prices. They're not clear on why this war is happening. And the problem with gas prices is it's up like a rocket and down like a feather.

It takes a long time for -- once the conflict ends, once the market disruption ends, it takes a long time for those prices to come down and for it to be absorbed by the economy and for consumers to really feel it and understand it. So, they have a real problem. Why isn't President Trump focused on it? Why is he focused on the pope? That's just back to basics for him, like that is how he does politics. The distraction is the tough one.

BASH: What the White House, the apparatus that supports him is at least the communications people are trying to do is remind people that tomorrow is tax-day and that the policies under President Trump, they argue, has helped with a lot of people's taxes. Here's some examples of IRS tax refunds. The average individual refund $3,462, up 11 percent or $346 from last year. The number of refunds issued is up 3.1 percent from last year. Now the source of this is the IRS. David?

CHALIAN: Yeah. That you are right. That is what the apparatus was like the president to focus on day in and day out. It's why we saw the DoorDash grandmother of McDonald's delivery outside the door of the Oval Office yesterday to talk about tax on tips. It ended up being a whole press conference about the pope and this image that he put up.

So, you know, that is nothing new that White House aides and the apparatus around him want him on something and he is elsewhere. But to your point, Tamara, I don't think we've grasped just how problematic the ongoing Iran conflict. What it's doing to prices is for the president his party right now.

And when you offer sound bites, like the president did to Maria Bartiromo on Sunday about the gas prices could be higher come November, or you play the sound bite that you just -- that is creating Democratic advertising. That will appear on television screens that just goes right to the heart of where people are at and to your point, kind of irrespective of party.

BASH: Listen to what the vice president said about this on Fox.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT: But Brett (Ph), absolutely, we know the American people are hurting. That's why that we're negotiating so aggressively to try to get the energy prices to come down. We're going to keep on working at it. I do think that we're in a place where we've accomplished our objectives. We can start to wind this thing down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MITCHELL: Yeah. I mean, they've been saying that all along, you know. They said, you know, Iran's nuclear was obliterated months ago, and then it was. We've taken out their military, but yet, the conflict keeps going on. We're getting to that six-week mark that the president initially said would be kind of the final deadline. And it doesn't look like things are wrapping up. Every day, it's like, OK, we're negotiating. All right, now we're not. The Strait is going to reopen. Now it's not.

And I think people don't like hearing the message that we don't know where these gas prices could go or they might remain inflated. You know, if the president had something positive to say about the tax returns and people getting more money in their pocket, that's true, but now it's being offset, literally, dollars and cents being offset by the money they're paying to put gas in their tank.

BASH: Yeah. And I didn't even get to the fact that mortgage rates are also up, which is another thing that makes the president very happy. That was sarcasm. I got it. OK, good. Coming up. Speaking of on-again, off-again talks. U.S. officials are laying the groundwork we're told to set up in person talks again with Iran, even though the vice president is saying the ball is still in Iran's court. Stay with us.

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: As the clock on the ceasefire with Iran ticks down. U.S. officials are looking at potential dates for a second round of in person talks, but really stark differences over Iran's nuclear program means, more negotiations are not set yet. Far from it.

Clarissa Ward is live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Clarissa, what are you hearing from your sources about the potential for a next round?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, I think there's been a sort of flurry of back and forth. We just saw President Trump telling the New York Post that there may well be talks in two days' time in Islamabad. But just a few hours before that, Iranian state media was saying that there are no talks scheduled for Islamabad. And before that, there was speculation that there might be another round of talks, but they would likely be in Geneva and not Islamabad, because Islamabad is obviously so far away from the U.S.

I think what we do know and have a good sense of here is that there are furious diplomatic efforts underway to try to take advantage of the one week left on the clock of this ceasefire and make sure that the two sides get together to try once again to hash out a deal.

As CNN has been reporting, the apparent sticking point came after the U.S. demanded a pause in the enrichment of uranium for 20 years