On Monday’s Inside Politics, CNN host Dana Bash spoke to California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton about the wild state of the race in light of the sudden torrent of publicized allegations late last week against Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell, asserting to Hilton there hasn’t been any “proof” there’s been an effort to hide and/or leave unaddressed rumors of Swalwell being a creep.
Following an opening question about how Hilton believes the race will change with Swalwell dropping out, Bash stepped up to defend her fellow liberals by insisting she hasn’t “seen any proof that people knowing about allegations that he raped people.”
WATCH: CNN's Dana Bash defends Eric Swalwell by playing whataboutism with Trump, argues she hasn't "seen any proof" that anyone knew about Eric Swalwell's treatement of women and stayed silent pic.twitter.com/q6zJZj93fu
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 13, 2026
Bash further waved the proverbial pom-poms by turning the tables on Hilton by playing whataboutism with President Trump since “[h]e was, of course, found liable in a civil suit of sexual abuse and bragged about grabbing women by the you-know-what.”
“You’re okay accepting that, but clearly upset about the allegations of Eric Swalwell,” she demanded.
Hilton didn’t back down in blasting “the hypocrisy” and reasserted “it was an open secret about his behavior on Capitol Hill, and the extent of it” and he’s heard accounts… from many Democrat friends involved in politics in California.”
Addressing Bash’s lazy attempt to downplay Swalwell by invoking Trump, Hilton noted “that was litigated many times, including in two general elections in America, and people came to their view about that.”
Because seemingly everything must have a Trump angle for the elite media at CNN, Bash argued Hilton was engaged in “hypocrisy” because he’s “comfortable” accepting the endorsement of someone “found liable in [a] civil suit” for rape while denouncing a Democrat for alleged sexual misconduct (click “expand”):
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.
Here are three examples of the “proof” Bash claimed did not exist, including two from journalists:
Boy I tell you what you give the journos 10 years to chase down leads and a half dozen whistle blowers on a silver platter and political expediency and by god they will break the story. pic.twitter.com/RBAEsk6JOn
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) April 13, 2026
And those do not even address the security concerns Swalwell created by involving himself with Fang Fang.
The rest of the interview featured more of Bash hitting Hilton from the left.
In part while responding to questions of whether a Trump endorsement will “help you” and not “backfire,” Hilton emphasizing his economic platform: “[M]y 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.”
Bash responded by conceding that lowering gas prices in California “was already a tall order” since “the gas price is always higher than the rest of the country,” but has been exacerbated by the Iran war: “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.”
Without mentioning California’s high gas tax being the highest in the nation, Hilton concluded the interview by emphasizing the need to drive prices down regardless of what happens in the Middle East (click “expand”):
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 we can bring costs down to what they are in the rest of the country.
To see the relevant CNN transcript from March 13, click here.
