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CNN NEWSROOM; Coronavirus Outbreak; Locust Invasion; Inside The Impeachment Trial. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired January 25, 2020 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome everyone. Live from Studio 7 at CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Michael Holmes and coming up here on CNN Newsroom, millions in lockdown. Face masks in short supply and the number of countries affected starts to rise. Up to the minute details on the coronavirus outbreak.

Also millions of locusts swarming through East Africa. Experts say it hasn't been this bad in a quarter of a century. We'll take a look at the extreme threats to food security. Also, we know what's been going on in front of the camera but what about behind the scenes? A backstage pass to the impeachment trial.

Right now more than 30 million Chinese people are isolated in their own country during the Lunar new year unable to travel for the holidays as is the custom. It is all part of the Chinese government's massive effort to contain a viral outbreak that has already killed more than 40 people in that country and sickened 1300 others.

The fear of course is spread. The transportation lockdown covers nearly a dozen cities in central China but the coronavirus has spread from China to at least a dozen other places. Australia and Nepal, each have one case. France says it now has two and a short time ago, Malaysia, they announced that they too have three people infected there.

Now Beijing says, it is sending more than 1200 additional military personnel and medical workers to the epicenter of the outbreak, that is the city of Wuhan. We get more now from CNN's David Culver.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chinese social media portraying desperate scenes out of the city of Wuhan. This video appears to show a healthcare worker shouting orders to a long line of possible coronavirus patients standing shoulder to shoulder, telling them not to be nervous.

This one seems to depict a patient's view from the hospital bed, looking up at a medical staff fully covered in hazmat suit. And this one appears to show makeshift hospital tents to accommodate

the overflow. CNN has not been able to independently verify the videos but CNN producers have analyzed the images in the videos and the dialects of the people speaking and believe them to be genuine.

Health officials say, Wuhan is the epicenter of this deadly coronavirus. Before the city went on lockdown, CNN went there. Within minutes of us arriving and recording at the market where the virus is believed to have originated, security asked us to stop filming. In a drastic effort to contain the spread, China state media reported a new hospital is being built.

They shared this video of bulldozers clearing a lot in Wuhan. They say it'll be ready in six days. Similar construction efforts have been during the 2003 SARS outbreak. Wuhan city officials declared partial lockdown on Thursday. All public transportation including airports, highways and train stations halted service out of the city.

And within that city, public transportation shut down. The restrictions have spread in part to some surrounding jurisdictions. Instead of coming together for the spring festival, public gatherings are canceled. Residents are urged to keep to their homes and to wear protective masks. Similar precautions taken across the region.

In South Korea, many travelers took no chances passing through the airport faces covered. There is a growing sense of frustration and even anger over Chinese social media that we're seeing. Multiple people still in Wuhan confirmed to CNN that some people with fevers are being turned away from hospitals that are overwhelmed by patients.

Now Wuhan officials have acknowledged that people were being turned away at hospitals and that they're putting measures in place to alleviate the situation and to provide transportation to patients. David Culver, CNN, Beijing.

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HOLMES: Joining me now Dr. Daniel Lucey. He is a fellow at the Infectious Diseases Society of America and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Georgetown University Medical Center. Doctor, really appreciate having you on and your expertise. Has China's containment strategy been a good one in your view so far?

It's response, I think 32 million people are isolated. What do you make of it?

DR. DANIEL LUCEY, FELLOW, INFECTIOUS DISEASES SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Well, I think the evidence speaks for itself. There's been spread of the virus in pretty much every province in China and now in multiple countries including now France and Nepal and Singapore and the second case today in the United States.

And so I think that what they've done is very dramatic, more than they ever did during SARS or they had to do during SARS.

[03:05:00] Because they stopped SARS without restricting travel or what they've done now for many cities in Hubei province.

HOLMES: It's Lunar New Year of course and it's such an important event in terms of travel, millions of people on the move. How does that complicate containment? Also this is something I believe can incubate for 5 days so a lot of people can be spreading it without knowing they have it.

LUCEY: That's exactly right. I think China has taken really unprecedented measures just in the past three days in terms of cancelling lunar new year celebrations in Beijing and closing down Disneyland and Shanghai and many such things.

And in fact it is - it is the lunar new year of the rat right now, January 25 in China so the question is it - is it - was it early enough and again, I'd say to restrict travel outside, the evidence speaks for itself unfortunately.

I think the viruses is out of Wuhan and now increasingly everyday it's out of China, coming to other countries so.

HOLMES: Yes, we heard Australia now has a case now. Is it fair to say that the world when it comes to this is better prepared than it was with SARS? I mean, one of the reasons SARS was so dangerous is nobody really knew what it was and a lot of people, front line health workers for example, didn't have proper protection.

Is there a better understanding this time?

LUCEY: I think viruses are smart and this one even though we've been better prepared, better technology. Chinese have done a wonderful job, rapidly suspecting the patients and doing - discovering the virus and making a genetic sequence available to the whole world so that we have a diagnostic tests.

But you know this is a situation that we're in. I have to say one thing though, I think that partly why the spread has apparently been so fast is because in fact in my opinion, it's just a hypothesis Michael, but I think that the outbreak started a couple months earlier.

Maybe October, maybe November and not in that market, not market. The first patient that was found in the market of the 41 was December 1. He became ill on December 1 and he had no link to the market. That was the seafood market in Wuhan so that just became available, that information today and a journal called the Lancet reported from the Chinese Wuhan and Beijing investigators about the 41 patients and this is the first patient.

December 1, he got sick so he had to be effected in November and he hadn't been in the market so I'm afraid that he and other people however many, were infected before that, either from other animals in other markets or other places or person to person spread.

So I think that's why there's so many patients that have pneumonia because pneumonia season and we did have a diagnostic test for this new pneumonia until January. So then as they went to test all these patients with pneumonia, they found oh my gosh, there's hundreds and now there's more than 1100. So I think that's what's happened and that - that - if that hypothesis which strictly is what it is, came to my mind today, then that really changes our understanding of what's going on with this epidemic.

HOLMES: Dr Daniel Lucey, appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

LUCEY: Thank you Michael.

HOLMES: Well, the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump enters its next phase as the U.S. President's defense team ready's its opening agreements. We'll have that when we come back. Also no talking, no standing. The Senate has strict rules in place for the trial but what happens to those who break them? We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: We are just hours away now from U.S. President Donald Trump's defense team, beginning to make its case before the Senate. This coming of course after the House impeachment managers wrapped up three days of opening arguments.

Adam Schiff, closing out the day, summing up why the Democrats think President Trump should be removed.

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REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Whether do you like the President or you dislike the President is immaterial. It's all about the constitution and his misconduct. If it meets the standard of an impeachable conduct as we approved, it doesn't matter whether you like him. It doesn't matter whether you dislike him.

What matters is whether he is a danger to the country because he will do it again.

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HOLMES: And with that, it is now it is now over to Team Trump. Now Kaitlan Collins has more on what to expect.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the last three days the White House has been sitting back and watching as these House Democrats have made their case for nearly 24 hours over a three day time period for why they believe President Trump should be removed from office and now it's their turn.

Their starting on a Saturday. They're only expected to go over about two to three hours and you're going to see in Jay Sekulow, President Trump's outside attorney and Pat Cipollone, his White House counsel make their arguments but it's only going to be for about two or three hours they say at the most.

And they say, it's only going to be essentially an over-arching defense of the President, not really getting in to the details and they say that's because it's a Saturday and their concern is they're not going to have people watching as they're making the President's case.

So instead it'll be a pretty short session. Then you'll see them come back on Monday and that's when Jay Sekulow says they're going to make the bulk of the argument for the President, an argument that may include a motion to dismiss the case against the President out right.

That is something they would not rule out on a call with reporters earlier and of course it's going to include the Bidens. They say they're only bring up the Bidens because the Democrats brought them up though there was really no question inside the White House or Capitol Hill if they were going to mention them.

The other question would be about the role that Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz occupied because they haven't been involved in any kind of these formal prep sessions with the legal team. They've instead just been working unilaterally, checking into the President and they are expected to perform on Monday and of course, the ultimate question is going to be whether or not they can hold on to that base of Republican support to where there are not votes for witnesses and documents to be called forward.

And essentially stretching this trial out. We're told right now they do feel comfortable the President will be acquitted but not having any witnesses is essentially their number one goal. Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

HOLMES: And Ron Brownstein is a CNN Senior Political Analyst and a Senior Editor at the Atlantic. Joining me now from Los Angeles and always a pleasure, Sir. I know you've been following this as anyone. What do you think of the Democrat case? The thing being that you know, a President says to the whole executive branch, ignore Congress, don't testify, don't hand over documents.

What more is needed to show obstruction of Congress and what does it say of the senate if it says that's OK.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, nothing more is needed. I mean, both on the article one, on the abuse of power and on article two, the obstruction of Congress. The evidence has been overwhelming and I think you know, even more powerful than perhaps many expected when put together in a coherent narrative.

That obviously could not be done during the episodic House hearings, you know, hearing from people one by one. I mean what is really striking about this is that it is a measure of how far Republicans in the Congress are willing to go to really defend Trump on any grounds no matter what that they are essentially acquiescing in an executive branch choice to completely stonewall the legislative branch on a broad range of inquiries with no testimony, no documents. You know, there will be a Democratic President again Sunday and there

may be a Republican Congress that wants to get information from them and these Republicans are fully aware that they are setting a precedent that could weaken future congresses and yet, it's kind of a mark of how intense kind of the pressure for partisan loyalty, for standing in line, locking arms behind this President of theirs that they're willing to go down the line with him and do that.

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HOLMES: To divert this slightly, I mean what was your take on the reports that Donald Trump was captured on tape at this dinner in 2018 with Lev Parnas, demanding the firing of Marie Yovanovitch. I mean, the languages remarkable. We're - I mean it was a report early but the tape is out now. Let's play it for people.

BROWNSTEIN: Sure.

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TRUMP: Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out. Take her out. OK? Do it.

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HOLMES: There's a couple of aspects to this. I mean, she wasn't removed immediately, you should say but what's your take on that sort of language, not behind closed doors per say but yes, this is a U.S. diplomat, not to mention Donald Trump said repeatedly, he doesn't know Parnas.

I mean, that undershoots down the credibility of that.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, that's - that's yes, that's quite a conversation with someone who you say, you don't know. Look, there are a couple aspects to this. First, you know we know already from the - some of the texts that Parnas has released that removing Yovanovitch was an important aspect of their effort to dig up dirt on Biden because the former Ukrainian prosecutor was base - who was supplying Giuliani with whatever information that he was either providing or concocting, said explicitly in one of the texts, look, if you don't get rid of her because she's in my way, I'm not going to give you what you want.

It was a quid pro quo in the other direction. So the fact that the President is part of this you know, explicitly part of this effort to remove her really I think as Michael's Zeldin said on the domestic side, it goes to this question of abuse of power but the larger point is that, this is really underscores what - the gravity of what the Republicans in the center are doing when they're saying we're going to shut this down without more documents, without more witnesses.

It's pretty clear that there is a steady flow of information and as that information has come out even since the House proceedings and the House vote, all that it's done is fill in blanks and confirm the enormity of this fundamentally extortion scheme on Ukraine and all of these Senate Republicans will now be going on record and saying we don't really need to know more about it.

HOLMES: The point you make is valid of course which is that the grip of information that's come out since the House hearing, that's going to continue up till the election and those Republicans in the Senate, they might have some answering to the electors. It's going to make for some good campaign ads, that's for sure.

I wanted to ask you quickly how you thought Donald Trump was - is handling it? I mean, the record number of tweets and retweets on Thursday, well over 100. At one point, Friday, he tweeted or retweeted 39 times, 54 before noon, an impressive number. What does it suggest to you?

BROWNSTEIN: Well look, to me, the big picture about Donald Trump right now is he has an enormous tail wind and brightening perceptions of the economy, right? In the CNN poll, 55 percent of Americans said they approve of his handling of the economy. ABC Washington Post was out today. 56 percent said they approve.

Normally, you'd say a President with those kind of numbers on the economy will be cruising to re-election but then there's this enormous headwind at the same time which is exemplified by the kind of behavior we see brought up in the trial and then his response to the trial, which is these widespread doubts about his values and his kind of comportment as President.

And these two things, you know, pushing against each other, this is expanding optimism about the economy and this pervasive unease about his personal characteristics and his values really put him on an ice edge in this - in this election. His approval rating is drifting up but it is still well below the share of voters who say they approve of him on the economy and he is facing more resistance among voters who are otherwise satisfied with the economy than we've really ever seen for an incumbent President.

And that is where we are. I mean and this week really captures both sides of that equation.

HOLMES: Absolutely. Ron Brownstein, great to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

HOLMES: Some senators at the Trump impeachment trial appear to be having a hard time following the rules. CNN's Brian Todd explains from Washington.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you solemnly swear--

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After hours and hours of testimony, the Trump impeachment trial has become a supreme test of senators' abilities to sit down and be quiet.

MICHAEL STENGER, SENATE SERGEANT AT ARMS: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. All persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment.

TODD: Among the restrictions for senators inside the chamber during the trial, keeping your mouth shut, even refraining from whispering to the person next to you. There's no use of cell phones or other electronic devices in the chamber. No reading materials are allowed. Unless they're related to the impeachment trial.

And no standing. Senators have to sit in their seats when the trial is in session except to vote.

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NORMAN ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: You cannot even move during the course of the trial. Now what that will do for middle aged and older man who may need to bring in catheters is another story.

TODD: And it turns out senators aren't great at following the rules. Senators have been seen leaning into their neighbors, hands cupped over their mouths, whispering to each other. Some have left the chamber. Others have been seen standing, leaving empty chairs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not missing a thing if you're standing instead of sitting.

TODD: Senators have been observed dipping into personal stashes of candy and other snacks, playing with fidget toys, drinking milk, one of the few beverages allowed. Former Senate Sergeant at Arms James Ziglar doesn't believe it's too much to ask of a senator to sit still, be quiet and refrain from reading or texting on their phone in a proceeding with the gravitas of a President's impeachment.

JAMES ZIGLAR, SERGEANT AT ARMS DURING CLINTON IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: Jurors in a normal criminal proceeding in our court system are required to sit still and listen to what's going on and I think it's part of that general culture that they're trying to make it clear to the Senate, you're expected to be there, you're expected to listen to this.

You're not expected to be doing other work.

TODD: To be fair most senators have been attentive throughout the proceedings but analysts say among a group of people not known for a wide attention spans or discipline, it's not surprising that some rules have been broken.

ORNSTEIN: Senators are not used to being reigned in. This is not just reigning them in, it's putting them into chairs with straps around their arms and legs and that's not something that's going to sit well with an awful lot of senators.

TODD: A key question is what happens to a senator who gets caught violating these restrictions, who is seen talking out of turn or looking at the cell phone. Analysts say it's not quite clear what that senator's punishment may be. They could get kicked out of the chamber or in the worst case, even get arrested.

Although most analysts believe it would never really come to that. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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HOLMES: 34 U.S. service members have now been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, following this month's attacks by Iran on an air base in western Iraq. Initially the Pentagon said there would no injuries from the strike. CNN's Ryan Browne explains why these new injuries are just now being made public.

RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: The Pentagon Friday revealing new details about the injury suffered by U.S. military personnel during the recent Iranian missile attack on Al-Asad air base in western Iraq.

Now the Pentagon saying 34 military personnel were injured in an attack, suffering from concussions and traumatic brain injury. Now 17 of those service members have returned to duty, they were treated locally in Iraq and are now back doing their jobs.

The remainder were evacuated first to Germany and then some were also evacuated to the United States where they could receive more specialized medical care. Now in immediate aftermath of the attack, President Donald Trump and the Pentagon said that no U.S. service personnel had been injured in the attack. However in the ensuing days we learned that some service members had suffered concussions. Now those are often difficult to attack.

Soldiers and airmen sheltering in bunkers will receive the shockwave blast causing these concussions and sometimes the symptoms which can include headaches take a while to manifest themselves. Once they do show, service members will seek medical attention, while they'll be diagnosed for possible concussions or traumatic brain injury.

So something U.S. military has been focusing on the effects, the secondary effects of being caught in an explosion. The U.S. hasn't been attacked by ballistic missiles since the Gulf War nearly 30 years ago. So again U.S. responding as facts emerge. Now President Trump downplayed the injuries during a speech in Davos, Switzerland saying, you know there were headaches and that they didn't consider them particularly serious.

The U.S. now saying that at least 17 service members require additional medical treatment for these injuries.

HOLMES: Ryan Browne reporting there. We'll take a short break. The United Nations is worried when we come back, it says if the locust invasion in East Africa isn't contained soon, it could be a plague. We are there with a report after the break.

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Search and rescue missions underway in Easton Turkey after 21 people were killed and more than 1000 injured when an earthquake shook the region on Friday night. The Turkish Interior Minister says at least 30 people are missing.

The 6.7 magnitude quake causing multiple buildings to collapse near its epicenter. Edessa TV capturing the moment, the quake erupted during its live broadcast. As you can see there the anchors kept on going as the set shook around them.

And climate change might be to blame for the worst locust invasion to hit East Africa in more than a generation. The UN says the swarms of threatening the food supply of 19 million people who've already had a tough time with shortages. CNN's David McKenzie with more.

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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This locust invasion in East Africa is quite extraordinary. The worst invasion of its kind in 25 years and for Kenya, the worst in 70 years according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.

Now this all started further north, if you look at this map, particularly in Ethiopia and Somalia, unusual climactic patents from a severe drought to better than expected rains caused the swarms to form in that part of the horn of Africa and then with the winds moved south towards Kenya.

now an FAO official admitted to me that they didn't expect this to get so bad so quickly. He said if they don't try and stop this now through crop spraying predominantly, that by June they could have a 400 fold increase in this particular invasion.

It could then become at plague. Now the difficulty is those parts of northern Kenya are some of the most food insecure of that country. 19 million people or so already facing food shortages. That could be a severe issue if this invasion expands in the coming months and even if it moves to the westward towards Uganda, even Sudan. David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

HOLMES: Thanks for watching everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Inside Africa coming up but I'll have the headlines for you first after this.

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HOLMES: Hello everyone I'm Michael Holmes with your CNN news now. China has shut down transportation in 11 cities in a bid to keep the Wuhan coronavirus from spreading. The lockdowns affects some 30 million people. Nepal, Malaysia and Australia, the latest countries to confirm infected patients.

The disease has killed more than 40 people in China and sickened more than 1300 others worldwide. Donald Trump's legal team will begin its case against removing the U.S. President from office in a Saturday Senate session, that is only expected to last about two to three hours.

One of his lawyers describing it as being like a movie trailer ahead of a full presentation. It comes after House Democrats wrapped up 3 days of opening arguments on Friday. At least 21 people are dead and more than 1000 injured after an earthquake shook up Easton Turkey on Friday night.

The Turkish Interior Minister says at least 30 people are missing so far. There have being a dozen aftershocks in the area. The Pentagon now says 34 U.S. troops suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iran's missile attack earlier this month on an Iraqi base.

Initially U.S. officials said no one had been hurt but the Pentagon says the symptoms of concussions aren't always immediately apparent. That is your CNN News now. I'm Michael Holmes. Inside Africa, up next.

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