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President Says U.S. Senate Trial "Should Do Very Quickly"; Documents Suggest U.S. Ambassador Under Surveillance; Five Countries Demand Answers From Iran On Downed Flight; China Reports Its Weakest Annual Growth in 29 Years; U.S. Senate Passes USMCA Trade Agreement; Brazil's Indigenous Tribes United to Save Amazon. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 17, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:21]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.

Ahead this hour, the way that history arrives on Capitol Hill with the formal opening of Donald Trump's impeachment trial. While new evidence seems to raise concerns new questions about the president's involvement in pressuring Ukraine.

Much needed rain has been falling over Australia's fire zone, but will it be enough to make a significant impact?

And the cost of war -- a trade war. The numbers are out from last year and while China's economy is still growing, it set -- it's at the slowest pace in three decades.

For just a third time, an American president will stand trial before the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors. The process began Thursday with the reading of the two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, followed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, swearing in senators who will act as jurors deciding if the president is not only guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress but also if he should be removed from office. That would require a two- thirds majority.

The president continues to dismiss it all as a hoax and believes the trials scheduled to start next Tuesday will acquit him of all wrongdoing in a very short time, mostly because of the rock-solid support he has from Republican senators, who continue to back Donald Trump despite a flood of new evidence, like a new investigation from the government office of accountability, which has found the Trump White House violated the law when the president ordered suspension of military aid to Ukraine.

From more, here is CNN's Phil Mattingly on Capitol Hill.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is now the Senate's job, the idea of whether or not to vote to remove the president of the United States.

It started on Thursday with a procession of the seven House Democratic impeachment managers walking over those two articles of impeachment. And what followed was something that, at least, as it pertains to United States president has only been seen two times prior to today on the United States Senate floor. Take a watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL STENGER, UNITED STATES SENATE SERGEANT AT ARMS: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. All persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of United States articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump, president of the United States.

The managers on the park of the House will now proceed.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Donald J. Trump, president of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. With the permission of the Senate. I will now read the articles of impeachment.

President Trump use the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermine the integrity of the United States democratic process.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The presiding officer will now administer the oath to John G. Roberts, chief justice of the United States.

JOHN G. ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm now prepared to take the oath.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): Will you place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand? Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the constitution and the laws: so help you, God?

ROBERTS: I do.

GRASSLEY: God bless you.

ROBERTS: Will all senators now stand and remain standing and raise their right hand? Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the constitution and laws: so help you, God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Let me quickly kind of lay out what's going to happen next. You're not going to see the senators on the Senate floor for the trial again until Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. But in the meantime, stuff will be happening behind the scenes. The president has now officially been summoned for that trial, a response from the White House defense team will come this weekend.

Also, both the House managers and the White House defense team will have to file briefs and responses to those briefs over the course of the next several days. And when senators return on Tuesday, they will be debating and voting on the initial rules and structure of the trial.

The expectation at this point in time is it will essentially be presentations from both sides. Each lasting 24 hours over the course of a couple of days. Then, questions from senators for the course of 16 hours. Now, that is a resolution that's been drafted are still being drafted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Democrats have made clear they are unhappy with that, would like to vote against it, and likely will offer amendments to it in the initial stage of the process. So, there should be votes, it could get interesting early.

[01:04:59]

But the big question that's still outstanding for everybody is will there be enough votes at some point in the trial likely after the presentations and set other questions, to subpoena witnesses and documents?

At this point in time, Democrats has made clear that is what they are focused on, they will need four Republicans to join the 47 Democrats to be able to make that a reality. Still waiting to see where those Republicans come down.

Senator Susan Collins, putting out a statement last night making clear that she is open to the idea but has not decided on any specific witnesses, and is only open to it after those initial presentations, which runs counter to what Democrats want, at least at the start of the trial.

So, basically, we have to wait and see likely for a couple of weeks to get the answer, at least, to the question of witnesses and documents.

VAUSE: Joining us now from New Orleans is CNN legal analyst Ross Garber, who specializes in impeachment law. And CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali, who is in New York.

And Tim, first to you. So, I want to start with the historical significance of this moment because it seems up until this point, the weight of the moment hasn't registered possibly because, you know, what all the other outrages and the controversies about this president, you know, the kids in the cages, the racism, the bigotry, the financial corruption, it's a bit like prosecuting Al Capone for tax evasion.

You know, but when the Chief Justice John Roberts on the Hill, swearing in senators, stuff got real.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, the president of the United States is on trial. And it's only happened three times in American history and only twice in the modern era. That's a big deal.

The founders included this mechanism in the constitution to deal with the possibility of a president whose presidency threatened our constitutional order. The founders gave us a description of the causes for removal, but they left working out the details to their successors.

VAUSE: And Ross, the trial begins with this unresolved issue of witness testimony, and that seems to take on greater urgency with the evidence from Lev Parnas, who was working with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to pressure Ukraine into the announcing these investigations into Joe Biden, Trump's political opponent.

Despite what the president may say, which despite what others may say, Parnas was clear about who knew what and when. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: So, Giuliani knew everything you were doing?

LEV PARNAS: Everything.

COOPER: You're saying Vice President Pence knew.

PARNAS: I don't know if the vice president know everything we were doing, I'm sure he was --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: But he knew about a quid pro quo?

PARNAS: Of course. That's --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Bolton?

PARNAS: Bolton.

COOPER: Mulvaney?

PARNAS: Mulvaney.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And here is some cooperation to that claim, and it comes from Gordon Sondland, Trump's handpick ambassador to the E.U. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON SONDLAND, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret. Everyone was informed via e-mail on July 19th. Days before the presidential call.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: So, Ross, what he only claims to want to get to the truth here. It seems a pretty tough case argue that Parnas and others should not testify. What's the calculation for the Senate leader Republican Mitch McConnell?

ROSS GARBER, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, so we have this system here. We're talking about the Constitution. One of the things that constitution doesn't define is exactly how a trial goes. What we know is that the House of Representatives does the charging, and that's the impeachment. And then the Senate does the trial.

And, you know, typically what one would expect would be that the House would have sort of done their investigation before the trial. And then, the Senate would try the case based on what the House had already found in its investigation.

But the House for, you know, good, legitimate reason, did a very, very -- in the scheme of things, quick investigation. And they knew they weren't going to be able to find out everything.

So, then after the articles of impeachment were passed, we're now learning additional information, some of it is very potentially important, including this information from Lev Parnas.

That's what we're going to hear from the Republican senators who backed the president is what -- wait a minute, it was a Houses job to do this whole investigation. You guys essentially bypassing articles of impeachment said you were ready for trial.

Now you want us, a Senate, to do your investigation for you? We're not going to do that. We're going to hear that from the Republicans. The Senate Democrats are going to say, well, actually, no, this is important information. You're trying the case, you should consider this information.

And in the Senate, things are decided by a majority. And so, what we're looking at are the Republicans in the middle. The Republicans have the majority, there's going to be some centrist Republicans or some potentially swing vote Republicans that carry all the weight on this issue.

VAUSE: And that pressure is growing, not just from Democrats, but within the GOP for witnesses to be allowed. There's an anti-Trump Republican group, for example, running a series of ads on Fox News to pressure those sort of moderate Republican lawmakers. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Ambassador John Bolton, he was national security adviser to President Trump. He was in all the meetings in which the president's national security team discussed withholding aid from Ukraine in exchange for announcing investigations into the Bidens.

[01:10:06] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, Ambassador Bolton has agreed to testify before Congress. He is willing to do his duty to tell the truth. Are Senate Republicans willing to do their duty to listen?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, Tim, in the scheme of impeachment trials, we don't have a lot of history, but this has to be a unique feature, not just the T.V. commercial, but the overall politicization of the trial itself.

NAFTALI: I believe that the outcome of this debate over witnesses will depend on the pressure that Republicans feel, and on the sense that Republicans have of the legacy, their political legacy if they do not vote for witnesses. It's all about power.

And so, at the moment, it's anybody's guess what can happen. It looks like there are three Republicans who've made clear that they are sympathetic towards having witnesses, but we don't know whether they'll vote that way when there's a vote. And we don't know when that vote will come.

VAUSE: And with this, we now have a situation with the -- you know, the president, potentially facing removal from office. And for the first time, the man who would replace him is under some serious scrutiny.

Parnas is linked to Vice President Mike Pence directly to the Ukraine scandal. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: How do you know that the vice president would have known what Giuliani was up to?

(CROSSTALK)

PARNAS: Because we would speak every day. I knew everything that was going on. I mean, after Rudy would speak with the president or come from the White House, I was the first person he briefed. I mean, we had a relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, Ross, due for the past three years, Mike Pence has been dancing in the rain and not getting wet. Now, you know, he seems maybe cornered and is a choice here with the scandal. Either he -- he's even off his neck. He knew everything what's going on, or he's a clueless room who is played by everyone?

GARBER: Well, or and it's possible we just don't know that Parnas is not telling the whole truth.

VAUSE: Of course.

GARBER: We just don't know what Parnas is alleged and the information is supplied is potentially very relevant, it's potentially very, very disturbing. And now is the process of trying to verify it, corroborated, make match it up with documents. That is going to be is significant and intensive process.

And it's one that I hope the House of Representatives is not waiting on. I would hope our House Intelligence Committee is now shifting through those materials. And we'll hopefully reach out to Lev Parnas and try to bring him in to have him explain some of these issues.

VAUSE: And Tim, according to Parnas, Pence knew or was least kind of aware that the reason why he did not attend Zelensky's inauguration, it was all part of the pressure campaign to force the Ukrainian president to announce an investigation into Biden.

Is that the moment when the Trump administration's unofficial back channel with Ukraine, merged with, you know, the official channel?

NAFTALI: Well, you know, it's not unusual for a presidential administration to use back channels. What is unusual about the Giuliani backchannel is that it was represented not just a different policy, but a policy that was contrary to formal U.S. foreign policy in the region.

And what seems clear is that, that was President Trump's policy. His state department, his Pentagon, they were moving in one direction vis- a-vis Ukraine. But the president and his cronies wanted to move in another.

And a certain point, there was a clash between these two and the president won.

VAUSE: One thing, which is also come up, and this new, I guess, is because of this testimony we're hearing from Parnas, it affects the attorney general. And now, he is facing some serious questions over his role in the military aid for the political investigation scandal. Again, Lev Parnas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MADDOW, HOST, MSNBC: Do you know if Mr. Giuliani was ever in contact with Mr. Barr, specifically about the fact that he was trying to get Ukraine to announce these investigations into Joe Biden?

PARNAS: Oh, absolutely.

MADDOW: Mr. Barr knew about that?

PARNAS: Mr. Barr absolutely know everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And again, his cooperation for that it comes from readout of the president's perfect phone call with Zelensky. At one point, Trump says, "Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was mayor of New York, a great man, and I would like him to call you. I will also ask him to call you along with the attorney general."

And then, later in the transcript, "I will tell Rudy and the Attorney General Barr to call. Thank you.

So, Ross, you know, we haven't really even touched on the funding of the Government Accountability Office that the administration violated the law when it held that military aid to Ukraine.

But the revelations that we've seen over the past 29 days, seem to have transformed this trial into something that no one really could have seen coming.

GARBER: Yes, and, you know, I'm going to add one thing to the sort of list of irregular things that Tim noted and it's the thing that I think is, is probably most problematic. Tim is right that backchannels are not unprecedented. But the biggest problem here is this back channel was organized and led by the president's personal lawyer for the president's personal benefit. That is a -- that is a big concern. A big problem and I think probably the biggest issue here.

[01:15:07]

GARBER: No one has explained why Rudy Giuliani, who was the president's personal lawyer has no role in the government -- hasn't said he had any role in the government. Why he was actually sort of heading up this foreign policy effort.

VAUSE: It would be interesting if Giuliani appeared as a witness, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens with everything. But yes, as you both know, quite rightly, we are on the eve of something very big. Thank you both for being with us.

GARBER: Thank you.

NAFTALI: Happy with you.

VAUSE: Lev Parnas also raised disturbing allegations that he took part in an illegal surveillance operation of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. And for now, neither departments of justice or state seem the slightest bit concerned. But in a truly bizarre world moment authorities in Ukraine have started their own investigation.

Frederik Pleitgen has been tracking all of this from Moscow.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the Ukrainians are taking this investigation very seriously. They say that after a lot of notes and messages were published by the Permanent House Select Committee for Intelligence, that they believe that some of those notes that were made public and especially some of those text messages may show a violation of Ukrainian law because they say they might have found illegal surveillance of Ambassador Yovanovitch in all of that.

I want to read you part of the statement that they put out. I think this is really a key part. They say, "Ukraine's position is not to interfere in the domestic affairs of the United States of America. However, the published references cited by the Washington Post, contain a possible violation of the law of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, which protects the rights of a diplomat on the territory of a foreign country."

So, the Ukrainians are clearly saying they're responsible for the safety and security of Ambassador Yovanovitch, and also for the fact that she does not get surveyed by private citizens on the territory of Ukraine.

Now, important also to point out that the Ukrainian, it's in the statement are also saying that they would like cooperation from U.S. authorities and they're asking for the U.S. to get back to them as fast as possible, all this, of course, as the State Department has been asked by CNN on various occasions to comment on this in whether or not they want to launch an investigation, and they have not gotten back to us.

The Ukrainians, by the way, not only investigating the matter of possible surveillance of Ambassador Yovanovitch but also now have launched an investigation into the hack of Burisma, which, of course, some believe may have been conducted by the Russians. And they're also asking for the U.S. to help to that investigation as well.

VAUSE: A footnote now to last week's Iranian missile strike on the al- Assad air base in Iraq. Despite the Pentagon initially saying there were no casualties. They now say, 11 soldiers were hurt, and they were treated for concussion-like symptoms.

The attack by Iran was retaliation for the U.S. airstrike which killed General Qassem Soleimani. When asked about this discrepancy, a defense official told CNN, the initial report was the commander's assessment at the time, and the symptoms arose days after the attack.

Well, Iran is facing mounting pressure to write answers about precisely what was the human error which led to the Ukrainian airliner being shut down. The plane was carrying passengers from, at least, six different countries. And now Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and U.K. have outlined their demands to Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE, CANADIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: In the way of such a horrific tragedy, there are many, many questions. Families want answers. All of the countries assembled here today want answers and the international community wants answered. The world is waiting for those answers, and we will not rest until we get them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: They also want Iran to take full responsibility and provide complete transparency in the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN LINDE, SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER: We don't know why this terrible thing happened. And we want to prevent it from happening again. But to get the answers, we need to have a full investigation, a thorough investigation with transparency, and with the possibility for the countries that are involved (INAUDIBLE) can take part with experts. Because we don't know exactly why did this take part?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The bodies of 11 Ukrainians who are on board have been identified and the government is working to get their remains home.

Well, that investigation unfolds. Iran, says it's now enriching uranium at levels higher than before the nuclear deal. President Hassan Rouhani, says there's no limit now to uranium enrichment.

Mr. Rouhani, says the country was acting in response to other parties in the deal backing away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN ROUHANI, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Today, our daily enrichment is more than before the JCPOA Agreement. Well, we didn't sit around doing nothing. When they reduce their commitment, we also reduced our commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:20:04]

VAUSE: In a tweet, Iran's foreign minister accused Germany, France, and the U.K. of selling out to U.S. pressure. Earlier this week, those three countries triggered a dispute mechanism within the deal, saying Iran has violated the terms of the agreement. But they say they are still committed to make the deal work.

Still, to come, rainfall, a much welcome relief as bushfires continue to rage in Australia. But with it comes another problem. That's flooding. We'll have more on the unprecedented bushfire crisis in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN INTERNATIONAL WEATHER ANCHOR: And we've got an interesting weekend of weather shaping up across the central United States that could potentially impact to travel plans if you're traveling in or out of the Greater Chicago or Minneapolis region. A developing snowstorm will cause trouble headaches across the central parts of the U.S.

While the East Coast remains high and dry, at least, for now. But things will change, and you'll see that in just one moment. Look at the winter storm alerts taking shape from the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle right through the northern Great Lakes.

We have winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings in place. A significant amount of snowfall anticipated across this region with a developing storm. Here is its evolution over the next 24 hours.

Look out, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, even Indianapolis. There's plenty of snowfall in the forecast of the cold side of the storm. But you can see the rain-snow mix maybe some ice in there as well across portions of the Great Plains.

Now, the accumulation map over the course of the next five days shows a swath of snowfall across the Great Lakes all the way to the East Coast. Maybe some snowflakes into New York and Boston as well, or we remain wet and rather mild across the Deep South.

12 degrees for Atlanta today. Negative one for Chicago, a negative one for New York. There's your dry weather. Dallas, your chance of rain with that storm system starting to push in from the south.

Several opportunities for cooler weather across the Northeast as we head to the weekends.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Heavy rain is helping firefighters to contain bush fires raging across Australia now, for six months. But with the rain comes risk, some areas have been hit by flash flooding and fears there's more to come.

Derek Van Dam joins us now for more on the bushfire emergency. And, of course, here now is a sort of a rain emergency that's going to last --

(CROSSTALK)

VAN DAM: Yes, a little too much too quick for some locations.

VAUSE: Yes.

VAN DAM: That's for sure. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service, just tweeted out that rain is falling across most fire grounds in the past 24 hours. They're keeping their fingers crossed for this trend to continue. But, of course, there are still fires that are out of control.

[01:24:54]

VAN DAM: And we talk about rain coming that too quickly at a time. This is coming out of the reptile park, north of Sydney. And you can see some of the floodwaters that have inundated this region. There's actually been some reports of the zookeepers having to go and save some of the koalas and fend off some of the alligators that are being caught up in some of the floodwaters.

And again, you could just see what this immense amount of rain over a short period of time does to this particular reptile park, north of Sydney.

Now, you can see the radar really starting to light up there in the bottom portion of our T.V. screen. Lots of precipitation, specifically, along the coastal areas of New South Wales, Victoria. Your time is coming, I promise. I'll show you with that in the graphics here in just one moment.

But let's talk about rainfall totals that have already occurred. This is impressive, and this is what we need to see. Especially considering what has been happening. 178 millimeters in the far northern sections of New South Wales. That's where we've concentrated the heaviest rainfall lately. But you can see over the next five to seven days, we'll start to pick up some of that rainfall across the hardest impacted areas across Victoria as well.

Look at this, even into the Sydney International Airport, we saw some much-needed rainfall across that region. And a very promising site here from the rural fire service out of New South Wales. They have a fire danger of one of six.

If you recall, just one week ago, two weeks ago, in fact, for several weeks, we have had level five of six or level six of six with the fire danger rating. And more the same for Victoria as well. Now, talking temperatures, we have had a brief spike in our daytime highs today.

I think we'll see that trend continue into the weekend. But again, the chances of rain and the increased humidity levels will only help the firefighting efforts on the ground, and this is what we'd like to see.

This is a seven-day outlook just to show you the amount of rain that's starting to pile up across this region. Interesting statistic, 15 millimeters of rain stops the spread of a fire -- an active fire.

But 50 millimeters of rain, helps -- actually helps extinguish a flame. So that's the kind of totals we need to see. But keep in mind, we still have 120 active fires across New South Wales and Victoria.

30 of which in New South Wales are still uncontained. So, firefighters are having a difficult time getting the head of those larger fires that are still burning across the areas, but rain is needed.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: But this is six months. This has been crazy.

VAN DAM: And we're not even into the peak heat of the summer just yet.

VAUSE: Yes. So, yes, well, let's hope that it gets better. But obviously, there's concern there's a lot worse to come.

VAN DAM: Right.

VAUSE: OK. Thank you, Derek.

VAN DAM: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: Well, the fire have taken a huge toll on Australia's unique wildlife. And places like Kangaroo Island, once known for abundant wildlife, rescuers are now trying to save the animals who've managed to survive.

And a warning, some of the images at Lynda Kinkade's report are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Australia's Kangaroo Island, once green and filled with wildlife, now looks like a wasteland. Very little survived under the smoldering husks of trees, after bush fires ferocious and fast-moving incinerated more than half the island.

Rescue workers see a sign of life on the horizon that move quickly to save a stranded creature, bringing him to a makeshift animal clinic for treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE), we just pulled them out of the fire.

KINKADE: One life saved. But experts say more than half a billion animals have died in bushfires across Australia. It's one of the grim tasks for military units, to search and clear the carcasses from the island.

MAJOR TONY PURDY, AUSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: It's been an extraordinary day. To be honest, it's never a good thing to come across this east. Wildlife such as koalas and kangaroos.

KINKADE: Experts say that the koala population was particularly devastated here. Out of the islands 46,000 koalas, it's estimated as few as 9,000 survived.

The survivors that injured and stressed, many requiring treatments, so, rescuers are transporting them in laundry baskets.

We are probably finding birds that come in now are looking at four weeks' worth of treatment. Obviously, with the fire still burning, we still having multiple new cases coming in at the moment.

KINKADE: Where to send those who recover is another problem, with over 80 percent of their habitat gone. The koalas on Kangaroo Island are also the only population in Australia that doesn't carry the disease chlamydia, which is ravage the species. Which means they have no immunity to the disease.

Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And to learn more about how you can help Australia's bush fire victims, please go to cnn.com/impact.

Call the cost of war, trade war. Economic growth in China falls to a three-decade low in 2019. That's after all these tariffs was slapped on Chinese imports by the United States. But now, with a new trade deal in place, they're hoping for better ties.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:33:11]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back -- everybody.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

The U.S. Senate has now officially opened the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump with the swearing-in of senators as jurors. The trial itself gets underway next Tuesday.

The President continues to denounce the impeachment as a hoax and says he expects the trial to be over quickly.

Eleven U.S. troops were injured in last week's Iranian missile strikes on the Al-Assad Air Base in Iraq. That's despite the Pentagon saying at first there were no casualties.

When asked about the discrepancy, Defense officials told CNN the initial report was the commanders assessment at the time and the concussion symptoms which have developed in the troops that arose in the days after the attack.

In the coming hours Iran's Supreme Leader is expected to lead Friday prayers in Tehran. According to State Media, this is the first time in eight years Ali Khamenei will give the weekly service himself rather than handing it off to a cleric.

Economic growth for 2019 in China fell to its lowest rate in three decades. The numbers are just out. It seems the 6.9 percent growth rate can be at least partly blamed on a trade war with the United States. Beijing has also been dealing with rising debt, cooling (ph) domestic demand as well as an aging population.

David Culver is there. He's been looking at these numbers. He joins us from Beijing.

But on the bright side, we've got that phase one of the U.S. trade deal signed. Happy days ahead, right? Maybe?

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is certainly the message coming out of Beijing -- John. That they want to promote that this phase one deal will perhaps create some stability here amidst what has been a really tough economy over the past year and a half, a little longer than that even.

But the reality is the numbers are one thing and they seem to often be in question that they can be unreliable at times. But the narrative around this and the messaging coming out of Beijing is another thing.

[01:34:59]

CULVER: And you can look at that and see as we have, a sense of urgency that has come out here because there are realities on the ground that promote some of the concern, namely this rising debt that you mentioned.

We have seen banks here increasing the amount of money that they're circulating into companies and allowing them at times to default or delay on some of their repayments. That is a concern. Unemployment is clearly top of mind for some of the government

officials. In fact, the state council just last month was telling local governments to essentially go through all lengths possible to prevent massive job losses. This is something that they are very much focused on.

And from a consumer perspective, confidence has weakened a bit. Now the numbers that came out today show that in the back half of 2019, there was some retail growth and so some of that was from singles day which is a big sales day and that showed to be positive.

But then you can look at figures like car sales and they were down for 18 months in a row now. And significant drop even, more than 8 percent.

And so these are all suggesting that perhaps some of the consumers here are restricting some of their spending as well.

Phase one is one part of this that has now come and gone, so to speak. The implementation phase is where we are at now. But then we're talking about phase two, some of the structural issues. And the reality with phase one John -- is that the tariffs for the most part remain in place.

We saw that the U.S. cut about half the tariffs on $120 billion worth of Chinese goods. But then look at some of the $250 billion and the 25 percent tariffs are still there. So the question is going to be, is that small percentage drop going to be enough to sustain it going forward.

There is one part of phase one that was interesting to me and that may actually be beneficial to the Chinese economy. And that is the opening of the foreign investment and kind of the easing of some of the restrictions for foreign companies to invest here. So that goes could be an influx of money coming in.

VAUSE: Yes. That is something which -- you know, somebody was pointing to as one of the big breakthroughs or significant breakthroughs of that trade agreement because there wasn't not a lot out.

CULVER: Right.

VAUSE: David -- thank you. Appreciate the update.

CULVER: Yes.

VAUSE: Well, the revised North American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., Mexico, Canada is now headed for President Trump's desk and his signature. After a rare moment of unity in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the landmark trade deal.

CNN's Matt Rivers has more now reporting in from Mexico City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just one day after President Trump signed phase one of the trade deal with United States and China, another win in the trade arena for the Trump administration. This time on an agreement that you could argue is much more sweeping in its nature.

This, after the United States senate had voted 89 to ten in favor of ratifying the latest United States, Mexico, Canada agreement. This agreement, of course, is set to replace the older NAFTA agreement, the free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

And you know, this was no sure thing. This has been quite a long process. Remember it was more than a year ago that Canada, the U.S. and Mexico representatives from the administrations in each country agreed to the USMCA.

But it was House Democrats that would have to ratify that deal that said no, the deal wasn't good enough. They wouldn't even bring it up for a vote, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, unless certain changes were made.

And so House Democrats, the Trump administration spent around a year of negotiating changes to this deal that House Democrats wanted. Things like more protection in the environmental arena. Things like more protection for labor rights, making it easier for workers here in Mexico to more effectively unionize.

And eventually House Democrats got enough concessions from the Trump administration that they were satisfied enough to bring it for a vote. The U.S. House passed it in December, the U.S. Senate has now passed it. And it will go to President Trump's desk for signature where he will likely sign this agreement as early as next week.

It is not totally done yet. The Canadians still have to ratify this deal. They are expected to do so which means that the new USMCA will likely go into effect by the end of this year. A big win for the Trump administration ahead of the impeachment trial for President Trump that is set to begin.

Matt Rivers, CNN -- Mexico City.

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VAUSE: Still to come here, their fate it seems is closely linked to the Amazon rainforest. And the indigenous people of the Amazon now say development is threatening their own survival.

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VAUSE: Well, the very news that 2019 was the second hottest year on record was a shocking, depressing statistic. But in the Amazon where indigenous tribes on the front lines of climate change, it's a threat to their very survival. Now they are combining their forces to protect the delicate rainforest and save their way of life. CNN's Isa Soares has more.

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a dance of unity or what they might call a march for survival, Brazil's indigenous leaders perform ritual dances to open a four-day gathering in the Amazon. The meeting, an opportunity to unite in their fight against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

MEGARON TXUCARRAMAE, LEADER, KAYAPO TRIBE OF BRAZIL (through translator): We are here to discuss our rights to land, right to health care, right to be Indians, which are being threatened.

The fight doesn't stop. The fight does not end. As long as we are alive we are going to fight to preserve our culture and these beautiful customs that I saw here today.

SOARES: Bolsonaro's push to open indigenous reservations to commercial mining as well as agriculture has made tribal members anxious.

Worries about being ignored and reports that potential legislation will prevent them from (INAUDIBLE) new government-approved projects on their land are stirring up concern as well as controversy.

Bolsonaro insists that he is committed to preserving the Amazon. But since he took office in January of 2019, protected tribal lands have seen an increase in illegal logging as well as mining leading to a rise in deforestation, fires and deadly clashes.

More than 415 indigenous reservations have already been tapped for mineral resources as well as commercial farming. And environmentalists warn cultivating any more of the Amazon for commercial use could make the global climate crisis much, much worse.

Isa Soares, CNN.

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VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us. "WORLD SPORT" starts after the break.

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