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U.S. Senate To Begin President's Impeachment Trial; China: New Virus Can Be Transmitted Between Humans; Meng Wanzhou Extradition Hearing Begins In Canada; Davos 2020; Protest in Virginia Ends Peacefully Despite Concerns; U.S. Senate Goes Phone Free for Impeachment. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 21, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm John Vause. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump's impeachment defense now comes down to a legal argument most experts dismiss as constitutional nonsense. But with Mitch McConnell writing the trial rules in the Senate, it probably doesn't matter.

China dealing with a deadly virus at the worst possible time of year. Hundreds of millions of people about to cram onto public transport to journey home for the Lunar New Year. And tech giant Huawei gets its moment in court for the pivotal extradition hearing now underway in Canada.

On Monday, the President's legal team call for a swift rejection of the articles of impeachment and a quick move to acquittal. Hours later, it seems, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell complied. He released the long-awaited ground rules for the Senate trial, which reportedly were warmly received by the White House. More on that in a moment.

This will be just the third time a U.S. president will stand trial before the Senate and face removal from office for alleged wrongdoings. And Trump's legal team has chosen an unusual defense. They will not dispute the facts but the legality of the articles of impeachment as charged by the Democrat-controlled lower House. It's not a new argument, which means it's been widely debunked. CNN's Kaitlan Collins begins our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: On the eve of his impeachment trial, President Trump's legal team is previewing its defense and calling on the Senate to expedite his acquittal. In 110- page legal brief, Trump's attorneys argue that neither of the impeachment articles against him are valid because they don't include violations of the law, writing, they do not remotely approach the constitutional threshold for removing a president from office. The brief also indicates his legal team won't just attack the Articles

of Impeachment, but will also defend his conduct toward Ukraine, including floating a baseless and debunked theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election despite his former Russia advisor testifying this.

FIONA HILL, FORMER RUSSIA ADVISER, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.

COLLINS: In their own brief, Democrats argue the president solicited foreign interference in the next election for his own political benefit. What neither side seems to know is whether the trial will include new witnesses. Democrats say they'll force votes and say the White House claim that the articles are invalid as, "chilling and dead wrong."

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We are going to demand votes, yes or no, up or down on the four witnesses we've requested.

COLLINS: But the President's legal team says witnesses aren't needed.

ROBERT RAY, COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT: It has to be fair there. There have to be witnesses on both sides. It's very simple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's the argument.

COLLINS: Trump's attorney Robert Ray didn't answer whether the whole legal team has met in person yet as one of those new attorneys says he's not really part of it despite Trump personally asking him to join.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, LAWYER OF DONALD TRUMP: I didn't even see the brief until after it was filed.

COLLINS: Alan Dershowitz is also reversing his stance on whether a president can be impeached without committing a crime. This is what he said in 1998.

DERSHOWITZ: So it certainly doesn't have to be a crime. If you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president, and who abuses trust, and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don't need a technical crime.

COLLINS: Now that he's representing Trump, he's arguing this.

DERSHOWITZ: Without a crime, there can be no impeachment.

COLLINS: And this afternoon, the President's legal team went to Capitol Hill to do one last walk through before that trial formally gets underway tomorrow walking around the Senate floor, go into the vice president Senate office which is where they're going to be working out of for the next several days and potentially weeks as they wait to see how long this trial is going to last. Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: After weeks of controversy and back and forth with Democrats, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell released the rules of the road for the President's trial late Monday. And by rules of the road, take high- speed trip along the Autobahn, destination freedom town, no stopping, no off-ramps. CNN's Manu Raju has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Under the resolution, it would allow for up to 24 hours of debate on each side. Now -- but that would have to be split from each side for just two days each. So essentially 12 hours a day in which both the House's impeachment managers, first it would make their arguments for up to 12 hours on their side.

And when they're done with their day, then they'll do another 12 hours, presumably the next day and then they'll be done with their arguments. Then there will be time for the President's defense team to make up to 24 hours of arguments on their side. And then at that point, senators will have up to 16 hours to ask questions to all of the people making the case on both sides. And then the big question about whether they would move forward on witnesses would occur.

[01:05:26]

And if there are no witnesses at the moment, Republicans are -- there's not a majority in the Senate to vote to compel witnesses to come forward. And if there is no majority of witnesses to come forward, you can see a vote to acquit this president happening, potentially even by next week.

It's still uncertain if that's what will happen but that is very possible. Democrats tomorrow are planning to object to the how this being laid out by Mitch McConnell. They plan to force a vote right off the top of tomorrow's afternoon's debate to try to force witnesses to come forward, force documents be produced that had been blocked by the White House.

Republicans as expected to reject that and move forward on the opening arguments. They will worry about those issues later. So, under the way this is laid out, expected a potentially quick trial.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining me now from Washington, CNN Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Michael Zeldin. It's been a while, Michael. It's good to see you.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

VAUSE: I want to start with two rules for McConnell that really stood out to me. Firstly, the evidence from the House impeachment hearings will not automatically be admitted. It was during Bill Clinton's impeachment. And more importantly, this second last line for the resolution

McConnell put in, it reads, if the Senate agrees to allow either the House of Representatives or the presidency subpoena witnesses, the witnesses shall first be deposed and the Senate shall decide after deposition, which witnesses shall testify, pursuant to the impeachment rules. No testimony shall be admissible in the Senate -- in the Senate unless the parties had opportunity to depose such witnesses.

Am I reading this right? Does that mean that you know, the Republicans essentially who have the numbers, if there aren't happy with the testimony from potential witness, they have the option to block that witness?

ZELDIN: It's not clear what they mean. In the Clinton impeachment, they wanted live witnesses to testify in the well of the Senate. And instead, they reached an agreement where they would take their depositions in private and then they would play those depositions in the Senate in lieu of live witnesses.

So if that's what they're doing here, they're just going to take the testimony in a separate proceeding, and then play it, then, you know, that's not vastly different than Clinton. If what they're saying is, we'll take the testimony, and if we don't like, if it's not favorable to our client we'll exclude it, that would be problematic, to say the least.

VAUSE: It seems to be very vague. All of it is very vague, a lot of holes that I guess. You know, we've heard from Trump's defense team, they've got this strategy now. They're not going to contest the basic facts. They'll argue that the charges are unconstitutional because there's no violation of a specific law.

They argue that the diluted standard asserted here would be permanently weaken the presidency and forever alter the balance among the branches of government in a manner that offends the constitutional design established by the Founders. We'll get to you know, whether it's the case or not, but as absurd as this argument is, is it the least bad option? Don't they have anything else argue?

ZELDIN: Well, they clearly are of the mind that they cannot defend the President on the facts. He made the call to Zelensky, he asked for the investigation of Biden, and it's irrefutable that that is what is the case. So they're left now with saying two things. One is he did that, yes, but because he's president, he gets to do that. He's entitled to do that. Or in the alternative, he did that, he gets to do that, and even if it's wrong, it doesn't rise the level of an impeachable offense, a high crime, or misdemeanor.

It's not a great defense, but of course, we know that McConnell and Republicans control the votes in the Senate. And so the evidence and the truth of the proposition may not matter in how they vote to acquit or not acquit.

VAUSE: Alan Dershowitz, the famous lawyer, a regular T.V. presence defending President Trump, they were doing it for real this week. There was the time when he said impeachment did not require the violation of an actual crime, but not now. Here he is a few hours ago with that disagreement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DERSHOWITZ: It's very clear now that what you need is criminal like behavior akin to bribery and treason. What is very clear is obstruction of justice, obstruction -- I'm sorry, obstruction of Congress, or abuse of power aren't even close to what the Framers had in mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, here's the founding father, Alexander Hamilton, speaking from the grave, if you like. Part of an essay he wrote about impeachment and the powers of the Senate. The year was 1788, a year after the Constitutional Convention.

"The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men or in other words from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with the peculiar proprietary be dominated political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself." You know, it seems the argument that Dershowitz is trying to put forward he was settled 232 years ago.

[01:10:19]

ZELDIN: Absolutely right. And what Dershowitz is trying to do, I think, is be cute by calling this criminal like behavior. So it's clear that he is in a vast minority by saying it has to be a crime. That really been debunked as a constitutional theory. So now is in this sort of criminal law-like behavior, and that criminal law-like behavior is exactly what abuse of power and obstruction of Congress is all about.

In fact, abuse of power has been articulated as a basis for impeachment in the Clinton case and obstruction of Congress is specifically denominated in the United States criminal code as a criminal offense. So again, they are stretching the bounds of credulity to argue as they are arguing. But because they have no factual defense, this is all they're left with, which is why they don't want witnesses.

VAUSE: You know, and it's hard to find anyone who agrees is Dershowitz and the Trump team. That includes a very outspoken critic. Lawrence Tribe from Harvard Law School, he was on that Anderson Cooper as well. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE TRIBE, PROFESSOR, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: When Alan Dershowitz or anybody, although I don't know anybody else who really does it, comes up and says, well, it's an abuse, but it's not a crime or crime-like, and therefore, we can't remove him for it. That really, that's disgusting.

There's no basis in the constitution or in our history for that. It means that if Abraham Lincoln had said, oh, hell, let the south go or give it to some, you know, let's give it to France. That wouldn't have been a crime but surely it would have been impeachable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know, at the end of the day, you know, all the legal arguments in the world will be nothing because the Republicans are determined to acquit the president. What does that then do in terms of precedent for future administrations?

ZELDIN: Well, I think it's a very bad constitutional precedent that Republicans are arguing that the Democrats are setting a bad constitutional precedent by arguing that the President's obstruction of Congress amounts to an impeachable offense. That is basic blocking and tackling checks and balances that was built into our Constitution.

What they are doing which is precluding evidence, testimony evidence, documentary evidence, railroading this trial through in a two day, two 12-hour sessions which will be running through the middle of the night here, they are afraid of the facts and they are creating a sham trial process.

That I think is what will have the consequences going forward. When you look at this historically, you'll find that these Republicans I think will be bound to have been wanting in terms of their constitutional responsibilities with the way in which they are proceeding in this case so far.

VAUSE: You know, we're out of time, Michael, but, it does make you wonder if they want to sign on board to this legal argument and have it with them for all time. I guess we'll find out.

ZELDIN: That's exactly right. And they take an oath of office, and they take an oath at the impeachment trial to uphold and do impartial justice. They are not -- they are in violation of that oath straight away.

VAUSE: We'll see what happens. Michael, thank you. I appreciate you being with us. Over the last few days, the number of people infected with the new virus in China, that one, has tripled, and the government has acknowledged the health crisis for the first time. According to the Xinhua News Agency, President Xi Jinping has ordered an all-out prevention and control efforts.

The World Health Organization has confirmed the pneumonia-like virus is spreading by human to human transmission. The first few cases were believed to be animal to human sparking fears of a much wider outbreak as hundreds of millions of people start traveling home over the coming Chinese New Year holiday.

So far the virus has claimed four lives, infected more than 200. The epicenter of the outbreak is the city Wuhan, but the disease has now spread to other regions and cities, including Beijing and beyond. Two cases reported in Thailand, while one case confirmed in South Korea, so to Japan. For more now, we going to CNN David Culver who is live in Beijing. So David, when President Xi talks about all our efforts to prevent and control specifically, what does that look like?

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're tapping into exactly what is the frustration of a lot of folks that we've been seeing expressing that on Chinese social media, the lack of clarity, John. So there aren't specifics laid out certainly at the highest level with President Xi, but we are starting to see some of these implementations come in for screening processes and other actions to hopefully contain the spread of this virus.

[01:15:00]

Now, what they're doing Wuhan, because you mentioned that as the epicenter, the ground zero, if you will, is they're not only screening folks who are going in, but also those who are leaving. So, everyone who departs whether it's by train, or by air, they will have to go through one of those thermal detectors to determine whether or not they have a fever. That's one of the most common symptoms of this Coronavirus that they're identified.

And, and it's not just in Wuhan that they're doing this. They're doing screenings now at other airports because we know it has spread outside of the city of Wuhan, even within China. We know it's within Beijing here. We know it's within Shanghai, in Shenzhen in the south, and then of course, in neighboring countries. That is the biggest issue right now is this containment factor.

Now folks have been expressing the lack of guidelines. Quite frankly, they simply don't know what they should be doing. We see some people who are going to buying the facemask but not everybody is doing that. And even a simple search shows that the supplies for those facemasks are running low. In some places, they've sold out. So there seems to be a high demand there.

Going forward, the question remains, how is it that they're going to tackle this from a holistic standpoint? And that is also collectively too with other nations. China has promised they're working with their partners. They're working to share the information that they discover here.

I think if you go back to SARS in 2002 and 2003, there were a lot of questions and doubts as to how that was handled. Things were covered up, underreported. If you look online, there were initial concerns that it was happening here with this virus. Just on Sunday, we saw health officials saying it was preventable and controllable.

But now a different tone. And that tone set in probably about 24 hours ago, I would say, when one of the leading health experts went on CCTV, the state broadcaster to say that this is the beginning stage, but it is climbing. He went on to say, it's human to human transmission that has been confirmed. That is a huge development that they acknowledged.

And beyond that, he cited one case in which one patient apparently infected 14 healthcare workers. So it's causing concern within the hospitals that are treating those who are impacted here. The growing concern has not been eased by the amount of screening going on right now. And it seems, John, the containment hasn't been successful yet either.

VAUSE: Yes, whether it's SARS, the contaminated baby formula, or the H1N1 virus or you know, even the melamine, and the pet food, they've always had a bit of a cover-up with before they get to the truth, but we'll see what happens this time. David, thank you.

China has long breeding ground zero for new identity strains of the influenza virus. Almost 20 years ago, it was SARS, almost 40 years before that, the Hong Kong flu, a decade earlier so are the Asian flu. And just like the SARS outbreak, authorities at tracing the breeding ground for this new virus to so-called wet market where shoppers and live animals are often crammed together in narrow, confined spaces, and the busiest time of year is right now, the days before Chinese New Year.

Families are stocking up for celebrations as loved ones returned home, all part of the biggest human migration on the planet. Hundreds of millions of people crammed together for hours, even days at a time on buses, trains and planes. And officials fear it's a perfect storm which could see the number of cases skyrocket.

In Wuhan where the virus was first detected, the markets have been closed. But that might be a case of closing the market doors out to the virus has well and truly bolted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZHONG NANSHAN, CHINESE ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING (through translator): The newest update is that local authorities have shut down these places that sold wild animals. But now we've seen cases of the virus being transmitted from person to person. So now is the time we should be on high alert.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: To New York now, and joining us this hour is Dr. Celine Gounder, an Infectious Disease Specialist and host of the podcast In Sickness and in Health. Doctor, thanks for being with us.

CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: My pleasure.

VAUSE: OK, now the virus has made that jump from just animals, to human transfer, to human to human, how significantly does that increase the rate of infection?

GOUNDER: So the way I think about this is this is the tip of the iceberg or is this the whole iceberg. So, you know, similar to other Coronaviruses, we initially saw transmission from animals to humans. And then in some very intense cases, especially with healthcare workers who are exposed to patients in a hospital setting, for example, there were cases of infection among doctors and nurses. The question is, are we looking at something that is even more

contagious than that, that you can get just in passing with casual exposure to somebody, and that we don't quite know yet?

VAUSE: Well, I wasn't listed once you get to the official we just heard from. He's a respiratory specialist, and he's one of many in China who now watching just how quickly this virus develops. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANSHAN (through translator): We also need to find ways to contain it fast and reduce infections because in the process of infection, the virus adapts the body and becomes more serious. So if you compare the novel coronavirus, and SARS now, I think they're quite different in terms of the level of seriousness and contagion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:20:04]

VAUSE: So my takeaway from that is it's not bad right now, but there is definitely the potential that this is the beginning, that there's a whole lot more iceberg to come.

GOUNDER: Well, and that's what we don't know. So, could this have been a virus that's been transmitting on the ground? You know, coronavirus has also caused the common cold. And those people who just have the common cold are not going to go to the hospital. They're not oftentimes going to see a doctor. And so those cases are going to be undercounted in all of this.

So a lot of this transmission could have just been going under the radar and we didn't know. And we're only finally picking it up because you have a couple of people who've died from this.

VAUSE: Over the weekend, the number of cases in China tripled. According to the World Health Organization, this is the result of increased searching and testing for the virus among people sick with respiratory illness. And this is to your point.

I'm just wondering, you know, overall, is that a positive there's increased testing which is a good thing, people need to be aware or is it a negative in this -- in the sense of how many more cases are out there that people just don't know about?

GOUNDER: I think it's a positive that we're doing the testing because if you don't have the information, you don't know where the cases are, if you don't have that data, you can't really contain something. So, you know, step number one is do the surveillance, do the testing. Be screening the patients who have the symptoms of the Wuhan coronavirus. So that includes fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, but obviously, a lot of things can cause that.

And so let's tease out which of those things are causing or are these -- are these patients with these symptoms infected with the Wuhan virus or just your run of the mill cold and cough that you get in the winter. That's what really requires a more sophisticated level of surveillance and testing.

VAUSE: You know, officially, the virus has infected I think just over 200 people which scientists from the Imperial College in London believe that number is more like 1,700. They did like this with three cases now discovered elsewhere in Asia. They looked at the number of people from Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the virus, who travel overseas daily and that number is actually fairly low.

And for those who are into math in the equation, there it is. It's kind of complicated. But the economics say is that the number of cases must be higher, maybe as high as 2,200 they admitted or emphasize. But in theory, if you only have a few people traveling overseas, you would require a large number of people that had that disease for it to spread. So I guess, in theory, that makes sense.

GOUNDER: Well, in theory, you know, we've only had four deaths so far. So if you've only had four deaths that of say, 2,200, that would make this a much less deadly disease compared to say, Middle East respiratory virus, MERS, or the SARS coronavirus. MERS was something like over a third of people who are infected died. SARS was more around 10 percent.

So if you're talking about four out of 2,200, obviously, that's a much less deadly disease. So this is why you know, the question of is this the tip of the iceberg or the whole iceberg really matters? Because that really determines the denominator that you're dividing that four deaths by.

VAUSE: Yes. And I guess the question here too was also transparency from the Chinese government which they pledge and we'll see what happens with that. But doctor, good to see you. Thank you for coming in.

GOUNDER: Yes, my pleasure.

VAUSE: Swapping one hoax for another. Donald Trump leaves his impeachment hoax behind, as he has to Davos. But there, the focus were on another so-called hoax, climate change. What's the president to do? Plus, the U.S. demanding her extradition, China pushing back, Canada caught the middle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: I'm Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. CNN Weather Watch time here, and we watch the weather across the Americas right now where disturbance skirts across portions of the Four Corners States. And beyond that, the bigger story here has to be the significant cold air in place.

And in fact, you're looking at the Tuesday morning across portions of the northern tier, whether it be the Midwest or the northeastern United States. Wind chills ranging from about 10 below to 25 to nearly 30 below zero, so certainly going to be a cold start for the kids getting back to school after the holiday weekend across the United States.

But notice storm system on approach here. We get a southerly surge in advance of it. Temps will want to warm up ahead of this finally in the next couple of days, but quite a bit of wet weather returns back into the forecast as early as Thursday and Friday. And into the northern tier, of course, that all translate into somewhat moderate to heavy snow showers.

Tuesday's forecast looks as such in Atlanta, six degrees. Montreal, the best they can do, nine below. Chicago, minus three with sunny skies, work your way towards Vancouver and British Columbia seven degrees rain showers in the forecast there. Well, down towards Mexico City very comfortable set up this time of year as you'd expected, nearly 20 degrees there with partly cloudy skies. Kingston, Jamaica, thanks for tuning in, some evening showers possible, (INAUDIBLE) for about 31 or 23 degrees, I should say there while Paranam sits at 31. And work your way farther towards the west, Lima middle 20s, dry weather in the forecast.

[01:25:00]

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VAUSE: A top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei is fighting extradition to the United States. Meng Wanzhou arrives to a packed courthouse in Vancouver on Monday. She was arrested by Canadian officials in 2018 on U.S. accusations of bank fraud and sanctions violations. CNN's Claire Sebastian has more now on the case reporting in from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the case deeply entangled in geopolitics this week. Meng Wanzhou, Chief Financial Officer gets her first chance to defend herself more than a year after she was arrested in Canada at the behest of the U.S. government, which now seeks her extradition to face charges of bank fraud and evading U.S. sanctions on Iran. She denies the accusations.

Well, the key point here. In order to extradite her to the U.S., Canadian prosecutors must prove that what she did would have been illegal not only in the U.S., but also in Canada, so-called double criminality. They are arguing it is saying how conduct amounts to fraud. Meng's lawyers though argue the charges do not meet that standard because they hinge on U.S. sanctions.

Remember, the U.S. withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement in 2018 and reimpose sanctions. Canada and other signatories did not. Well, Meng Wanzhou's defense is also expected to argue the case is politically motivated. That argument reinforced by the U.S. President's comments shortly after her arrest, that he could intervene in the case if it would help get a trade deal with China.

Well, this whole process could last months, and there's a lot at stake. If she is extradited, it would, of course, put huge strain on relations between China and the U.S. just as they move towards negotiating phase two of their trade deal. Huawei, which is also on a U.S. trade blacklist has been a key stumbling block in the talks. And it could hurt already rock-bottom relations between China and Canada.

In the weeks following Meng's arrest, China detained two Canadian citizens on spying charges. They are still in jail, reportedly facing harsh conditions without access to lawyers or their families, their supporters say. Beijing denies their arrest where retaliation, but the fair is their fate may hinge on the outcome of this case. Claire Sebastian, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: In Davos, the theme is sustainability and climate change. Coming up, all lies though will be on President Trump to see if he addresses an issue he's long dismissed in the past. Also ahead, this is what happens when U.S. lawmakers try and pass gun control measures. Thousands of protesters are right outside the legislature. In days earlier, there were death threats and warnings of civil war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:18]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: World leaders are gathering in Davos, Switzerland for the 50th annual World Economic Forum. In a few hours they'll be joined by President Trump taking time away from his impeachment trial.

Most people in Davos -- (INAUDIBLE) about, you know, facing an intensifying push, rather, to do something, anything about climate change.

Nina Dos Santos is able to talk and she will join us from Davos.

So let's be honest here. The only reason Donald Trump is in Davos this year is because he's facing a week from hell at home. The World Economic Forum was a very good excuse to get out of Dodge, for a few days. Fair, unfair.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's how skeptics might put it -- John. Obviously he himself claims that he's going to be here for touting the United States' economic credentials, the economic growth that's between 2 percent and 3 percent, the stock market is doing very well, and unemployment that he claims is very low.

Remember this is the start of a major election year. Those are the types of credentials he is going to be trying to use to lure business leaders to try and invest back in America.

He's also going to be taking Ivanka Trump, his daughter with him. And she tweeted overnight saying that she's going to be hosting various sort of sideline summits and things to try and get American jobs back to America.

That is going to be the mantra coming from Team Trump here. If the Twitter feed of the United States president is anything to go by, you get confirmation of this. He tweeted about four hours ago, quote, "Heading to Davos, Switzerland to meet with world leaders, business leaders, and to bring good policy and additional hundreds of billions of dollars back to the United States of America. We are number one in the universe, by far."

From up here 1,500 meters above sea level, you could be forgiven that there are still quite a few problems that the United States president has to deal with back home.

This of course, his first foreign trip of the year since various important diplomatic issues have happened on the world stage. And he is going to be questioned about many of them, not least what is going on at home as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOS SANTOS: U.S. Presidents are rare sightings in Davos even among the elite crowd the event draws. But when Donald Trump turns up as he did two years ago he is impossible to miss.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a tremendous crowd and a crowd like they have never had before.

DOS SANTOS: The World Economic Forum with its globalist agenda is thousands of miles away from the President's populist base.

TRUMP: We are going to drain the swamp.

DOS SANTOS: Both geographically and politically. But Davos is first and foremost a business gathering and Donald Trump is keen to attract outside investments.

[01:34:58]

TRUMP: I'm going to be going to Davos. I'll be meeting the biggest business leaders in the world, getting them to come here.

DOS SANTOS: With the ink now dry on a trade truce with China, a victory lap is also the outcome (ph).

GREG SWENSON, REPUBLICANS OVERSEAS: What better place to talk about global trade and global economics than Davos?

DOS SANTOS: This year's summit focuses on how to create a sustainable and cohesive world. Among the attendees, Greta Thunberg, who has clashed with President Trump on climate change; and Angela Merkel, berated by him for spending too little on defense and too much on (INAUDIBLE).

After the U.S. killed Tehran's top general, Iran's delegation has decided to pull out.

SWENSON: If everybody else was to talk about climate change or Iran, that is where he could get into some spats. I think we have to anticipate that, you know, there could be some cringe-worthy moments. But we hope that the President gets all of his tweets done before the doors of Air Force One open on the tarmac.

DOS SANTOS: The trip will be the President's first foreign event in what is set to be a politically charged year on the home front. It coincides with his impeachment trial in the Senate and it comes two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, kicking off the primary season to determine his likely Democratic opponent.

As such, it's little wonder that a survey commissioned ahead of Davos rated U.S. politics as one of the global business community's biggest concerns.

Trump first went (ph) to Davos in 2018, only the second sitting president to attend after Bill Clinton.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.

DOS SANTOS: He may not yet have scored a standing ovation but this president's actions continue to keep Davos' decision-makers on the edge of their seats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOS SANTOS: And John -- there might be more trade truces in the offing if Emmanuel Macron is anything to go by. He tweeted overnight that he'd had a great discussion with Donald Trump on the digital tax issue that the United States has threatened to lob punitive tariffs from French goods about. So it seems as though we might have a little bit of a detente on that front as well.

The President will be arriving in about an hour's time. He'll, as I say, have that big speech about 11:00 local time here in Davos. And then he's got about four big bilateral meetings including with the prime minister of Pakistan, Iraq, and also with the head of the European Commission.

Back to you.

VAUSE: Trying to be friends again with Emmanuel Macron.

Thank you. See you later -- Nina. Thank you.

More than two years after a white supremacist rally turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia there were fears that a similar thing could play out again as gun rights activists, many of them (INAUDIBLE), descend on the state's capital to oppose new firearm restrictions.

Events (ph) leading up to this protest, an out-of-state (ph) militia issued death threats to Democrat lawmakers and others were talking of civil war.

CNN's Nick Valencia reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will not comply. We will not comply. NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They came by the thousands, flooding the streets of Virginia's capital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Second Amendment in and God.

VALENCIA: Gun rights activists, some heavily-armed carrying semi automatic weapons and wearing body armor protesting legislation that would restrict access to firearms in the state.

MANNY VEGA, RICHMOND GUN OWNER: We are here to represent every citizen here that wants to keep the right to bear arms.

VALENCIA: An event the governor and state law enforcement officials feared would get out of control, instead was peaceful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wanted to come out here to show them that I could come out here and act reasonable.

VALENCIA: But in the days leading up to the rally, Virginia officials worry the worst would happen. A perimeter was set up around Richmond's capitol building. Outside of it thousands roamed with weapons in hand. Inside of it, no guns allowed after Governor Ralph Northam issued a temporary weapons banned citing credible threats of violence from extremist and white nationalist groups.

GOV. RALPH NORTHAM, VIRGINIA: Intelligence shows a threat of armed militia groups storming our capital.

VALENCIA: Last week the FBI arrested three alleged members of a radical neo-Nazi groups, two accused of having machine guns and planning to attend the rally.

It's the kind of concern the governor cited in issuing the temporary weapons ban which the governor's critics say was political theater.

You don't believe that there's credible threat.

SEAN RESTALTER (PH), GUN RIGHTS ADVOCATE: I don't think there's credible threats. I think what I see around here are very legitimate gun owners who have legitimate gripes of the government and Ralph Northam is trying to pettifog the issue and trade (ph) it's something that it's not.

VALENCIA: At the core of the protesters' anger is the belief the governor and the legislator controlled by the Democrats are attempting to restrict gun ownership.

The state senate last week passed three gun control measures, as a result, some protesters circulated petitions to recall the governor.

RESTALTER: There are might be -- far right and far left groups that might be out there today. But the vast majority of the message is guns save lives and we believe in the Second Amendment.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VALENCIA: I did speak to a source at the Virginia State Police Department who tells me they were very pleased with the way the event went, saying the fact that no one was injured speaks to how successful the day was.

Nick Valencia, CNN -- Richmond, Virginia.

VAUSE: With that a short break. Back in a moment.

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VAUSE: In the coming days, U.S. Senators will decide the fate of the nation as they act as jurors in the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump. But perhaps even more arduous, more difficult than that -- no cellphone screen time during the hearing.

Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sharpen your pencils -- senators, it's going to be a low tech impeachment trial.

No use of cellphones and no talking. You hear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hear ye, hear ye -- all persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment.

MOOS: "No cellphones, no yacking -- oh the humanity, duct tape and barbiturates for all," marked some heartless soul.

Special cubbyholes were built so senators can stow their electronic devices just like schoolkids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your cellphones are supposed to be where? Yes, in your locker.

MOOS: Senators struggling with phone withdrawal, must confine themselves to salivating over the stenographer's keyboard.

None of this -- Senate Majority Leader McConnell's phone seems to ring --

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Members will have the opportunity to review investigators' records.

MOOS: -- At the most inopportune time. But during the impeachment trial, no disembodied hand will have to reach out to relieve the senator of his phone, no one will be tempted to toss their phone like a grenade.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: I think they were put back in place. They shot down -- they've shot down the -- sorry ab that. They call it a tube. MOOS: And no watching a golf tournament, as Democratic Representative Cedric Richmond did during a House impeachment vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Stanton?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

MOOS: But racy stuff has popped up in the past. For instance the time a Florida state senator said he just innocently opened an email on his laptop -- what should appear but topless women in bikinis.

State Senator Mike Bennett told the "Sunshine State News", "I opened it up and said, holy expletive. What's on my screen? And clicked away from it right away."

Senators, if you have to do something with your hands, scratch your nose and in old-fashioned impeachment, the ayes may have it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Sensenbrenner votes aye.

MOOS: But not the iPhone.

Jeanne Moos, CNN -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause.

"WORLD SPORT" with Vince Cellini is up next.

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