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Coronavirus Impacting Air and Land Travel; Wuhan Turned into a Ghost Town; World Leaders Pay Respect to Holocaust Victims; Democrats Laid Out Their Case Against President Trump; Carrie Lam Address the Challenges Hong Kong is Facing. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired January 23, 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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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN Newsroom.

Coronavirus lock down after 17 deaths and hundreds of new cases. China has suspended planes and trains departing Wuhan, a city of 11 million people and the epicenter of this outbreak.

Plus, we will look at the impact on airline passengers who are now being screened for the virus in China and elsewhere around the world.

And Democrats begin laying out their case for removing Donald Trump from office as opening arguments begin in the president's impeachment trial.

Good to have you with us.

So, Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak and the city of 11 million people, has shut down public transportation hoping to stop the spread of the disease.

Outbound trains and flights are canceled and local buses, ferries and subways have also been suspended. China says the virus has already killed 17 people and infected nearly 600 others.

A few cases have also been reported in at least four other countries including the United States.

So, let's get more from our correspondents. Richard Quest is in Davos, Switzerland. And David Culver who just returned from Wuhan joins us now from Beijing.

David, let's go to you first. You actually got out of Wuhan just before the transportation lockdown was imposed. Talk to us about that, and of course, these new measures being put in place in an effort to contain the spread of this virus.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a 3 a.m. wake up for us, Rosemary, and as soon as we got that phone call, we got word that they were looking to put this lock down in effect. Essentially, not allowing any trains, any planes and certain buses to be leaving the city of Wuhan.

We of course then realized we had to get out as soon as we could. And when we went to the train station one thing that was notice -- notice of all right away is the fact that there were so many people in line that it went out the door, people lined up to get their tickets. And there were families who were obviously changing their holiday travel schedules to try to get out before the 10 a.m. deadline that was put in place came into effect.

Now from getting on to the train we also notice that there were families who were separated from one another. We saw a mom and her husband leaving their son with his grandfather sending him off to Beijing. I mean, this is the holiday rush, this is spring festival when families are normally together and here, they are now having to make decisions to be apart from one another.

And the reason that the parents didn't go with them is because they felt like exposing their loved ones here in Beijing to even potentially more people wo were exposed would be threatening to them.

Overall, it's a strange sentiment there. I mean, the 36 hours that we were we noticed that from when we got on the train initially didn't go from Beijing to Wuhan, not even the staff was wearing the face masks. Police security they likewise were leaving bare faces.

Coming back, everyone from the paramilitary to the staff on the train to the police and security, they were all wearing it. People leaving. One person I notice had a poncho and was wrapped up wearing gloves almost like they came out of surgical unit or has in that situation. That's how prepared they were hoping to keep away any potential exposure to this illness.

Now there were different moods inside the train station too. Docking the folks as we are preparing to depart. We had one person who said look, she felt confident that things will be taken care of. She happens to have a ticket. She was willing to just go and waited out essentially and hope to be back in Wuhan sooner than later.

Another guy had a very different approach. A more panicked approach, saying he actually had a later ticket book, went in to change that ticket to get out as soon as possible. His family was calling him pleading for him to get out and so he's doing just that.

So, it's different moods that you are seeing there. But you mention the local transportation being shut down. That's causing to a frustration quite frankly, because people are concerned that those who need to get to the hospital may not be able to, Rosemary.

CHURCH: That is a critical point and we can't emphasize enough how important it is for people to wear those surgical masks. Doctors say they will stop the spread.

David Culver joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks to you. Glad you got out of Wuhan.

Now one of the biggest challenges to containing the coronavirus is international air travel of course. Airports around the world are now taking extraordinary precautions to prevent a wider outbreak.

[03:05:01]

CNN's Isa Soares explains.

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Before they can deboard in Moscow, each passenger on this plane from China has their body temperatures scanned. Russian health workers are carefully screening for a contagious and potentially deadly virus. Anyone with suspicious symptoms would be isolated.

Once inside the airport thermal imaging looks for any abnormalities. There are similar scenes in Nigeria were thermal scanners check each arrival from zones considered high risk. Transport officials in Kazakhstan are also taking precautions.

As a growing list of countries work to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Implementing strict screenings, adding checkpoints and increasing patient isolation. All public transportation is suspended in the city of Wuhan where the SARS like illness was first detective.

They're appearing to originate in eastern China, the outbreak is now impacting air travel right around the world.

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ALLISON ARWADY, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: The CDC appropriately said let's actually change some practices to make it so we can really reach virtually 100 percent of the travelers who originate their travel in Wuhan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: In the United States officials announced stepping up detection measures at major airports. Authorities they are calling the outbreak a rapidly evolving situation as the country's first case of the coronavirus is confirmed.

Closer to China airports on high alert as containment efforts intensify. Passenger screenings now at least a dozen airports outside China. And that includes, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia where transport officials also carry health alert cards to help doctors quickly identify the disease.

In Thailand where at least three are infected anyone showing symptoms is quarantined and monitored for 24 hours.

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ANUTIN CHARNVIRAKUL, THAILAND MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We are fully alerted. We are fully alerted but we are not able to prohibit people from traveling. So, what we can do is detecting and bring any suspected to receive treatment from our service facility.

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SOARES: Across the region containments faces another challenge. The start of the lunar New Year quickly approaches which is the largest annual human migration on earth. There's hundreds of millions prepared to travel for the holiday. Officials were wide prepared to battle the spreading virus.

Isa Soares, CNN.

CHURCH: And our Richard Quest is an expert on international air travel, he joins us now live from Davos, Switzerland. Good to see you again, Richard. So, what else can international airports and airlines do apart from the scanning they've already got in place, especially where an infected traveler is not yet showing symptoms?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Then you're having to rely on the hospitals and the medical systems within the individual countries to very quickly, doctors basically very quickly identifying the situation and national health agencies moving into top gear.

The good news, if such there is, is that everybody is very experienced at doing this. Whether it's being from Ebola or from SARS or variety of other ones. National health systems know how to quickly identify, quarantine, and deal with.

Same with the airlines. There is a well-practiced structure in place. Now the difference here is, because Wuhan is the size of the city 11 million people, we never really had to deal with this at this early stage on such a large scale.

The potential for the number of people to have traveled from Wuhan into other parts of China who then go further overseas is quite remarkable. And that's why the airlines and national health agencies have put in place this preliminary screening at airports followed up by much greater information to doctors and health networks so that they can identify.

It's not going to be easy, Rosemary. Make no bones about it. This is -- this has the potential to be on a very large scale. But the plans are known and they are in place.

CHURCH: That is comforting at least. CNN's Richard Quest in Davos, Switzerland bringing us up to date on the situation there. Many thanks.

Well, two suspected cases of the Wuhan coronavirus are now reported in Hong Kong. Chief executive Carrie Lam makes it clear it's very worrying.

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CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE: With this rapid flow of people across the border it makes Hong Kong even more vulnerable should this disease spread. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And she explains how her government hopes to prevent an outbreak. We'll have more on that ahead.

House Democrats make their case to the Senate. Why they say Trump must be removed from office before the 2020 election.

We're back in a moment.

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CHURCH: U.S. House impeachment managers are laying out what they call overwhelming evidence against Donald Trump. In the first day of opening arguments in his Senate trial Democrat Adam Schiff spent hours explaining how the president abused his power by asking Ukraine for dirt on his political opponent Joe Biden then tried to cover it up.

Republican Senators who voted against new witnesses or documents the day earlier are now complaining they've heard nothing new. One went even further.

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SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): When you think about this entire process, so if yesterday they were going to present today overwhelming evidence. What we've seen is just a rehashing of yesterday's charade.

Therefore, the conclusion is a very simple one, that the goal of this entire process is not to remove the president from office, it's simply to remove certain Republican senators. Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa, Maine and Arizona from office. And this is an absolutely an opportunity for them to try to overtake the Senate.

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CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Good to have you with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, House managers led by Adam Schiff presented a coherent and cohesive case based in fact. But how will it go over politically? And are Americans even taking note here?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it is interesting. I mean, obviously we are a very dug in and highly polarized country. But the polling is pretty striking in a couple of different respects. First, the share -- asked throughout this process, the share of Americans who believe that the president did something wrong in Ukraine is always been higher than the share who support removing him from office.

In our CNN poll that came out this week were up to 58 percent of the country saying he abused his power in what he asked the Ukrainian president to do. That is a striking number. Another polls today out from the Pew Research Center which is an independent organization, found 63 percent of Americans believe that he has definitely or probably violated the law while president.

Again, an incredible finding. And finally, on the ultimate question of removal, you know, both the Pew poll and the CNN poll had 51 percent a slight majority of Americans saying they support of removing him from office. That doesn't sound like much.

But keep in mind that when Bill Clinton was being impeached no more than 35 percent of the country at any point said he should be removed from office. And a majority only agreed that Richard Nixon should be removed in the very last poll before he resigned.

I think half of the country is saying we should take the unprecedented step of removing a president from office is probably about as far as you can get in this highly polarized time.

CHURCH: Interesting. And polls also show that the majority of Americans want to see new witnesses testify for this impeachment trial like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and of course, former national security adviser John Bolton.

[03:15:08]

Some Republicans are now indicating they may very well vote with the Democrats to call new witnesses. But how likely is it that four of them will do that?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, as you saw the House managers today made a very persuasive overall case. But specifically on this point I thought they were pretty deft at, you know, taking the Republican -- taking the senators listening up to a point of disputed testimony, and saying, you can resolve this, you can ask for the testimony from the direct person involved, John Bolton. You can ask for the relevant documents that the White House has refused to provide. It is right there for you.

And in any trial anywhere in the country you would have access to this information. And I think they very effectively made the case for more documents. I don't think we know. It is, as you point out, there's overwhelming public support for more -- for more witnesses and more evidence.

I think they made a very persuasive case. There are a lot of Republicans who simply do not want to grapple with the magnitude of what is being laid out here. But are there four or five? I think it's unlikely there will be just four? I think there is this four. It's more likely there will be seven or eight.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, always great to get your perspective and analysis, many thanks.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp comes as anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world. Dozens of world leaders are gathering in Jerusalem not only to remember the past but to guard against it repeating in the future.

And Oren Liebermann joins us now from Jerusalem with the details. So, Oren, talk to us about what's planned to mark this 75th anniversary, and of course who all will be in attendance.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, this is arguably the biggest gathering of world leaders, heads of state, members of royal families, and dignitaries in the history of the country of Israel. Time to coincide, as you pointed out, with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

And that is a significant event, this is the fifth world Holocaust forum titled Remembering the Holocaust Fighting Anti-Semitism.

Some of the biggest names have arrived this morning. Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Tel Aviv a short time ago. He is now meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Of course, with any gathering like this these meetings are a part of the events going on around the major ceremony here.

Vice President Mike Pence also arrived this morning and Prince Charles is scheduled to arrive. Those three will be speaking as will some others to mark the event. And it's not just the timing that this coincides with the 75th anniversary, it's also what we see when we look around the world today.

Fears of a rising anti-Semitism. For example, in Germany we saw Dresden declaring an emergency on the re-emergence of Nazi ideology, as well as in the U.S. Of course, we have the attacks in San Diego and Pittsburgh, Jersey City and Monsey. And all of this points to the idea that Jews aren't safe in too many places and that is what's brought all the world leaders together here.

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin hosted many of those leaders at his resident for dinner last night and said this is an opportunity, perhaps an historic opportunity for world leaders to stand united and take action against extremism, racism, and anti-Semitism.

In fact, research just released by the Pew Research Center suggest that more than half of American adults don't know basic facts about the Holocaust. Such as how Hitler came to power to how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

And that echo some of the research we saw in CNN's own survey of anti- Semitism in Europe which found that one in 20 had never heard of the Holocaust, and one in four said Jews had too much influence in business and finance.

So, this will be a conference about addressing the rise in anti- Semitism and trying to find a common ground to stand on and trying to find action that can be taken here as all of these world leaders here look to make some headway in the fight against anti-Semitism. Rosemary? CHURCH: Yes. Some shocking results there, and of course, as you were

speaking to us, we saw Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrived there. He was with Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, and we also saw U.S. Vice President Mike Pence there. Many thanks to you for bringing us up to date on the plans for that 75th anniversary.

Well, French President Emmanuel Macron is among the world leaders in Jerusalem. But when he visited a French cathedral in the old city, he got into a bit of a dustup with Israeli security forces.

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EMMANUEL MACRON PRESIDENT OF FRANCE: We know perfectly everybody knows the rules. I don't like what you did in front of me. But outside, outside please. I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Mr. Macron was upset that some of the security detail tried to enter the church because it's technically French property of course. The same thing happened when President Jacques Chirac visited that cathedral back in 1996. Chirac refused to go inside until the Israeli security left.

[03:20:09]

The virus outbreak in China has Hong Kong on edge. After the break chief executive Carrie Lam explains how the city is using lessons from the past to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

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CHURCH: Well, three people are dead after an aircraft fighting bush fires crashed in the mountains of New South Wales. Australia. the C- 130 Hercules air tanker went down in a ball of fire shortly before 1.30 p.m. local time.

The Australian fire and emergency service authorities told CNN the casualties were Americans. They work for a company contracted by the rural fire service to help combat the bush fires that have been ravaging New South Wales for weeks now.

The plane's crew had been working in Australia's Alpine region. They departed Richmond, New South Wales with a load of retardant and were on a fire-bombing mission. In recent days the U.S. has sent additional personnel to help in the ongoing bush fire crisis in Australia.

Well, Hong Kong health officials now believe they've identified two possible cases of the coronavirus in the city. Additional testing will confirm whether the deadly disease has in fact arrived there.

Earlier, chief executive Carrie Lam was asked how Hong Kong plans to prevent an outbreak in the city. She spoke about that and other matters with CNN's Fareed Zakaria in Davos, Switzerland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: What can you tell us about the Wuhan virus how worried should we be?

LAM: We have been putting ourselves on a very highly vigilant system. Because we learn from the past, I'm sure you still remember Hong Kong handling the SARS. And I have asked my health colleagues to be really on the guard because public health is so very important with the community, and with this rapid flow of people across the border, it makes Hong Kong even more vulnerable should this disease spread.

ZAKARIA: All right. Now to the larger stuff. I saw somewhere that you said you weren't sure what the protesters were so protesting about in Hong Kong given that you have withdrawn the extradition bill and made clear that it is a dead letter.

You know, there is this irresistible force of the protesters with a lot of public support and there is the immovable object of Carrie Lam. What is going to happen?

LAM: We have absolutely no problem with peaceful demonstrations against anything under the sun. Whether it's myself, my government, social livelihood issue, lack of affordable housing. But on this occasion over the last few months what we have seen in Hong Kong which is totally unprecedented and unfamiliar to us and every one of you who knows Hong Kong and loves Hong Kong is at high degree of violence.

The total disrespect for differences in opinion that people were beaten when they hold a different opinion from some of these protesters are rioters.

[03:25:01]

So, to simplify all these protests as just fighting for democracy and for continued freedoms may have underestimated the situation. So similarly, for the government who provide a political response because the protesters or these rioters wanted to see a particular response, were not be a very prudent way of ensuring Hong Kong's future and public interest.

ZAKARIA: You said you have met three times with Xi Jinping.

LAM: Yes.

ZAKARIA: Do you believe that he is committed to maintaining the one country two systems and letting Hong Kong have the special status that it has?

LAM: I have received very clear messages from President Xi, himself, from other central leaders that one country two systems is almost sacrosanct. But of course, as I put down a qualifier it has to be accurately understood and fully implemented.

ZAKARIA: Your approval rating is now 14 percent. It must be very difficult to operate under those circumstances? Why not resign?

LAM: It would be easy, Fareed. It will be very easy to just run away or walk away from a situation. Hong Kong now has several crises to handle, to manage. The economic recession, this continued protest, and the political discontent, and lately a public health crisis.

So, I do feel that it is that same sense of responsibility that has motivated me three years ago to contest in the chief executive election that has given me that stamina to stay on. Because it's not easy, it's really not easy to stay on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Business Traveler is coming up next. But first, I'll be back with the check of the headlines. So, stay with us.

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