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China Agrees To Allow In International Experts; Trump Unveils Israeli-Palestinian Plan; Officials: Helicopter Lacked Terrain Warning System; South Korea Preps to Stop Spread of Virus; Trump Unveils Israeli-Palestinian Plan; Interview with Jared Kushner. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 29, 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]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour, as the number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus surges, China relents and will allow the WHO to send international teams of experts to help.

Donald Trump calls his Mideast peace plan a win-win. It's a win for Israel's Prime Minister, and probably a win for the U.S. President. As for the Palestinians, best not to ask. And in defense of the President, his lawyers warning danger, danger, danger. But is there an argument against witnesses now lost in space as momentum grows to allow testimony from former White House Advisor John Bolton.

We begin this hour again with the Wuhan coronavirus and a grim new milestone in mainland China, which now reports nearly 6,000 cases, meaning the outbreak has officially surpassed the number of SARS cases China reported in 2003. Some of the other big developments, the virus has claimed 132 lives, all of them in China, with state media though is reporting some patients have recovered and being discharged from hospital. But the number of confirmed cases globally continues to rise.

And after repeatedly declining offers of international assistance, China has now agreed to allow the World Health Organization to send in teams of scientific and medical experts. The very latest data from CNN's Steven Jiang standing by live in Beijing. Steven, why officials in Beijing been so reluctant up until this point to accept international help? If nothing else, they must know that raises that maybe they're hiding something.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, John, at least right now they're realizing this is increasingly a global problem with all these cases you've probably have noticed as well. Now, the problem for this reason, President Xi Jinping, when he met with the visiting head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday said both sides should further their collaboration on a number of fronts, a containment measures in Wuhan, public health measures in other Chinese cities, and more importantly, in addition to letting outside experts in that both sides should continue sharing data including with the Chinese promising to share biological data. Now, that's very, very important because there were some alarming

trends here in China, including that more examples of people without any symptoms are actually infecting people. Now that is a big challenge -- that's going to be a big challenge for governments around the world when it comes to prevention and containment strategies because if people are not showing symptoms, a lot of the efforts like quarantine rules like temperature checks may be ineffective.

That's why I think the Chinese authorities realize that's a problem not only for the Beijing government but also for a lot of governments around the world. And then they need all the help they could to find more and find more quickly about this virus with many, many unknown aspects. John.

VAUSE: OK, Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang taking live duty for us again this hour in Beijing. I appreciate it. Many governments are now moving to evacuated their nationals from the Wuhan virus zone. In the coming hours, more than 200 Americans will arrive in Alaska, but then face weeks in isolation. Details now from CNN's David Culver reporting from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Leaving the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus, American Priscilla Dickey and her eight- year-old daughter Hermione record their drive to safety.

PRISCILLA DICKEY, AMERICAN CITIZEN STRANDED IN WUHAN: I've never seen this road this empty in the middle of the day.

CULVER: Arriving at a desolate Wuhan Airport headed back to the U.S.

HERMIONE DICKEY, AMERICAN CITIZEN STRANDED IN WUHAN: I'm trying to get a ticket to the flight.

P. DICKEY: Yes, trying to get our flight.

CULVER: We video chatted with the pair the night before the flight. They were among 240 U.S. citizens including diplomats and their families granted special approval to get out of the lockdown zone.

H. DICKEY: I'm already all packed. My dad is over there.

CULVER: Retreating from the front lines of this deadly outbreak, as Chinese medical personnel move in with force. More than 4,000 deployed to Hubei province setting up roadblocks for temperature screenings, checking for those who might be infected and potentially carrying the virus. At this community hospital, doctors seeing patient after patient.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I received 55 patients today of whom nearly 20 had fever. Of those 20 patients, two are suspicious cases of a new type of viral pneumonia and have been transferred for treatment.

CULVER: Amid the crisis, acts of kindness. With public transportation shut down, local Chinese offering to drive those otherwise stranded.

[01:05:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We help each other. We work together. I hope the epidemic can go away and we can get the normal life back.

CULVER: Chinese state media reports rapid construction underway for not one but two new hospitals. They will reportedly hold more than 2,000 infected patients, and both are slated to open within two weeks' time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My wife is a medical worker and I'm a builder at the hospital. Our goal right now is to build this hospital better so that all medical staff like my wife can work worry- free and feel more secure.

CULVER: And as a sign of unity, on Monday evening, social media captured residents joining voices singing China's national anthem from their open windows and chanting, go Wuhan. Back inside a near-empty Wuhan airport terminal, the waiting game. Pricilla and her daughter posing for photos about to board a long flight back to the U.S. to be followed by several days of quarantine.

The U.K., France, and Australia are likewise looking to get some of their citizens out of the lockdown zone. Japan and South Korea have likewise chartered flights. Now, their flights are coming in with much needed medical supplies that they will leave behind for the doctors and nurses here in China. David Culver, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We understand Pricilla Dickey and her daughter were unable to board the charter flight out of Wuhan because of passport issues for her daughter. Along with other U.S. citizens in the lockdown zone, they're seeking clarity from the State Department on evacuation plans.

Well, as he unveiled his long-awaited Mideast peace plan, U.S. President Donald Trump said it was the deal of the century but he never said for who. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu though is a big winner from this plan which allows Israel to annex all its settlements in the West Bank. And that's just for starters. We're offering the Palestinians a future state, kind of, under very strict conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My vision presents a win-win opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel's security.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Mr. President, your deal of the century is the opportunity of the century. And rest assured, Israel will not miss this opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: President Trump tweeted a map showing what a future Palestinian state would look like squint because it's the stuffed in green, nearly completely surrounded by Israel. According to the plan, Israel would get Palestinian stretches of land in the Israeli desert near Gaza, as well as Egyptian border.

Palestinians were not part of the negotiations and the word Palestine or Palestinian state did not appear on the map. The president of the Palestinian authority though called it a slap of the century. Details now from Sam Kiley reporting from Ramallah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority has, of course, predictably slammed this proposal that has come from Donald Trump standing shoulder to shoulder with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, because first of all, the Palestinians had absolutely no input into this plan. But more importantly, it is already almost a mute-point since by Sunday, the Israeli Prime Minister is saying and he's saying it with the endorsement of the United States.

He will begin the process of unilateral annexation of the Jordan Valley, of Israeli settlements and other parts of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians ultimately, even if they were to behave according to the demands set by the United States with an ink spots or an ink splotch of territory on a much-reduced basis, very much less territory than they could have been led to expect that they might get for Palestinian state as part of the old fashioned definition of negotiations towards a Tuesday solution based on the 67 borders.

Now, one of the interesting things, though, has the reaction from the Arab world from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, in particular, there has been no mention of the plans for annexation, but rather an encouraging set of sounds from each of those countries calling on both sides to use this plan as a basis for future negotiations.

That being echoed also from the United Kingdom previously, a leading exponent of the two-state solution based on the 67 borders, but that now effectively has been thrown out the window. Sam Kaylie, CNN in Ramallah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: To Washington now and Nathan Guttman, Foreign Correspondent for IPBC, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. Nathan, thanks for being with us. You know, it's really no surprise the Palestinians rejected this deal of the century. Here's Hussein Ibish. He's a senior scholar at the Arab Gulf State Institute. He tweeted," Just went through the Trump peace plan. Sick joke. Palestinians are being offered no state at all, just the box a state came in. Israel will be left in complete control the entire area from the river to the sea. Pure apartheid. Makes massive future conflicts inevitable."

What is surprising, though, is the total lack of support for the Palestinians from the Arab and the Muslim world. And that seems stunning.

[01:10:21]

NATHAN GUTTMAN, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, ISRAELI PUBLIC BROADCASTING CORPORATION: I think it is interesting that the Palestinians are all alone in this basically. We've seen the Saudis basically endorse the plan. We've seen a few Gulf states even send representatives to the White House to the ceremony today.

Egyptians and Jordanians are more cautious about it, but basically, Palestinians are out there alone. Again, if you don't count Iran and Turkey, they're out there alone fighting this fight against Trump's peace plan. And of course, the rest of the world, even if they don't endorse it, no one is actually speaking out against it.

I mean, if you look at this long term, is there any realistic outcome, that this is not in fact, a piece plan but a plan to destroy a chance of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Also, in the short term, it will be a huge boost for Netanyahu also been indicted on Tuesday of corruption charges.

GUTTMAN: Oh, it's definitely a huge boost for Netanyahu. He came into the White House hours after he's been formally indicted by an Israeli a prosecutor in court. He's facing elections in five weeks. And now he can come to the Israeli people, to the Israeli voters and tell them look, I delivered.

First of all, I have this great friendship with the President of the United States who provided me with the best plan that our Likud government could ever ask for. And also he can tell -- he can tell the settlers, look, we have now the recognition of the only superpower in the world, that your legal, and that you're going to stay there forever. There will be no Israeli settlers removed from their homes even under a final statuses solution. So for him, it's definitely a great political achievement.

VAUSE: And the price of that will be a real long-lasting peace with the Palestinians.

GUTTMAN: Well, right now, there is no negotiation even. And this whole deal of the century, as President Trump has called it, has been worked out without consulting with the Palestinians at any point. The Palestinians weren't part of the discussions and they've not provided any input into this process. And of course, they're rejecting it now.

So the question is what happens the day after. So we rolled out this plan that has 181 pages, but you don't have a partner on the other side, which means basically what happens now our Israeli unilateral moves, meaning, extending the Israeli law onto the settlements and the Jordan Valley, basically annexation, and an Israeli promise not to extend a building in the existing settlements outside the area that's designated for Israel for the next four years.

So it's all unilateral right now. Basically, this negotiation is between Netanyahu and Trump, not between Israelis and Palestinians. VAUSE: Which seems a very odd way to make a deal. The U.S. President

though explained why this plan would succeed where so many others which involved talking to Palestinians and stuff like that have failed. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In the past, even the most well-intentioned plans were alike on factual details and heavy on conceptual frameworks. By contrast, our plan is 80 pages and as the most detailed proposal ever put forward by far. As I have seen throughout my long career as a deal maker, complex problems require nuanced fact-based remedies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, I don't really understand what he's talking about. But by comparison stage, one of the Oslo Peace Accord, officially called the declaration of principles of interim self-government arrangements came in at 448 pages. You know, there is nuance and then there is nonsense. When the Vice President talks about factual detail versus conceptual frameworks, what's he referring to?

GUTTMAN: Well, basically what he's trying to say is that he believes that this plan that was worked out by Jared Kushner and his team provide some kind of practical solutions to many issues on the table. Where were the funding come from? How would this Palestinian entity be supported? What are the exact next steps the Palestinians need to do? How will you get -- how do you connect the Gaza to the West Bank? They're suggesting a tunnel that will go in between the two areas.

They have many very practical and specific ideas within this big paper that they put out, basically, half of it being a political paper, half of it being an economic paper. But what is lacking is the bigger vision.

VAUSE: Very quickly, it just seems a very odd way to get a deal to put out or to declare the final terms and to lay all that out even before negotiations begin.

GUTTMAN: Well, I think there is an underlying premise here, and that is that the Palestinians right now don't have much of a negotiating leverage over the Israelis or the Americans. We're three years into the Trump administration. The Palestinians have seen America basically turned its back on them, cut all ties, cut the financial aid and support.

They're not in a position to impose any, any problem right now, the Americans or the Israelis. And therefore, I think part of the rationale is that this is a plan that the Israelis can accept. And the Palestinians, well, they have no choice because there is no better plan out there for them. And if there is any thinking behind that, this is the idea.

[01:15:38]

VAUSE: So it's an edict, I guess, rather than a plan. Nathan, thanks so much. Good to see you. I appreciate it.

GUTTMAN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Now to the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. And the top Republican in the U.S. Senate says he does not have enough votes yet to block witnesses according to a source who's at the closed-door meeting. The President's legal team wrapped its case on Tuesday, but there are still two days of questions before vote on allowing any testimony. And that is a world of time in this trial. CNN's Jim Acosta has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK PHILBIN, TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: Mr. Chief Justice, I'll yield back my time to Mr. Sekulow.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: On the final day of arguments for the President's legal team, one of Mr. Trump's top lawyers Jay Sekulow sounded the alarm that the impeachment trial is endangering the Constitution.

JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: Danger, danger, danger. It is not a game of leaks and unsourced manuscripts.

ACOSTA: Sekulow then blasted away at this week's big revelation, John Bolton's unpublished book that claims Mr. Trump told his then-National Security Advisor that aid Ukraine would be on hold until investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden are announced.

SEKULOW: You cannot impeach a president on an unsourced allegation. I mean, that's what -- I mean, that's what the evidence -- if you want to call that evidence, I don't know what you call that. I'd call that inadmissible, but that's what it is.

JOHN KELLY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: John is a stand-up guy.

ACOSTA: Now, there are growing calls for Bolton to testify even from former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who said during a speaking event in Florida, "If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton. So I think if there are people that could contribute to this either innocence or guilt, I think they should be heard."

But the question is what should be done about it. Whether Bolden would be called as part of a witness swap proposed by some senators --

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I'd like to hear from John Bolton and I think the idea that's been expressed in the media about having each side be able to choose a witness or maybe more than one witness on a paired basis has some merit.

ACOSTA: Or GOP senators will opt to request Bolton's manuscript to read it behind closed doors, even though the book is still being reviewed by the White House.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): But we can go through it, even while it's going through the classification process. We can read all of it and see it -- and see for ourselves if there's anything significant.

ACOSTA: While the President has rejected Bolton's claims, Democrats aren't buying it.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): There's been a steady drip, drip, drip of information. The truth leaking out and one explosive article after another.

ACOSTA: The President has told aides he's pleased with his legal team's performance after his lawyer spent much of their defense attacking Biden's son Hunter, and his time on the board of the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma. That delighted some Republican senators.

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): And I'm really interested to see how this discussion today and forms and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus-goers. Will they be supporting president -- Vice President Biden at this point.

ACOSTA: Biden argues that's been the point all along.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She spilled the beans. She just came out and flat said it.

ACOSTA: The President is also congratulating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after his aides barred a reporter from National Public Radio from covering an official department trip overseas. An apparent act of retaliation for NPR's grilling of Pompeo on the Ukraine scandal.

TRUMP: That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you yesterday. I think you did a good job in her actually. That's good. Thank you, Mike.

ACOSTA: The big question heading into the rest of the week is still whether there are enough Republican votes to call for witnesses like former National Security Advisor John Bolton. A source close to the President's legal team says they are reasonably confident that witnesses will not be called barring any new bombshells. The President's lawyers are also predicting Mr. Trump will be acquitted by the end of the week. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, could a missing safety feature be to blame for the helicopter crash which claimed the life of Kobe Bryant. In a moment, we'll have the very latest from investigators. And later this hour, with four confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus, officials in South Korea implement emergency measures to try and stop the deadly outbreak from continuing to spread.

[01:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Let's talk weather. I'm Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, CNN weather watch. And a quieter pattern persisting across the United States with really the most active areas into the Northwest and into the southeast. And beyond that just a few snow showers were you expected into the interior portion of the U.S.

But you notice really not a major coverage in area of wet weather, whether it be snow or rain, the pattern becoming quieter and quieter to wrap up the month of January. And some colder areas certainly going to be expected across portions of the northern United States. But as we go into early next week, almost a hint of spring returning as far north as portions of Wisconsin. This is an incredible shift here to usher in the month of February. Of course, Groundhog's Day across the United States within the next few days to certainly going to see how things play out.

But temperatures in Chicago will start you off at around zero with some morning showers on Wednesday. Vancouver, British Columbia about nine degrees there with some rain showers. And look at this. You bring in the coldest time of year in New York City. How about we go almost 10 degrees above average, so an incredible shift here to milder weather across some of the colder places across the U.S. when it comes to early February.

But here's the trend a little farther to the south. Chihuahua, Mexico a pair of twos, Managua, a pair of threes. In Kingston, Jamaica almost 30 degrees expecting to dry -- remain dry across that region, and the Bahamas, a comfortable afternoon at 26 with dry weather. Paranam, a few scattered storms, highs there 31.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Investigators are learning new details about the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others on Sunday. They now believe the aircraft was only about nine meters short of clearing the hilltop before it crashed. They also say the flight did not have a safety feature, which could have alerted the pilot about the terrain. CNN's Nick Watt has more now on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're watching Kobe Bryant's helicopter circling 9:29 a.m. Sunday, just minutes before it crashed. The pilot had just requested what's called special visual flight rules.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy that. We'll maintain special VFR.

WATT: That means special clearance to fly in visibility that's worse than normal. But the pilot who we know was experienced, apparently felt he could still fly safely.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION BOARD: We will be looking at why he requested that and what the weather situation was at the time and whether he showed have.

WATT: They flew on. Minutes later -- HOMENDY: The pilot advise they were climbing to avoid a cloud layer.

Radar data indicates the helicopter climbed to 2,300 feet, and then began a left descending turn.

WATT: Then smashed into a hillside.

HOMENDY: We're not just focusing on weather here though.

WATT: The pilot, the company, the aircraft, the engines, radio communication, the flight path, the speed, and more. Was the pilot under any pressure to fly despite worsening weather?

[01:25:07]

PETER GOELZ, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: It's certainly something the NTSB will look at. It's certainly something the NTSB has encountered in past tragedies. There's no indication that this flight fell into that category.

WATT: Kurt Deetz says he flew Kobe Bryant maybe 100 times and never felt any pressure to fly in bad weather.

KURT DEETZ, HELICOPTER PILOT: I never force it. But as a pilot of heightened command, no matter what, you are in final authority of how an aircraft operated.

WATT: LeBron James promise to continue Kobe's legacy posting on Instagram, "I literally just heard your voice Sunday morning before I left Philly to head back to L.A. I didn't think for one bit in a million years that would be the last conversation we'd have."

Last time we heard his voice, an interview with CNN 10 days before he died.

KOBE BRYANT, ATHLETE: I don't weigh in on hypotheticals. I never -- I never have. Those things drive me crazy. Because as a competitor, you can't -- there's nothing you can do about them. You can't debate yourself to winning something, right? That was the beauty of all sports is you compete. You either win or you lose.

WATT: Back near the spot where Kobe died, almost a promise.

HOMENDY: I'm very confident we'll determine the cause of the accident.

WATT: All nine bodies have now been recovered from that crash site. And the NTSB tells us they are also finished with their work there. In 10 days, they will release a factual report. For the analysis, for the conclusions, well, they say that could take up to 18 months.

We've also learned how Kobe Bryant spent his last morning. We're told by the pastor of his local Catholic Church that he bumped into Kobe Bryant 10 of seven, Sunday morning, just before morning mass as Kobe was coming out of the prayer chapel. The two men spoke and the pastor called it a moment of grace. Nick Watt, CNN Calabasas.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Still to come, as South Korea prepared to evacuate hundreds of its citizens from Wuhan, we'll take you to the hospital treating those who've been exposed to the deadly coronavirus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:39]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

With the Israeli Prime Minister by his side, President Trump announced his administration's plan for Mideast peace. Among other things, it allows Israel to annex all its settlements on the West Bank. Palestinians have rejected the deal, outright calling it the slap of the century.

A source tells CNN U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell admits he does not have enough votes right now to stop witnesses in Donald Trump's impeachment trial. The President's attorneys finish their opening arguments on Tuesday. Next -- two days of questions from the senators.

The Wuhan coronavirus has hit a new milestone in China. Now nearly 6,000 cases surpassing the number of SARS cases China reported back in 2003. The virus has claimed 132 lives, all of them in China. And President Xi Jinping has agreed to allow the World Health Organization to send in teams of experts to help investigate the outbreak.

Four cases of the virus have been confirmed in South Korea, and the government there has set up an emergency task force to try and keep the virus from spreading further.

We've got details now from CNN's Paula Hancocks reporting in from Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the National Medical Center in the heart of Seoul and this is where the South Korean government has decided will be the main hospital for those who have coronavirus or those who are suspected with having the virus.

Now, we know there is one patient here already on the seventh floor in this building behind me. You can see many of the medical staff not taking any chances. Just inside there, they have their hazmat suits on.

And this is the area where those who think they have symptoms of the virus will come. They want to make sure here that those who are worried that they may have the virus are not going to be mixing in with the rest of the hospital population because there are still plenty of regular patients here. So this is the main reception area where they will come inside and this is where they will be processed. Well, a little earlier on this Tuesday, President Moon Jae-in came to visit this facility. He wanted to make sure, he said, that everything was up to scratch. He wanted to make sure that enough was being done and the priority was being put on coronavirus.

Now, just on Monday, the government raised the alert level to the second highest level that it could be. What that does is it means that the government takes over the control, as opposed to the CDC. And it means that an emergency task force that is being set up to deal with this as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: As we're are filming, we're moved back by medical personnel in hazmat suits as potential patients arrived to be tested. They're given a CT scan in the country's only mobile CT scanner trying to detect viral pneumonia so potential Wuhan patients can be segregated.

A 55-year-old South Korea man was brought in last Friday and has been confirmed with the virus after traveling from Wuhan. Doctor Kim Yong Jae (ph) has been treating the patient and says he is stable but he believes the next week could be critical in stemming the spread of the virus.

"The virus can mutate very easily," he says, "and if we have a super spreader due to the mutation he's infecting more people than usual virus carriers, this is very hard to combat. That is what I am most concerned about."

Now, this hospital is preparing for future patients. Through these two double doors there are seven individual rooms, a bed in each of those rooms. There is negative pressure (INAUDIBLE) to try and make sure they can contain the virus. And they already -- they are waiting for potential patients to come.

The government is planning to send four charter flights to Wuhan later this week to evacuate up to 700 South Korean citizens from ground zero of the outbreak. They have initially tested negative for the virus, but will stay at a separate facility for 14 days to avoid spreading infection. Anyone with symptoms will be transported to this hospital where empty beds are waiting.

Paula Hancocks, CNN -- Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And still to come, it is your big opportunity, better not blow it. Advice to the Palestinians from presidential son-in-law and architect of the deal of the century, Jared Kushner. His interview with CNN in a moment.

[01:34:42]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: 50 U.S. service members have now been diagnosed with concussions and other traumatic brain injuries, the result of the Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi airbase housing U.S. personnel earlier this month. The Pentagon has raised the total number of injured three times now.

Last week the U.S. President said the injuries were not very serious -- just headaches. Well, many of the injured troops have now returned to duty; almost 20 others have been pulled from Iraq for evaluation as well as treatment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to move quickly on President Trump's Mideast peace plan. At their joint appearance at the White House Mr. Netanyahu said he would begin the West Bank annexation process at this Sunday's cabinet meeting.

That is one of the key provisions of the plan that was reached without Palestinian input. President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is one of the main architects of the plan. And he spoke with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: This is a huge day for you, for the President, and let's face it, for Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies and supporters. We know that they believe this to be a great deal because they have said it -- he has said from the podium.

But I want to pick up on what the President said. That we wanted to make this a win-win deal including for the Palestinians. Can you tell me -- so layout precisely where you think the win is for the Palestinians? The precise details?

JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: First -- well, first of all, I would like to say that today was a big accomplishment for President Trump -- something that only he could have done.

He met yesterday with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but also with General Gantz, his opponent, in a time of very divisive politics in Israel where they can't agree on much. He brought the country together on what has been the most divisive issue.

What he has also done is he's released an 80-page, detailed plan. In past plans, we had the Arab Peace Initiative which was a very good effort which was about eight lines. And then you had past proposals which were two or three pages of words (INAUDIBLE) documents, really talking about high principles.

He also got Israel to agree, for the first time, to a state. And he got Israel to agree a map. So what you've seen today is that President Trump has built a lot of trust with the state of Israel. He has done a lot of great things that have made Israel more secure and the relationship between America and Israel stronger.

And what he has been able to do today is deliver for the Palestinians a pathway to a state, a contiguous territory, and conditions where they can earn their way to their independence, dignity. All these different things along with a $50 billion economic plan that could make them a very, very thriving state in the future.

So it's a big opportunity for the Palestinians. And you know, they have a perfect track record of blowing every opportunity they have had in their past. But perhaps maybe their leadership will read the details of it, stop posturing, and do what is best to try to make the Palestinian people's lives better.

AMANPOUR: I guess I want to ask you because clearly the President himself -- President Trump said, you know, we will wait to see what the Arab world says because what they say will be, you know, very important in terms of how this will play out.

[01:39:55]

AMANPOUR: It was noticeable that in the White House -- in the White House ceremony, there was only the ambassadors from Oman, the U.A.E. and Bahrain. Given that the Palestinians have rejected this, and the Jordanians have already issued a statement, which I can read parts of it to you, where does this go next? What do you think is going to happen next since there has not been the fulsome support publicly from the heavyweights in the Arab world?

KUSHNER: If you look at what President Trump has done in the region overall, he has unified the region around common goals and shared enemies. So what he has been able to do is get people to focus on Iran and their malign behavior by putting a chokehold on their finances. We have stopped a lot of funding of terror.

When President Trump got here, there was ISIS had a caliphate the size of Ohio. He destroyed that. And he just killed their leader al- Baghdadi. He's been working with Saudi Arabia and a lot of the other countries to combat extremism and the ideology.

So what we are seeing from a lot of other countries as they are very, very thrilled that there is finally a real effort on the table. There's a real plan on the table, a real offer, and that President Trump was able to secure that. They recognize that no other president would have been able to achieve that. And they are hopeful that the Palestinians, for once, will do something rational, come to the table, and negotiate.

And so the terms are not final terms. This is an opening offer. And if the Palestinians come and they have some adjustments, they want to move the line, they want to change one of the sentences, they want to negotiate on different things -- there will be flexibility.

AMANPOUR: If indeed this is a basis for negotiations, and the Palestinians do take up the offer and come to the United States or to the administration and try to negotiate, you know, that is one thing.

So I want to ask you then, you called it a conceptual map. and you called this a basis for negotiation. The Israeli prime minister has stated that this weekend, he will impose the laws of the state of Israel, those are the words out of his mouth, on the Jordan Valley, on those areas in the West Bank, he called it Judean-Sumeria where there are settlement and other such places and presumably over Jerusalem as well -- I don't know about Eastern Jerusalem.

But nonetheless, if that happens this weekend, is that with the approval of the United States?

KUSHNER: Yes. I don't believe that's going to happen this weekend, at least not as far as I know. But again, a lot of these areas, just the reality, is that Israel is there, and they're not leaving. There's never been a deal where they've contemplated doing that and it's not pragmatic.

I'm not looking as the world as it existed in 1967. I'm looking at the world as it existed 2020. You have five million Palestinians who are really trapped because of bad leadership.

So what we've done is we've created an opportunity for their leadership to either seize or not. If they crew up this opportunity, which again, they have a perfect track record of missing opportunities. If they screw this up, I think that they will have a very hard time looking the international community in the face saying they're victims, saying they have rights.

This is a great deal for them if they come to the table and negotiate. I think they can get something excellent.

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VAUSE: "Something excellent" -- President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, speaking there to Christiane Amanpour.

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

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

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