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Trump Middle East Plan; Coronavirus Outbreak; Trump on Trial. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired January 29, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Just, ahead the U.S. says it is the deal of the century, the Israelis say it's the opportunity of the century but if someone had bothered to talk to the Palestinians, they would say the U.S. plan for Middle East peace is the slap of the century.
A surge in confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus overtaking the number of patients infected on the mainland during the deadly SARS outbreak almost two decades ago.
And Bolton down the hatches: Senate leader Mitch McConnell losing support among Republicans who now want to hear from witnesses after bombshell revelations from Trump's former adviser, John Bolton.
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VAUSE: The U.S. president claims his Middle East peace plan is a realistic two-state solution. Realistically, Israel was showered with concessions.
For the Palestinians, critics say it looks more like terms for their surrender. Trump unveiled the long delayed plan with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his side.
For Israel, this is the deal of the century. They can immediately begin annexing settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu plans to get cabinet approval for annexation this Sunday.
Trump tweeted a map of his vision for a future Palestinian state on land Israel will provide in the Israeli desert near Gaza and the Egyptian border. But the Palestinians would have to give up claims of nearly 30 percent of the West Bank.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This map will more than double the Palestinian territory and provide a Palestinian capital in Eastern Jerusalem, where America will proudly open an embassy.
No Palestinians or Israelis will be uprooted from their homes.
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MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT (through translator): Trump and Netanyahu, Jerusalem is not for sale. All our rights are not for sale or negotiation. Your deal is a conspiracy and it will not work.
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VAUSE: CNN's Oren Liebermann is live in Jerusalem. We also have Sam Kiley in Ramallah in the West Bank, that's where we will begin.
If they reject this deal, and it's not surprising that they have, what are their options?
Could this really be their last chance for their own state, as bad as this deal is?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think really, they have a number of options. The first is to wait and see what happens after the Israeli elections. Benny Gantz has signaled to some extent that he would like to be able to pursue this plan in cooperation with the international community.
The problem for them there is that the international community does not seem to have spotted the issue of annexation. You pointed out in the introduction that Netanyahu is likely to start the negotiation process this Sunday. That is endorsed by the United States and it has the imprint of approval from the United States.
Reducing the area for a future Palestinian state very drastically, meaning it would have no borders with the non Israeli world, the one controlled by the Israelis. They would not have control even over its own electromagnetic airwaves, its own radio stations would not be under its own control.
So it is somewhat surprising that there has been no condemnation of the annexation proposals. Not from France, which not very long ago was threatening to start using the word "apartheid" with regard to Israel's policies on the West Bank.
The United Kingdom saying they will also study these proposals as a means forward to negotiations. Above all, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, even the Arab League have said these proposals are to be studied.
So they have not been condemned more or less by anybody other than the Jordanians, who have seen the process of annexation would mean that the future Palestinian state, were it to fulfill the American-Israeli obligations towards statehood, would not in any way reflect what historically had been assumed to be the basis for a two state solution.
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KILEY: Which would have been a degree of territorial contiguity, international borders and a viable, actual state. This would be a state minus, at best. So far, the Jordanians and some Palestinians have been able to spot that.
VAUSE: The reactions from the Arab world in particular have been stunning.
Oren, for many in Israel, do they believe in this plan, which gives Israel pretty much everything it could have wanted and a bag of chips, will bring long lasting peace with the Palestinians?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think for Israel's government and especially Netanyahu, the current situation is long lasting peace. He does not need an agreement or a two state solution or mutually negotiated concessions.
He needs this situation right now, formulated into law and recognized by the United States. The United States effectively said, look, everything you have and everything you control, you can keep. The rest we will carve out for the Palestinians if they meet a list of demands that are pretty much impossible to meet.
They will have time to do that but there will be not be any incumbent requirements for Israel before they move on with annexation. This is exactly what Netanyahu wanted and exactly what he got from the Trump administration.
Netanyahu's rival also met with Trump and endorsed, it making it more powerful for Netanyahu, Israel and the right wing government to go forward. The minister of tourism here, who is very close to Netanyahu, said it will not be on Sunday but only because of procedural matters. This takes some legal framework.
He said will be a few more days or perhaps a week. If you look at it from that perspective, from the political perspective of a very pro Israel plan laid out by the White House, with Netanyahu standing right there, the closer this is to the, election the more it will benefit Netanyahu.
From that perspective, this all continues to look like a ploy, a play by the White House to try and get Netanyahu over the line and get him elected in that race on March 2nd, after he failed to form a government twice.
When you look at this, plan it's not a broad consensus Middle East peace plan, it is the White House's vision, Israel's vision for how this conflict should look and how a solution should look, one that heavily favors Israel.
VAUSE: Interesting that the word Palestine did not appear on that map. They probably couldn't fit it in there. Oren, thank you for being with us and also Sam in Ramallah. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is one of the main
architects of this peace plan. He spoke to Christiane Amanpour about a future Palestinian state.
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JARED KUSHNER, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: What we released was a conceptual map. It's going to take us a couple of months to go through it and try to get it detailed. So it could take us two, three, four months to do that; we'll start the process immediately. Again, we welcome the Palestinians, if they want to come and be a part of it, if they have suggestions for areas to include or not include, we're happy to do it.
Again, I come from a real estate background, it was very, very difficult to draw these lines and to get a map where you could have contiguity to a Palestinian state.
And again, this isn't because of something that we developed, this is something that we inherited, the situation where Israel continues to grow and grow. And what the president secured today was Israel agreeing to stop for four years more settlements, to give the Palestinians their last chance to finally have a state.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: You called it a conceptual map and you've called this a basis for negotiations. 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.
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 -- 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 at the world as it existed in 1967. I'm looking at the world as it exists in 2020.
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VAUSE: To China, now where the number of coronavirus cases has spiked again. It has hit a grim milestone. With 130 dead and nearly 6,000 confirmed cases, it has passed the number of SARS cases China reported in 2003. China will now allow the World Health Organization to send teams of international experts into the outbreak zone.
Around the, world the virus continues to spread to more than a dozen countries. The United Arab Emirates is the latest to report at least one case. And the number of governments around the world are trying to evacuate their nationals from Wuhan.
Evacuees from Japan arrived in Turkey on Wednesday morning and a flight with 200 Americans is en route to a military base in California after it stopped to refuel in Alaska. For the latest, we go to Steven Jiang live in Beijing.
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VAUSE: Steven, along with the evacuation of those foreign nationals and teams of international experts on their way to help out at some point, what will they be doing when they arrive?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: They hope to work along with their Chinese counterparts to find out more about this virus. A lot of aspects remain unknown. That is why they want to go in on the ground, collect samples and share data with the Chinese counterparts to find out more.
One alarming trend we have been hearing from officials and experts is people without symptoms are infecting others. Many outside experts are still skeptical of that claim. They say that has not happened before in past outbreaks. That's why they want to conduct their own research and studies on this.
This is very alarming, because if people were not showing symptoms, then a lot of prevention and containment strategies may not work, temperature checks, quarantine rules, may not be effective if people aren't running a fever.
For this reason, that's why it's a positive step for the Chinese to agree to let outside help in. They promptly realized that they could use all the help they could get.
In terms of the number here, it keeps rising, as you mentioned. The authorities explained that, despite that grim milestone you mentioned, now there are more confirmed cases of the coronavirus than SARS, they say look, it's not just a number, it is also about the severity of the cases and the mortality rates among patients.
They say, on these fronts, this outbreak so far has been less serious. At this stage, there is little comfort to a lot of people here as well as two others around the world.
VAUSE: This is bout a lot of people are being impacted by this virus, is so it's a good point to leave you there with. Steven Jiang, thank you.
Financial markets in Asia have taken a huge hit from the coronavirus outbreak. Hong Kong's exchange resumed trading after a four-day break, it plunged 3 percent in the opening minutes. CNN's Anna Stewart is live in London with more.
When the U.S. economy sneezes, the U.S., the world catches a cold.
What happens when China has a deadly virus? ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We had huge losses in Tokyo, Monday. The South Korean index KOSPI saw losses and today was Hong Kong's turn to reopen. It's down nearly 3 percent. It has been down further earlier in the session.
No surprises, given the global market and not all stocks are being treated the same. The ones that really are under pressure today are travel stocks. I can show you some of those.
Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Air China, down due to the travel restrictions in Mainland China and also that the sentiment will have shifted and people will not want to be flying, given the spread of this virus.
Of, course these stocks have high exposure. We saw some stocks around the world, British Airways, easyJet, all of them being knocked this week on that sentiment. Also tourism. Tourism down 74 percent this Lunar New Year compared to last year. That gives you an idea of what we are seeing here and how that will impact some industries more than others.
Macao gambling, is also all down between 4 percent to 6 percent for some. MGM China is leading those losses. To give you one bright spot to end the day, Venturepharm Laboratories is up 285 percent. This firm says it's working with a clinical research group to try and develop a cure for the virus. Let's hope that is soon and they succeed.
VAUSE: Proof that where there are losers, there are winners and some good deals maybe around Asia for package tours.
Anna, good to see, you thank you.
It's the end of the beginning of Trump's impeachment trial, so now the focus is on witnesses.
Will they or won't they be allowed to testify?
The top Senate Republican says if there was a vote right now, he doesn't have the numbers to stop them. More on that.
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VAUSE: It's looking a little more likely we could hear from witnesses at Donald Trump's impeachment trial. A source tells CNN Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell admits he does not have the votes right now to block any testimony.
There are still two days of questions before a vote can be held. As we, know anything can happen. Sara Murray reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAT CIPOLLONE, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: That ends our presentation. Thank you very much.
SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That is a wrap on the opening arguments from the president's defense team. But a vote on whether to call new witnesses is still up in the air.
JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP ATTORNEY: The trial of the leader of the free world and the duly elected President of the United States. It is not a game of leaks and unsourced manuscripts.
MURRAY (voice-over): Trump's defense team warned that impeaching the president would be dangerous.
SEKULOW: Danger. Danger. Danger.
You are being asked to remove a duly elected President of the United States and you are being asked to do it in an election year, in an election year.
CIPOLLONE: Why not trust the American people with this decision?
We tear up their ballots?
MURRAY (voice-over): The arguments from Trump's lawyers come after "The New York Times" reported former national security adviser John Bolton wrote in his manuscript that Trump told him directly he was withholding security aid for Ukraine until Ukraine pursued investigations into Joe Biden and his family.
Today, Trump's team used the president's own words to defend him.
SEKULOW: Here is what the president said in response to that "New York Times" piece.
"I never told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book."
MURRAY (voice-over): And used lawmakers' decades-old comments against them.
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): There must never be a narrowly voted impeachment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is unfair to the American people.
REP. ED MARKEY (D-MA): The Republicans are crossing out the impeachment standard of high crimes and misdemeanors.
CIPOLLONE: This should end now as quickly as possible.
MURRAY (voice-over): Next, up senators get up to 16 hours over two days to question House impeachment managers and Trump's defense team. Democrats are expected to use much of that time hammering home their call for witnesses in the hopes of winning over moderate Republicans.
Today, Senator Mitt Romney signaled he would be open to a witness swap.
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): But I would like to hear from John Bolton and I think the idea expressed in the media about having each side be able to choose a witness or maybe more than one on a fair basis has some merit.
MURRAY (voice-over): Senator Lisa Murkowski said Bolton probably has some things that would be helpful for us.
Senator James Lankford suggested senators should first be able to review Bolton's manuscript, then make a decision on witnesses.
SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): We can read all of it and see for ourselves if there is anything significant there.
MURRAY (voice-over): Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: Michael Genovese is the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. He's here from Los Angeles.
The defense has wrapped; the focus is shifting to the witnesses. Republican senators met with Leader Mitch McConnell a few hours ago.
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VAUSE: According to CNN's reporting, a source in that room said McConnell made clear to senators that Republicans do not currently have the votes to block witnesses but underscored that it is still a work in progress as several GOP senators remain noncommittal on their votes.
McConnell can punt on this until Friday.
Is that enough time to bring those reluctant senators in line?
MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the momentum is to have witnesses. In the 20 or so trials we have had on impeachment, every single one has had witnesses. The question is not should you have witnesses.
It is why would you not have witnesses?
A fair trial was never in the playbook for Republicans. They want to get it done quickly and move on. So I think what we are seeing is a lot of pressure because of the Bolton revelation.
Did the president tell him that he was deeply involved in a quid pro quo?
Did the president say he was doing favors for Turkey and Russia?
There are a lot of questions the Bolton revelations have revealed. It seems impossible not to have him testify.
VAUSE: On one, hand Republican senators are being pressured by the White House. Then there is the overwhelming opinion of the American people, that you have seen in the CNN poll, 75 percent of voters believe witnesses should appear at the impeachment trial and testify.
Then we had a big boost to Bolton's credibility with former White House chief of staff John Kelly. He was asked about the claims made by John Bolton the former national security, adviser and Kelly said he believed Bolton. Here he is.
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JOHN KELLY, FORMER TRUMP CHIEF OF STAFF: You may disagree with his politics or what he wants to do under certain circumstances. But John is a standup guy.
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VAUSE: This is a huge problem for the White House. They have built their entire case on the fact that no one heard directly from the president, who said I am withholding the aid because I want investigations and dirt on Biden.
The one guy who says that is now John Bolton. It seems that if Republican senators vote for him to appear, they are damned; if they don't vote for him to appear, they are damned as well.
GENOVESE: A lot of the Republicans have very mixed interests in this. For example, those running for reelection are really put under pressure, someone like Cory Gardner, who wants not to vote for witnesses might feel that he must at this point.
If you have a Romney, a Murkowski, a Collins, then you get the fourth vote, maybe an Alexander, you might see the dam burst and six or eight Republicans say that we have to face up to this.
The Republican strategy that you saw from the president's attorneys is attack, attack, attack the Democrats. Attack Schiff, attack Biden. Even attacking Obama today.
I think that is a function of them saying, oh, no; they're trying to steal the election, to distract us from what was going on.
No, the Democrats aren't trying to steal the election. The Russians did that already. They're trying to prevent the next election from being stolen with the president trying to use a weaker ally to try to go after his political opponent. That's going to be really what this is going to be about in the long run.
VAUSE: We heard the mustache in the room being addressed in their closing statements by the defense team of lawyers. This was their argument. Here is Jay Sekulow. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP ATTORNEY: Responding to an unpublished manuscript that maybe some reporters have an idea of maybe what it says. That's what the -- if you want to call that evidence, I don't know what you'd call that. I call it inadmissible.
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VAUSE: Aren't they making the argument precisely why John Bolton, the actual source, who is willing to talk, should be called to testify?
GENOVESE: Yes, they are doing a great juggling act here because on the one, hand they are saying you don't have any direct evidence. On the other hand they are saying we know there might be some out there but we're going to make sure you don't get it. They are doing a political comb-over on this to obscure what is really going on.
They don't want Bolton and I wouldn't if I were in their shoes. I think what is happening now is Republicans are trying to salvage as much as they can out of a very bad situation. Mitch McConnell is in a position where, if he loses three, four, five and six members he's going to give up and let them fall where they may. He will lose control of the caucus.
VAUSE: Much of the defense is centered on attacking Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who served on the board of the Ukrainian energy company which was corrupt as all get out.
Keep in mind, Iowa will hold the first vote in a Democratic primary on Monday. Here is part of an ad Republicans are running in Des Moines.
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SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): I'm Rick Scott, one of the jurors in the Senate. I would like to thank the Democrats for badly botching this impeachment and for spending so much time in a cover-up for Joe Biden.
The real story here is the corruption Joe Biden got away with. Vice President Biden threatened a foreign country and forced them to fire a prosecutor who is investigating a company paying his son $83,000 a month.
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SCOTT: Biden got away with it and his son got paid. I'm Rick Scott. I approve this message.
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VAUSE: This comes after Joni Ernst questioned the impact the impeachment trial might have on Biden's support among Iowa caucus voters. What is interesting is that Biden finally seemed to nail the response. Here it is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Did anyone see what Senator Joni Ernst did yesterday?
She spilled the beans. She just came out and flat said it. The whole impeachment trial for Trump is just a political hit job. They are smearing me because they are scared to death to run against me and they have good reason to be concerned.
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VAUSE: Here's the thing, this controversy over Hunter Biden and Burisma is not going away. Joe Biden needs to address it beyond challenging someone to pushups or a fight in the back of the woodshed. He needs a decent answer.
GENOVESE: Thus far he has been pretty lame in his responses. He has sounded weak. He has sounded like he is trying to distract attention. Either head it off frontally, go right after it and attack, it or there will be lingering questions.
You want to bring in Hunter Biden?
Fine. Maybe bring it Ivanka and have her talk about the licenses from China she has gotten. Bring in Jared and have him talk about the loans he may have gotten from Saudis when his business was failing. This could really become a circus.
And Biden has to get control of his message, the Democrats of theirs and the Republicans need to get control of the process, because it could tumble out of control. And once you start opening the floodgates, I'll trade you this witness for. That it becomes a circus.
I think Joni Ernst had it right. She hit the nail on the head. It was an oops moment of truth, where she said, no, really, this is all about trying to destroy Joe Biden. And that is what we are looking for.
VAUSE: In many ways, they got their chance to get that smear out there, not as they originally intended.
Michael, as always. We appreciate you being with us.
GENOVESE: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: President Trump is calling his long-delayed Middle East peace plan a win-win. Turns out it's a win for the Israeli prime minister.
What about the Palestinians?
Details ahead.
Also turning Hong Kong into a ghost town. How the city is reacting to the spreading coronavirus. That's after the break.
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VAUSE: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, we are into the home stretch now, I'm John Vause.
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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.
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.
VAUSE: I mean, if you look at this long term, is there any realistic outcome, that this is not in fact, a peace 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 status 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.
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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?
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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.
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: Protesters in Hong Kong are once again out on the streets reportedly disrupting public transport. And in this time, it's over the government's response to the Wuhan virus, which many complain is too little too late. They're demanding all crossing points to the mainland be completely shut down. CNN's Blake Essig is in Hong Kong who's live with the very latest on this.
So like even if the chief executive wanted to completely seal the border with mainland, does she have the authority to do that?
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it's unclear to know exactly what happens behind closed doors between the mainland and Hong Kong. Under the one country two systems idea, Hong Kong government here would lead you to believe they have the autonomy to make that decision.
But at this point, what the Hong Kong government is doing is taking measures to restrict access into Hong Kong from people from coming in from the mainland. But at this point, the people here in Hong Kong don't think that that's enough.
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ESSIG: A sea of people shoulder to shoulder hiding behind protective masks. This is the scene from a key border crossing connecting Mainland China in Hong Kong. Already border restrictions are in place to block the entry of anybody from Hubei province, the epicenter of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus.
And on Wednesday, the city's leader addresses the media announcing further measures including partial transport band and the suspension of some services at border crossing stations. CARRIE LAM, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, HONG KONG (through translator): We will
substantially reduce the flow of people between the two places.
ESSIG: But several points of entry with the mainland remain open. We're here at the Lo Wu border crossing, one of several border crossings connecting Hong Kong and Mainland China. And while several medical officials and legislators are calling for the border to be closed completely. As you can see, people from the mainland continue to stream in on the heels of the Lunar New Year. That's a problem for some people. Like Hong Kong lawmaker Michael Tien.
MICHAEL TIEN, LAWMAKER, HONG KONG: They have to have a complete closure of the land and sea border.
ESSIG: He says, drastic measures need to be taken to prevent a further spread before it's too late.
TIEN: It's better to do it right now and then be prepared to lift the ban anytime if signs are improving in China, rather than not do anything and wait for hell to break loose and then impose a ban.
ESSIG: A sentiment shared by many Hong Kong residents and those visiting the city.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they should stop like people from the mainland China from entering Hong Kong, because they keep bringing the virus here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they should block the way that the Chinese people coming into the Hong Kong because nowadays the virus is very serious and we don't want all the virus from Wuhan to come into Hong Kong and affect our people.
ESSIG: While many people are calling for a complete border closure and some medical workers are even threatening to strike if it doesn't happen, when asked, chief executive Carrie Lam defends the current measures put in place.
Chief Executive, you said that public safety is your primary concern, yet when you laid out your measures that you're taking, they sound only like half measures. Are you putting Hong Kongers' lives at risk by not closing the border?
[02:40:19]
LAM: There are a large number of Hong Kong residents who are now traveling in the mainland and overseas and they need to come back. So I don't think it is very meaningful to talk about a complete closure of the border control points.
ESSEG: And that means Hong Kong's border with the mainland will remain partially open, forcing everyone including the littlest of Hong Kongers to protect themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ESSIG: As a midnight tonight, local time, four out of the six -- excuse me -- six out of the 14 of border entry points here in Hong Kong will be -- will be closed down and also visas and passports will be no longer issued for people to come into Hong Kong from the mainland, John.
VAUSE: Yes, I guess they're doing what they can at this point, and we'll see how it goes. Blake, thank you. I appreciate the update. We'll take a short break. When we come back, Brexit almost a done deal. Who would have thought so? We're going to Brussels to preview the European Parliament's next move after the break.
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VAUSE: Well for years, it felt like we never get to this point. There was endless heated debate, arguments, and insults, saw deadlines come and deadlines go. Parliamentary shenanigans and a general election overshadowed promises of an on-time departure. But now the moment will soon be here. And this Friday, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, the U.K. will formally withdraw from the European Union.
And in the coming hours, the European Parliament in special session will formally approve the withdrawal bill. And Nina dos Santos joining us live from Brussels with more this. Pinch me. I never thought it would happen.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: Yes. But many people here in Brussels never thought it would come to this either. Some of them expressing great sadness for this occasion. Obviously, there's a lot of pro-Brexit European members of this institution, the European Parliament, who will also be coming here to vote on that to make sure Brexit goes through.
It is likely that this final legal hurdle will be easily cleared later on this afternoon in a plenary vote of the European Parliament. And from there on, we're going to see various procedures kick into place, John. We're going to have, on the one hand, a reception for the departing members of the European Parliament who are British, and many of those are also members of Euroskeptic parties like the Brexit Party who's current leader Nigel Farage. When he was the leader of the U.K. Independence Party, for years he use this very institution to champion the Euroskeptic cause to encourage the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. and this is finally happening.
[02:45:24]
Then on Thursday, what we're going to be seeing is the European Council writing to all of the other member states saying are you OK with us green-lighting this just to get that final administrative hurdle cleared. And then on Friday, at midnight, Brussels time, not the U.K. time, remember U.K. is one hour behind Brussels time. So this will happen at 11:00 p.m. London time. When Big Ben strikes 11:00, the U.K. will be out of its 47-year long relationship, John.
It's going to be one of those -- one of these interesting times because they're going to have to do various sort of things very discreetly here in the European Parliament. They're going to take away nameplates of people, very discreetly take away any semblance of the British flag, the Union Jack here. They've promised to do that in a solemn fashion overnight on Friday and throughout the course of the weekend to make this as discreet a moment as possible, lest anybody else in this now 27-member block be encouraged to depart as well.
VAUSE: Yes. I would have thought that any sentimentality, or any sense of sadness, or loss or feeling, of loss, you know, that went out the window long ago. There just must be this overwhelming sense of relief that this has finally been negotiated and that it's done.
DOS SANTOS: Yes, but remember, they've got to negotiate something even bigger now, which is the future type of trading relationship that the U.K. would like to have with what is currently still its largest trading partner. This is a block that takes in 45.3 percent of U.K. exports, as per last year's figures.
How is the United Kingdom going to be replacing that, who knows? When it comes to E.U. exports heading to the U.K., they're only six to seven percent. So you really get a sense of the dichotomy, the different balance of that economic relationship. And you can bet that that will influence things as these two regions, obviously, the U.K. and then the E.U. is a big trading bloc, start to try and hammer out the nuts and bolts of a free trade agreement.
So in terms of procedure and timeframe, that's going to be important as well. We'll have the European Commission which is the legislative arm of the E.U. which the E.U. parliament, rubber stamps, this legislation, if you like. They're going to start sort of setting up priorities in February. And that'll give them just 10 months as per Boris Johnson's self-declared timeframe of getting this free trade agreement done by the end of this year. They only have 10 months to try and get what many countries have only achieved in six to seven years done. It is an ambitious timeframe. There's hefty skepticism here in the E.U. as to whether or not the U.K. can agree to do that.
And then there's also a sense of the E.U. Not wanting to be teed up in a beauty contest against the United States for who could offer the most advantageous free trade agreement as soon as possible. Remember that Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State is set to be in the U.K. this very week, Brexit week, and that hasn't gone unnoticed here among E.U. quarters.
VAUSE: I don't know why they be skeptical if the U.K. could get a trade deal done in you know, 10 months. I have no idea why. Nina, thank you. Good to see you. Now, to Western Africa, in Ghana, one Academy is on a mission to promote interest in robotics and science among the country's youngest people. Julia Chatterley has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ghana's capital city of Accra is home to the Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation which aims to bridge the gap between scientific theory and practice for children of all ages.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We built robots. A robot that's designed to pick up items and then to navigate through lines.
CHATTERLEY: Led by Yaw Okraku-Yirenkyi, the Academy has taught over 7,000 students how to code using Lego robotics as part of their robotics inspired science education program rise.
YAW OKRAKU-YIRENKYI, DIRECTOR, GHANA ROBOTICS ACADEMY FOUNDATION: The Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation is an organization set up to give young people opportunities so that they can become problem solvers. The 2019 Robot Festival Championship was won by the Methodist Girls Senior High School. We're very happy. I mean, it just put us in the spotlight all over the world.
CHATTERLEY: Since the all-girls team's triumphant win Ghana's Ministry of Education has announced that robotics will soon be taught from the basic level of education in schools.
OKRAKU-YIRENKYI: We should see robotics introduce at least at the junior high level and the senior high level, and that will be very, very good.
[02:50:02]
CHATTERLEY: The Academy's founder Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu is a robotics engineer for NASA, currently leading a mission to discover the makeup of Mars. Hoping to inspire children, he sets up the school in 2011 in his home city of Accra.
ASHITEY TREBI-OLLENNU, FOUNDER, GHANA ROBOTICS ACADEMY FOUNDATION: I'm a strong believer in what we call STEM Education, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. And I personally believe that every kid has the capability to do science.
CHATTERLEY: Thanks to the skills acquired at the academy, many of their alumni are now working professionally in aerospace, mechanical, and electronic fields.
OKRAKU-YIRENKYI: I'm happy to report that some of our young people through hard work by the team that I work with, and the kids' own hard work have gained admission into top universities around the world. And I think that if we keep this for the numbers that you've seen, it can only multiply and then we can begin to solve the problems that have remained unsolved for so, so long. I think Ghana is whole position to be a leader in this space. There's no question about that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Great story. We're back in 90 seconds. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, FORMER PLAYER, NBA: The fact that we're not going to be able to joke at his Hall of Fame ceremony, we're not going to say hi, I got five, you got four. The fact that we're not going to be able to say, if we would stay together, we kind of get 10. Those were the moments you can't get back. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Tearful Shaquille O'Neal there speaking about his former teammate and friend, Kobe Bryant. The basketball legend died Sunday and a helicopter crash along with his daughter and seven others. CNN Sara Sidner has details now on Kobe Bryant's days before the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In his final hours, the record will show basketball legend Kobe Bryant was living his best life. He retired from professional basketball in 2016, but his love of the game and family was ever-present. One day before the fatal crash, this photo snapped Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna watching Laker legend Shaquille O'Neal's daughter Me'arah practice.
She wrote on Instagram, "I knew you all was watching over me. I was trying my best to impress both of you." Social media is also where Bryant's last public words are posted. It was admissive about the achievements of another American icon LeBron James, as he surpassed Bryant's scoring record.
Saturday 10:39 p.m., Bryant tweeted "Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect, my brother. #33,644." That's the number of baskets James had just made. James revealed the two had talked after his record-setting day. "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. WTF, I'm heartbroken and devastated, my brother."
Bryant began his Sunday in prayer.
STEVE SALLOT, PRIEST, OUR LADY QUEEN OF ANGELS CATHOLIC CHURCH: He was quite a man of faith.
SIDNER: Too early for mass, he went to the prayer chapel before 7:00 a.m. at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach.
SALLOT: He just came here as a person of faith and he prayed. He prayed along with the rest of us.
SIDNER: Then he headed off to be there on a big day for Gianna. It was supposed to be the first day of her basketball tournament at the Mamba Academy. The plan was to get there fast and easy. They took this helicopter. This video shows their chopper as they flew in dangerously foggy conditions that even grounded police choppers.
The aircraft was flying so low, air traffic control said it couldn't follow its path on radar.
[02:55:26]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2-Echo-X-Ray, you're still too low level for flight following at this time. SIDNER: Before 10:00 in the morning, it crashed in an area
investigators call a logistical nightmare. All nine people on board perished. The Bryant's, basketball coach Christina Mouser, local legend baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and Gianna's childhood friends and teammates Alyssa Altobelli, Payton Chester, and Chester's mother Sarah, as well as pilot Ara Zobayan. All of them gone.
This is the moment news of the crash made it to the Mamba Academy tournament. Stunned silence ending the sound of joyful play. The crash left families destroyed and fans destruct.
You've got tears in your eyes, sweetheart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I miss Kobe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't fathom to know, you know, Vanessa's pain, losing her husband and a daughter in the same day, and then the other families losing a mom, dad and a daughter. It's just -- it's unthinkable.
SIDNER: Father Steve Sallot, one of the last to speak to Kobe Bryant tried to sew the sorrow failed, noting Kobe spent his last hours in a house of prayer.
SALLOT: He just came in went quietly and prayed and gave his life to the Lord. And yesterday, he had to give it back.
SIDNER: Sarah Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. I hope to see you back here tomorrow. For now though, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Max Foster live from London after a short break.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The U.S. President takes us to Israel and angers Palestinians as he inserts himself into the Middle East fray. We're live in the region with reaction. The number of Wuhan virus cases in China overtakes SARS as airlines suspend travel to the mainland and countries work to evacuate their citizens. Plus --
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