world ♪ ♪ hello, and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm nick watt, live from studio 7 at cnn center in atlanta. ahead here on "cnn newsroom." three closed-door depositions shed new light on donald trump's dealings with ukraine. a new front runner among the democrats in iowa, plus, protests in hong kong turn violent. a police officer is hit by an

arrow. saturday was yet another fast-moving day in the trump impeachment inquiry. meanwhile, another senior white house official testified behind closed doors on capitol hill. he is mark sandy, a veteran of the white house budget office. and a source familiar with his testimony says sandy told lawmakers he was confused, didn't know why the 400 million in military funds to ukraine were suddenly frozen, but sandy did provide a possible clue. he said a political appointee, michael duffy, insisted on taking over the ukraine account and signed some documents

putting that security assistance on holiday. sandy toughed that duffy's actions were an unusual departure from the normal budget process. here's cnn's lauren fox with details of those deposition transcripts that just dropped. >> reporter: on saturday, we got new details about timors morris who testified last month that he came to understand that eu ambassador gordon sondland was getting direction from trump. morrison testified behind closed doors that he believed that sondland and president trump had spoken approximately five times between july 25th, the date of that phone call between president zelinsky and president trump and september 11th, when nearly $400 million in u.s. military aid to ukraine was finally released. he said in one of those conversations, he spoke directly with gordon sondland after

sondland had gotten offer t the phone with trump. he told me he had just gotten off the phone with the president. he said there was no quid pro quo but zelinsky must open the investigations and he should want to. tim morrison also providing information about the phone call, the fact that it was put in a secure server. morrison said he came to understand from the top nsc lawyer it had been put there by mistake. john eisenberg relayed that he did not ask for it to be put in there, but that the executive secretary at staff misunderstood his direction for how to restrict access. both of these individuals, tim morrison and gordon sondland will testify publicly in front of the investigators and the american public. lauren fox.

now to those democrats vying to face president trump next november. spending time, money and energy in iowa appears to be paying off for pete buttigieg. a new poll shows the 37-year-old is leading his rivals in iowa. his standing has soared by 16 points since september. >> that's extremely encouraging. you know, we have -- obviously, we have felt a lot of momentum on the ground especially with the work that we've been doing, not just in terms of my visits to the state but over 100 organizers there, building relationships, getting our message out. we know we're not as well-known as some of my competitors. it's very encouraging and at the same time, there's a long way to go. >> he's right. there is still a long way to go. the iowa caucus is the first real test for those 2020

democratic candidates. i spoke with political analysts and i asked what might account for buttigieg's sudden surge in iowa. >> buttigieg seems to be the flavor of the month. question is, does very legs? will he last? he has a lot of assets. he's young, somewhat charismatic, military background, hard worker, smartest person probably running of any of the candidates, and his youth, in contrast that to the sort of the senior brigade who are at the top of the democratic list. that contrast really is an asset for him. he does have some liabilities. his age, and inexperience, plus, he does not do well with african-americans, and can you not win as a democrat in the general election, probably even in the primaries unless can you get support from african-americans. so some of his assets in the democratic primaries may turn

into liabilities in the general election. right now he's going to be the target. if he does win iowa, all the guns will be pointed at him. so can he stand the heat? >> michael, let's go back to our top story as usual. the impeachment hearings. so those transcripts that were released today, i mine, thean t seems to be more evidence that the president did direct this quid pro quo and gordon sondland, his ambassador to the eu put once more front and center, he is going to be testifying out in the open on wednesday. what does the next week, in your opinion, hold for president trump? more bad things? >> well, they're moving from bad to worse. they're not getting better. and with each passing day, the testimony seems to contribute bit by bit, drip by drip to the conclusion that the president was actively involved. it was at his direction, and he

was holding funds until he got an agreement. it was without using the words "quid pro quo." that's exactly what it was. it's kind of like if you think of it as a meal. we're done with, we've had some foreign professionals, the soft line of our power. they're testifying and bringing things slightly from the outside in towards the president. next is the appetizer. that's sondland. he'll come in wednesday. and the question is, his early testimony was changed a few days later when people were testifying to the contrary of his view, his words. now when he comes in wednesday, is he going to have his come to jesus moment and turn on the president? that will be the most riveting story. and if he turns on the president that will be devastating. and the third thing in the meal is you want the main course. we're not going to get the main course. the main course would be if we had bolton, rudy giuliani, mull

vain ey vainy, pompeo. we're not going to get the main course. the question is, will we get enough in the appetizer to move on in impeachment. probably probably will for the house. looks like opinions are being hardened. now the u.s. president surprised those who track his every move by going to the hospital unexpectedly on saturday. mr. trump went by motorcade to the walter reed military center in maryland apparently to begin some procedures, including lab tests, part of his regular annual physical exams. but previous exams have been announced ahead of time. hough, the white house insists nothing to see here. the president is healthy and energetic. in the u.s. state of louisiana, democrats are celebrating a significant win

and set back for president trump. the incumbent democratic governor john bel edwards narrowly beat his republican challenger who was heavily backed by the president. mr. trump won louisiana in the 2016 presidential election by crushing 20 points and held two recent rallies in the state. in his victory speech, edwards said of trump, god bless his heart. the violence in hong kong escalates. police and protesters fighting over a key stronghold, and police say an officer has been shot with an arrow. we'll show you what happened. plus, iran faces its own unrest. protesters denouncing an increase in fuel prices.

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in hong kong, a standoff between police and protesters is getting even more violent. authorities say a police officer

has been shot with an arrow during a disbursal operation at polytechnic university. he was wounded in the calf and taken to the hospital. authorities have surrounded the polytechnic university, trying to force-out pro-democracy demonstrators. they fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters who retaliated with petro bombs and bricks. let's go to anna coren. what is happening on the ground there right now? >> reporter: nick, there's a bit of a lull at the moment. we have seen the water cannons which are several hundred meters behind us move toward us, splay t the water and the blue dye. protesters retaliate with petro bombs. i want to show you up here on

the balcony of polytechnic university, there are dozens of them up there. and a little bit earlier, nick, we went up and had a look at what is going on inside the university. and they are stockpiling petro bombs. they're stockpiling bricks. there's a catapult up there, numerous arches up there with bows and arrows. you mentioned that police officer who was shot several hours ago in the car by an arrow. you can see the water cannons. they are now firing at the protesters. this has been going on throughout the day, nick. it doesn't really seem to be making any headway. there's also tear gas being fired. but no one is moving. the police aren't able to move forward, and certainly, the protesters are just holding their ground. the reason that this problem, this place, i should say, polytechnic university has

become such a problem, such a flash point for the police and for the protesters is because of its location. we are very close to the harbor city tunnel. which is the link, really, between kowloon side to hong kong island u a. and that has been shut down now for days. so that key piece of infrastructure has been out of use because of these protests. and many of these protesters, nick have come from chinese university. we saw those very violent scenes last weekend and throughout the week. many of them now have come here to polytechnic university, and this is now the new flash point as some of these protesters said to me a little bit earlier, we at war. they believe they are defending the university. the police obviously, have deemed everyone here to be rioters. they've told journalists not to get in the way of their work. a medic inside the university,

nick, told us that they are expecting live gunfire to be fired, prance later in the evening. so this is an incredibly tense situation here where protesters are concerned that police could very well charge in the coming hours, nick. >> anna, as were you talking, we were just seeing pictures there, live pictures of petro bombs. thanks very much, please stay safe. meanwhile, demonstrations against a gas price hike in iran have turned deadly. the government says at least one person has been killed in the unrest. protesters on saturday flooded the streets of the capital tehran. they jammed roads and clashed with authorities. iran's interior minister says security forces have shown restraint, but will act to restore calm. meanwhile, a border crossing between iran and iraq has been closed to travelers around,

asked its neighbor to shut it down. and the u.s. and south korea just made a diplomatic gesture toward pyongyang. postponing their joint military drills, planned for later this month. the u.s. defense secretary calls it an act of goodwill. during a joint press conference in bangkok, u.s. defense secretary mark esper was asked if this was a concession to north korean leader kim jong un. >> i don't see this as concession. i see this as a good faith effort by the united states and the republic of korea to enable peace, to shape the terrain, if you will, to facilitate a political agreement, a deal, if you will, that leads to the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. and that's part of what we do, as i said previously. my job is not only to bolster diplomacy, but my job is to enable and empower. in this case, i think creating some more space for our diplomats to strike an agreement on the denuclearization of the peninsula is very important.

>> both washington and seoul are urging north korea to return to the nuclear negotiating table. venice is on edge, as another round of flooding is expected to further sub merge the city. we are live from the city of canals. that's next.

crippling floods are expected to hit venice once again. in the coming hours, high tide is forecast to reach 1.6 meters or more than five feet. the italian city has seen historic flooding damaging centuries-old treasures. i'm joined now from venice. scott, how's it looking? >> reporter: hey, nick, things are going to get worse before they are going to get better here. there will be one more round of flooding as you said, before venetians get a little bit of a break. around the corner from here is st. mark's square, that's the lowest part of the city, just 80 centimeters above sea level. today we're going to get 160

centimeters. so this area is already flooding. it's actually hard to tell the sidewalk from the channel here. if you look over this way, well, it's almost impossible to differentiate where the sidewalk ends and where the canal starts. i spoke with the mayor yesterday, who said 30 years ago they said that the sea levels would rise, and he didn't believe them. he didn't believe in climate change then. now he says it is impossible not to see the effects. st. marks basilica, we got a tour in there. they actually held one church service last night. today they are battening down the hatches for more flooding. we visited a conservatory where they had centuries-old books and manuscripts that were submerged. they're trying to dry them out and making sure they're as protected as they can be from this flooding. i want to show you one more thing at this bottom of these columns here. it's a lot more deteriorated than at the top.

venice is built on marble and solid rock. the problem, though, is when you see these high tides, these especially high tides. today is considered extraordinary. saltwater gets into places where it's not really supposed to be. the worry is when it gets into some of the bricks. yes, the water comes up quickly and leaves quickly, but the salt doesn't. so what happens then is it gets in there and makes its way out and deteriorates the rock. so there are serious questions about how much more venice can withstand before it's going to have some serious repair bills on its hands. they're already seeing that at st. mark's basilica, the bases of stone columns and old marble bases they're already having to replace. they worry if something's not done about this, it's only going to get worse. nick? >> scott mcclain in venice. thank you very much. finally, "people" magazine says singer john legend is the sexiest man alive.

but one rap legend says they got it wrong. snoop dogg posted this photo sopped image of himself on the cover with the sexiest title. the image, which has more than 400,000 likes so far shows the weed-enthusiast with a joint, of course. so did "people" magazine get it wrong? we'll let you decide. my take, a dead heat. those are two suave, talented, fine-looking gentlemen. they both deserve the title. no response from "people" there to snoop's little tweet there. thank you very much for watching "cnn newsroom." i'm nick watt, michael holmes has another hour of news coming right up.

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>> three closed door depositions shed new light on donald trump's dealings with ukraine. >> a new front-runner among the democrats in iowa. and protests in hong kong

turn violent again. a police officer hit by an arrow. and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. we are live in atlanta. i'm michael holmes from cnn world headquarters. "newsroom" starts right now. would you say insiders are telling congress disturbing new details about president trump's now infamous phone call with ukraine's leader last july. they include how the call transcript ended up on a highly classified server and who blocked $400 million in military aid to ukraine. now, on saturday, a senior white house budget official said he was confused by the