coming up here on cnn, we're hearing more about what president trump had to say about ukraine and russia in a candid conversation. details and how this could play into his impeachment trial. also, mr. trump's lawyers are making their case before the u.s. senate. we look at their defense strategy. also ahead here, fighting the coronavirus. china takes a sweeping new approach to contain the deadly outbreak. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm natalie allen from cnn headquarters in atlanta where it's 4:00 in the morning.

"newsroom" starts right now. thank you again for joining us. our top story, we're now getting a much more detailed version of a recording we brought you recently featuring u.s. president donald trump. cnn has obtained nearly 90 minutes of audio which capture as conversation at dinner in 2018 between the president and lev parnas. parnas is an indicted associate of rudy giuliani who said he was part of the ukraine pressure tactics. we played for you earlier the part where mr. trump calls for the u.s. ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, said this. >> they have everything there.

they're just now waiting for your support a little bit to make sure because obviously if they go on their own, russia won't let them do it because they'll cut off a lot of their revenue. >> how long were they last in a fight with russia. >> not very long. without us, not very long. >> without us. >> no, i don't think so. but russia, also, keeps in mind talks a big game, but they're not ready to -- they don't -- they're not ready to play. >> parnas is someone who mr. trump has repeatedly claimed he doesn't know, though, acknowledges he may have been photographed with him as you see here. this tape, though, suggests otherwise. the full recording was just released by parnas attorney joseph bondi. he spoke earlier with anderson cooper about its significance. >> first off we hear the president himself say get rid of the ambassador, we're going to

fire her, get her out of there. and this is one of the first occasions in which he attempts to remove the ambassador. lev parnas as he has explained it to me was shocked he might raise that of the chief ambassador and he would say get rid of her, fire her. he never thought it possible the president could literally take that step. >> he has shared the tape with the house intelligence committee. he also says parnas has more recordings of the president. this comes as mr. trump's defense team takes center stage in the impeachment trial in the senate. with day one in the books, their strategy appears to be turn the tables on the democrats. they say the real abuse of power has nothing to do with ukraine but removing president trump from office. for more now here's sara murray from washington. >> the president did absolutely nothing wrong. >> reporter: president trump's

defense team took to the senate floor, arguing that democrats have failed to make their case that president trump should be removed from office for abuse of power and obstruction of congress. >> they have the burden of proof and they have not come close to meeting it. >> reporter: they have accused democrats of trying to overturn the last election and preempt the next one. >> they're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in american history, and we can't allow that to happen. >> trump's team aimed to poke holes in the house impeachment managers presented. they claim they did front veed context around the witness inquiry. >> the fact that they came here for 24 hours and hid evidence from you is further evidence that they don't really believe in the facts of their case.

>> they insisted trump never made a white house meeting and security aide for ukraine contingent on ukraine opening investigations into joe biden and the 2016 election, noting trump never specifically asked for such a quid pro quo. >> the transcript shows the president did not secure a security distance or meeting on anything. the paused security assistance funds aren't even mentioned on the call. >> and they raised testimony from some administration officials who believed trump's call for investigation was simply a request rather than a demand. >> do you believe in your opinion the president of the united states demanded president zelenskiy undertake these investigations? >> no, sir. >> he always made the claim he was intent on cracking down on corruption in ukraine and taking

a tough stance on russia. >> you will hear president trump has a strong record on confronting russia. you will hear that president trump has a strong record of support for ukraine. >> but there's little evidence of trump's interest in corruption, save for a call into the investigation of into the bidens which also directly involves the president's personal interests, and while the administration has taken steps to crack down on russia, trump's public statements have undermined those efforts. over the course of their brief two-hour arguments, they took shots at the lengthy presentations. >> we're not going to play the same clips seven times. he said it. you saw it. >> as well as house intelligence chairman adam schiff. >> do you know who didn't show up in the judiciary committee? chairman schiff. >> they had enough time to escape for a bit of the weekend.

>> i thank you for your attention and i look forward to seeing you on monday. >> afterward house democrat managers said his team did not. >> what was most striking to me about the president's presentation today is they don't contest the basic architecture of the scheme. they do not contest that the president solicited a foreign nation to interfere in our election to help him cheat. >> the president's team has 22 more hours to make its case but it's not planning to use it all. >> and they will continue making that case on monday as you just heard. it will include presentations from members of the president's legal team that we haven't seem in action yet like constitutional law professor allan dershowitz. he appeared on cnn a short time ago and gave this preview. >> it's not what the framers

intended. it's not about taking ballot voters' rights away and impeachment. that's a separate thing. >> what i'm going to argue on monday is that's not what the framers did intend based on vague, open-ended and entirely subjective criteria like abuse of power and obstruction of congress. it's feared that would turn us into a british triparliamentary democracy. >> where is ken starr going and how is his subject different than your subject? >> we haven't discussed it. i don't know. i'll probably find that out sometime tomorrow. i know what e i'm going to argue. they know what i'm going to

argue. there will be some surprises. but the general outlines of my argument are fairly clear, and they don't focus so much on whether a crime is required. they focus much more on whether you can use the two criteria, abuse of power and obstruction of congress, and i'm going to argue very firmly that those are not appropriate criteria. if they had ever been put to the framers, the framers would have rejected those criteria as too open-ended and in the terms of madison, it would turn america into a parliamentary democracy, something the framers never really wanted. >> alan dershowitz there. he'll speak on monday. for more on what we'll hear and what happens next, i'm joined by amy pope from chatham house in london. good morning, amy. >> good morning. >> let's start with the parnas

story. how do you think this will be handled or perhaps not handled by the trump defense team? >> the president says he doesn't remember parnas, has no relationship with him. obviously we have clear evidence that is inaccurate, but this is sort of typical of the president. he denies what is already in evidence, what's in full vurk and his better tactic is to deflect and to detract. instead he saw the president attacking the members of the house, going after schiff, going after pelosi because he knows this is damaging and he needs to find another way to distract the public. >> and now all eyes are on the handful of senate republicans who could tip the balance and support witness testimony in the trial. do you think this parnas revelation will have an impact with the senators when they try to make a decision on that.

>> if i'm sitting in their seats, i would think it's in my best interest to have the evidence on the table. in the end whether that evidence really sways anyone's point of view, you know, it's very likely that it won't, but it's better to have it out there, avoid the suggestion that you're trying to hide information that might be relevant than to just have it out there and argue the case on its merits. and if i'm sitting in one of those vulnerable seats or i'm a moderate, i think that's the best way to move forward to persuade the american people you're exercising your constitutional duty, which is to be a balance on the power of the president. >> the president's defense team as we've seen took very little time making their opening case and they pointed out they went much shorter than their democrats. let's talk about that as a tactic and also about schiff coming out afterward saying that the trump team did not refute

the claim that the president solicited a foreign country to do some work for him politically. >> there's not much that trump's legal team can do to refute that. the transcript is there. we've heard from so many witnesses that that is, in fact, what happened. so instead their tactic is, one, to distract people, two, to deflect attention, three, to cover up any evidence that isn't entirely in keeping with their claims. and, you know, that's fair. they're defense attorneys. is their role here. they want to focus the jurors in this case. they're really looking at those handful of republicans who might be swayed on issues like bringing in additional witnesses. you know, they're working with what they have, and i think that their strategy makes sense given the circumstances. but, again, if i'm sitting in one of those more vulnerable seat as a republican, i would

want all the evidence to be put on the table so i can demonstrate i'm fairly considering it. >> so coming up monday, we will hear from alan dershowitz, longtime lawyer who has, of course, been in the media for a long time and also kenneth starr. it's interesting that when mr. dershowitz was on the with anderson earlier, he asked what would starr bring that he wouldn't bring, he said he didn't know, that they weren't talking to each other. these are their superstar lawyers. they're not talking to each other. they don't have to? >> clearly you want to make sure their arguments are consistent with one another and that they're painting a picture for the senate as well as the public that's coherent. if they're not working together, it would be hard to do that. it's interesting. as we know, the legislature has

already heard testimony about whether or not this is a valid basis for impeachment under the constitution. so why he's retreading that ground, it's not clear to me. it suggests that the facts in and of themselves are not something that he's going to be disputing. >> we appreciate your insight. amy pope, thanks for joining us from london this morning. >> thank you. as we continue to hear more about the trump defense team and how it's striking back and making case for his acquittal, we'll tell you how the rest of the trial is expected to unfold next week. plus, china cracks down on the sale of wild animals. the suspected source of this deadly new disease, which continues to spread. more about it. you're watching "cnn newsroom." it's time to switch to finish quantum. some detergents dull your dishes over time. while finish keeps them shining like new. switch to finish quantum and shine on america.

making case for his acquittal,

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china's all out effort to stop the wuhan coronavirus from spreading has led the government to ban now the sale of wild animals. a market in wuhan that sold wild animals is the suspected source of the virus outbreak.

more than 50 people have died. meantime the country's transportation lockdown has been transported to the city of guangdong. president xi jinping has ordered all pea, approximately 2,000 people torque be treated in centralized quarantine. globally almost 40 cases have been confirmed in more than one dozen countries and territories. now canada also has a suspected case as well. our david culver has been covering this story from the start. he's live in beijing. many developments here, david. where do you want to start? >> well, natalie, just in the past hour, we've got some significant developments, that coming from the national health commission. as you mentioned, president xi jinping has come out with this urgent order toward local officials in particular to by all means stop the spread of this virus.

well, the health officials coming out with incredible numbers. i'm going to walk you through some they announced in the past hour or so. one, they're deployed 1,600 medical perns knell to the wuhan prorchs to treat those infected. that's in addition to the 1 3rkz 00 or so on the ground, both military and civilian medical personnel. listen to these numbers. we've been talking about the shortage of has mat suits proerks techive goggles and masks. they're stepping up production. the health commission has announced they've brought people back from holiday and they're ordering them back into the factory to construct these has mat suits. need about 100 thousand every day for the prorchs. they have to import a lot to make up for that number. meantime president xi is moving forward to protect his medical staff.

he wants centralized quarantine. what does it look like? it imagines it will be the two hospitals they're slated to build and they've shown bulldozers and work going on in this open lot in wuhan. we believe one of the hospitals to be built in about six days' time. the other, 16 days' time. in all, they'll hold 2,000 patients. i spoke to one american woman who is in the midst of those lockdown zones and she explained what she's going through. >> i woke up feeling quite desperate, sad, angry. most of this is because of a lack of information and lack of knowing what's going on. my mother is worried about me. i love her. she's 88 years old. my sister let her know the things i'm doing here.

i don't want her to worry anymore and i'd like to see her. >> for her, it's frustration and heartbreak you can hear in her voice. meantime u.s. officials tell us about a thousand citizens are within the city of wuhan. we learned they're setting up a flight. we learned this is at the embassy in china. it's set to depart from wuhan. there's a limited number of seats but they're allowing folks to apply for them. they'll fly into san francisco airport. >> we know airports are closely monitoring around the world those who are arriving. all of the numbers you gave and this massive undertaking is just staggering, david. thank you so much. we'll see you again. for all the attention that this coronavirus is getting,

there is still so much we don't know about it. meanwhile china's health care system as david just noted is especially at ground zero in wuhan is struggling to cope. for more on, that let's speak with dr. john nichols. he's joining us now. he's a clinical professor in pathology at the university of hong kong. we appreciate your time, dr. nichols. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> first step, how do they keep up. we heard david talk about two new hospitals. we've seen lines of people trying to get into hospital, and we've seen the caretakers, the nurses, the doctors exhausted. what is the risk to the health system in china and those who are caring for people with this virus? >> well, havingpersonallybeen through the sars outbreak in 2003, there was a big -- one of the big problems was infection

in the health care workers, and the risk factors that we've seen in wuhan are virtually identical to what happened in 2003. there's patient overload, health care burnout, decrease in protective equipment, crowded wards, staff fatigue. you can bring in staff, but what we found in 2003 is basically they were performing their procedures outside their expe expertise. we had a buddy system so basically everyone had someone to watch their back. we made sure even the cleaners or health care assistants, they're all part of the plan of helping to stop the infections within the hospitals. the other thing which we're now doing work on is just see how

long this virus can survive in the environment. with sars, the published study shows sars can remain on stainless steel for about 36 hours. with coronavirus, there's no am of time. and after basically three days, you can still culture the virus. and that's about 50% relative humidity. things get worse when you have a low temperature. i think it's not just actually the staff, but there has to be a very big effort which is made on keeping the whole environmental clean. that's both in the hospitals as well as in the community. >> and, you know, if someone has the virus, what are the

symptoms, and how long does it take for those symptoms to show up? >> yeah. this is also a big problem is that the study, which was published yesterday or the day before show that within the first seven days is that they may be relatively asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, which means it can be very difficult to distinguish this new coronavirus. remember in the northern hemisphere we have the influenza going on. it can be quite difficult to distinguish this new virus from others, which is going to lead to also another problem. also as has been indicated,asym even though the health care screening can pick those up in five or six days, you're going to get a large number of people slipping through the net because after the first three or four days, the virus will be growing and the patients will be

asymptomat asymptomatic. that's why we're trying to work out exactly in which tissues this virus will grow. is it confined the respiratory tracts or in the gastrotract. a recent study said the patients with the new coronavirus, not as many had diarrhea compared to sars, but we have to look at where it could be coming from, where it's going to be persisting, and do our best to inactivate it. >> as you've been speaking we just learned there's now been a sixth case confirmed in hong kong, which that begs the question as they try to figure out this virus. we know that they're selling out of masks, that they're checking people's temperatures at airports to try to assess whether they're bringing something in.

how important are these steps, and how much are they able to assess if it takes a while for this virus to show up, for people passing through airports? >> i think the temperature will at least screen out those who have got the fever so they can at least put into isolation. i know there's some controversy about the filling out of the forms. we did that. some people want to center it around like mercy. if you get someone who turns out to be positive, you know which flight they've been on and which seat and that makes it easier. as well as the temperature screening, it's painless. it doesn't hold up passengers. and so if it picks up symptomatic patients, i think

it's a good idea. >> we appreciate your expertise. thank you so much, dr. john nichols, clinical professor in pathology in hong kong. thank you, sir. >> thank you. have a good evening. >> you too. >> the stories about the coronavirus are among the top stories. the w.h.orld health organizatio has more. you can read the story on cnn.com. donald trump's defense attorneys are keeping their arguments brief and to the point, but is that the strategy the president wants? his reaction to the senate trial straight ahead. plus it is often said timing is everything, and the timing of the expected unveiling of mr. trump's mid east plan is sparking some questions. we'll go live to jerusalem to talk about that coming up here.

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. this is "cnn newsroom" live in atlanta. i'm natalie allen with your cnn news headlines. a ban is in effect for selling wild animals. the coronavirus has killed more than 50 people. meantime the country's transportation lockdown has expanded to the southern portion

of the city in china's guangdong province. meanwhile attorneys for trump said removing him from office would mean an undoing of an election. mr. trump's attorneys are so far keeping their defense brief and to the point. with day one in the books, cnn's kaitlan collins looks at what we can expect as the rest of the senate trial unfolds. >> reporter: there are sources who say the president is pleased with how things went. it was brief, two hours. that's the first time we've heard from the president's defense team. now, there are other people who believe they could have been more aggressive. it's been essentially this kind of weighing debate here at the white house over how aggressive they should be because some people including the president want them to come out, had this defense while others say, know,

you've got to know your audience. there are 100 senators. if you come out and you're essentially this boisterous performance, they're not going to be receptive to it. that's the question going forward. their ultimate goal is to poke holes in this so-called democratic nair active. as you heard from pat cipollone, they believe the burden is on the democrats and they do not believe the democrats met that in their nearly 24 hours of presentations laying out the evidence against the president talking about this pressure campaign. the question is going to be a lot of it has to do with the president trump's ultimate decision over how something went but the coverage itself. a lot of that could come tomorrow during the political sunday talk shows that the president watches incredibly closely. he'll be watching to see. of courser, they're going to have sound from the presentations. that could give us a better sense of how the president sees all of this. we have at least one more day

where you not only see pat cipollone and jay sekulow and the other attorneys, but you're also going to see ken starr and alan desh wits. kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. other news we're following is israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu and benny gantz are expected to meet with president trump on monday. the timing is raising some interesting questions. let's go to cnn's oren liebermann who's covering the story for us from jerusalem. good morning, oren. >> good morning, natalie. it's exactly that timing that is designed to help benjamin netanyahu in his campaign. look at that timing. first of all, president trump is facing impeachment hearings, but on this side, prime minister benjamin netanyahu has, first of all, the difficult re-election campaign, then he has immunity

hearings and indictments. it looks like the timing has benefitted him to change the topic of the headlines. in fact, the labor opposition party wrote a letter saying the timing is suspicious. what will happen over the course of this week? first opposition leader benny gantz is on his way to washington. he'll meet trump tomorrow and then will head back. then after that, netanyahu also heading out. he, in fact, flies out in just a few hours to also meet trump. he'll meet with him on monday and another one on tuesday as we await the rolling out of this peace plan from the trump administration. we'll look at what happens in terms of timing and election polls and how this changes the picture of the election. there was a question here as to whether gantz would actually go to washington to meet trump which many say was a trap laid by both trump and netanyahu to

make gantz look like a third wheel, an unnecessary spoke in all of this to cast aside all to benefit netanyahu. gantz decided he was going anyway. he said he received a personal invitation from trump and he would meet with him and come back and be back in time for tuesday. why is tuesday such a big deal? that's exactly when the hearings for the immunity panel on the indictment cases -- in the corruption cases that netanyahu faces, so that, too, will be a big day here in israeli politics but all of this playing at a crucial time with just over a month to go until the elections, natalie. >> oren liebermann for us. thank you. from impeachment. major endorsement, elizabeth warren is securing days. plus what it was like on the streets of beirut as protesters tried to storm the prime minister's office. good morning!

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okay. america's choice news for you. with a week to go till the iowa offices, elizabeth warren has secured the coveted endorsement of the iowa newspaper. they endorsed the democrat on saturday. it said this about warren, that she will push an unequal america in the right direction. warren said she was delighted to hear about the support. it comes just days after "the new york times" endorsed both warren and senator amy klobuc r klobuchar. the sioux city paper endorsed joe biden on saturday. they said biden is the candidate in the best position to give americans a competitive head-to-head matchup with

president trump and it spoke of amy klobuchar positively and urged biden to consider her as a running mate. klobuchar is keeping her eye on the prize hoping to secure the nomination herself. after spending saturday morning in washington for president trump's impeachment trial, she flew to iowa to meet with voters. cnn's key yung la sat down with her. she's juggling two jobs still trying to campaign here. we caught up with her as she was exiting the airport and boarding her bus. she told us she is a real list. she knows challenge of having this very important day job

while campaigning for a future one. >> did i ever think the last two weeks i wouldn't be able to be here on the road and i'm not a competitive person at all, just kidding. you read about your opponents out there doing what you wasn't to be doing, but then you have to step back and think two things. one, it's our constitutional duty and it's the rye thing to do, and secondly, the people are going to get it. >> taking the optimistic viewpoint there, klobuchar says she doesn't view it as an obstacle in her path, that this is simply her path. now, whether or not she might be able to break the 15% viability mark in the caucus state, she declined to answer that. kyung lah, cnn, iowa. the idea of a nightmare took on a whole new meaning for a family in an earthquake this week in puerto rico.

>> reporter: in the recording there's a moment where we can clearly hear a woman screaming. that's your mother. >> that's your mother. >> she was extremely upset. >> yes, yes. she was very nervous. >> hear more about what they went through ahead here. she's had a tiny cough. see you at 5! seriously? protection. lysol kills over 100 illness causing germs and viruses even those that may cause coughs. lysol, what it takes to protect. and that's not a tissue. protection. lysol kills over 100 illness causing germs and viruses even those that may cause runny noses. lysol, what it takes to protect.

beirut, lebanon. as you can see, security forces using water cannons to keep protesters from storming the prime minister's office saturday. this happened amid continued protests from people over the economic conditions there. senior cnn national correspondent ben wedeman was on the streets as the clashes heated up. he tells us why people say the recent government changes aren't enough. >> reporter: it's another night of clashes here in beirut. they began in front of the prime minister where friday the new steel barriers and concrete barriers were set up, but the protesters managed to rip the steel gate open. the security forces responded

with barrages of water cannons followed by tear gas. here we are further away from that area. we see the army is moving in, and we've heard some of the protesters chanting their support for the army, which until now has largely stood on the sidelines in these protests. now, the protests are over the formation of the new government of the prime minister who formed his government on tuesday. many people feel that the government in its nature did not meet their demands, that they're technically technocarats but all are affiliated in one way or another with the political parties, and fueling all of this, of course, is anger over the deteriorating economy of lebanon. so you have a combination of political anger and more

importantly anger over the falling standards of living of almost every person in this country. i'm ben wedeman, cnn, reporting from beirut. well, time is running out for search and rescue teams trying to find more than one dozen missing people after a powerful earthquake rocked eastern turkey. on saturday turkish president erdogan visited the hard-hit area. he said they're doing everything possible to find survivors. this comes as the death toll climbs. at least 31 people are dead. more than 1,500 others injured. well, going through an earthquake can be absolutely terrifying. >> interpreter: h puerto rico has been trying to recover. it's caused dozens of homes on the southern coast to crumble. one of our cnn reporters was

speaking with someone on the phone when it hit. >> reporter: this is what it sounds like inside a house that gets forcefully shaken by a powerful earthquake in the night. >> there was a moment i don't want to go through again. >> reporter: it was the morning of january 7th, just before sunrise. a magnitude 6.2 earthquake rattled puerto rico's southern coast. roberto was sleeping with his family in their house in southern puerto rico. >> that night i had a feeling something was going to happen. that's why i left my phone on recording all night. >> reporter: his feeling became reality. at exactly 4:24 the powerful earthquake started to rattle the house. >> you were sleeping in this bed by yourself. >> i was sleeping in this bed by

myself. >> what happened next. >> i jumped up and i seen everything moving. >> who was sleeping in the bedroom. >> here was my wife and my oldest daughter. >> once he made sure his wife and daughter were safe, he kept on walking in the dark house with one goal in mind. he had to rescue his elderly parents. >> so they were here. >> yes. they were here. once i got here inside the room, my mother was here standing with my dad. she was screaming. she was very nervous. >> in the recording we can hear a woman screaming. >> that was my mother. >> she was upset. >> very nervous. >> reporter: there are cracks in the house and they plan to have it looked at by a structure

engineer in case there ee danger of a collapse. the most important thing is that no one was hurt. >> for just a little moment you think everything is going to end. so i don't know. it's like a nightmare. >> as long as there's life, this earthquake survivor says, there's hope the family can rebuild and restore. finally this hour more than one dozen lions and tigers are now living their best lives out of captivity. they were saved from circuses in guatemala in an 18-month rescue mission called operation liberty. now these big cats are spending their days at a sanctuary in south africa. cnn's david mick kckinsey was t >> the first scent of a new home, and for these rescued circuit tigers and lions, their

last moments confined like this. >> this tiger's been stuck in this cage for more than 36 hours, but it's lived in cages like this its entire life brutalized for the entertainment of humans. >> reporter: it was one of their most complicated rescues. 12 tigers, five lions in total. in a 30-year fight to ban circle was animals globally. >> can you imagine because of the performance that the animals are enjoying themselves. behind the curtain we're able to show that couldn't be more untrue. >> so what is behind the curtain? >> brutality, cruelty, abuse, deprivation. >> reporter: but rescued cats are costly and they hope this new dedicate fad silt in south africa will be incentive for

more governments to follow suit. the handlers carefully unload the first family of tigers. most had their claws ripped out as cubs, some had their canines filed down. some say they should have never been caged to begin with. now taking its first tentative steps to a new life. david mckenzie, cnn, south africa. >> thank goodness for that. that is the first hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. for u.s. viewers, new day is just ahead. for others, i'll be right back. hi! we're glad you came in, what's on your mind?

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nothing wrong. >> the problem they have is they don't want to talk about the evidence. >> they have the burden of proof and they have not come close to meeting it. >> the lawyers for the president say we have the burden of proof, but we're going to block them from accessing the witnesses. >> i thank you for your attention, and i look forward to seeing you on monday. hopefully the coronavirus has been contained in a dozen countries. >> they're looking for an exit of some of the nearly 1,000 u.s. citizens within