but it was one that actually had and served a very real purpose for senators on both sides of the aisle, for house managers and the president's lawyers, an opportunity, the first opportunity for the senators themselves to ask questions of both sides. now, the chief justice, john roberts, was the one actually asking the questions, but senators from both sides rotating back and forth from republican to democrat throughout the course of wednesday asked the questions that have been driving their thought process throughout this process, and one of the most interesting by far out of dozens upon dozens of questions was a question from senators susan collins and lisa murkowski, two moderate republicans who have made it clear they're considering voting with democrats yes to receive witnesses and documents. they ask the president's counsel if whether or not there was any indication the president had been interested in specific issues in ukraine prior to vice president joe biden announcing his bid for the presidency. take a listen. >> i think it's important at the outset to frame the answer by bearing in mind i'm limited to

what's in the record, and what's in the record is determined by what the house of representatives sought. so i can't point to something in the record that shows president trump at an earlier time mentioning specifically something related to joe or hunter biden. >> that was one of a couple of questions that the white house counsel simply didn't have a firm answer to, whether because they didn't believe it was in the trial record and therefore couldn't address it or didn't have an answer at all. it's though answers that underscored why democrats before and during proceedings made it clear they believe the question and answer piece, at least the first part on wednesday, underscored the need for witnesses and documents. now, that vote is coming up in the days ahead and it is still a nail-biter. the words of one democrat keeping an eye on things. the reality is this, i'm told senator majority leader mitch mcconnell is right on the brink of having the votes to defeat that motion to consider witnesses and documents.

one day after mcconnell said he didn't have the votes yet, but he's been working hard bin the scenes, private meeting with murkowski and all of his republican colleagues to try to get them to a point where they will vote down moving forward on witnesses and documents. i should note, if you listened very closely to the white house counsel's argumets throughout the course of wednesday, they repeatedly made the point that moving forward on witnesses and documents would make it prote problematic because it would make the trial significantly longer, set precedents that would later cause problems. another full day of questions and answers. friday there will be a four-hour debate from both sides on whether or not to move to witnesses and documents and then there will be a vote. if that vote goes down, i'm told right now mcconnell plans to move very quickly to try to have a final vote to acquit the president of all charges. phil mattingly, cnn, capitol hill. >> at the very center of this question over witnesses testifying before the senate trial is john bolton. it seems the president's former

national security adviser has join that long and distinguished list of those who were once the greatest, the smartest, the bestest ever. well, now, just part of life's major disappointments. on twitter the president lamented, for a guy who couldn't get approved for ambassador to the u.n. years ago, anything since, begged me for a non-senate approved job i gave him despite many says, don't do it, sir. and many more mistakes of judgement, gets fire because, frankly, if i listened to him we'd be in world war vi right now. goes out and immediately writes a nasty and untrue book. all classified national security. how is that untrue? who would do this? we go a little deeper now into the impeachment trial with larry sabato, the director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. he joins us from charlottesville. one thing i've noticed in this trial. the president's lawyers have been sort of laying out multiple times and at times competing arguments. this seems to be the old defense

strategy of arguing in the alternative and in the process giving republican senators a smorgasbord of options to justify whatever decisions they may make. for example, here is senator lindsey graham on calling witnesses. >> here's where i'm at on calling witnesses. i'm ready to make my decision based on the record established in the house. the house chose not to pursue witnesses that were available to him. i don't want to start a precedent of just doing it half assed in the house and expect the senate to fix it. >> okay. so, larry, if you listen to graham there, calling witnesses would be a dangerous precedent because it means the house could do an impeachment with little evidence and leave the heavy lifting to the senate. that would be a dangerous precedent. as opposed to not conducting a proper trial that 75% of americans believe should have witnesses. is that kind of close to the mark? >> i think that's exactly right. look, graham has had several position on witnesses just in the past few weeks, so it's

changed a lot, and it's all situational. we know what's going on. the lawyers on both sides, but particularly the republican lawyers, are throwing every possible rationale out there not to have witnesses, and also in defending the president so that republican senators can pick and choose the explanations they like the best and that will convince their constituents they're right. >> mitch mcconnell, the leader, the republican leader in the senate, he did make it be known very publicly just 24 hours or so ago that he did not have the numbers, you know, to block witnesses from being called. that kind of for whatever it was, it seemed to be a rallying cry for the president's allies to start applying pressure to those senators who may be open to witnesses like mitt romney. and so that pressure came, for example, sean hannity on wednesday night -- tuesday nights, rather. here he is. >> i liked mitt romney. mitt romney i think would have been a great president in 2012.

he was the better person to be president. i thought i was friends with mitt romney. i don't recognize this guy anymore. the sanctimonious trump hatred is getting old. i haven't heard you talk about quid pro quo joe. i haven't heard you talk about zero experience hunter either. i haven't heard you ask for them to be called as witnesses. >> i think sean's breaking up with mitt, but on top of that, the club for growth, which is this conservative economic group, released an attack ad on romney. here's part of it. >> there's mitt romney threatening to vote with democrats again. seeking blowhards who trash president trump on the witness stand. >> it's interesting, they even included some images of john bolton in that ad. but is this solely this pressure campaign, is it solely aimed at those senators like romney who may be on the fence or a warning to all others this is what happens if you think about going

for witnesses? >> of course it's a warning. none of the other republican senators want to go through what mitt romney is going through. obviously romney just started his senate term. he doesn't have to worry about this for six years. but some of the others are on the ballot with trump in november and they really don't want bad relations with the president. so i think it's a useful warning to them, and what you suggested is absolutely true. this is all about sending a message to the handful of republican senators who might be willing to vote for witnesses. and also it was a good sell for the president because the president sometimes doesn't like to hear this kind of bad news in person. mcconnell said it via the media, so whatever upset the president had was not delivered directly to mcconnell, at least not at that moment. >> i want to finish up with jumping the shark in terms of legal arguments. tv lawyer and the guy who got

o.j. off, alan dershowitz, he seemed to do that multiple times on what is and what is not abuse of power. here's part of it. >> it would be a much harder case if a hypothetical president of the united states said to a hypothetical leader of a foreign country, unless you build a hotel with my name on it, and unless you give me $1 million kickback i will withhold the funds. that's an easy case. that's purely corrupt and in the purely private interest, but a complex middle case is, i want to be elected. i think i'm a great president. i think i'm the greatest president there ever was and if i'm not elected, the public interest will suffer greatly. that cannot be an impeachable offense. >> that argument was applied in any case, like, i don't know, watergate, richard nixon, you know, articles of impeachment would not be applicable because clearly nixon thought he was great. every president thinks they're great. it's nuts. >> no, it's a crazy argument.

dershowitz has made on other occasions, but he's gone to a new extreme here. essentially if we take the dershowitz standard then no president will ever be guilty of abuse of power as long as they can cite benefit to themselves and claim that it's a benefit for the country. so is it was a very unniimpresse argument. even if you're balanced on this and haven't taken a position on whether trump should be ousted and guilty of what the constitution specifies as high crimes and misdemeanors. i think the precedents being set are disturbing and it won't be long before another president is going to use these precedents, and it could be a democrat, quite frankly, to get off whatever charges are brought. >> larry, good to see you. thank you. >> thank you.

the first signs of what is know known as the deadly wuhan coronavirus appeared late december. at this point we know it's spreading fast. faster than the 2003 sars -- the white house has announced a presidential task force will monitor the level of threat the u.s. is facing and in a few hours the geneva-based world health organization will hold another emergency meeting to decide if the world is facing an impending global crisis. china now reports almost 8,000 confirmed cases. two new hospitals are under construction to treat a growing number of patients. the death toll now stands at 170, all in china, and more than 100 confirmed cases worldwide. >> the whole world needs to be on alert now. the whole world needs to take action and be ready for any cases that come. >> live now to beijing and cnn's stephen jang joins us.

stephen, almost 8,000 confirmed cases just in china alone. there is also a suspected 9,000 other cases as well. and what we seem to be seeing is that the number of cases, confirmed cases just surges from day to day to day. i guess the question is, when will it peak? >> well, some government advisers, medical experts are saying it may peak in 10 to 14 days, but that they be an optimistic guess, of course, because so far the trend is not really showing that, but, of course, a lot of these cases are being confirmed faster now, according to the government, because they have more testing kits available, have more medical personnel available and focused on taking in and treating more patients there. still there are a lot of challenges. even the governor as recently as wednesday night was telling a

national audience they were experiencing a severe shortage of medical supplies across the province. that's why i think the national leadership acknowledged the situation of this virus remains grave and complex, but this is has spread across the country. every one of the 31 provinces in the mainland has confirmed cases. that's why they are now casting a net wide when it comes to screening, when it comes to prevention tactics, but that, of course, is also increasingly difficult as more and more people are ready to come back to their workplaces from hometowns when the lunar new year holiday ends officially on this coming sunday. john? >> steven, we appreciate the update. steven jiang live for us there in beijing. about nous american ex-pats live in wuhan, the city at the epicenter of this outbreak. on wednesday almost 200 of them left the virus zone. they arrived on a charter flight

to a military base in california. they will be monitored for signs of the disease. so far they seem fine. not everyone who wanted to get out of china was allowed on that flight. here is their story. >> reporter: american flag in hand, 8-year-old hermione dickey was so close to returning to the united states, ready to leave behind the locked down epicenter of the deadly coronavirus, wuhan, china, but she and her mom presilla never boarded. >> normally they'd go to the consulate in wuhan for help. >> the consulate is gone. the consulate was on the plane. >> that's a little disconcerting that they have a plane and most of the people on it are from the consulate. so that's, you know, we feel a little bit left behind. >> reporter: this american teacher recently submitted his passport for visa processing.

>> unfortunately for me, i didn't have my passport. the school has it. i was getting a two-week extension on my visa. >> reporter: other countries chartering flights to evacuate their citizens out of the epicenter. this image showing a pilot wrapped in protective gear. around 200 japanese citizens were evacuated wednesday, telling reporters they feel relieved to be home, adding the situation in wuhan is deteriorating. china has dispatched medical teams to the front lines of the outbreak. and state media shows the first of two hospitals going up. they will hold a combined 2,600 patients. this as chinese state media is airing video of coronavirus patients that they say have been successfully treated and discharged. as for those still in wuhan -- >> people are scared here, you know, and scared people get angry. scared people, you know, want answers, and sometimes at the moment they don't have an answer. >> reporter: priscilla and her daughter hoping for a way out. >> we would really appreciate for a way to get her an

emergency passport. >> in an awed mated email response, the state department says they are working on other ways to get americans out of the lockdown zone and out of the city of wuhan in particular, including by car, but have not yet finalized those details. still to come, is it -- a tearful farewell from the eu to the uk. the emotions are just beginning.

americans come to lendingtree.com to compare and save on loans, credit cards and more! but with the new lending tree app you can see your full financial health, monitor your credit score, see your cash flow and find out how you can cut your monthly bills. download it now to see how much you can save.

this friday when big ben strikes 11:00 p.m. in london and it's midnight in brussels, it will be official, the uk no longer a member state of the european union. the final approval from the european parliament came with a vote, 621-49. it was a moment of tears for some and cheers for others.

cnn's nina dos santos joins us live from brussels. is the mood sort of like the war-time classic "we'll meet again" or more like green day's "good riddance?" >> a bit of both, actually. 52-48, just like the referendum four years ago, john. >> good to know. >> it was a really supercharged day i must say in the european parliament for people from all political persuasions. we had brexiteer mps really cloeti gloating saying this is the moment they were waiting for, the pinnacle of their careers and members of the green party crying as they cleared their desks. supercharged scenes one for the history books. >> translator: and now i will sign the letter -- >> reporter: this is the moment brexit became law.

♪ >> reporter: in an emotional session in the european parliament, to the sound of song, the withdrawal will cleared its final hurdle. ♪ >> reporter: some expressed sadness. >> only in the agony of parting do we look into the depth of love. we will always love you and we will never be far. long live europe. >> reporter: while others were somewhat smug. >> what do we want from europe? if we want trade, friendship, cooperation, reciprocity. we don't need a european commission. we don't need a european court. we don't need these institutions and all of this power.

and i can promise you both in uk and, indeed, in the brexit party, we love europe, we just hate the european union. it's as simple as that. >> reporter: but all in all there was relief the bruising battle had come to an end. >> can i please ask for quiet? please resume. sit down, take your seats. you're leaving. take them with you. >> reporter: all traces of britains presence will be discreetly removed after midnight on friday, and 73 elected members from the uk will lose their seats. lawmakers like alexandra phillips from the greens, in the job less than a year with barely enough time to decorate her office. >> obviously i'm profoundly sad and pretty devastated that this is ending. i last worked here 12 years ago,

and it's the dream job in uk politics, if you like. and i'm particularly worried about what might happen later this year in terms of a no deal for people back in the uk. >> reporter: for the brexit party, which has achieved its goal, it's time to go home to hold westminster to its word. that means fighting the uk sovereignty over its waters. >> oh, it felt absolutely wonderful. i've been campaigning a long time for our uk's fishing industry. and once we leave the eu, we can take back full control of our waters and start to rejuvenate coastal communities that have been abandoned in our country for a long time. >> reporter: after the vote, a leaving reception complete with a memento. for some it's a chance to say au

revoir and for others adieu for good. there is one final hurdle this has to cross and that will be happening again today. it's likely to sale through the european council, the organization that convenes the heads of state and heads of government to try and get them to rubber stamp and agree on things. it's going to send an email round to all those heads of state's commissioners saying now that this has passed through both houses of parliament and the european parliament, are you okay to wave this through? it's expected the remaining 27 member states will say, yep, that's okay, and then this chapter will be finished. a lot of those meps still here clearing their desks. as i said, they're probably going to converge with the crowds in brussels when the clock strikes midnight here on friday to mark this momentous moment in history. some of them celebrating and some of them probably will have tears of sadness and not joy in their eye.

>> ending with a whimper. they get 15 boxes for all their stuff. how about that? thanks, nina. >> some of them have only been in the job nine months, so some of them don't even have much to put in those boxes. >> they're on their way out anyway. nina, thank you. we appreciate you taking an earlier shift. well, the longest drug smuggle tunnel on record has been found. more than 4,300 feet long. that's about three empire state buildings stacked end-to-end. the previous record was more than 1,000 feet shorter. officials say this tunnel has ventilation, electricity, a complex drainage system, even elevators. the discovery, though, has not led to any arrests or drug seizures. at least not yet. still to come, for days they sat in silence and listened, but now u.s. senators are asking questions in trump's impeachment trial, but are they closer to calling witnesses?

details next on "cnn newsroom." ( ♪ ) ♪ the sun is risin' ♪ ♪ as the day begins ♪ time for reflectin' on family and friends ♪ ♪ and hey, we got somethin' ♪ ♪ just for you (sniffing) ♪ it's a cup of your favori-i-i-ite... ♪ (loud splashing) (high-pitched laughter) dang woodchucks! with geico, the savings keep on going. just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. for bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. for 45 days.

rowithout the commission fees and account minimums. so, you can start investing wherever you are - even on the bus. download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

wthat's why xfinity hasu made taking your internetself. and tv with you a breeze. really? yup. you can transfer your service online in about a minute. you can do that? yeah. and with two-hour service appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. so while moving may still come with its share of headaches... no kidding. we're doing all we can to make moving simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started.

well, the fight over witnesses in donald trump's impeachment trial will resume in the coming hours. senators asked 93 questions of house democrats and the president's legal team on wednesday. it's all about their case for and against testimony of former national security adviser john bolton and joe biden's son hunter, i should say. details now from cnn's athena jones.

>> reporter: senators apparently haven't heard enough as day one of questions and answers slid into the late hours wednesday. the three republican senators who have publicly said they could support calling witnesses setting the tone for the day. asking trump's lawyers -- >> if president trump had more than one motive for his alleged conduct, such as the pursuit of personal political advantage, rooting out corruption and the promotion of national interests, how should the senate consider more than one motive in its assessment of article i? >> reporter: their response -- >> once you're into mixed motive land, it's clear that their case fails. >> and if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment. >> reporter: after days of strategizing, both parties used

dozens of leading, often loaded questions to push their side's case. republicans honing in on hunter biden. >> what did hunter biden do for the money that burisma holdings paid him? >> hunter biden did attend one board meeting in monaco. >> reporter: but one question trump's lawyers couldn't answer, whether trump ever mentioned concerns about the bidens to ukrainian or american officials before the former vice president entered the 2020 race. >> i'm limited to what's in the record, and what's in the record is determined by what the house of representatives sought. so i can't point to something in the record that shows president trump at an earlier time mentioning specifically something related to joe or hunter biden. >> reporter: democrats stressing the need to hear from witnesses like former national security adviser john bolton. who has said he is willing to testify before the senate if subpoenaed. >> if you have any lingering questions about direct evidence, any thoughts about anything we

just talked about, anything i just relayed or that we've talked about the last week, there is a way to shed additional light on it. you can subpoena ambassador bolton and ask him that question directly. >> the senate can get to the truth. you can get to the truth by calling witnesses who can testify. >> reporter: the trump's team response -- >> the idea that the house can do an incomplete job in trying to find out what witnesses there are, having them come testify, trying to find out the facts, just rush something through and bring it here as an impeachment and then start trying to call all the witnesses, and it would forever change the relationship between the house of representatives and the senate in terms of the way impeachments operate. >> reporter: while in a particularly fiery moment, listing the witnesses they would call. >> i want adam schiff. i want hunter biden. i want joe biden. i want -- i want the whistle-blower.

i want -- i want to also understand there may be additional people within the house intelligence committee that have had conversations with that whistle-blower. did i get anybody we want? >> reporter: and delivering a stark warning to the senators. >> by the way, if we get anyone we want, we'll be here for a very long time. >> reporter: trump's team also making the case for protecting executive privilege. >> to subpoena the national security adviser and that will be easy, there won't be any problem. that's not the way it will work because there is a vital constitutional privilege at stake there. >> reporter: democrats arguing that trump wave that privilege with this tweet. >> he cannot characterize a conversation and put it into the public domain and then claim executive privilege against it. >> reporter: trump's team also urging senators to let the voters decide. >> the president is the one who gets to determine policy because he's been elected by the people to do that. and we're right now only a few months away from another election where the people can

decide for themselves whether they like what the president has done with that authority or not. >> reporter: schiff spelling out the consequences of not removing from trump office. >> bear in mind that efforts to cheat an election are always going to be in proximity to an election. and if you say you can't hold a president accountable in an election year, where they're trying to cheat in that election, then you are giving them carte blanche. >> reporter: athena jones, cnn, washington. portions of the u.s. border wall with mexico were brought down by high winds. the panels were newly installed on wednesday and had been placed in concrete, which according to one official hadn't set. a great big border wall with mexico was a big campaign promise in 2016. by then candidate donald trump. still to come, the death of basketball great kobe bryant is being felt from los angeles to places around the world. but why many in italy may have taken the news harder than most. that's next.

charmin ultra soft! it's softer than ever. charmin ultra soft is softer than ever, so it's harder to resist. okay, this is getting a little weird! enjoy the go with charmin.

get it. get it. get it! get it! crowd chanting: get it! get it! get it! (crowd groaning) (crowd cheering) narrator: give your town a reason to celebrate because every goodwill item you bring home, brings job training and more to your community.

goodwill. bring good home.

almost four days now since basketball legend kobe bryant and his 13-year-old daughter died in a helicopter crash near los angeles. and now we're hearing from his widow, vanessa.

in an instagram post, she thanked everyone for the support they've given her during what she calls an horrific time. she also shared this photo of the entire family saying this loss has left her and her surviving daughters devastated. they were our beautiful blessings taken from us too soon. it's impossible to imagine life without them, but we wake up each day trying to keep pushing because kobe and our baby girl gigi are shining on us to light the way, i should say. the news of kobe bryant's death shocked fans around the world, especially in a small italian town where bryant spent part of his childhood. cnn's christina macfarlane telling us how people there are dealing with this tragedy. >> reporter: he only lived here until he was 13 before global fame made kobe bryant the superstar we all know, but still news of his death hit bryant's childhood friends hard in the this italian town.

she can only clutch a photobook she kept in which bryant is pictured in his first holy communion. >> translator: i knew about it from a dear friend who sent me a message. i immediately thought it was fake news, and i immediately sent him an email asking, tell me it's not true. the biggest tragedy was knowing about the death of his daughter because when he came here five years ago, he came with his two daughters, and the oldest was here in italy with him. >> reporter: bryant moved to italy at the age of 6 when his father came to play in the country's pro basketball league. here began the hours of learning and training, and first signs of the greatness that was to come. >> i remember i came here at the playground in the afternoon, and i saw that little guy shooting on his knees. well, he had to play in the nba. >> kobe --

>> kobe was that little guy who came here. he had that grit that champions have, even when they are young, they show that strength, that tenacity to have success. >> reporter: but he learned more than just basketball. he learned italian and what italians loved, football. kobe bryant quickly became a rossenari. [ speaking italian ] >> reporter: tuesday night it was clear how much ac milan loved him back, paying tribute to kobe and his daughter gianna. among players and friends here, there was always something special about how he played. his commitment, his focus that

remained infectious long after he was gone. >> the meaning he gave to the word obsession is something that make he feel very close to him and he lived his life -- he lived his job as an opportunity every day to become better and better and better. >> reporter: and that is how kobe bryant will be remembered here in a country where legends remain because legends never die. christina macfarlane, cnn, london. >> a big part of kobe bryant's legacy is his years of charity work and many are honoring his legacy by giving to foundations he supported. you can find out more at cnn.com/impact. and vanessa bryant announced the creation of a new fund to help support the other families involved in the crash. mambaonthree.com. the recent world economic forum in davos gave nongovernmental organizations a big platform to pitch their

causes to the global business elite and policymakers, in today's innovate africa, cnn's julia chatterley introduces us to a nonprofit helping girls in the democratic republic of congo. >> reporter: seven days before the start of this year's meeting and the founder of the foundation is in london making final preparations. >> it's very important to highlight to the world that what we've been doing over the past 13 years, how we created a model community to enhance quality education and health care programs. >> reporter: for years the model turned activist has been trying to get the world to take notice of the democratic republic of congo and in particular the challenges young people face. her foundation aims to empower young girls through education. ♪ noella was born in the drc but

left age 5 after her father died. in europe she had a successful career in modelling but her true passion was trying to help young girls in africa. >> africa is the future. africa is now. so we need to have absolutely more african women being on the global stage, speaking about all the issues. and i believe investing in the youth is going to be the transformation for our africa. >> reporter: noella is, of course, not the only person trying to promote africa. this woman set up africa 2.0 in 2010, his vision of the future. >> the way i would summarize it, it's a connected africa. it's an ambitious africa. and it's an africa that doesn't have any complex, you know? i think, you know, there has been the post-independence generation that still had a bit of a -- that stigma. i think the younger generation, you know, they think they're as

good as anyone else and they can do anything that anyone else can do. people have the feeling that they can do it. therefore, impossible is not african. >> i never imagined when i left congress o congo at 5 years old that i would be speaking to this global audience, but it's not for me, it's really something deep down for my -- for my -- for my continent, and i take that very seriously. i choose very carefully where i speak, and which audience i'm speaking, and i really want to try to represent in a very diplomatic and authentic way what africa needs. >> "cnn newsroom" continues after a short break. stay with us.

you're doing more to keep your body healthy for the future. shouldn't your toothpaste do the same for your mouth? future proof your whole mouth with new crest pro/active defense. its active defense technology neutralizes bacteria to shield against potential issues. crest.

the iowa caucuses are just days away. the first chance for democratic presidential hopefuls to get a big edge in securing their party's no longer. a new monmouth poll shows joe biden in the lead, bernie sanders just 2 points behind. pete buttigieg is neck and neck with elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar is the last candidate in double digits with 10%, but the leading candidates are not the ones spending big on advertising. here's the top four. michael bloomberg way out in front, spending more than 270 million sods far. with $156 million behind him, tom steyer a distant second.

donald trump comes in at number three, $52 million. there's bernie, rounding out the fourth, spending $28 million so far or a little more than 10% of the bloomberg campaign. proving that even though you're a billionaire and spent $270 million. you still have to do the campaign glad handing thing. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: it's not that mike bloomberg doesn't know how to shake hands it's what he shook when he glad handed a dog. instead of doing this, i regret to inform you that mike bloomberg attempted to shake a dog's mouth. oh, sure, he topped it off with a nice tickle, but still, aye yai yai. tweeted one wag, he thought it was bernie. and it wasn't the first time bloomberg shook a dog's snout. a second image emerged. does this mean he's another billionaire lukewarm to pooches? >> and the guy choked like a dog. >> reporter: president trump's

first wife wrote about his cold war with her dog chappy. donald was not a dog fan. bloomberg's girlfriend once gave him two labs. "the new york times" reported the then mayor told her the dogs could stay but she would be looking after them, and now this, to warm up his image, bloomberg posted a video. featuring the two dogs he currently owns, captioned, "starting the day with my senior advisers, cody and libby." bloomberg's social media team turned to the doggy demo. whipping out this instant ad. >> mike bloomberg is the man to lead us. >> he will create more jobs. >> mike's not afraid of the nra, not one bit. >> reporter: contrasting their master with president trump, bloomberg's own dogs chimed in. >> he does not tweet -- >> reporter: it could have been worse. at least bloomberg didn't attempt the trumpian grab and yank on the dog's mouth. bloomberg's snout grabbing

inspired someone to paraphrase that famous trump quote -- when you're a billionaire, they let you do it, you can do anything, grab them by the snout. #dogsfor mi #dogsformiketotherescue. but don't might mike. stick with this. jeanne moos, cnn -- >> i'm mike boiloomberg's dog. i approve this message. >> reporter: new york. "cnn newsroom" continues with max foster from london in just a moment. stay with us. robinhood believes now is the time to do money.

without the commission fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

u.s. republican senators try to drive impeachment trial to a quick end as they push to block witnesses, mainly former national security adviser john bolton. cases of the wuhan coronavirus have now been confirmed in all chinese regions as the white house creates a task force to deal with the threat. and the wife of kobe bryant breaks her silence on the death of her husband and daughter. hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the united states and all around the world. i'm max foster in london. this is "cnn newsroom."