acquittal came a rambling, hour-long stream of consciousness. he was silenced by authorities when he tried to raise the alarm about china's coronavirus and now, he's among the victims of that virus. when the coronavirus confirmed on two cruise ships, 700 passengers and crew under quarantine and confined to quarters most of the day. and there's no end in sight. you may have heard of the national prayer breakfast. normally lawmakers put aside politics and they work on things like tolerance and cooperation. that was not the case this year when donald trump attacked his opponents and railed against impeachment. after the breakfast, he went on to hold what he considered a celebration in the east room of the white house. what a celebration it was.

here's cnn's kaitlan collins. >> this is what the end result is. >> reporter: one day after he was acquitted, president trump touted the headlines and expressed no remorse as he claimed vindication. >> i never thought a word would sound so good. it's called total acquittal. >> reporter: from the east room of the white house, the president lashed out at the democrats he says tried to bring him down. >> adam schiff is a horrible person. >> reporter: he repeated a jab that he made at house speaker pelosi at the national prayer breakfast. accusing her of being dishonest when she says she prays for him. >> she doesn't pray. >> reporter: pelosi who was four seats away from trump at the breakfast, later hit back. >> i don't know if the president understands about prayer and people who do pray.

>> the one in his party that voted to convict him on the abuse of power charge. >> and you have some that use religion as a crutch. they never used it before. say hello to the people of utah and tell them, i'm sorry about mitt romney. >> reporter: some republican senators claim trump learned his lesson after being impeached. but today, he insisted he did nothing wrong. >> i had some that said, i wish he didn't make the call. that's okay. if they need that. it's incorrect. it's totally incorrect. >> reporter: during the at times rambling remarks, trump said he would express honesty and humility. >> we first went through russia, russia, russia. it was all bullshit. >> reporter: he lashed out at the investigations against him, which he dismissed as efforts to take him down. >> it was corrupt.

it was dirty cops. it was lese leakers and liars. this should never happen to another president ever. >> reporter: now, the president's legal team who led his impeachment defense got a standing ovation in that room today. but even though the president spoke for over an hour, there was one attorney he didn't mention, his own, rudy giuliani. kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. okay, thomas, okay. if you thought that relations between pelosi and trump were as bad as they were ever going to get before today, clearly, they've gone a lot lower. and this is a total breakdown of whatever relationship was left. what from the implications moving forward? obviously, these two can't work together. >> you're right. obviously, these two can't work together. one of the things that really struck me most, john, is that over the last several months

have been a lot of comparisons drawn between the impeachment of donald trump and the impeachment of bill clinton. and i think we can learn a lot about from how both presidents handled their acquittals in the senate. they couldn't have been more different. what we saw today from trump, speaking to nancy pelosi, was just pure defiance, a lack of remorse, a huge amount of vitriol. contrast that to clinton, after his acquittal, asked for the country's forgiveness, said he was humbled and asked the country to move forward. the country was divided after the clinton impeachment. nowhere near the levels of now. that's due to trump's rhetorics and the wittry tri yol, that will make it very difficult to come together during the last months of trump's presidency. >> and the content of what the president was doing in the east

room of the white house, it obviously seemed like he had this pent up frustration and bitterness and anger which had been brewing. but it was mixed in with fox news talking points and conspiracy theories that were lies. and it was a weird mix of a world that didn't seem to exist. >> i don't think i can say it better than you just did. one of the reasons that senators gave for acquitting donald trump, is he learned from this process. that's difficult to reconcile. the president continues to say he did nothing wrong in ukraine. that the impeachment was a witch hunt. his political opponents have been acting in bad faith and continue to do so. but just think about the mueller report. the day after mueller testified before congress, the very next day, john, trump was on the phone with president zelensky trying to get the ukraine to big up dirt on the bidens. when there's no accountability,

at the very least, it can't be ruled out. >> susan collins is right that he probably learned a lesson. but he learned that he can get away with it. the republicans don't hold him to account. and the system doesn't work when one party is beholden to the executive. that's where the problem lies with all of this. >> i couldn't agree with you more. what this does is create a culture of impunity. it does give donald trump license to behave in ways in the future that are inconsistent with the constitution. the president isn't just the precedent this will set for future presidents going forward. it's the potential precedent that it will set for donald trump because it is certainly not a foregone conclusion that he will lose in 2020. he could be given four more years. and i think what is really concerning to a lot of democrats is the idea of a trump presidency, totally unrestrained and totally unaccountable with the republican congress.

>> we're out of time. you know, this seemed learning a lesson and being contrite. when he has shown any sign of contrition or learning a lesson and changing his behavior? i don't think it's ever happened or happened now. thank you for being with us, thomas. appreciate it. >> thank you. to the troubled iowa caucuses. with 100% of the vote now in. pete buttigieg is in a tie with bernie sanders. but the controversy and the counting is not over yet. the democratic national committee has weighed in with the party chairman, calling for a recanvas. that means all of the results released by state party officials would be checked against results at the caucus sites. democrat town hall wrapped up in manchester, new hampshire, just a few hours ago. my tongue is tied. and the candidates, at least bernie sanders, addressed the divisions within the party. >> campaigns have become

contentious. and people will say things about others. i have known joe biden for so many years. joe is a friend of mine. he's a decent human being. yeah. people are going to say things during the heat of the campaign. i want somebody's vote. i say something. somebody else says something. but at the end of the day, because of the threat that trump poses to the future of this country, because of this ugliness, because of his racism, and his sexism, and his homophobia and his xenophobia and his bigotry, because he is trying to divide our people up, i have zero doubt that we will bring the party together. >> because this president now believes and the senate gop has given him reason to believe, that you can get away with anything. that it's okay to lie and cheat and okay to involve foreign governments, in domestic politics for your own game. in all of this, the good news, if you can call it that, the silver lining is that this is

2020. this is an election year. and so, the senate may have been the jury yesterday. but we, the people, are the jury now. and the final verdict on the president and on the senate, is going to be up to us this year. >> i look at it this way. there were so many people in this race, as you know. and i am now in the top five. i think there's a lot of people that didn't predict i would get through that initial announcement speech in the middle of the blizzard. they were literally predicting i couldn't make it through the snow. then, they were predicting i wouldn't make it through the summer. and then, it was debate, debate, debate. every time i have exceeded expectations. >> and a quick programming note. remember to tune in to cnn on tuesday for our extensive coverage of the new hampshire primary. when we come back, it's not like "the love boat" on a quarantined ship just off of the coast of japan. >> there's about another 150

passengers who are waiting, who are showing symptoms but waiting for their results to come back. where are they kept? are we breathing the same air they are? >> yes. it's the coronavirus and we'll talk with one of the thousands of people now stuck on a cruise ship where dozens are infected with the virus. thanks to move free ultra i keep up with this little one. see the world with this guy. and hit the town with these girls. in a clinical study, 4 out of 5 users felt better joint comfort. move free. find our coupon in sunday's paper.

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across china, there's been a huge outcry over the death of a doctor in wuhan who was the first to raise the alarm over the coronavirus. authorities accused him of spreading rumors and warned he would be prosecuted if he did not remain quiet. the government says it will investigate some of the, quote, issues raised by the masses over the death of this man, who is being hailed a hero by many. the death toll has risen to 638, with well over 31,000 confirmed cases. more than 300 of the patients are outside of china, including 61 people onboard a cruise ship now quarantined in yokohama, japan. another ship is quarantined in a port of hong kong. let's go to matt rivers for the latest. we're hearing about life onboard the ship. it is not fun right now.

there's no sign that will end anytime soon. >> reporter: yeah. that's right, john. we were talking amongst the crew. we were saying, you would be lucky if you had a room with a balcony. imagine if you had just a porthole, where you can't even open it because you can't really leave your room. that's part of the conditions of this quarantine here, is that the people onboard that ship are only allowed out of the rooms for a certain amount of time each day, a limited amount of time. the rest of the time has to be spent inside the room. it feels like the ship is a floating prison for people who thought they were going on vacation and now are faced with this situation. in terms of the number, 61 people according to japanese health authorities have tested positive for the coronavirus. there's 3,700 people or so on that ship. 1,000 members of staff, in addition to more than 2,000

passengers. only about 275 or so people have actually been tested for the virus so far. those are people that presented symptoms. that could change. yesterday, there were 20 people that had tested positive. today, announced 41 more. that's 61 total. and that number can go up. that's the problem with the cruise ships. now, they're up there, breathing the same air. they're next to people who are sick. and that's part of the frustration of the people who we're speaking to onboard. they want to get off. we spoke to an american couple on their honeymoon right now. they said they are scared to death they're going to contract the virus from people on the ship. they want to, quote, get the hell off of there. with japanese authorities are saying it's not safe to bring people off of the ship. they don't know who is sick and who is not. they want to get a handle on the situation before they allow people onshore. they haven't been getting people

on the ship off of the ship and on to land. >> we've seen this before with cruise ships. they are incubators. one person gets sick, almost everybody gets sick. a short time ago, natalie allen spoke to one of the passengers quarantined on "the diamond princess" cruise ship. this was the first cruise ever for her and her family. chances are, it will be their last. >> she is a passenger on "the diamond princess" cruise ship. she has been onboard for the past three weeks. thank you for talking with us on your holiday cruise. how is it going for you right now? >> thank you. i'm feeling really well at the moment. i've just had my allocated 1 1/2 hours of fresh air and sunshine. for those of you that don't appreciate sunshine, please do

because it's so valuable. i've been in here for three days. and today is the first time that we've been allowed to go outside. >> i can't imagine what that is like. you're there with your husband and your two boys. once you realize, we're stuck on here, we can't go anywhere, what was that feeling like? >> i was anxious to start off with. i'm a positive person in general. i kept thinking, well, you know, they need to find -- the conf e confinement is good. at least we're not going to be spreading anything or we're not going to be in contact. but as it progressed, first, we were told there were ten that were affected. the next day we were told there were another ten. and this morning, we -- part of the problem has been that, we haven't been given the information in a timely manner. so, we've been finding out

information on media before we're told in our cabins. this morning when i found out there was a further 41 cases confirmed, i started to really, really worry. because you know one of the things is, we're all inside where the air is recycled constantly. and i want to know, there is about another 150 passengers who are waiting, who were showing symptoms but waiting for the results to come back. where are they kept? are we breathing the same air they are? >> that's a good question. i can understand your frustration. why do you think the folks on the cruise ship aren't being more open and communicative, considering they have people like you and your family, holed up in their cabins? >> the first two days have been slow in getting information to

us. and he is still slow. and i think because people like myself and others who are voicing what is happening through media, have voiced that we are not getting information, he has apologized. today, he has said he is trying very hard. basically, we didn't get the information there was another 41 cases confirmed. he said it's not allowing him to share information. so, he has to get the okay before he can share the information with us. >> when do you think this will be over? and are you getting everything you need, meantime? >> you know, main necessities, yes. so, amenities, to live, you know, like toilet paper, soap, things like that, when we need

things, we can ask for. and generally, speaking, it is given to us. we are being served room service-like meals. there's over 1,600 cabins. so, today is the third day they have to perform room service. and they are getting -- they're doing it better and better. the first day, it took them three hours just to serve one meal throughout the ship. we have to commend the crew for working so hard, as well, to get things to us. you know, we are getting warm meals now, rather than cold meals. but they are working very, very hard, as well. >> you have a positive attitude. 1,600 cabins. there's a lot of people in the same predictment as you. when you look back on this, when you finally get to come to shore, what will stay with you, as far as being stuck there on this ship?

>> this is our first-ever cruise. it was to celebrate my younger -- my 18-year-old from finishing high school and my older -- my 21-year-old from finishing university, graduating from university. so, it was before the class that we went on holiday. the cruise itself has been wonderful. the 15 days we saw lots of places and did lots of things. but i suppose, having to be here for another 12 days or 14 days together, we hope, is probably left a saur taste in my mouth. the cruise itself has been wonderful. i will not be coming back on a cruise very quickly or soon.

i am scared. i am very, very scared. i'm scared whether we're going to be able to get off this cruise unscathed, basically. >> we hope, yes. you can maintain and your family, your first cruise, celebration, and this. the good news, they're looking for your health, all of you. we may check in with you, vera, to see how you're doing. we appreciate your time. thank you. we wish you the best. >> thank you. a week ago, the white house unveiled its middle east peace plan. the so-called deal of the century. on thursday, a car was driven into israeli soldiers in jerusalem. this comes less than 24 hours after three palestinians were killed in the west bank during days of protest against u.s. president donald trump's peace plan. we have more, now, from oren liebermann. >> reporter: it's easy to look at the attacks and the uptick of violence and see they come in

the wake of the trump administration's peace plan and link the two. that may be the reason why we're seeing the sudden violence in the last 24 hours. but there's more to it than that. there are some attacks that may be related to the anger and the frustration over the peace plan. the palestinian factions has called for more to express an outright rejection and anger. there was a ramming attack against israeli soldiers in jerusalem, wounding 12. one of them was seriously injured. the suspect was arrested thursday evening in the west bank. similarly, shooting attacks in the old city of jerusalem and the central west bank, may have anger over the plan at their root. and that goes for rocket and mortar fire from gaza, as well. what happened in jeanine in the morn west bank is a different story. that starts early thursday morning, with israeli soldiers

go in to demolish the home of a palestinian, convicted of murdering a rabbi two years ago. in the clashes that broke out, one palestinian was shot and killed. israel says he had shot with a sniper rifle at israeli soldiers who responded. a second palestinian was also shot and killed, a member of palestinian police. video posted by fatah, that controls the palestinian authority, saws the officer standing at his place of work, not taking part of clashes and protests, when he's shot and killed. the israeli military says it's investigating the incident. where does it go from here and does it get worse? it's tense and there's a tremendous amount of strain on israeli/palestinian coordination, which is crucial to both sides. where does this go from here? it could spiral out of control quickly and one of the big questions is can both sides put a lid on it to stabilize the situation and do they want to? oren liebermann, cnn, jerusalem. we'll take a break now. for our international audience, "african voices: changemakers" is next. and for our viewers in the united states, cnn newsroom continues in a moment.

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welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm john vause. it's 3:29 here in the east. looking at the top stories here at this hour. donald trump taking a victory lap over his impeachment acquittal. he lashed out on critics and political opponents as evil and scum, insisting he's done nothing wrong. and he mocked the religious faith of republican senator mitt romney and house speaker nancy pelosi. the white house says the allocaai al qaeda leader in yemen is dead. al raimy was killed in an air strike.

cnn reported that he had been targ targeted. with 100% of precincts reporting in the iowa democratic caucus, pete buttigieg has a lead over bernie sanders. the party committee chair is calling for a recanvas over all results. the debacle of iowa is in the rear-view mirror. and cnn's a alley phillip is there. >> reporter: the new hampshire primary is five days away. but the drama in iowa is not over yet. tom perez stunning iowa officials with his call for a full recanvas of the result from the caucuses on monday. tweeting, quote, enough is enough. i'm calling on the iowa democratic party to immediately begin a recanvas. his request comes as the current results show a razor-thin margin between pete buttigieg and bernie sanders.

only 0.1% separating them. senator sanders declaring victory and calling buttigieg's slight lead meaningless. >> what is not going to change is in fact that in terms of the popular vote, we won a decisive victory. >> reporter: but in iowa, state delegates determine the winner, not the popular vote. even without a clear winner, iowa is shaping the new hampshire race. sanders is claiming his campaign raising $25 million from supporters in the month of january, the largest fund-raising month ever for his campaign. on a call, buttigieg urging his supporters to keep their financial support going. >> each day our campaign is making decisions about how to guide our resources. i need everyone on this call to go to the website, peteforamerica.com and chip in 5 bucks or whatever you can right now. >> reporter: after a disappointing performance in iowa, joe biden acknowledging that iowa was a gut-punch. and sharply pivoting his message

to attacks on the two leading candidates. >> every democrat will have to carry the label that senator sanders has chosen for him. he calls himself a democratic socialist. we're already seeing what donald trump is going to do with that. i have great respect for mayor pete and his service to this nation. but i do believe it's a risk to be just straight up with you, for this party to nominate someone who has never held office higher than mayor of a town of 100,000 people in indiana. >> reporter: abbe phillip, cnn, merrima merrimack, new hampshire. he is with us this hour. good to see you. now, let's put this in perspective. as far as iowa is concerned, should they do the recanvassing at any point of this stage? or should they burn this whole thing down and never talk about it again? >> there's many in the democratic party feeling the latter right now. i if i that probably, though, it's not a bad idea to a

recanvas. what a recanvas is, to make take the popular vote counts in the different precincts and to ensure that those counts are mathematically translated into the delegate formula in the correct manner. we're getting the two sets of results from iowa. we get the popular vote, which bernie sanders appears to have won clearly. and then, we have the state delegate equivalents that come out. that's the product of looking at the different distribution of delegates in different parts of the state. and that, at the moment, pete buttigieg has a slight edge. but it's so close. the last count i saw, is just 2 out of about 2,000 state delegates that he's leading. so, i don't think it's a bad idea to run those calculations again just to make sure that everything is -- that result is the definitive result. >> if you go through all of that hassle and it will take a considerable amount of time to get that done, iowa will always

have a stench that there was something not quite right about it. >> i think that's right. and there was the canary in the coal mine in 2012, on the republican side, mitt romney was declared the winner of iowa. and then, they reran their own calculations. and two weeks later, they realized that rick santorum had won. the issue is that the iowa caucus is really -- it's a mechanism from a kind of almost a pre-mass democracy age. you know? and i think that, you know, this process, which, you know, has its charms, it's a communal way of selecting a candidate, i think it's under strain in an age of mass party democracy. the extent that people take iowa seriously in the future is seriously in doubt. the process that we see in new hampshire, which is a normal election, where people cast a ballot, people will have more confidence in that process.

>> just a footnote to the 2012 result, they gave it to santorum. he missed out on the front-runner status. and then, ron paul, father of rand paul, had won the most votes. it was a bit of a disaster in 2012. it was close in 2016. and a disaster for democrats this year. let's look at what's happening in washington right now. you have nancy pelosi, we've had this situation with the national prayer breakfast, exchanging insults with donald trump. there's hostility between these two. this is not a relationship that is working. does it matter? we're eight months away, ten months away from november. >> well, some commentators have said that donald trump had the best week of his presidency this week. there's some evidence to suggest that. his approval rating is now, the highest it's been since the early stages of his presidency, a 49% approval.

i think we have to put that in context. after bill clinton was acquitted, in his impeachment trial, his approval rating went up to 72%. so, trump isn't at that level. and what we're seeing in the approval ratings and in the trump/pelosi back and forth, is just the highly polarized nature of american politics now, where trump is at 95% approval with republicans but about 5% approval with democrats. we seeing two party leaders, pelosi the de facto party leader at the moment, speaking to the bases. and maybe that's how the election will be run. it's not about persuading the middle. it's about mobilizing your partisan supporters. >> it's about getting as many true believers to the voting booth. that is going to be the case come november.

richard, thank you very much for being with us. richard joseph, with lancaster university. outrage over the death of a doctor who tried to sound the alarm about the coronavirus. a look at the days leading up to his death in a moment. when we started our business we were paying an arm and a leg for postage. i remember setting up shipstation. one or two clicks and everything was up and running. i was printing out labels and saving money. shipstation saves us so much time. it makes it really easy and seamless. pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and it's ready to go. our costs for shipping were cut in half. just like that. shipstation. the #1 choice of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get 2 months free.

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just a few hours ago, a plane carrying close to 200 canadians from wuhan china landed in vancouver. and two more planes with hundreds of americans are in the air and heading for snae oan an, texas, and omaha, nebraska. there will be more sites around at airports with the flights. china's government is launching an investigation into what it calls issues raised by the masses online related to the death of a doctor, who was one of the first to try to warn the

public about the risks of the coronavirus. that doctor died thursday from the wuhan virus. david kohler has our report. >> reporter: dr. li went from treating patients to being diagnosed with the coronavirus. dying less than a week in the same hospital he worked. if action had been taken when he and others were sounding alarms, the severity of the outbreak might have been understood sooner. struggling to communicate, li spoke with cnn by phone on january 31st. you can hear the hospital machines pulsing in the background. it was back in late december, when li first warned friends about a sars-like disease going around. li sent a group message saying that a test result from a patient quarantined at the hospital where he worked showed

the patient had a crohn oronavi. after hitting send, officials tracked li down, questioning where he got the information. within days, they closed the suspected source of the virus, this seafood market and announced the outbreak. but instead of being praised, li got a call from police. with li coughing too much and breathing too poorly to speak by phone, we asked him by text, how did you feel when this happened? i felt afraid. afraid i would be detained. afraid my family would worry, he respo responded. agreed to sign this document, to spreading rumors online. we want you to cooperate with the police and listen to our reminder and stop the illegal act. can you do that? li answered, yes, i can. in the weeks that followed, the wuhan health commission maintained there was no human-to-human transmission, no infection to health care workers and the outbreak was controllable.

and with that, the people of wuhan continued about their normal lives. then came a sudden jump in infections. china's central government took over, scrambling to contain a spreading virus with a rising death toll. chinese state media reported that li was one of several whistleblowers, silenced by police. calls for li and others to be vindicated grew online. china's supreme court weighed in. adding it might have been a fortunate thing if the public had listened to this rumor at the time. but for many, including li and his parents, it was too late. they contracted the coronavirus. li's condition declined rapidly. but before his death friday, he witnessed the support of thousands online who considered him a hero. late thursday night, chinese state media first reported li death. the responses online reflected a grief and a deep anger. the two topics trending on chinese social media and we want

freedom of speech. both had tens of thousands of views. soon after state media changed its reporting, citing wuhan central hospital citing that li was alive but in critical condition. a few years later, hospital authorities announced li's death. he was 34. david culver, cnn, beijing. more live to beijing. steven jiang. let's look at the issues that have been raised. david mention them about n his report. freedom of speech. they say the doctor is a hero. he deserves an apology. but there was a controversy of the timing of the doctor's death. what are they saying about the death of the doctor and the circumstances surrounding it, with the people in china there? >> there's so many questions raised by millions of people in the past few hours.

not only the government accountability issue, the freedom of speech issue, but his medical condition. for example, he was 34, a very young, healthy man, before he contracted this virus. but his condition worsened so quickly and died within the week, as they were saying, of diagnosis. >> the press conference in the last hour, by the national health commission, a state media reporter, actually asked the government officials on the stage, why did this happen, if you guys have been insisting this disease mostly happened affecting older people with a lot of preseasons, especially when it comes to mortality cases. so, the officials said they had no answers because they did not know the specific situation of dr. lee but promised to look into it. a lot of questions around dr dr. li's death. that's why there an outpouring of grief and anger we've seen, really united this country of different political spectrum, even. a lot of them are asking the soul-searching questions because they have really all of these

pent-up frustrations and emotions for some time. now, of course, they are increasingly questioning the government's assertions and credibility. not only this issue, but many other issue s. we've seen another state media report, saying another group of medical workers, five of them detained by police, in another province for filming and posting information about what was going on in their hospital amid this outbreak. already, john, history seems to be repeating itself. >> yeah. this is happening in wuhan. this is a city of 11 million people. out of the 60 million or so, that are under lockdown. they've been under lockdown for two weeks now, and heading into its third week. any indication what is inside of the lockdown areas? are people getting anxious? is there a sign of unrest? any indication of that online?

>> based on the indication of the people there on the ground, there's an increasing set of fear and abandonment. there's no -- there's no sign that this lockdown will be lifted anytime soon. if anything, the authorities around the country have been placing more cities under lockdown in one way or another. now, inside wuhan, of course, there's still this severe shortage of medical supplies and medical personnel. even acknowledged by officials. they had already sent in 10,000 medical workers from around the country, to reinforce overworked local doctors and nurses. they're more than 2,000 short. john? >> steven, we appreciate the update. we know all of the people and young children are among those most at risk from the wuhan virus. but doctors from been surprised that newborn children are diagnosed, as well. as elizabeth cohen reports, it's unclear how they're getting sic sick. >> reporter: there's reports

that newborn babies are infected with the coronavirus. these reports are coming from chinese officials. at least one of the babies, the mother also had wuhan coronavirus. we also know, and this is important, that the babies were 30 hours or older when they were diagnosed. that means there's a variety of ways this baby might have become infected. it's possible, probably not likely, but possible, that the baby was infected while the other was carrying the baby. while the mother was pregnant. it's also possible that the baby became infected during delivery. it's possible the baby was infected during breast-feeding. it's possible that the mother while holding the baby, breathed on the baby and that's how the baby became infected. and perhaps nurses or other health care workers might have infected the baby. we just don't know. but health experts tell us that it would be unusual for a mother

to infect a baby while the mother is pregnant. so, it seems likely that it's probably from one of those other modes of transmission. but unfortunately, with so few details coming from the chinese, we don't know the answer. back to you. >> elizabeth cohen, thank you. we appreciate it. we'll take a short break. when we come back, tornadoes, torrential rains, high winds and flooding. parts of the u.s. dealing with a massive storm system. what's still ahead? an update with derek van dam. he wanted a man cave in our new home. but she wanted to be close to nature. so, we met in the middle. ohhhhh! look who just woke up! you are so cute! but one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with homeowners insurance. yeah, it was really easy and we saved a bunch of money. oh, you got it. you are such a smart bear! call geico and see how easy saving on homeowners and condo insurance can be.

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a powerful storm system is barreling its way across the eastern united states. two people have been killed and a number of others have been injured. two dozen tornadoes have been reported and flooding across the south. to the north, snow and ice are hammering new england, making travel dangerous. it's not over yet. here's derek van dam with the forecast. what are they in for in the next day or so? >> more snow and more ice. check out this video, john. this is incredible. that's an amazon delivery truck driver being rescued from the rising floodwaters, just outside

of atlanta, in northeast georgia, near the cnn world h t headquarters, where we're reporting from. dramatic video, where you can see the waters rushing across that region. widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain fell within that region. we talk about rainfall accumulation across the eastern united states, that wasn't the highest we saw. some of our maps indicate 4 to 6 inches of rain, across the appalachians, into the higher elevations of the carolinas. the southeastern united states, were the battleground of the past two days over the warm and the cold air masses. the collision of air masses, typical this time of year, causes severe weather outbreaks. we had two dozen tornadoes reported, through louisiana, alabama, georgia, and into florida, as well. look at that. just under 170 reports of severe wind damage. they've been highlighted there on the screen. you can see in front of you.

incredible amount of energy with this system. check out what the tornadoes did to a mobile home park in central alabama. this is where one of the fatalities that we're reporting on came from. you see this was an fe-1 tornado, with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour. you see how destructive tornadoes can be in this part of the world. talking about the severe weather that is ongoing, this is the line that went through tampa bay across the yoemp night hours. that closed one of the main skyway bridges in tampa bay, with winds over 40 miles per hour. it collapsed a crane. there's the backside of the storm, transitioning some of the rainfall to snow across tennessee and into kentucky. we have a rain/snow mix across northern new england. it's not over yet, john. the hours of impactful weather across the eastern u.s., with a rain/snow mix across northern

new england. >> you bring such bad news. thank you, derek. appreciate it. >> all right. out. thumbs up and a huge smile. >> that's american astronaut, christina koch, after her soyuz capsule landed on earth. she holds the record for the longest single space flight by a woman. she went 328 days in space. took part in the first all-female spacewalk with a fellow astronaut, jessica myers. that's it for us. "early start" with christine romans and laura jarrett is up next. thanks for watching. good morning!

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2020 democrats swarming new hampshire ahead of tuesday's primary. results finally in from iowa. what they mean for the upcoming states. i'm trying not to freak out with all this. >> first on cnn, an american trapped on a quarantined cruise ship diagnosed with coronavirus. what's next for her and thousands of others on that ship. and a deadly weather system surges through the southeast. hundreds of thousands in the dark. what today holds in store. >> welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm laura