>> david wright for us tonight. david, thank you. abc news will carry the historic moment live, team coverage of the impeachment trial beginning tuesday at 1:00 p.m. eastern on the network and streaming everywhere on abc news live. >>> we move on to the storm and the bitter blast under way. fresh lake-effect snow in erie, pennsylvania today. take a look at that, causing this multi-vehicle accident on i-90. and the cleveland skyline in some parts hidden by the snow. the forecast in a moment. but first kaylee hartung on what this storm has left behind. >> reporter: tonight, lake-effect snow pounding parts of the great lakes after that deadly winter storm wreaked havoc for millions. at least two people killed, more than 1,300 flights cancelled, and hundreds of miles of highways closed as that massive storm kicked up high winds and blinding snow. cars flipping over on icy roads. in erie, pennsylvania, dangerous road conditions leading to a chain-reaction crash involving move than a dozen semi trucks. several people seriously injured in t

politically the president wants to win, tom. >> david wright for us at the white house. david, thank you. >>> now to the 2020 election and 22 days until the iowa caucus. the latest shift in the polls now indicating senator bernie sanders with the momentum leading a four-way race with elizabeth warren, pete buttigieg and joe biden. senator warren taking aim at her opponents as they all jockey for position. abc's rachel scott is in iowa. >> fight hard and win. >> reporter: tonight senator elizabeth warren packing the house and sharpening her attacks. senator bernie sanders is heading into this critical stretch with a slight edge on the rest of the pack in the latest state poll. warren who was also courting progressive voters saying sanders needs to take his campaign in a different direction after a report his volunteers were given talking points saying warren supporters were more affluent and would vote for any democrat. >> i was disappointed to hear that bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me. we cannot nominate someone who takes big chunks of the democratic coal

here is abc news reporter david wright. >> reporter: this weekend president trump's lawyers filed theirirst formal response to the impeachment articles, a six-page letter under the heading "answer of president donald j. trump," insisting the president did absolutely nothing wrong and calling the democrats' articles of impeachment constitutionally invalid on their face. quote, they fail to allege any crime or violation of law whatsoever let alone high crimes and misdemeanors. trump defense lawyer alan dershowitz claims there's no grounds to remove trump from office. >> when you read the text of the constitution, treason, bribery, other high crimes and misdemeanors, "other" really means crimes and misdemeanors must be akin to, uh, treason and bribery. >> reporter: in their written response, house managers take issue with what they call the astounding claim that pressuring ukraine to interfere in our election is the president's way of fighting corruption. it is not, they insist. rather, it is corruption itself, naked, unapologetic, and in1id i couldn't say insidious. >> the only thing new

the ambassador herself. >> david wright join us live from the white house. david, there's no evidence of anything illegal on this tape, which was recorded on the phone by another indicted giuliani associate. both men pleaded not guilty to charges, but david, democrats believe this bolsters their case. >> reporter: they do, tom, for two reasons. first, it shows despite his efforts to distance himself, the president had firsthand knowledge of at least some of the work being cone in ukraine by giuliani and his associates. second it suggests there may be material out there that we haven't seen yet that may be relevant to the impeachment. >>> now the white house's turn on the floor of the senate. president trump's defense team on the offense today, accusing the democrats using the impeachment process as a plot to overthrow the 2016 election. this as house impeachment managers filed 28,000 pages of their trial records with the senate. kyra phillips on the hill for us tonight. >> reporter: tonight president trump's legal team didn't even warm up, opening their defe

>> david wright with that new development tonight. david, thank you. this programming note -- tomorrow morning on "this week," george speaks exclusively with lead house in the meantime impeachment manager adam schiff and alan dershowitz of the president's impeachment team. >>> the trial causing an unexpected scramble for democratic senators in the 2020 presidential race. their schedules upended in the critical final days before the iowa caucuses. and the new hampshire primary of course. here's rachel scott. >> reporter: tonight, a scramble in the democratic primary. the four senators running for president under pressure, knowing that impeachment will largely force them off the trail just 16 days before the first vote in iowa. >> i wish i could be back in new hampshire and iowa, but i will be in washington doing my constitutional duty. [ cheers ] >> reporter: but sanders will go around the clock to squeeze in campaign stops. on wednesday he plans to fulfill his impeachment duty, then charter a plane for a nighttime event in iowa, then fly straight back

david wright, abc news, west palm beach. >> thank you, david.or 2020 the leading democrats are starting mlk day with events in south carolina before heading back to iowa to address voters of color. they're taking part in the brown and black forum in des moines, billed as the nation's oldest minority-focused presidential forum. it's one of the last opportunities for the candidates to make their cases before the iowa caucuses in two weeks. >>> and the fbi is part of the investigation of a violent incident in honolulu that left two police officers dead. police say it started when a suspect stabbed his female landlord in the leg.then home where the stabbing took place. when officers arrived, authorities say the suspect opened fire. the officers who lost their lives had 16 years' experience between them. they were fatally shot above their bulletproof vest. and witnesses described a chaotic scene. >> i saw the first victim, who had been stabbed in the femur, the right femur, hauled out by the police. >> the smoke just getting heavier and heavier and t

abc's david wright has the details from west palm beach, florida. david, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit. the president may be spending a quiet weekend here in florida, but back in washington, the lawyers are working overtime on both sides. house impeachment managers have filed their brief, essentially laying out their case, and the president's lawyers have filed the charges. until now, president trump has made no secret what he thinks of the impeachment process. >> they call it the impeachment hoax. >> the impeachment hoax. >> it's a hoax. >> reporter: the white house has offered little guidance how it will response to the substance. mystery solved. this weekend, trump's legal team fired off this six-page letter under the heading, answer of president donald j. trump, insisting the president did absolutely nothing wrong and calling the democrats' articles of impeachment constitutionally invalid on their face. quote, they fail to allege any crime or violation of law whatsoever let alone high crimes and misdemeanors. the letter also takes

on gma this morning, david wright explained details on what to expect this week. >> this is set to ben washington as the impeachment process resumes after a brief break over the holidays. house democrats are expected to discuss impeachment at their caucus on tuesday and after that, the full house will vote to appoint managers for the case and they will thenote to transmit the articles of impeachment over to the senate. that means that the soonest an impeachment trial could begin in the senate would be wednesday. for now, speaker pelosi appears to have lost her effort to convince senate republicans to allow witnesses in the trial. but there is still some room for that to change if they can convince four senate republicans to break ranks. >> david, senator mcconnell has said that he wants to use the clinton impeachment trial as a precedent here. does that give us a sense of how long president trump's trial could take? >> reporter: it gives us a possibility. that trial began almost exactly at this time of year, january 7th, and it was over in just over a month. they were a couple of days

david wright, abc news, west palm beach, florida. >>> it's causing things to get a bit nasty between the two. a lawyer for nunes sent a letter. lou responded friday daring knew necessary to file a lawsuit and saying, take your letter and shove it. >>> women across the country marched in streets all over the u.s. for the fourth annual women's march. you're seeing the video. it's a movement to empower women. abc7 news reporter gives you a look at the marches here in the bay area. >> and today we march as one family! >> reporter: speakers energized the crowd. then women and their allies marched down market street with a message. >> i want to send a message that this is not the president that we want to see in the office. everyone should vote. use your voice. >> reporter: this woman brought her daughter. >> i want to show her that she has a voice and that she can speak it so she should. ♪ >> reporter: in oakland, this women's march was headed down broadway. >> if you're an american and you're not using your voice it's a dereliction of duty. >> reporter: the first march began four years a

abc's david wright is in florida where the president is waking up this morning. david, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, dan. >> reporter: good morning, dan. ken starr is back. not as a special prosecutor but as one of president trump's defense lawyers. the president is spending a few days in florida ahead of next week's impeachment trial. house managers are working through the weekend preparing their case. overnight from the house judiciary committee, a document dump. material obtained from former rudy giuliani associate lev parnas, now part of the official impeachment record. no smoking guns, it would seem but the documents do include more text messages by connecticut congressional candidate robert hyde claiming he was stalking former u.s. ambassador marie yovanovitch months before she was recalled. >> did you feel threatened? >> i did. >> reporter: parnas told msnbc he didn't take hyde seriously. >> he's a weird character. i don't believe -- he was either drunk or he's -- was trying to make himself bigger than he was. >> reporter: hyde denies he e

abc's david wright is at the white house with more. david, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit. thankfully, tensions seem to have calmed between the trump administration and iran. but we're now learning that the deadly u.s. drone strike that killed a top iranian military commander was just one of several missions the president approved, but trump is still being coy about exactly what led him to do so. the administration insists the killing of general qassem soleimani thwarted an imminent planned attack on americans, but questions friday by fox news' laura ingraham, president trump still won't say what the specific threat was. >> don't the american people have a right to know what specifically was targeted without revealing methods and sources? >> well, i don't think so, but we will tell you that probably it was going to be the embassy in baghdad. >> reporter: did he have large-scale attacks planned for other embassies? and if those were planned, why can't we reveal that to the american people? wouldn't that help your case? >>

abc's david wright is at the white house with more on what to expect. david, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit. this is set to be a momentous week here in washington as the impeachment process resumes after a brief break over the holidays. house democrats are expected to discuss impeachment at their caucus on tuesday and after that, the full house will vote to appoint managers for the case and they will then vote to transmit the articles of impeachment over to the senate. that means that the soonest an impeachment trial could begin is wednesday. for now, speaker pelosi appears to have lost her effort to convince senate republicans to allow witnesses in the trial. but there's still some room for that to change if they can convince four senate republicans to break ranks. >> david, senator mcconnell said that he wants to use the clinton impeachment trial as a precedent. does that give us a sense of how long president trump's trial could take? >> it gives us a possibility. that trial began almost exactly at this time of year, january 7th, and it

abc's david wright is in west palm beach where the president has been spending the holidays. d, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, whit. the president claims this drone strike was a defensive measure thwarting a major planned attack but the administration has offered no proof of that. with iran now threatening vengeance, the big question is did this ease tensions or escalate them? addressing evangelical christians at an event in miami friday night, president trump insisted his decision to take out iran's top military commander saved american lives. >> he was planning a very major attack and we got him. >> reporter: the administration offered no proof of any planned attack. on fox the secretary of state echoed the president but gave no further details. >> there was an attack that was evident that could have killed dozens or hundreds of americans. >> reporter: democratic members of congress accuse trump of kicking a hornet's nest. and say he failed to consult congress before doing so. >> the question we are asking ourselves today is whether qassem soleimani is more

>> david wright from florida, thanks very much. >>> let's bring in our chief anchor, george stephanopoulos will be hosting "this week" later today. apparently, military officials went to the president presented him with a range of options, the taking out of soleimani being the most extreme. apparently they were really surprised when the president came back and said i will take that option. do you have a sense of what his game plan was? >> that's a very good question. i think we have to look at the facts and the past history of general soleimani. no question he has american blood on his hands. but both president george w. bush and president barack obama refused to target soleimani because they feared the risks outweighed the benefits. one reason why the pentagon officials were surprised that the president took that action. we know that there was an iranian attack on america military base on december 27th. we know they had those protesters go into the american embassy. the president in the past had showed restraint and the reporting in "the new york times" is he feared that he looked weak so

david wright, abc news, west palm beach. >> all right, david. >>> in other news we have new informatione pileup near pittsburgh. five people were killed, about 60 others injured, when authorities say a packed tour bus lost control on a turn and flipped over on the pennsylvania turnpike. three big trucks and a car were also involved in the chain-reaction crash. u.p.s. says two of its drivers were among the dead. it could be weeks or even months to determine the cause of that crash. >>> tens of thousands of people marched across the brooklyn bridge to show solidarity for new york city's jewish community. the demonstration follows a series of anti-semitic attacks in the region in the last month. they chanted, "no hate, no fear, our jewish families are welcome here." >>> overseas some violent scenes in the capital of venezuela. u.s.-backed opposition leader juan guaido was blocked from entering his country's congressional building for a special session. when he tried to scale a fence to gain entry guaido was stopped by guards using riot shields. he and his allies are locked in a battle over

david wright with more. >> reporter: tonight speaker nancy pelosi appears to be ready to end a three-week stalemate, and finally transmit the articles of impeachment approved last month by the house. >> are you satisfied, madam speaker, that there will be a fair trial in the senate? >> no. >> reporter: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says it's about time. d'shemiet process to a quick conclusion. >> look, the senate is supposed to be the chamber where overheated partisan passions give way to sober judgment. >> reporter: pelosi and senate democrats had sought to pressure senate republicans into calling additional witnesses. but mcconnell refuses to budge. >> documents, documentation, witnesses, facts, truth -- that's what they're afraid of. >> reporter: today president trump accused house democrats of failing to prove their case. quote, despite the most unfair and biased hearings in the history of congress, now they nd speaking to fox news friday, trump hinted he'd fight any efforts to subpoena former national security advisor john bolton. >> are you invoking executive privilege? >>

david wright is there. >> reporter: tonight, this woman is under arrest after a chaotic scene near the president's palm beach club just hours before his arrival. police say 30-year-old hannah roemhild drove a black suv through two of mar-a-lago's security checkpoints. >> this woman's driving on the wrong side of the road, going 70 plus miles per hour, with people all over the place. >> reporter: the secret service and sheriff's deputies then opening fire, hitting the vehicle. but the driver sped off. >> we're going to fire when our lives are in danger and there's danger to the public, and that's exactly what happened. >> reporter: police say roemhild then managed to pick up a passenger before a florida strait trooper located her bullet riddled suv at this palm beach hotel, tackling her as she attempted to flee to her room. >> this is not a terrorist thing. this is someone obviously impaired somehow. >> reporter: there's the latest in incidents at mar-a-lago since the president took office. this is where the suspect was apprehended. those flashing lights that's the vehicle. the subject

david wright, abc news, the white house. >> all right.er severe storms swept through the southern states this weekend. much of the damage came from powerful tornadoes. this one in western alabama stayed on the ground for 13 miles, hitting more than 20 homes on the same street and killing three people. other deaths were caused by icy roads, falling trees and raging floodwaters. >>> a mother in iowa says she has a warning for anyone who doesn't get their child a flu shot. her daughter is 4-year-old jade who is now blind after battling the flu. jade got sick on christmas eve and spent nearly two weeks in intensive care. she had not received a flu shot for the current season. jade's mom is now urging all parents to get their kids vaccinated. >>> and the faa is investigating the near collision of two delta jets at new york's jfk airport. it happened over the weekend as one of the planes was taxiing to a gate and the other was starting to take off. the plane that had just landed started to cross the runway being used by the departing flight. th

let's get right to david wright, at the white house tonight. >> reporter: one major line of defense from president trump's lawyers is the claim that the two articles of impeachment approved by the house are constitutionally invalid. >> the conduct has to be criminal in nature. it can't be abuse of power. it can't be obstruction of congress. >> reporter: former harvard law professor alan dershowitz insists that should be game over. >> if my argument succeeds, there's no need for witnesses. indeed, there's no need for even arguments, any further arguments. >> reporter: but dershowitz argued the opposite during bill clinton's impeachment. >> it certainly doesn't have to be a crime. if you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don't need a technical crime. >> well, i did say that then, and then i've done all the extensive research. >> reporter: today, fox news anchor chris wallace called him out on his about-face. >> you're too good a lawyer not to have studied that back in 1998. >> i've been immersin

in figure it continues really this is a sad day for siemens david wright of our. training pacific thank you for joining us on out of there. thank you. still ahead on al-jazeera 10 years on from a devastating earthquake the government of haiti faces an anger over a food choices as an allegations of corruption. and we talk to new councillors in hong kong who have to rise through the ranks and bring about political change. some of the very active weather has really cleared away from the arabian peninsula and also kidding away from iran you can see that massive cloud of course in the cold as the north the has been plenty of snow and this is kyrgyzstan and you see people out there enjoying this really fairly fine covering of snow now more of that snow will head on sunday towards the kabul as we go through monday the rain will continue his journey east was pushing across into pakistan and eventually into the northwest of india we also want to show you some snow flurries pushing into northern sections of iraq but look at this elsewhere it really is a fairly quiet picture

. >> reporter: david wright, abc news, the white house. >>> sonoma county has started moving encampmentidents to a new temporary shelter. county workers helped the first ten people move their belongings from the gigantic trail encampment to a new 60-person camp located in the loss gilcos area of the county. >> they're allowed to take two large bins with them to the new site. i think that is going to be up to everyone to kind of just decide what stays and what goes. >> an individual shelter. it'll protect against the cold elements. there is the heater inside. there is a light. it's single occupancy. >> reporter: conditions along the trail have deteriorated into a public health crisis with hundreds of homeless camping out on the trail. >>> six people are unable to spend the night inside their homes following two different fires in san francisco's sunset district. one of those fires broke out at la playa and juda streets this afternoon. one person was hurt but they decided not to go to the hospital. arson investigators are looking for what sparked both fires. >>> san francisco supervisors

abc's david wright is at the white house with more. david, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit. that tape emerged on the very day that the president's lawyers launched their defense in the senate trial, the timing probably no accident. it would seem to corroborate the democrats' claim that the president had firsthand knowledge at least of some of the business being conducted in ukraine by rudy giuliani and his associates. >> mr. president, thank you for being here. [ applause ] >> reporter: sources say this recording is from a private dinner at the trump international hotel in washington back in april of 2018. on the tape, president trump and indicted giuliani associate lev parnas appear to discuss ukraine in detail. >> how long would they last in a fight with russia? >> i don't think very long -- without us, not very long. >> without us. >> reporter: even though trump has repeatedly claimed he doesn't know parnas who he describes as a con man. >> i don't know him other than he's is sort of like a groupie, he shows up at fund-

david: morgan wright, only guest that gives us zen answers, thank you have much. >> you bet. mp economy at an all time high, but one democrat candidate goes after the president's mayor accomplishments, is that a good idea? is it debate able? >> we have the greatest stock mash that's thmarket that we've. thgreatest economy, we're settig records, and most of that debt is actually from credit cards. it's just not right. but with sofi, you can get your credit cards right by consolidating your credit card debt into one monthly payment. including your interest rate right by locking in a fixed low rate today. and you can get your money right with sofi. check your rate in two minutes or less. get a no-fee personal loan up to $100k. this round's on me.eat. get a no-fee personal loan hey, can you spot me? come on in. find your place today, with silversneakers. included in most medicare advantage plans. enroll today by calling the number on your screen or visit getsilversneakers.com david: mike bloomberg slamming the economy under president trump, in a new op-ed saying president trump pu

on that one as well our correspondent david stern in kiev thank you david well let's cross now to finland and speak to steven wright who is professor of cross systems at temple university there good to talk to you professor can you explain why the ukrainian passenger why this plane that had a 9 flight path could be confused with a hostile target. actually. the the military should not obviously there i'm personally location i'm to think the off on a remarkable is that the military are located so close to a very large commercial apple. almost particularly confusing for myself is iran itself geographically it is a really big city that surrounded by mountains the airport is located away from the hills because planes don't are flying. in that sort of general location so they're full why do you put a missile battery so close to an international apple it's not very clear for the by . the strategic purpose of especially as it civilian and linus taking off and landing. what about the airport why wasn't the airport closed is that something dutch would or should normally happen in a situation of the heightened tensions that w

david: he changed his mind. he used to say if it capitalist had seen the wright brothers take off he would have shot them down.re were no profits in the airline industry for 100 years. but that has changed. ed: it has changed and he wouldn't say that today if you were to ask him. this year is the fifth year in a row our profits will be in excess of $5 billion. >> your revenues are at what percentage in the u.s. and outside? ed: two thirds u.s., one third international. david: is international more profitable? ed: just the opposite. international is more difficult, planes are bigger, fuel costs more, service levels are substantially higher, and ticket prices because there is a lot of competition internationally. we have to make about 80% of our profits in the u.s.. david: you make a lot of profits, some say, by owning your own refinery. why do you need your own refinery, you don't trust other people for gasoline? ed: we use a lot of refineries but six or seven years ago, as refineries up and down the east coast were being closed as crude prices were north of $100, we saw that our cost of jet school -- jet fuel

david: you changed his mind, because he used to say, "if a capitalist had been at kitty hawk seeing the wrightrothers take off, he would've shot them down." because there were no profits made in the airline industry for 100 years when you compare the profits versus the losses, but it has changed a bit now? ed: it has changed. he wouldn't say that today. this year will be the fifth year in a row our profits have been in excess of $5 billion. david: ok, and your revenues are -- what percentage in the u.s., what percentage outside? ed: our revenue is about two thirds u.s., one third international. david: international, is that more profitable than u.s. generally because of the long flights? ed: no, no. it is actually just the opposite. international is more difficult to get to. the planes are bigger, the fuel costs more, the service levels obviously are substantially higher, and ticket prices, because there's a lot of competition internationally, are more suppressed. we actually make about 80% of our profits in the u.s. closer to home. david: you make a lot of profits , some people say, by owning

haass and david kennedy wrote a definitive essay on reagan and lebanon and robert dash and robin wrightt 14 hours. wonderful to have you with us. are we struggling through a u.s. history from that horrific moment in lebanon of 1983? richard: interesting question. each side has its own history. 1953ran it goes back to and the u.s.-british role -- rule. is 1979,it states, it the hostage situation. each side has its own history. one of the reasons we are where we are. tom: i want to go back to your december essay. not knowing what was going to come in january. this is the project syndicate, let me paraphrase it. you basically said there is a strategic incoherence. how do we get coherent? richard: this administration talks about america first, it talks about the emergence of great power rivalry dealing with china is a priority for american foreign-policy. yet we are sending thousands of troops back into the middle east. iran has the initiative because we don't know what they're going to do next. i don't understand what this administration's policy is toward the middle east and where the mid

david stern has died at age 77. $5.5 ted revenue to billion in 2014. his 30 years of service make him the longest tenured commissioner of any professional sport. matt: thanks very much. laura wrightndon with your business flash. slashed the commercial rate for lenders by 50 basis point. the move effective for monday aims to help make it cheaper for companies to borrow money. meanwhile china's manufacturing p.m.i. stayed in expansion territory for the fifth straight month and over in the u.s., president trump said he will sign the first phase of a trade deal on january 15. and he is going to go to beijing to talk about the second phase. let's get back to our guest, a chief strategist at principle global investors. we started the show with the headline new year, new ye. of course it is really more of the same. is this looser monetary policy, is this stimulus of the combined with the trade deal going to help bring the economy in china back to the kind of growth that they want to see? >> yes. hat is our view. 2018 was a learning process for them to understand how the mechanism works. they have been fine tuning that. i think this yearered with see stabilize igse. we're not expecting t