because of polls showing he was a threat. breaking news, a massive explosion in houston. a building going up in flames, completely demolished. now fears growing of toxic chemicals in the air. taking the stand. annabella sciorra's emotional testimony accusing harvey weinstein of rape. now ronan farrow who first broke her story joins us live. outrage growing after this student is punished at school facing suspension for not cutting his dreadlocks. now graduation on the line. what the superintendent is saying. serena shocker. the stunning upset, knocked out of the australian open in the third round while 15-year-old coco gauff soars over the reigning champ. and super bowl secrets. what shakira and j. lo are now revealing about their highly anticipated halftime show. the new clues in these videos. good morning, america. hope you are well this friday morning. it is a busy one. let's take a live look at the capitol right now. democrats set to wrap up their opening arguments in the impeachment trial of president trump today, but before that, senators are going to get an urgent government brief on the coronavirus. >> yeah. concerns are growing now here in the united states. several possible cases now under investigation including a college student in texas who just came back from wuhan, china. that city and at least now nine others are on lockdown as these cases are skyrocketing. >> and here are the latest numbers. there are now nearly 900 confirmed cases around the world. marcus moore starts us off from college station, texas with more on that possible case there. good morning, marcus. >> reporter: michael, good morning. this latest possible case involves a student here at texas a&m university. he recently returned from wuhan, china and took himself to the emergency room after suffering from flu-like symptoms and now testing is under way. overnight the race to stop the spread of the dangerous coronavirus expanding across the country. in washington state where the first confirmed case in the u.s. was reported, a man is still in isolation as officials scramble to reach at least 43 people he's known to have come into close contact with. officials in california, tennessee and texas now testing patients for possible infection. >> this situation is evolving quickly and i do expect more cases in the united states as well as human-to-human transmission. >> reporter: at l.a.x. where urgent health screenings were already under way a passenger flying in from mexico was placed in quarantine with possible symptoms. now the u.s. state department is issuing a travel advisory for china urging americans not to travel to certain areas due to the risk of the coronavirus hoping to prevent travelers from bringing the virus back home. >> airport screening, it can be an effective measure, but it's hard with coronavirus just because it takes so long for symptoms to develop. >> reporter: in china, unprecedented efforts to stop the disease that has no known vaccine or treatment. over 30 million people and at least ten cities are now in lockdown. officials canceling the popular lunar new year celebrations and shutting down travel to and from multiple areas. >> quarantining a city of 11 million as well as a couple of other cities in china, that's never been done before. >> reporter: the virus has already spread to at least ten countries, infecting more than 880 people and claiming the lives of at least 26. urgent scenes at clinics across the globe. and empty store shelves as people react to the global health scare that so far is showing no signs of slowing. and officials here in texas are saying that the risk to the public remains low. but it will take a day or two for them to confirm if this texas patient has the coronavirus. cecilia? >> okay, marcus moore. thank you. ian pannell is on the ground in hong kong this morning where they're racing to contain the spread of cases in the region there rise. good morning, ian. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, cecilia. that's right. no signs the spread of this virus is slowing here either. all but two provinces in china now have cases. pretty much the whole province of hubei which of course is the epicenter is now in lockdown. all airports, road, railway stations, buses and ports, 30 million people effectively grounded. the children's hospital in wuhan now making a desperate plea for medical supplies, and scenes of chaos in other hospitals. now we're hearing the authorities are racing to build a brand-new thousand-bed facility in the next ten days. meanwhile the chinese authorities declaring a grade one public health emergency in the country's two biggest cities which effectively means beijing is now taking control of this crisis. so we're seeing movie theaters being shut, even parts of the great wall are off-limits and disneyland shanghai is now temporarily closed to visitors. >> yeah. a lot of people there scared, and ian, just where you are in hong conditioninkong, more case announced? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, cecilia. just as we were preparing to come on air this morning, we know there are cases in eight other countries or territory across east asia but we're now hearing here in hong kong authorities saying there are two more confirmed cases and we've also heard that another case has been declared in japan where the patient came through the same airport that we traveled through this morning. we saw lots of people wearing face masks, also there were health checks being conducted by officials using these electronic thermometers, and a reminder, it's now lunar new year's eve right now. that's why you have got all these beautiful lights behind me, and that means we've got as many as hundreds of millions of people now on the move making this a whole lot worse for health officials and, look, we're using these protection masks when we go out. people are washing their hands, using hand sanitizer, avoiding public areas, but this is supposed to be a time of celebration. think thanksgiving and the holiday season all rolled into one, and people are having to take these kind of precautions, cecilia. >> we want them to keep taking those precautions. ian, thank you. george. the latest on the impeachment trial of president trump. the house managers will wrap up their case against the president today after using the president's own words against him yesterday and taking on the president's argument by mounting their strongest defense yet of joe biden. our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce is on capitol hill, and mary, the big question, are these arguments making any impact on senate republicans? >> reporter: well, george, i can tell you from spending time inside the chamber that many republicans are paying close attention. they are taking detailed notes, following closely as the democrats make their case. now, some i have talked to, some republicans say they are frustrated, that they've heard this all before. but many republicans admit the democrats are giving them things to think about. >> if right doesn't matter, we're lost. if the truth doesn't matter, we're lost. >> reporter: overnight democratic prosecutor adam schiff with an emotional appeal. >> you know that what he did was not right. no constitution can protect us if right doesn't matter anymore. >> reporter: a passionate conclusion after democrats hammered their case for eight hours. >> when it came down to choosing between the national interests of the country and his own personal interests, his re-election, president trump chose himself. >> reporter: the democrats zeroing in on the timing saying trump didn't start pushing ukraine to investigate joe biden until 2019, right when the polls showed the former vice president was his biggest threat. >> those polls do show a powerful motive that donald trump had, a motive that he didn't have the year before or the year before that. >> reporter: trump's now infamous phone call with the ukrainian president was in july of 2019, two years after trump took office, but just three months after biden entered the race. >> even president trump knew there was no basis for this investigation, never once raised the issue. it wasn't until biden began beating him in the polls that he called for the investigation. >> reporter: congresswoman sylvia garcia then set out to dismantle the white house's repeated allegations against biden. >> the allegations against vice president biden are groundless. there is simply no evidence, nothing, nada in their record to support this baseless allegation. >> reporter: trump's legal team argues abuse of power is not a crime and, therefore, not impeachable. >> the actions of the president do not reach that level. you still have to meet basic fundamental constitutional obligations, and they haven't. >> reporter: but members of trump's own defense team and his attorney general bill barr have argued the opposite, that you don't need a crime to impeach. democrats even playing this old video of trump's top ally, senator lindsey graham, from the clinton impeachment trial. >> i think that's what they meant by high crimes. doesn't even have to be a crime. >> reporter: democrats now have one more day to make their case. some republicans say they've had enough. >> they start repeating themselves as if you could impeach by just kind of repeating the same thing. >> reporter: but other key republicans are listening closely, senator lamar alexander saying the democrats have done a good job presenting and we have a lot to consider. democrats now hopeful it's a sign they're persuading some republicans to support their case. >> now it is up to us to do something about it, to make sure that a president -- that this president cannot pursue an objective that places himself above our country. >> reporter: democrats now have eight hours left on the clock. then tomorrow, according to the current schedule, it will be the trump team's turn. they will then have three days total to make their case and respond but, george, sources tell us they may opt for a shorter session on saturday so they can make the bulk of their argument next week when more people are likely to be tuning in. >> okay, mary, thanks. let's bring in our chief white house correspondent jon karl for more on this right now, and jon, we did see the democrats yesterday really talk about biden more than they have before because they want to take on the president's claim that he was pursuing corruption, not going after a political rival and his lawyers yesterday suggested this could backfire on the democrats? >> reporter: well, absolutely, because they think this is an opening. you can bet, george, that when the president's team comes to make their case, a big part of the case will be to eviscerate joe biden, to take on joe and hunter biden, and they believe in making this defense, the democrats have basically called for this, so you will see the president say -- the president's team say he did nothing wrong. even if he did what's alleged it's not impeachable and a bulk of the presentation to be taking on joe biden. >> and mary just said, we think now the session is likely to happen tomorrow, but the white house has been all over the map on that. even suggesting at some point they didn't want to meet on saturday at all because no one would be watching. >> reporter: the very latest i have on this this morning from somebody close to the president's team is that they expect that tell be in session on saturday. they'll be short probably a couple of hours, and they will wait until monday to make the bulk of their case. >> okay, jon karl, thanks very much. i know you'll join us for the live coverage. i'll anchor with our political and legal team starting at 1:00 eastern this afternoon. michael. >> thank you, george. now we're going to the rough winter weather moving in for millions as we head into the weekend. it's bringing snow, rain and ice from the midwest to the northeast, and ginger has all the details as usual. good morning, ginger. >> good morning to you. it's a half inch of ice in arkansas taking down power line, stunning to see and it wasn't just in the ozarks but all the way up to kansas city where the public schools this morning are closed. you're seeing why. the roads are messy from there to minnesota. this is clearwater, minnesota. the spin-offs and you'll see more of it. i'll show you where. chicago is one place i want to alert you to. if you have flights later this afternoon tonight you could end up with two to six inches. so northwest suburbs say fox lake, you'll see the heaviest of the snow. the wraparound goes all the way to northern missouri, but it's a heavy rain and even a chance of thunderstorms today in south carolina. you could see a brief tornado. tomorrow the heavy rain moves all the way, cecilia, right here through new york city. >> it is rough out there. ginger, thanks. we turn to that breaking news in houston. take a look. a massive explosion completely destroying a building there. this footage catching the moment it goes up in flames. our station ktrk's courtney fischer is live on the scene with the very latest. good morning, courtney. >> reporter: good morning, cecilia. we are actually inside a house right now that has some of the worst damage we have seen this morning. this is the kitchen. blinds down, glass shattered everywhere, but look at this. these window frames, they are bent from the force, the sheer force of the explosion. that just gives you a sense of what these people woke up to, and then if we can step just further into the house, into that bedroom, look at this. the ceiling caved in, walls cracked. 4:25 this morning, so many people in houston asleep in their beds, and then that explosion, and this is how they woke up. the devastation is incredible. right now, firefighters and police going from house to house to make sure everyone is accounted for, everyone is okay. we know at least one person was injured, but again this morning, this is what's left. people left to clean up. we'll send it back to you. >> we are certainly hoping everyone is okay. courtney, thank you so much. also this morning new developments in that case involving michelle carter, the young woman sentenced to jail for urging her boyfriend to take his own life. now she's waking up free, released early. gio benitez has the story. >> reporter: this morning, 23-year-old michelle carter who was convicted of manslaughter after prosecutors argued that she urged her boyfriend to take his own life, is out of jail, three months earlier than expected. her belongings carried out to a waiting suv. her parents inside the vehicle. carter was sentenced to 15 months but less than a year after her sentencing she was released on good behavior. in 2014 a judge determined that then 17-year-old carter caused 18-year-old conrad roy's death when she ordered him in a phone call to get back into his parked truck. he had rigged the truck to fill up with deadly carbon monoxide. the court also saw text messages where carter encouraged roy to follow through with his plan to die by suicide. >> she used conrad as a pawn in her sick game of life and death. >> reporter: carter will now serve five years of probation. and the court also ruled that carter cannot profit from telling her story. we want to make sure you know this morning that if you or someone you know is struggling, make sure to call the national suicide prevention lifeline. that number is on the screen right now, 1-800-273-talk. it is so important. >> very important. thank you so much for sharing that, gio. we will switch gears and turn to all the action at the australian open. coco gauff soaring past the reigning champ just hours ago but it was a tough loss for serena williams overnight, knocked out in the third round and paula faris has the latest. >> reporter: overnight a shocking upset. serena williams ousted out of the australian open in the third round. >> i just made far too many errors to be a professional athlete today. >> reporter: her loss paving the way for a possible new queen of american tennis. >> tonight, chrissie, coco is composed. stays cool as her opponent melts down. >> that's just tough. you don't want to lose to a 15-year-old, you know. >> reporter: 15-year-old teen phenom coco gauff upsetting world number three and japan's naomi osaka. >> just telling myself one point at a time and just keep fighting because you never know what happens on this court. >> reporter: on the men's side this ball girl got the surprise of her life after rafael nadal's return struck her in the side of the head. nadal quickly rushed over to her to see if she was okay, even giving her a kiss on the cheek. after the match the 33-year-old tweeted a picture saying, so happy she is well after the scariest moment i've had on a tennis court. anita is a brave girl. nadal cruised to victory in straight sets. as for coco gauff, yes, she's just 15 years old. she's still in school taking online classes. she said after the match, she has some homework due but her teachers are giving her an extension due to the circumstances. >> as they should. >> thanks, paula. also this morning, we want to honor jim lehrer, the journalist and writer who anchored pbs "news hour" for 36 years. he was a reporter, careful interviewer who earned the respect of his subjects like president bill clinton who presented him with a national humanities medal and tweeted, his life was a gift that strengthened our democracy. lehrer moderated a dozen presidential debates, more than anyone else. >> when a debate is over that i moderate i want everybody to say, okay, here you have seen and heard the candidates for president of the united states on the same stage at the same time talking about the same things, and you can judge them. you know, is he telling the truth, all that kind of stuff. well, when you see them right there together, it's a huge test. >> you heard why he was chosen so many times. he was a scrupulously fair man and he always made sure to make the debates about the candidates, and not himself. also he was just a really gracious southern gentleman. >> such a crucial part of our democracy. really was. we are following a lot of other stories including those new developments in the harvey weinstein trial. some stunning testimony from "sopranos" actress annabella sciorra and ronan farrow, who broke her story is going to join us live in a minute. and the high school student facing suspension if he doesn't cut his dreadlocks. first, let's go back over to ginger. >> sherman pass, washington state, more than four feet of snow since the beginning of the year. and by the way, flood alerts are up. olympia has had more than ten inches of rain which is above average. your local weather in 30 second first, the weekend getaway sponsored by audible. the latest on the harvey weinstein trial when we come back. it's time appliances had a personality. 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