The sars epidemic. At least 805 people have died worldwide, including the First American fatality. Good sunday morning you to you. Bernie sanders is holding on to a lead two days now before the New Hampshire primaries. According to a new cnn poll, he has the support of 28 of democratic voters in the stay. Pete buttigieg is behind him. Then joe biden and elizabeth warren. After a disappointing finish in iowa, biden is changing his strategy. He ramped up his attack over buttigieg yesterday. When they called on Pete Buttigieg, he installed lights under bridges to give citizens colorfully illuminated rivers. You can see the point that the former Vice President is trying to make. Abby phillips is here and dante scala, professor of Political Science at the university of New Hampshire. Hes the author of stormy weather, the New Hampshire primary and president ial politics. Good morning to both of you. Abby, let me start with you. Pete buttigieg gaining momentum after a strong showing there in iowa. What are we seeing from the Biden Campaign as they try to combat that progress . Hey, victor. Good morning. I mean, weve seen a really marked change in tone here. On the ground in New Hampshire and a lot of that has to do with for a lot of the candidates an unexpected showing of strength from Pete Buttigieg in iowa. Several of the candidates most notably, joe biden have clearly decided that they have to stop Pete Buttigieg one way or another. Joe biden and his Campaign Launched unusually sharp attack against buttigieg really taking on his legacy as mayor and what hes done in that role and comparing it to what biden has done as Vice President. Now, that naturally led to questions about whether joe biden believes that Pete Buttigieg is inexperienced in the same way barack obama was inexperienced when he ran for president two years into his senate term in 2008. And heres how biden responded. This guy is not a barack obama. Barack obama made you states senator of a really large state. Barack obama had laid out a clear vision when he thought the International Society should look like. Barack obama laid out in detail what he thought should happen with regard to the economy. Barack obama inherited the worst recession in the history of america short of depression, newcombing into it, and laid out what hes going to do about it. Look, joe biden is not alone in this. Hes joined by Bernie Sanders, amy klobuchar, even tom steyer and the warring campaign and more sharply criticizing Pete Buttigieg. Theres a clear sense that he has received some kind of bounce coming out of iowa and the time is running short before they have to do something to stop that momentum here in New Hampshire as well. Dante, abby points out here that the Biden Campaign is noot not alone. Hes the one with the ads naming buttigieg. The former Vice President made this pledge back in may of 2019. You will never hear me speak ill of another democratic candidate. Theres a simple reason for that. We have to be in a position, whomever the nominee is, to be able to win. So he clearly has gone back on that. This is not a slash and burn type of digital ad. Is this a sign of panic from the Biden Campaign . Well, clearly, joe biden is doing much more poorly than he was he had anticipated. You know, frankly, victor that pledge everybody knew what he made it was highly unlikely that he would be able to keep a pledge like that in any kind of political campaign. But our latest poll as you just showed, joe biden is really distantly in fourth place here in New Hampshire. Thats a real worrying sign. His Campaign Aides refuse to tell reporters how they expect him to finish in New Hampshire. Theyve signed lowering expectations for nevada and pitching forward to South Carolina as a place where he can be expected to do well. The Biden Campaigns rationale is hes going to do well when the electorate is diverse. At the same time, the question becomes how many losses can he sustain and what will that do to his own supporters who might start to view that as a sign of weakness. The problem for biden will be is if his base of support even if African American starts to erode if he sustains too many losses in a row in all of these races. Dante, let me bring you into the conversation. There was a binary race with select clyne at any. If he wins on tuesday, you write this is more than New Hampshire winner wins New Hampshire. Its where he wins. Explain why thats so important. Dante . I dont know if dante can hear me. If we can work on dantes audio. Let me stay with abby philip and we looked at the polls at the top, the new cnn poll. There are some differences in the monmouth and merit and theres a lead by seven points outside of the margin of error. Who needs to move . Who needs to move and show the numbers in New Hampshire. Who needs to move in New Hampshire to move on to the future contest . I mean, the clear top three in both iowa and New Hampshire are buttigieg, sanders and warren. I do think that elizabeth warren, she has an opportunity here, just like Bernie Sanders as a neighboring senator to do very well. Shes neck and neck with joe biden in this poll. It is a chance for her to potentially to regain momentum. Joe biden should do well in New Hampshire. One of the interesting things weve seen at the debate is he mentioned he didnt expect to do well in New Hampshire. Thats clearly something that i think his aides did not want him to say. Voters do not like being written off and certainly New Hampshire is a state that he should do well if hes a top tier candidate. But i think that warren has an opportunity here as someone who has done well in this state, in previous polls and someone who did fairly well in iowa to regain a little bit of lost ground, especially as she tries to hold on to her Campaign Going forward. For all of these candidates, victor, its a race against the clock. Theyve got to start doing well and continue to raise money. Otherwise, their campaigns are going to collapse underneath their feet. It gets extremely expensive after South Carolina to run a campaign. When you get to super tuesday, you need a lot of money. Many will not have enough funds to make it to super tuesday. Abby philip for us. Dante scott was outside the camera shot. Were going to get back to him and his reporting about the specific areas that are so important later in the show. Thank you both for getting up so early for us. Sources tell cnn a group of republican senators at the white house ask them not to fire gordon sondland. It included ron johnson, susan collins. According to the new york times, they were concerned to move what looked bad for the president and it was unnecessary since sondland was considering leaving after the trial. Sara west wood following the latest for us. Obviously, the president is ignoring some republican allies. Strong allies that helped acquit him in the impeachment trial. How is this going over . Thats right, victor and christi. Good morning. These republican senators, allies of the president told the white house they were concerned about removing former ambassador to the European Union gordon sondland, especially as you said sondland was considering leaving on his own after the impeachment. They were concerned that this reflects poorly on the administration, that this could give the appearance of the president exacting revenge on witnesses who testified against him. Sondland was once very close to President Trump. He had trump on his president ial equivalent of speed dial. They spoke frequently. It ended up being some of the most damaging testimony in the impeachment inquiry. They havent spoken at all. There were concerns that perhaps he would no longer be able to do that job effectively given how badly his relationship frayed with the. Among those republican senators who pushed President Trump was senator susan collins, martha senators who had just voted to acquit President Trump in the senate trial. Sara, weve learned that the National Security council is planning to cut some positions. They say its a little bloated. What can you tell us about that . Thats something that Robert Obrien planned to do when he came into this position in the fall. He said and cnn reported at the time he wanted to reduce the staff of the National Security council by half by early 2020. He appears on track to meet that goal. This week he said that the National Security councils had become too big and wants to reduce it. Take a listen. Its bloated. Were going to bring it back to a size thats manageable and efficient. Look, the folks who are there really need to want to serve the president. Obrien has been accomplishing largely by attrition. Not filling jobs when people leave. Hes been ending temporary assignments for officials that have been on loan from other agencies, like the state department and the intelligence agencies. Sending them back to their original agencies earlier. But cnn is reporting that perhaps they could look like more direct firings. Major staff shakeup there. Sarah westwood, good to see you. Be sure to wafrp state of the yoourn with jake tapper. Senator Bernie Sanders, former mayor Pete Buttigieg on the show along with dnc chairman tom perez. Thats safety union with jake tapper today at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. Two u. S. Service members are dead after an attack at a base in eastern afghanistan. Military Spokesman Says that someone in an afghan yun foruni started firing a machine gun. 13,000 troops are serving in afghanistan fighting terrorist groups and assisting local force this is that country. International journalist is with us now from kabul. Jennifer, thank you for taking the time with us. This attack comes as President Trump is considering drawing down u. S. Force this is afghanistan. What are you hearing there . Well, we know that the u. S. Commander here, general scott miller has told the white house and u. S. Military officials that he can do the job he needs to do with about 8,600 forces. About a quarter of the forces could leave and general miller says he can do to the training and advising and things he needs to do with those forces. That announcement has not been made yet that comes as the United States and the taliban are trying to reach an agreement on the withdrawal. Jennifer glasse reporting. Jennifer, thank you. Still ahead, an attempted assassination on a new york Police Officer. The manhunt for the gunman after the break. Plus, as the coronavirus outbreak reaches a new milestone, its impact goes well beyond Health Concerns for one american family. This is the first time in my life that i truly wept to the point of being sick. Why their dream welcoming an adopted daughter is now on hoild. I feel like im losing my identity. Business cards. New logo. Outdoor sign. You always get me. Now, get free 1 hour instore pick up. At Office Depot Officemax and officedepot. Com. Same time next week. Yes robinwithout 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. We dont need to do anything special for valentines day. Okay that means she wants you to surprise her it is so not a big deal. Oh its a deal, a really big deal. Its a madeup holiday anyway, right . Right . Its time to show her how you feel. Make this valentines day mean more and save 20 . Jared. The best of pressure cooking and air frying now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the Pressure Cooker that crisps. Sleep this amazing . Thats a zzzquil pure zzzs sleep. Our liquid has a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level means no nextday grogginess. Zzzquil pure zzzs. Naturally superior sleep. There is a manhunt for a shooter who wounded a Police Officer in new york. Two officers were sitting in a van, a man approached them. One officer was shot in the jaw, the other unhurt. Investigators released a couple of i am imagination and photos here of the man they think is the suspect. There is a 12,500 reward for information about where he is. New york mayor bill de blasio called it an attempted assassinati assassination. Police in thailand killed a soldier who went on a shooting rampage. Watch this. You hear shots in the background. Authorities say the gunman killed at least 26 people, wounded 57 others during a standoff in a crowded mall. Authorities say the shooter was arguing with a superior officer before the shooting. Mea heres more. Camera shoppers run out of a mall as a calm day turned deadly in one of thailands largest city. Its where a thai soldier opened fire at terminal 21 mall, killing at least 26 people. Hours after the rampage began, images on social media showed people sprinting across the mall as heavily armed thai police and military evacuated them. John fielding, an english teacher, was inside the mall during the shooting. I was at the mall with a friend. Everything was completely normal. And then all of a sudden everyone started running and shouting and panicking. Immediate reaction was to duck down and hide and everyone was running into the shops and restaurants and barricading the doors. Luckily, we ran into a restaurant, i went inside and shut their doors. Huge mall. [ inaudible ] thousands of people in the mall. The tragic event unfolded in realtime as Security Forces published images on social media, giving instructions for people trapped in the building to get out. Emergency workers live streamed their rescue efforts as they took victims out of the building. Translator we have been trying to bring out everything we can and we will gradually save others who are still stuck inside. Thailands Defense MinistrySpokesman Says this man shot and killed his superior, then went around shooting his colleagues. After he escaped from his quarters, he drove to the mall and started shooting civilians. The gunmans motive is unknown. Facebook said it had removed the suspected gunmans page although there was no evidence of violent videos. Were working around the clock to remove any violating content related to this attack, the statement said. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and the community affected by this tragedy in thailand. The saga ended on sunday when authorities confirmed that the gunman was shot dead by police. Cnn, hong kong. Christy, thank you. Listen to this. I cant believe this. We now know the coronavirus has killed more people than the sars outbreak did a couple of decades ago. I want to give you the worldwide figures. 800 people have died, including a u. S. Citizen in china. There are more than 37,000 cases of the disease globally. Most of those cases, the vast majority, in fact, cases and the deaths are in china. But coronavirus has also spread to more than 2 dozen countries. The outbreak is putting the lives of a lot of people on hold, including a little girl who should have been by now meeting her new family. Cnns natasha chen spoke to this american couple who had hoped to bring their adopted daughter home. But theyre not going to be able to do that now. Noah and Ivy Cleveland were supposed to be on a flight to china friday night to pick up their adopted daughter. We had this made for her to wear on her adoption day. Instead, they and their two sons showed us the baby room they spent months preparing for 3yearold ruby faiths homecoming. What we also got is dolls right here. The clevelands spent two years in an unpredictable adoption process. They finally got the certainty of booked plane tickets, hotel rooms only to have their Adoption Agency tell them less than two weeks before this the plans were on hold because of the coronavirus outbreak. This was days before they announced the restrictions on people traveling to china. This was the first time i truly wept to the point of being sick in my body. I just laid over her bed, over her crib that i had, you know, prepared for her and the pictures on the wall and her clothes in her closet and just understanding that this is not happening right now. The state Department Says adoption cases are still being processed, though they advise adoptive parents not to travel to china for the time being. Our two boys were staying here and so i had six different babysitters lined up to care for them fort