[George Howell, Cnn Anchor:] Back in the streets of, Hong Kong protests showed their outrage as the city tried to pass a controversial extradition law. And Chinese officials blame the U.S. for the growing demonstrations. Plus, as women try to escape North Korea, many are trapped by human traffickers. We look at the dramatic attempts to bring them to safety. Also ahead this hour, it's a World Cup with French flare. Fans excitedly watch the top teams face off for football supremacy. We are live at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, and we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm George Howell. The CNN Newsroom starts now. It's 3 am on the U.S. East Coast, and good to have you with us. A massive protest in Hong Kong, and the United States is getting the blame for it a day after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, as you see there. Chinese tech media say the U.S. orchestrated it all, because of the trade dispute. But trade is not the reason why so many people came together. Demonstrators came out in force protesting a bill that they fear gives the Chinese government too much power in Hong Kong. The legislation would allow criminal suspects and that could be defined broadly, criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China from Hong Kong. The protests were mostly peaceful but some flashes did break out during the time. Authorities say at least three police officers who were hurt and several arrests were made there. The city's chief executive though, is promising to push ahead with that bill, but a pro-democracy lawmaker, in fact, several of them say it is time to get rid of it. Listen.
[Claudia Mo, Hong Kong Pro-democracy Lawmaker:] We want this bill to be scrapped altogether, because there is no point to say that we can protect you under this label called rule of law, when it comes to China extradition. This doesn't make sense. This just won't work because there is no fair trial. There is no humane punishment guarantees on the mainland.
[Howell:] Live in Hong Kong, our Andrew Stevens is on the story. And Andrew, we are hearing that the protestors are planning for more demonstrations in the coming days, and the coming weeks as they follow this situation. Tell us more.
[Andrew Stevens, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes. We're hearing this as well. There's been a press conference since the last hour or so, George, which the organizers of yesterday's protest which attracted they say about one million people, massive, massive protest here in Hong Kong. The organizers are now calling for another protest on Wednesday. Wednesday is the day that the Hong Kong parliament will convene to look at the extradition bill for a second time, a second of three readings, after three readings it is voted on and, likely come into law because Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government does have the numbers in parliament. So, we are hearing there's going to be demonstrations, or there's going to be a call for more demonstrations on Friday. Also hearing from the trade unions in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union, the overarching body is having an emergency meeting tomorrow to talk about whether there should be a general strike on Wednesday. So there is still a lot of civic action, there is a lot of protest actions still revolving around this very controversial issue.
[Howell:] And Andrew, of course, the thousands of people who came together, we have seen a riot police use pepper spray, use batons to push the demonstrators back from parliament, how much of this will Hong Kong leadership put up with overall, because again, we're hearing more protests are being called for. Conversely, is there a sense among protestors that they feel these actions will make an impact?
[Stevens:] Well, as far as the impact is concerned, there was negligible impact from yesterday's protest. If you listen to the chief executive Carrie Lam, she gave a press conference today as well. At which she said, we have introduced safeguards to protect the people of Hong Kong and we will push forward with this extradition bill with these new safeguards. Just listen to what she had to say.
[Carrie Lam, Hong Kong Chief Executive:] I and my team have not ignored any views expressed on this very important piece of legislation. We have been listening and listening very attentively and very humbly to views expressed by various actors, so we have already made two sets of amendments to our proposal, one before the introduction of the bill and one after the introduction of the bill. The reality is, after these additional measures have been introduced, and many of them concerned human rights safeguards over and above what is now contained in the fugitive offender's ordinance, we were told, we receive feedback that these additional measures are effective in addressing the concerns of the stakeholders.
[Stevens:] Now the additional measures she is talking about I think is like a case by case basis. So when or if China asked for an extradition, it has to be done on a case by case basis. The chief executive will look at it. The Hong Kong judges will look at it before agreeing to it. The other safeguard is that the crime has to be a serious crime, mirroring some seven years, at least seven years in prison. Now the other safeguards that she mentioned, but she spoke about those nine days ago, George. A million people turned out 24 hours ago and she has not changed a line on her position despite this massive protest.
[Howell:] Andrew, they have the numbers for this. They can push this through. Look, the concept of one country two systems is the prevailing framework that defines the relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong, but there is an expiration date to that arrangement. Is this just another example, Andrew, of China poised to gain more control in a transition that is an inevitable reality for Hong Kong?
[Stevens:] Well, that yes, that's a great point, the transition guaranteed under the basic law or under the Constitution, when Hong Kong went back to China in 1987, it was a 50-year transition. So by, 2047 Hong Kong and China would then fully emerge. But what we've seen in recent years is Beijing putting on the pressure to speed up that transformation, if you like. We saw the umbrella movement when Beijing clearly closed down any talk of any sort of independence, any talk of further Democratic reforms to allow Hong Kong to vote for their own candidates, not a list of candidates that have been approved by Beijing. We've seen it since with lawmakers being banned from taking their position in parliament because they are deemed to be too disruptive and too critical towards China. So it is a slow, slow drumbeat of China taking on Hong Kong, moving into Hong Kong and setting different parameters which means that Hong Kong is becoming more and more concerned, and more worried, this is why we're seeing so many people coming into the streets.
[Howell:] The arc of that transition underway. Andrew Stevens live for us in Hong Kong. Andrew, thank you. And for more on the protests in Hong Kong, you can get the very latest and the background, more background on what is a complex story, at cnn.com. Now, to the U.S. State of Iowa, the race for 2020. We're getting close to it. Nineteen Democratic candidates for president were in that key election state, pitching themselves to voters and to donors at the party's annual hall of fame dinner. Our Leyla Santiago was there.
[Leyla Santiago, Cnn Correspondent:] A lot of the voters I talked to said that this didn't necessarily make it any easier for them to narrow down that short list, in fact, it makes it more difficult. So let's talk about what happened here. You had 19 of the 23 candidates all in one room making a five-minute pitch to voters here in Iowa. Remember, Iowa, the very first caucus state. That's why there's a lot of focus here. Among the candidates, you heard them talk about issues that are not so surprising. Abortion, voting rights, health care. And every single one of them made sure to sort of flex some muscle in talking about beating President Trump in 2020.
[Sen. Cory Booker , Presidential Candidate:] I'm running for president because we can't take four more years of Donald Trump. I'm running for president to beat Donald Trump, and I'm running for president because beating Donald Trump is not enough.
[Rep. Eric Swalwell , Presidential Candidate:] We need a president who live like you live. We need a president who has the grit that you have, and we have a president right now that doesn't understand the dreams that you have. I will be that president.
[Sen. Bernie Sanders  Presidential Candidate:] While we are all united, in the need to defeat Trump there are disagreements amongst us as to the best way to do that. In my view, we will not defeat Donald Trump unless we bring excitement and energy into this campaign.
[Santiago:] Now what you did not see here for the hall of fame dinner, you did not see the front runner, Vice President Joe Biden. His campaign says that he had a long-standing family commitment that had been scheduled a while back. That's why he is not in Iowa. But some voters tell me they took offense to that, that perhaps they didn't see themselves as a priority for the front runner Vice President Joe Biden. That said, he will be here on Tuesday on the very same day that President Trump will also be in Iowa. And take note of the timing. We are just a few weeks away from the very first debate for these candidates. That will be in Miami at the end of the month. Leyla Santiago, CNN, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
[Howell:] Leyla, thank you. Let's get context and perspective now with Natasha Lindstaedt. Natasha, a professor of government at the University of Essex, live via Skype this hour from Colchester, England. Good to have you with us, Natasha.
[Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor Of Government, University Of Essex:] Thanks for having me.
[Howell:] So, look, for Democrats looking to replace Mr. Trump as president, the latest poll from CNN shows in Iowa shows the former Vice President Joe Biden the favorite ahead of others in that state's caucus set for February. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris all rounding out the top five, as you see here. We're seeing, though, Joe Biden with the smaller advantage than seen in recent national polls. Natasha, what do you make of it?
[Lindstaedt:] Well, he had really high numbers, around 30 percent, and a lot of that was just due to name recognition. It was going to be really difficult for him to hold on to that because we already know a lot about him. He's very experienced, but what was likely to happen was there were going to be some other candidates that as Democratic voters got to know them, in particular we're thinking of Buttigieg, and to some extent Warren, who has been doing a really good job of traveling around the country and really selling what her policies are, that these candidates would get a bump. And we've seen they have had a bump. Particularly Buttigieg, which is I think his bump is up 13 percent. Warren is up 6 percent. And so, Biden slipped a little bit, going down to 24 percent, and so he's going to have to come in really strong in Iowa and differentiate himself from all of these different candidates and why they really need him. He's going to have to explain, again, and again that he probably at the very moment, I know we're still 17 months away, has the best chance of beating Trump in a head-to-head, with the latest poll revealing a 2020 matchup would be 53 percent for Biden and 41 percent for Trump.
[Howell:] But what a crowded field we have. If we could pull that graphic up again if we have it to show, all of these Democrats who are running, you know, to get the nomination here for this general election. So many, some of them polling in the single digits, Natasha. Given this crowded field, do they have a chance of breaking out at this point?
[Lindstaedt:] I really think only five candidates have a chance. Biden, of course, Sanders, Buttigieg, Warren and Kamala Harris. She's the only one, Kamala Harris has 5 percent. Everybody else is just too far. I don't think Beto O'Rourke or Cory Booker really have much of a chance at this point, and they will probably end up eventually dropping out. You have to really think about who has momentum and Buttigieg and Warren in particular have a lot of momentum. And as the field narrows a little bit more, they might be able to close in on Biden's lead. I don't really see Sanders being able to close in much because he's just dropping so much. He's gone down 9 percentage points. So I think it's really going to be end up being a three-way race between Biden, Warren and Buttigieg. And at this point, the U.S. president focusing in on that key issue of immigration. That seems to be helping him with his base. Again, we're getting close to 2020. Not there but getting close. Democrats in the meantime, I want to transition to this issue of impeachment because candidates running for president are talking about it. Certainly they're talking about it in the House, but they seem divided in the House, Natasha, on whether to pursue impeachment inquiries against the president or whether to wait for Mr. Trump to become a private citizen should he lose come 2020 and rely on the various investigations to play out around him. How do Democrats bridge the divide here? As the goal is to show that they're united against the president. Right. And this is going to be difficult because we have progressive Democrats in the House that really want to impeach and have really wanted to impeach since they took over. Then you have the more I guess moderate Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi who feel that if they initiate impeachment where they have no chance of getting a conviction in the Senate might backfire against them in 2020. We look at the overall picture; you have 91 percent of Republicans don't want impeachment proceedings to begin. Fifty-one percent of independents don't want impeachment to begin and 23 percent of Democrats don't want this. However, once impeachment proceedings begin, if we look at the Nixon case, which contrasts actually with Clinton's case, eventually as the information came out, Republicans started to turn on Richard Nixon and his approval rating went down to the low 50s. So it could be that they initiate impeachment. Might not be that popular in the beginning, but as the information is revealed and they make the case against the president, they'll be able to get a consensus amongst the U.S. public that this was the way to go. The other legal argument is that if they initiate impeachment they're going to have a wider power to subpoena documents and to get depositions. So it's going to be a really tough decision for them to make, but I think they're still trying to be cautious, lay out the case and eventually some information might be revealed that will lead Nancy Pelosi to say, OK, I think we need to start initiating impeachment proceedings.
[Howell:] Natasha Lindstaedt with perspective for us. Natasha, thank you.
[Lindstaedt:] Thanks for having me.
[Howell:] Some news to share with you now about former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz. He's now recovering after being shot several hours ago in his home country, the Dominican Republic. Police say Ortiz was with friends at a dance club in the capital city of Santo Domingo when the gunman walked up and shot him. The bullet going through his stomach. Ortiz has undergone surgery. Afterwards, his father spoke at the hospital. Listen.
[Leo Ortiz, David Ortiz's Father:] The operation is over and he is stable. We're just waiting for the doctors to take him out of the surgery room. He's resting right now. No, there are no other damages we know of. He is stable.
[Howell:] Police say several people have been detained. A reporter in Santo Domingo tells CNN the shooter was attacked by the crowd and is hospitalized. Just a short time ago, fellow Dominican ball player Pedro Martinez tweeted this image of himself and Ortiz. Martinez is on the right hugging his much bigger friend. He wrote, "I'm at peace knowing you are out of danger." This just in to CNN. An Indian court has found six men guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl. The brutal crime happened last year in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. A police investigation revealed the that the men, all Hindu, attacked the girl in an attempt to scare the Nomadic Muslim tribe she belonged to. Protests erupted in India after the men were arrested. One of them was accused and acquitted. An eight an eighth suspect is a juvenile and is being tried in a separate court. Still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, dramatic images of North Korean women escaping China's sex trade. Details on their plight and their flight to safety in a CNN Freedom Project special report.