This week. Also coming up Michael Wolff fire and fury gets an Early Release later today that despite attempts by President Trumps lawyers to block its publication the book paints the president as incompetent but how accurate is this for trail of the trumpet ministration. And the east coast of the u. S. In the grip of a deep freeze that after a massive winter storm brings new snow and since the mercury plummeting to record lows. Im brian thomas a very warm welcome to the show germany is still waiting for a new government more than three months after elections and according to a new poll that weight is weighing on the public mood a new survey by pollsters in for test the map makes grim reading for chancellor all a machall it shows only forty five percent of germans want a repeat of a coalition with the social democrats that as the two sides prepare for talks this weekend. Im the america desperately needs to deliver more than one hundred days after the federal elections she still has no government the last Coalition Talks fell apart and new polls showed germans have no stomach for her next proposed solution another grand coalition. Only five percent view a new grand coalition as very good and forty percent as good thirty four percent view a grand coalition as less good and eighteen percent view it as bad. Further entangling merkels predicament her popularity has slipped in the meantime. And the longer Coalition Talks take the worse it gets only fifty three percent support uncle americal staying in office in october it was sixty one percent forty five percent are against her staying in office. Germans have the following attitudes about Anglo America america stands for political stability seventy percent agree best days as chancellor are over sixty seven percent agree and merkels c. D. U. Neglects concerns over refugees according to fifty nine percent. Of the german governments most important task by far is still the refugee issue even though its less politically charged than it was a year ago. When asked if families of war refugees should be allowed to join them here in germany forty one percent said yes forty eight percent said no and if new elections were held this sunday germans would not vote much differently than a month ago the c. D. U. C. S. U. Would receive thirty three percent of the vote the s. P. D. Twenty one percent the f. T. Would get thirteen percent of the vote and the f. T. P. Nine percent the left party would also get nine percent and the green party eleven percent subtle variations only with the conservatives and the left party. Ok lets break down these numbers now with our Political Correspondent kate brady here in the suv studio good morning carrie looking at these numbers what do they mean for the upcoming Coalition Talks this week and its quite clear that both the social democrats and the conservatives know that going into these exploratory talks on sunday to discuss something which fifty two percent of germans quite clearly arent all that keen on and so they know that if this is going to work or if these exploratory talks are going to move on to Coalition Negotiations for a grand coalition and the deal has to be very very good forty five percent of germans are in favor of this grand coalition which seems like quite a large number first qualms but when you compare that say four years ago when the last of the Current Coalition was being formed sixty six percent of germans were in favor of thats a huge difference over fareed or four years that is a massive falloff and theres a lot of drama and tension and in the background to these talks you know when you when you think that the last ones failed the former talks failed the disco ball months ago now if these break down on sunday ok theyre exploratory talks but if they dont amount to anything what are all americas options that well shes got two main options if these exploratory talks dont succeed she has a minority government which she has repeatedly said that she does not want and so that would be quite a grueling process from moscow shed have to get a new majority for every piece of legislation to pass through parliament and the other option of course would be a snap elections and those would have to be cold by the german president from. Now by calling those as the fear among both of the two main parliamentary groups that they would lose seats in parliament and also the concern that the far right a. F. P. Would also gain more seats and of course for all parties involved its very very expensive to suddenly launch another Campaign Just a lot of people so you might not. Already government is the most likely possibility if these talks break down you know machall still does have considerable support but looking at these numbers her trajectory is definitely to the downside could she see as a result a mutiny in her christian democrats and possibly a move to replace or well at this stage its very unlikely that were going to suddenly see a rebellion of course directly after the election that there was a lot of unrest particularly from the variances the posse the c. S. Here but they were the c. S. U. And c. D. U. Have really patched up that relationship since the election to try and push forward to create a stable government that i so desperately seeking at the moment but of course theres also the main point that it within the c. D. U. Theres no real success to mco and regardless of what happens that is going to be a real focus for the cd even the conservatives in the community as as right now there is no alternative to matter so there will be a push to develop new leadership in the future keep brady thanks very much for breaking down the numbers for us this friday morning. North and south korea have agreed to hold their first formal talks in more than two years that coming next tuesday the dialogue will pave the way for north korean athletes to attend the upcoming Winter Olympics in the south. Wind came hours after the United States agreed to delay joint military exercises with south korea until after the Olympic Games the meeting is expected to be held january ninth at pomona jom in the militarized zone between the two sides which has been the site of past all. Its been a very happy new year for wall street the Dow Jones Industrial average surging past twenty five thousand points for the very first time u. S. President doll trump was quick to claim credit for the latest record naming his recent tax reform as the main reason driving up share prices the index has been up sharply sharply since trump was elected but that was after it had already logged nearly a decade of steady growth mostly fueled by low Interest Rates and market liquidity in the u. S. Well staying in the u. S. A new book that lays bare the early days of the Trump Presidency is set for Early Release later today now that as efforts continue by trumps legal team to block its publication the president has also been ripping into the work of its author Michael Wolff after extracts betrayed a white house steeped in intrigue and betrayal. Its all but certain to be a bestseller just days into the new year the spool cpu trang the us president and seen it unprepared for office as throwing the white house into a frenzy some of the harshest commentary in the book has come from steve bannon a right wing firebrand and Donald Trumps form a strategy chief ban and has attacked a Donald Trump Jr for a twenty sixteen meeting with a group of russians in the book by Michael Wolff bannon is quoted as saying even if he thought that this was not treasonous theyll run patriotic cool back and i happen to think its all of that you should have called the f. B. I. Immediately to which the president hit back steve benen has nothing to do with me or my presidency when he was fired he not only lost his job he lost his mind. Its a spectacular fall out between the two former allies bannon was the one who helped trumps nationalist agenda that helped him win the oval Office Despite a few roller for his quotes ben and called the president a great man on his right to go ashore in the present i state is a great man you know i supporting day in and day out about the betrayal has enraged trani very. Anywhere he has steve and i dont really know me a great man alas so easily changes to pretty quick thank you all very much. Thank you i dont i dont i dont. The white house is trying to cost down on the books accuracy again this book is mistake after mistake after mistake as for the bombshell book the publishers have brought forward its release to friday despite cease and desist threats from Donald Trumps lawyers. So how accurate is this book for more lets bring in ethan berman whos a radio talk show host and a political commentator in los angeles good morning isnt. President trying to says that author Michael Wolff had no white house access and you know were even seeing some top journalists and a former Obama Administration official slamming wolf as quote a sleazeball and a writer of fiction you know how credible is he and this book. Well i mean were weve yet to find out where i dont have my hands on the book yet were going to find out a few hours how do how accurate it really is but heres what we do know is that this administration has had the highest turnover in its upper ranks in any administration in recent history thirty three percent turnover in the highest ranks sixty people of the senior staff in the first year in office so we know theres been chaos we know theres been challenges between personalities writes priebus the chief of staff was out very quickly and read almost record time we had Michael Slinn with so many scandals happening with this Administration Whether or not mr wolfe is entirely accurate it fits the narrative of what we the American People have seen this first year of the Trump Administration ok now a new element here and somebody really outside the narrative completely is trump and bannan in a political my fight right now are we going to see a civil war and a split inside the make America Great again movement i dont think its going be a full on civil war i think steve bannon automatically loses the president is the person in power hes in charge of the Republican Party weve seen the republican establishment line up behind President Trump with the recent tax reform bill steve bannon is the guy thats on the outs i dont know thats going to be a full on civil war i think bannon is just going to be the big loser in all of this ok now what about the democrats is this a late Christmas Gift for the democrats and their chances in the midterm elections. Yeah i think that the twenty eight thousand in the midterm elections the democrats if they get their act together have a strong chance of both taking back the senate and the house of representatives putting a real big crimp into Donald Trumps plans for his presidency this is something that theyre going to add in to their plans and their political attacks on the republicans no question about it ethan berman thanks very much ethan for being with us this morning from los angeles well the u. S. East coast is in the grip of a deep freeze that after a massive winter storm brought fresh snow Hurricane Force winds and flooding to a number of regions elsewhere was something other than snow dropping from the sky take a look there to greet the harness have fallen to the trees in the night time or its so cold it is raining and. Frozen lizards are falling from trees across florida before warming up again. Solomin bigger than others. From turning blood ice cold to sending shivers down the backs of travelers normal cold snap has transformed normally sunny getaways into a Winter Wonderland that some tourists to the south hotton bogen for. Doing the snow to yeah yeah she likes the snow so but we didnt bring our snow suit because we thought. We could. And the effects of this monster storm grew more extreme the farther north you go. In philadelphia the citys famous steps were turned into slopes. And a playground for the off road adventure those. Bonds the dangerous conditions put many in harms way one woman was killed when her costs led into a rail crossing. Twenty centimeters of snow was dumped on new york city shutting schools and groundings thousands of flights. Leaving the parks to fill up with families and to feel less. We have some tennis is now Serena Williams will not be competing at this you know open tennis star was due to make her comeback just four months after giving birth to her first child she planned to defend her title having won ad Melbourne Park last year but shes now pulled out after losing any exhibition match last weekend saints needs more time to prepare. This is. Brian thomas for the entire team thanks for joining us and have a great weekend. Insights. For local you