Mind. Also coming up a government crackdown puts an apparent and to protests in iran but for how long we will go to tehran to hear whether the country is now in dangerously divided territory. Im sorry kelly welcome to the Program Thanks for joining us. U. S. President donald trump has launched a scathing attack on his former treat chief strategist steve ban and ahead of the release of an unflattering new book by journalist Michael Wolff the president saying that steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency but he was fired he not only lost his job he lost his mind. The president disavowed bannon after it emerged that he had attack attacked Donald Trump Jr for a twenty sixteen meeting with a group of russians in the book banning is quoted as saying the following even if you thought that this was not treasonous or unpatriotic or bad well to say stuff and i happen to think that it is all of that you should have called the f. B. I. Immediately u. S. Media say the trumps lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter to ben and accusing him of violating a nondisclosure agreement by speaking to walls and epix fall out between two former allies what could it mean for the Trump Presidency and for the russia investigation one that in just a moment but first a look at how the ban and trump relationship collapsed with friends like these who needs enemies it may feel like ages ago but it hasnt been that long since President Donald Trump and his former chief strategist steve benen were thick as thieves. Toward the end of the two thousand and sixteen president ial campaign bannon left his post as executive chairman of the right wing web site Breitbart News to join the Trump Campaign he was the embodiment of all the issues that energized the trump base nationalism and an economic deregulation despite accusations of racism and xenophobia benon helped build the wave of populism but trump it unleashed trump became president and bannon became a kingmaker bana took on the role as chief strategist and senior counselor to the president he was seen as a primary architect of trumps nationalist agenda the president was not shy about celebrating their closeness is very committed friends about it hes very committed to getting things passed well have a very Good Relationship as you know with steve benen steves been a friend of mine for a long time i like steve a lot. Bannan also helped push both the president s populism and his attacks on news organizations their corporatist globalist media that are adamantly opposed adamantly opposed. To an economic nationalist agenda like donald trump. But after a series of staff shake ups and public embarrassments trump brought an instant in the white house to an end after a mere seven months. Now following the publication of an incendiary book ben and then trump have suddenly become sworn enemies trading barbs over the media. Given how fervently readers of breitbart have supported trump the cracks in this relationship could spell trouble. And for more on whether or not that is indeed the case i am joined by having reka head of the program of u. S. And Transatlantic Relations at the German Council on Foreign Relations here in berlin thanks so much for being with us you know Strong Language as weve heard from both these two no surprise i mean theyre really known for that arent they but at the end of the day this book is said to describe the president as an and disciplined man child who doesnt understand the weight of the presidency does it leave him in trouble i think if this is seen as an inside look into the presidency and many will do this especially on the more liberal side of the spectrum of course this will damage him underline the views that people have of him i think. One has to wait i mean if you could present himself as a nonpolitician as somebody whos doing things differently as a deal maker as a businessman this might actually help him help him along why benon did this i assume he understands that we he will have more attention in the white a spectrum of the political interest if hes going against the president and i think there might be some vanity in that in the end i think. Trump might be able to to use that for his own benefit because he can distance himself from the far right and win back the voters in the Republican Center so thats the view on on how this book might and impact Public Perception but how about when we talk about legally speaking because of course we know that there is an investigation that is underway and on to the truck campaigns ties with russia ban in describing a meeting that the Trump Campaign had with a russian lawyer as quote treasonous what does that do for the investigation and potentially for the Trump Presidency in legal terms. In legal terms it will not change a lot because its only an assessment from an outsider one might say but politically of course it strengthens position it will strengthen the view that there must be an investigation like this it will make it harder for trump to fire him. And to go against him so this of course increases the credibility of mahler and the findings that he might get in the end i would assume there will be. Things to do to be dragged into the open that will make the trump family or the compay look bad but it might be that trump himself didnt really. Is not really a culprit in the narrow sense so that might be the come out and he might even use these these assessments for the leaders here in europe how are they dealing with all the traumatic the United States its of course impossible for them because the all this is dragging away attention and energy from the from the white house and it would be much more needed to fill the open posed to have an idea of what the white house and and the ministries do together so they all hope for a more stable. Running of the of the government and we dont see this as only day four of the of the new year in fact it is heading reka head of the program on u. S. Transatlantic relations at the German Council on Foreign Relations in berlin thank you. While many trump critics see Michael Wolff book as further proof of a president way out of his depth it appears that it will do little damage to his image among his supporters if anything they are turning on those who attack him like bannan his new site breitbart once a favorite among Trump Supporters being bombarded with angry comments one person writing i voted for trump i didnt vote for bannon i will stick with trump thanks another one writing bannon is really thinking that his car does not stink and that he is the king of it all what is wrong with this guy but many ban him backers voicing doubts that the book is a little more than half baked journalism right wing social Media Favorite mike chair novich tweeted why would ban and go after don jr who is beloved by the base it is a kooky fight to pick doesnt make sense the author has a history of fabricating quotes we need bannan to stream live and get his story out lets get a quick check now some other stories making news around the world. The u. S. Senate has sworn into new Democratic Senators produce in the republicans majority to two we are doug jones from alabama won a special election to fill a vacancy and minnesotas tina smith was appointed to replace al franken who resigned amid allegations of Sexual Misconduct rescue workers in south africa say that at least twelve people have been killed and around forty injured in a train crash the express train to rails after it smashed into a truck about two hundred kilometers south of johannesburg images posted to social media showed up turned coaches and part of the train in flames. Former catalan Vice President audio dreamcast has appeared in Madrid Supreme Court today to appeal against a channeling he has been awaiting trial on charges including rebellion and sedition as part of catalonia is forbidden drive for independence from spain if granted bail he could be present when the region forms its Parliament Later this month. A Foreign Policy chief for the me is on a two day visit to cuba aimed at strengthening ties with havana after washington tightened restrictions on the communist nation mogul remey has called the u. S. Blockade of cuba illegal and obsolete saying that it serves to worsen Living Conditions on the island u. S. Cuba ties thought after the Obama Administration eased trade and travel rules. But the Trump White House has since moved to reverse those measures saying that cuba had failed to improve its human rights record. In iran as the countrys elite revolutionary guard is trying to stop antigovernment protests in several provinces a new amateur video purports to show Security Forces aligned with the guard parading down the streets of the city of solly around one hundred and twenty kilometers southwest tehran theyre there to put down the protests labeled sedition by the head of the revolutionary guard iran has imposed a blackout on social media after more than a week of demonstrations. And for more lets bring in a. F. P. Correspondent eric roundoff who is standing by with the latest from tehran welcome to you eric we know that the head of the revolutionary guard has said that the antigovernment protests have essentially been defeated or or wiped out so to speak what are you hearing. Yeah its been pretty quiet here are. Very few protests last night a very heavy Police Presence including really good revolutionary guards on the streets very hard for us to verify information were getting from the problems but the fact that there are far fewer videos posted on social media suggests that they have indeed died down to a considerable extent at least more broadly speaking what do you think that the protests over the last week reveal about irans leadership are we for example seeing cracks between hardliners and moderates in the regime does these kind of just off to the budget announced by the president Hassan Rouhani in which he made some pretty unpopular austerity measures cuts to welfare raising fuel prices not hard line is its a really been attacking him on those issues finding does the best way to undermine his leadership. And try to rally the coal particular against it. And there are suggestions that conservatives are actually behind the protests broke out into this much wider arrest so romney could actually be a Good Opportunity to get him to say that we need to close ranks if you carry over attacking me this way you see the kind of our price that you can trigger at the same time hes going to have a lot of work to do to try to placate people who are deeply angry about the Economic Situation and what does that mean would you say for the prospects of of economic reform in the country because they you know as you mentioned a lot of people they seem sympathetic to the protesters craven says. Yeah i mean there are a lot of people on the streets of tehran who understand the frustration of young people in a country where the Unemployment Rate is thirty two percent for the young and theyre also highly educated iran has a very good Education System so a lot of people are underemployed as well of dealing with that there are times over that that iran faces a lot of structural problems still under pretty heavy sanctions from the americans that make it very tough to to get a trade go there are no Simple Solutions for up for president rouhani but i think we are going to see him try to do so hes off on some of this there its a notice that he had to announce trying to make life a little bit easier while still trying to move ahead of some of the liberalizing reforms trying to put the economy back on an attack over time across it first to try to spur business interest but no no no easy solutions there Eric Randolph with the latest from tehran thank you thank you kate. An extreme winter storm sweeping across europe has left four people dead and caused wide scale damage and destruction violent winds of up to one hundred forty Kilometers Per Hour caused scaffolding to collapse at paris two hundred thousand homes in the french capital were also without electricity the storm has also caused chaos here in germany with powerful winds downing trees and power lines firefighters in the city of cologne worked to clear debris from the roads. And the u. S. East coast is bracing for heavy snow as a winter storm intensifies into what is called a bomb. The first time in almost thirty years snow fell in the florida capital tallahassee elsewhere in the Sunshine State freezing temperatures turned one mans pool into an ice rink. Drivers on the eastern seaboard battled high winds and blizzard conditions a state of emergency has been declared in four states and hundreds of schools have been closed in expectation of record breaking low temperatures. Youre watching news still to come on the program more on the economic challenges that led many iranians to protest against the government and Security Experts have discovered a major flaw in computer chips leaving them open to hacking could your device be at risk. All that and more coming up in just a minute ben physical and has business im sorry kelly and from all of us here at g. W. Thanks for watching ill see you next time