Joining us this hour. Heres an interesting thing. Sort of a personal thing, but also a news thing. Right before President Trump was impeached the first time, i published a book called blow out and the weird surprising to me thing about blow out is that tended up being oddly well timed. I had no idea it was going to be well timed when i set out to write it, but thats how it landed. It was a book about the Oil And Gas Industry and the political power and geopolitical power of that industry. And a big chunk of that book was about all of the craziness and Corruption In Ukraine. And of course, then, right at the time the book came out, all the craziness and Corruption In Ukraine ended up being the setting, like the Playing Field for what President Trump got impeached for the first time he got impeached. I did not intend it to land that way. It was fortuitous and i hope helpful to people trying to figure out that landscape while we were looking at that first impeachment. Now, of course, mr.
Well timed. That is how it landed. A book about the Oil And Gas Industry and a big chunk of the book was about the craziness and the corruption in the ukraine. Then it was the playing field. I didnt intend it to land it that way. Well, now of course mr. Trump is being impeached for a second time. And it is kind of uncanny, a lot of the things that i wrote about in the book that came out in the first trump impeachment. The whole reason that i wrote the book is because we were consistently underestimating the sway of this one industry. How much sway it has over politicals and governments here and around the world. I thought there was a need for a explainer and how the industry could explain. If something is happening that does not make sense on the surface it helps to look at the industry and see if they are maybe The Hidden Hand, when politics fail or governments are bad. This is a place to look. One thing to say here is the hidden power that is making it possible or impossible and call
All about the craziness and Corruption In Ukraine. And of course, then, right at the time the book came out, all the craziness and Corruption In Ukraine ended up being the setting, like, the Playing Field for what President Trump got impeached for the first time he got impeached. I did not intend it to land that way. It was foretuittous, and i hope, helpful to people trying to figure out that landscape while we were looking at that first impeachment. Well, now, of course, mr. Trump is being impeached for a second time, and its kind of uncanny a lot of the things that i wrote about in that book that came out during the first trump impeachment. Theyre sort of coming home to roost now. The whole reason i wrote that book is because i think we were pretty consistently underestimating the sway of this one industry, how much sway the Oil And Gas Industry has over politics and whole governments, both here in the United States and around the world. And so, i thought it would be helpful. I thoug
good morning to you. i m jessica dean in washington. jim sciutto is off today. we re following several major stories this morning. overnight ukraine rocked by a barrage of russian missiles. the defense minister saying it s the most massive missile attack since the invasion began in februariment we know power is out in several regions including parts of the capital kyiv. we ll be live on the ground ahead. plus, the u.s. reinstating covid tests for travelers coming from china as beijing drops its own restrictions despite an overwhelming surge in cases. a fresh apology from southwest airlines today, plus new steps the airline is taking to reimburse passengers whose holiday travel was ruined. still more than 2,300 southwest flights canceled today. we re told the scheduling nightmare could end as soon as tomorrow. let s begin this morning on the ground in ukraine. cnn senior international correspondent ben wedeman is in kyiv. ben, you saw firsthand some of this damage. tell us
it is top of the hour. just in to cnn, michael cohen, the former personal attorney to president trump is meeting at the manhattan da s office. this is a very strong indication that the sweeping investigation into the trump organization is continuing. and perhaps the focus has returned to this hush money payments to stormy daniels. we re following the story. what did michael say when he went in? we have video, you played it of michael walking into the manhattan district attorney s office. cohen said he could not comment on what the topics they would be discussing would be. but he might have more to say when he is leaving. but this is the first time cohen has been in since this investigation has been led by the manhattan district attorney. he previously been in to meet with investigators 13 times over the previous years. the trump organization and the financial statements, now sources tell me that the investigators have refocused back to the hush money payments. of course