*By Max Godnick*
Russia's suspected interference in the 2016 election was so complex that even a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who's spent the past two years working on the story can't always keep things straight.
"It was impossible to stay up, it was impossible to make sense of a lot of it," Greg Miller, author of "The Apprentice: Trump, Russia, and the Subversion of American Democracy," said Monday in an interview on Cheddar.
In his new book, the national security correspondent for The Washington Post set out to provide a Readers' Digest version of Russia's involvement in the last presidential election and all of its fallout.
"The main objective was to try to write something that's comprehensive, that people can wrap their heads around," Miller said.
The book's title is not just an obvious reference to Trump's former NBC reality show. Miller said it also calls to mind the political novice's early experiences in The White House, behavior that resembles, in Miller's view, an "untrained apprentice."
But the title has yet a third meaning: Trump's relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
"There's this aspect of subservience to the word," Miller said. "\[Trump\] sort of emulates, admires, imitates Vladimir Putin."
That relationship is the central dynamic around which the rest of his book orbits, Miller said.
"His inexplicable affinity for the Russian president is, of course, the most important idea and theme cutting through the whole book," he explained.
After over a month spent fixated on the Supreme Court confirmation, the political world is turning its focus back on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe on Russian involvement in the election.
Miller described the investigation as "absolutely leak-proof" adding that, despite its 32 indictments and guilty pleas, America has yet to see "Mueller's final act."
By contrast, the president can't seem to say enough about the investigation, tweeting and railing about the so-called "witch hunt" on a seemingly weekly basis.
"It's such an enormous clash of different ideas and different moral codes," Miller said of the dueling approaches.
It's been a long process as Mueller has conducted his investigation, but Miller predicts that, with under 30 days remaining before the midterm elections, the wait won't be much longer.
"You've got to believe that he's got just as much left up his sleeve," he said. "We're just around the corner from that now."
"The Apprentice: Trump, Russia, and the Subversion of American Democracy" is available in stores and online.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-apprentice-goes-inside-trump-putin-relationship).
David Nelson, Chief Strategist at Belpointe, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that Wednesday's market movement shows a rotation back into the industries that were hit hard in January, but says his eyes are firmly fixed on the January CPI data set to be released Thursday.
Russia is preparing alongside Belarus for reportedly one of the largest joint military exercises ever held. Some analysts are concerned this could be a disguise for a real attack, while the Kremlin contends that the exercise is meant to confront potential "unprecedented security threats." Christian Whiton, a former State Department senior advisor, joined Cheddar News to break down the still tense situation. "While it could of course be a prelude to invasion, it seems like the Biden administration is signaling that if you look at Europeans, the Germans and Macron … who just met with Putin, they seem to be thinking that maybe this is a show of force by Russia intended at political intimidation, not actual invasion," said Whiton.
Truckers in Canada have blockaded the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing between Canada and the U.S. protesting a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Cheddar News spoke with Samir Kapadia, head of trade practice at the Vogal Group, about how this impacts trade between the two countries.
New York City is not only dealing with the ongoing pandemic, it’s also facing a surge in crime. President Biden recently traveled to New York to meet with the city’s new mayor, Eric Adams, to discuss the rise in crime and gun violence.
The president praised Mayor Adams' crimefighting agenda and unveiled a new federal initiative to curb the flow of illegal weapons from the south. Josefa Velásquez, Senior Reporter for THE CITY, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to talk about how the mayor is battling this increase in crime in his first weeks in office.
The Democratic governors of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Oregon say they will lift mask requirements for schools in the coming weeks, reflecting a nationwide shift away from restrictions. Cheddar News speaks with internist Dr. Vivek Cherian whether it's safe to relax the regulation.
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Daley, author of the book 'Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy,' joins Cheddar News to discuss redistricting battles taking place across the U.S.
