*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).
Russian lawmakers have given President Vladimir Putin a military force authorization in Ukraine, and President Biden has described Putin's announcement declaring the independence of two provinces within Ukraine and his subsequent deployment of peacekeepers as tantamount to "invasion. David Tafuri, a former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and Bush State Department official, joined Cheddar News to discuss. "The Ukrainian military occupies more than 70 percent of those provinces still," Tafuri said, noting Putin alleged having a responsibility to defend those regions. "This would put Ukrainian forces and Russian forces right at each other engaged. And that might be how the war starts."
The major indexes ended Tuesday's session sharply lower due to escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Bill Stone, Chief Investment Officer at The Glenview Trust Company, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he reminds viewers that Wall Street doesn't like uncertainty, and more of the recent losses are due to geopolitics than inflation.
Karim Hijazi, CEO of Prevailion, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that crypto's decentralized nature will pose obstacles for the FBI's new crypto unit, but it will also make progress with items such as managing fraudulent exchanges.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association released a report alleging the safety risks, economic losses, and potential job losses they link to a surge in shoplifting crimes in the United States. Lisa LaBruno, senior EVP of retail operations at the trade organization, joined Cheddar News to discuss the impact of websites that allow for the resale of unverified goods and passing the INFORM Consumers Act to stamp it out. “We need to hold the online marketplaces accountable for being a favored venue for criminals to resell stolen product," LaBruno said. "And that is exactly what the INFORM Act is designed to do."
The East-West faceoff over Ukraine has escalated dramatically, with Russian lawmakers authorizing President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and President Biden and European leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks.
Stocks closed broadly lower Tuesday after Russia sent forces into Ukraine’s eastern region and the U.S., European Union and U.K. responded with economic sanctions.
President Biden says he’s “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to launch a further invasion of Ukraine, saying Friday he has “reason to believe” it will occur in the "coming days."
