Despite President Trumps America First policies, the american trade deficit is at its highest policy in six years as americans by ever more foreign goods and services. The u. S. East coast is gripped by a massive winter storm as fresh snow since temperatures plummeting to record lows. I am joel. Welcome to the program. The new book about donald Trump Presidency is flying off the shelf of the United States, published today, four days ahead of its scheduled release, and despite attempts by the president s lawyers to stop it. The book prompted a major public spat between the president and former adviser steve fannin, because an unflattering quotes contained in it. Former adviser steve bannon because of unflattering quotes. Here is author Michael Wolff on nbc newss today program. Michael i would say the one description that everyone g gav, everyone has in common they all say he is like a child. And what they mean by that is, he has a need for immediate gratification. It is all about him. They say he is a more on, and video, actually there is a competition to sort of get to the bottom line here of who this man is. Lets remember this man does not read, and does not listen. So he is like a he is like a pinball, just shooting off the side. Joel lets get more from our dw correspondent, who joins us from kramer books in washington. Welcome, carolina. A damning picture painted of the president. But mr. Wolffs credibility has been criticized. What have we learned about him and how he gathered information for this book is to mark for this book . Reporter Michael Wolff is a wellknown journalist and author in the United States. For this book, he conducted over 200 interviews in 18 months. He did do a lot of research and interviews on that. And on the same interview we just heard on msnbc today, he said he works as every journalist works, and he has recordings of all the interviews. He has notes. He added he is not surprised that President Trump is reacting that way, because this is how he usually approaches problems threatening. He also said on that interview that he assures he spoke to President Trump. He added, whether President Trump was aware this was an interview or not, i am not sure, but it was definitely on the record. Indeed, it is also pretty extraordinary to see a president trying to block the publishing of a book in a democracy, of course. Joel have you picked up a copy of fire and fury yet . Reporter no, because the books are sold out in kramer books. Let me introduce you to the owner of this bookshop. He can tell us a bit more about yesterday. You are sold out of fire and fear he. What happened . This book was meant to be published on tuesday . Steve the book was initially going to comment on a tuesday, and all the rumors and the banter around the book the publishers decided to push the book up. We happened to have a lot of copies. I give great credit to our book buying team. We are open late. Midnight came last night technically, friday, and we decided to put the book out. It sold literally within two minutes. Reporter do you have a copy of the book yourself . Steve i have a copy at my house. Heavily better that it is there. I do have a copy, and i may read it. Reporter are you looking forward to it . Steve i am not sure i am necessarily looking forward to it. There has been a lot of controversy around it. I am not sure this is a great thing to be reading. But it is what it is. We are a bookstore here in the sea, and it is our role to put we are a bookstore here in d. C. , and it is our role to put out books our readers want. Reporter back to you. Joel one of you walk us to some of the reaction from the white house and the president . Reporter donald trump seems to be very worried about the publishing of this book, and also the people around him. We noticed this not only because of his reactions, but also the press release we saw on wednesday, where he says that steve bannon is a man out of his mind, and also the fact that Donald Trumps lawyers have already sent a letter to steve ammon, threatening him. It shows they are very worried about the comments steve bannon is making in this book. It is important to point out that steve bannon talks about this meeting with the russian lawyer in june 2016, in the middle of the president ial elections. This is a meeting donald trump has denied several times and unimportant part of the russia of fair conducted by Robert Mueller russia affair conducted by Robert Mueller. It could affect donald trump. Anchor this is a Midterm Election year in the u. S. , but the democrats do not seem to have gone on the attack over this book. Why . Reporter well, phil, this is clearly a conflict between republicans. I cannot imagine that democrats are just sitting, watching, and probably smiling. These are in two different parts of their republican party. They are in a deep conflict, i would say. Anchor thank you for reporting from washington. Now to some of the other stories making news around the world. Residents of a shantytown in the congolese capital can show us a are picking up the pieces after at least 44 people died in mudslides and torrential rain storms. Victims were killed by the mudslidedes after flooding. Emmanunuel macrorohas told erdog that dememocratic countries must respspect the word is the rule f law in the force against president. In paris, president macron was discussing the fate of thousands of students, teachers, and journalists being held in custody in turkey. The socalled truth village truce village in the Demilitarized Zone between north and south korea will be the side of the first formal talks between the countries for more than two years. Discussion set for tuesday could pave the way for north korean athletes to attend the forthcoming Winter Olympics in south korea. Hungarys Prime Minister has criticized the german chancellors stance on the European Union and migration. Speaking at the Party Conference of csu, victor orban said migrants without the right to stay in europe should be sent home. His comments, and an awkward moment for the chancellor, as she prepares to start exploratory talks to form a new government with social democrats. Victor orban, right wing Prime Minister of hungry, is a regular guest in bavaria. And regular guests are often invited because you know in advance how they will behave. In this regard, orban did not disappoint. As a known eurosceptic, he opposes germanys refugee policy, which he dubs a problem of democracy. I told our bavarian friends that i think in the year 2018 we will restore the will of the people in europe. And that the european people, stepbystep, will force decisions concerningng refugee popolicy that are in their best intererest. Reporter the man resesponsible for inviting orban iss the csu party leader will be part of the Coalition Talks with the spd beginning on sunday. To the spd, orbans visit is a slap in the face. Nonetheless, they make a point of openly supporting orban. Without any doubt, victctor orban respects the rule of law. Reporter in a newspaper interview, spd leader martin shilts complained about the csu meeting with eurosceptic orb on orban, warning about his refugee policies. In their meeting at a monastery, the csu is showing on aggressive stance. This could prove difficult for the upcoming Coalition Talks. Anchor our Political Correspondent joins us from the csu Party Conference site. Inviting victor orban to speak looks like Angela Merkels political allies are trying to sink political talks before they even start. Analyst lets put it this way. Angela merkel very well knows her political allies, who gather here once a year to essentially make a lot of political noise. That certainly happened today. Inviting victor arman is a provocation for her, but more so for the social democrats that she hopes to put a Political Coalition together with. Having said that, these are very sensitive times in the political climate, given the fact there is very little time to put together another grand coalition, something a lot of europe is hoping for something that is becoming less and less popular even here in germany. Yes, it clearly was a provocation. The e question is, when you lisn to some csu delegates, whether the csu did not go over the mark. Anchor the csu has always wanted a tougher line on immigration than Angela Merkels cdu. I wonder if victor ormondes presence is likely to exacerbate those differences. Analyst i think both sides, the cdu and csu, know exactly where their differences are. There is a certain sense of satisfaction in the csu that the german chancellor has departed over the past two years from what became known as her open arms policy towards migrants. We have seen a whole succession of tightening of the laws. Of course, nowhere near the approach that hungary is taking, which is shut down its borders, and has refused despite a European Court order to take in its share of migrants. Basically, that kind of solidarity in europe simply is not working. It definitely is not working with the eastern states. And what the csu sees as a potential success is that they seem to have extracted from victor orban that he might help humanitarian efforts in regions like syria, to help honor humanitarian levels. This is not making it easy in berlin right now. Anchor in the report, Angela Merkels perspective coalition partners, the spd, do not like this. Tell us more about that reaction. Analyst this is kind of interesting. We did hear the csu basically formulate what they expect to see from the social democrats. One key point there is that those migrants, the refugees here in germany who have less protection, who do not have protection under the geneneva convnventions, which means they are not entitied automatatically to bring close family members legally to germany that right was suspended for them. That runs out eaearly this year. The csu expects the social democrats to go along with the earlier compromise and extend that. Spd leader Martin Schulz has been quite clear that he does not see that on the cards. This is not helping in finding the kind of, lets say, harmony that wouould be needed to at let find a common level. What thehen again, of course, ts is a lot of public s statements. We have seen a lot of public drama over that very issue of formulating a coalition. The more interesting bit is what is going on behind closed doors, come sunday. Anchor as well as this new book, President Trump has been vocal about shrinking the countrys trade deficit, but it does not look like it is going to happen anytime soon. Analyst it is a gap that is increasingly widening. Despite Donald TrumpsAmerica First policies, the u. S. Is buying even more foreign goods and services. The trade gap has reached its highest level in six years. The november figure has widened to 50. 5 billion off the back of record exports. America first is the policy donald trump hasas reached ever since hehe entered office. He believes more should be done to protect American Industries from foreign competition. He has been especially critical of the u. S. Trade deficit with china. President trump both the United States and china will have a more prosperous future if we can achieve a level economic playing field. Right now, unfortunately, it is a very onesided and unfair one. Reporter not much has changed since this speech in november. Some economists say that is because u. S. President trumps argument is flawed. They argue countries like china are not to blame for the trade deficit, rather u. S. Consumers. Americans consume more than they themselves produce. The latest u. S. Trade stats may be a c case of weight. Even with a weaker dollar and on the back of higher exports, Americans Still appear to be spending more on foreign goods. Analyst covering the story for us is our man on wall street. Jens, trump has spoken in the past about punitive measures. Is he likely to now follow through . Jens the u. S. President cannot force his population to buy fewer foreign goods. The administration has already taken some measures. We have seen huge tariffs on a number of imports from canada, steel imports from china. There is also talk about huge tariffs will it comes to washing machines from asia,a, or planes from canada. We have the nafta negotiations still going. There is a big question about whether the United States will opt out of this agreement. There are some measures underway. The question is, how good is that for the u. S. Economy . Lets say america produces more or has higher tariffs for war and goods. That would mean that prices in the u. S. For consumers would increase. That would be a negative for the country. Analyst tom has previously singled out the u. S. Trade imbalance with germany, in the past taking to twitter in may, saying that must change. Can we expect this trade imbalance, this particular one, to balance out anytime soon . Jens what is true is that behind china and japan, the u. S. Is running the thirdhighest trade deficit with germany, pretty much equal to mexico. The question is, what precisely can the u. S. Do . Donald trump has talked about this massive that is how he put it trade deficit the u. S. Runs with germany. We might see some tariffs, even if there is Nothing Specific on the table with respect to germany. What could also happen is, the text reform in the United States, maybe more german countries are going to produce in the United States, so that might bring the trade deficit down a little bit. For the near future, i do not see a big change in those trade relations between germany and the u. S. Analyst our financial correspondent in new york. Thanks for that. The latest u. S. Jobs figures have not met market expectations. The economy added a modest 148,000 jobs the last month. That was well belolow what was forecast. Analysts say jobs growth is slowing down as the labor market nears fullll employment. The unemployed and rate is still at a 17 year low. The good news for American Workers is that wages are increasing. Staying with the trump administration, the white house has announced it wants to open the entire u. S. Coastline to offshore drilling, music to the ears of energy companies. But several coastal states have wed d to do whatatever it takeso stop that t happening. G. Rereporter the fiveyear plan calls for 47 new offshore leases, opening waters that have been offlimits for decades, including areas off the california and florida coasts. It is a move the u. S. Interior Department Says is in the nations interest. It is the difference between Energy Weakness and energy dominance. Under President Trump, we are going to have the strongest Energy Policy and become the strongest energy superpower. We certainly have the assets to do that. Reporter the proposal follows the announcement of plans to roll back or repeal safety regulations adopted under the obama administration. Environmental groups have vowed to oppose the move and they are organizing protests. Offshore drilling is inherently dirty. There will be an inevitable oil spill, such as there was off the coast in 2015. 100,000 gallons of oil spill into the ocean, killing fish, bringing mammals and other wildlife. You can go back to 2010, the deepwater horizon spill, which spilled d millions of barrels io the gulf of mexico. Reporter the plan has already drawn heavy criticism from several coastal states among them, the carolinas and california. Also in florida, where memories of the deepwater horizon spill remain fresh. The 2010 oil platform explosion took the lives of 11 oil workers and devastated the gulf coast. Analyst apple says its iphones and macs are affected by the security flaw in intel processors. Billions of devices are vulnerable to hackers. Intel knew about those flaws long ago. The behavior of the chief executive officecer before the revelation raiseses serious questions. Reporter apple says the bug affects all of its devices. That means e everything from ipiphones to apple watches i is potentially open to hacking. Company says it is unaware of any exploits aimed at the flaw specific hacking attacks. It plansns to releaease patchesr its safari browsers. The bug is a nightmare for u. S. Tech giant intel, but also consumers. One common patch, known as kaiser, devours energy and slows the fix to device. Scrutiny is falling on into leadership. The ceo sought 39 million in Company Stocks sold 30 mind gilliards sold 39 million in Company Stocks after learning about the problem, but before announcing it. The company had been working on a fix in the meantime. Analyst over to fill now for more on the bomb cyclone that hit the United States, shutting down businesses. Transport grinding to a halt. Phil americas east coast in the grip of a deep freeze after a massive winter storm. Hurricane force winds and flooding. But also a rare opportunity to see snow and ice in locations normally known for their sunshine. Reporter sunny getaways, transformed into winter wonderlands. Water fountains morphed into ice sculptures. An abnormal cold snap hits the south. Something tourists here have not bargained for. Do you like the snow . She likes the snow. But we did not bring her snowsuit because we thought it would be warm. [laughter] reporter so did lizards in the state of florida. It t is 38 dedegrees. The iguanas are falalling out of the trees overnight. Reporter the record lows have frozen iguanas. Is pair apparently sururvived, and lateter walked off their chchills. But the effectcts of this monstr ststorm grow morore extreme the farther north you go. In philadelphia, the citys famous steps were turned into slopes. And a playgroundnd for the offroad adventures. But the dangerous conditions put many in harms way. One woman was killed when her car slid into a rail crossing. 20 centimeters of snow was dumped on new york city, shshutting schools and grounding thousands of flights. Leaving the parks to fill up with families and the fearless. Phil on two sports, starting with football. Most on this league is teams are in warmer climes as they prepare for the second half of the season. Bayern munich is spending the eighth year in a row at the winter Training Camp in qatar, and they have been criticized for not commenting on the human rights situation. The football action starts next friday, with leverkusen working on integrating a new highprofile signing. Reporter b bayern m munich are sunning themselves in the middle east in preparation for postwinter break matches. Wagner has been drafted during the break. He was let go by Bayern Munich as a youngster, and he is delighted to be back. I was 100 sure i i wanted to go back home to my club. That was clearar. I am really happy that it worked out. Reporter Bayern Munich are spending just five days on the persian gulf. That does not leave much time for meets and greets, and marketing stunts. But they are not losing any sleep over the human rights situation in qatar either. We are here for sport. We are trying to do our job here. We want to prepare as best we can for the rest of the season. Reporter he knows exactly what shortcomings buyer needs to work on. The veteran coach has steadied the ship since hisis appointment as Carlo Ancelottis successor in october. It happened quickly with h ts coaching t team. He knows how things w work. He still knew some of the team. It did not take long to adapt. Reporter bayern want to take their newfound impetus into the second half of thehe season,ss theyame to o n as manyy trtrophies as possible. The bundesliga title already looks a certainty. Phil in tennis, Serena Williams will not be competing at the australian open. The former world number one had been due to make her come back, four months after giving birth to her first child. She had been planning to defend her title, having won it at Melbourne Park last year, pulled out after losing a neck sufficient match in abu dhabi last weekend. She says she needs more time to prepare. The skies over italy will be full o of hot air balloons. Mondo but mondova is hosting the balloon meeting of the epiphany. Fridays launch came ahead of snow we, windy weather that organizers feared might leave some balloons grounded. But so far, seems to be floating along according to plan. Pronto . Phil here is a reminder of our top stories at this hour. Victor or von fired a broadside at germanys chancellor merkel. He told a conference of the csu that people who had no right to live in the European Union should be sent packing. Europe needs secure borders, he said. The author of the book about the Trump White House causing such a stir has spoken out. Michael wolff said insiders told him the president behaves like a child. His book, fire and fury has gone on sale in the u. S. , and is selling fast. President trump has dismissed it as lies. You are uptodate. More at the top of the hour. Dont go away. The day for you in just a moment. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] nine pm here in the french capital you watching live from paris on france24 on summers was in these little stories. The turkish president holds talks there in prague paris with president michael sata signing number business deal the two men discussed a whole host of issues including human rights. And press freedoms. The author of it in century book about the from presidency stands by his version of events. Contradicting claims by the president of the two men. I was says she cream called rules of the catalan separatists the the oreo. Must remain in prison right is a response more than two months