As one of the masterminds of President Obama’s victorious 2008 campaign, David Axelrod remembers Iowa with particular fondness. He tells Christiane why the current mess is so damaging to the process and why he thinks the Iowa caucuses are dead as we know them.

In the presidential election, healthcare is the number one issue for voters in both parties. Paige Winfield Cunningham is a national reporter at the Washington Post, focusing specifically on healthcare policy. Despite the healthcare wars within the Democratic Party—and between Democrats and the GOP—Cunningham tells Hari that neither party will make major changes.

The 2020 election season is off to the races. With the first major contest in Iowa wrapping up, voters are revealing which topics they care about most and who they think can address them. But when it comes to actual economic policy, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that it won’t matter much which Democrat wins the nomination. He joins Christiane to explain his views.

After the White House’s Middle East peace plan was unveiled last week, the plan was unanimously rejected this past weekend with a sharp statement from the Arab League. Journalist Kim Ghattas has been covering the Middle East for 20 years. She joins the program to discuss her new book "Black Wave," which chronicles the enduring 40 year rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Petra Costa’s latest film "The Edge of Democracy" is nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars. It’s an intimate look at the rise and fall of former Brazilian presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. The current president, Jair Bolsonaro, is also featured, and he has already called the film "a work of fiction." Costa joins Hari to discuss the dangers to democracy in Brazil.

After a 47-year marriage, the U.K.’s bitter split from the European Union has finally happened. It’s taken the best part of four years, ever since the Brexit referendum, which divided a nation right down the middle and caused both celebration and mourning. David Dimbleby, a titan of British broadcasting who for decades has been the face of the BBC, joins Christiane to reflect on this moment.

As the rape trial of fallen Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein ramps up, a new film is examining the toxic workplace culture which enables predatory behavior and vilifies those who speak up. "The Assistant" tracks a day in the life of an assistant at a high pressure production company, and is the latest work from writer and director Kitty Green. She joins the program from New York to discuss.

St. Louis, Missouri was the epicenter of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2014. Now, Kim Gardner – the city’s first African American chief prosecutor – is investigating police violence. She joins Michel to explain why she filed a lawsuit accusing the city of St. Louis and its police union of a “racially motivated conspiracy to deny the civil rights of racial minorities."

China is facing a growing health emergency as the government confronts the coronavirus outbreak. The illness originated in Wuhan, central China, and has since spread throughout the world. Fear and paranoia are on the rise. To break down the reality of the virus and the Chinese response, Christiane speaks with two experts.

In the last four presidential elections, the Democratic candidate who won the Iowa caucuses went on to win the nomination. Former Colorado Senator Gary Hart helped shape the Iowa caucuses into the important contest that it is today, first as a campaign manager and then as a candidate. He joins the program to look ahead to Monday’s crucial contest.

Ahmed Albasheer is an Iraqi comedian and host of "Albasheer Show," a weekly satire program about Iraqi politics and one of the most popular shows in the country. Albasheer started the show in 2014 as a tool to fight corruption, extremism and terrorism. He tells Hari how a suicide bomber changed his life and how "Albasheer Show" is fueling the demonstrations currently taking place in Iraq.

President Trump’s Middle East peace plan has been strongly rejected by the Palestinians, despite being described by the president as a win/win. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh joins the program to explain his reasoning.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sided with President Trump today and urged UK lawmakers to push Palestinians to engage with the American plan, but is it in the UK’s best interest? To explore the changing U.S./U.K. dynamics, Christiane speaks with Philip Hammond, who has served in multiple top roles in the UK government.

Ted Koppel is an iconic journalist and member of the Broadcasting Hall of Fame, having made his name as anchor of ABC News’ Nightline for over two decades. Amongst his many achievements, in 1988 he hosted an unprecedented town hall meeting between Israelis and Palestinians live from Jerusalem. Koppel speaks to Walter about the state of journalism and democracy today.

To dig deeper into President Trump’s Middle East peace proposal, Christiane speaks with two people who have been in the room during previous peace negotiations: Aaron David Miller has worked for American presidents from both political parties, while Marwan Muasher served as Jordan’s foreign minister during the Arab peace initiative in 2002.

President Trump’s impeachment trial is in full swing, but nonetheless he today unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan. Trump was joined at the White House by only one party to the conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump's senior advisor, Jared Kushner, joins the program from Washington to discuss the proposal.

Vladimir Putin has now ruled over Russia for two decades, leading a whole generation of Russians to be dubbed “the Putin generation.” Joshua Yaffa is the New Yorker’s Moscow correspondent, and his new book reveals how ambitious Russians – from politicians to filmmakers – balance their own dreams with doing what it takes to survive the system. He joins Hari to discuss Putin's rule in modern Russia.

Kobe Bryant is being eulogized worldwide as a legend of the game and a cultural touchstone. To discuss the outpouring of grief and to assess Bryant’s remarkable and complicated legacy, Christiane speaks with renowned journalist Jemele Hill.

According to the New York Times, a draft of former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s new book says the president told him he wanted to continue withholding military aid to Ukraine until the country investigated the Bidens. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from the conservative state of North Dakota who served six years in the Senate, joins Christiane to analyze this revelation.

Fears continue to grow over the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus. At least 82 people have died, all of them in China, and there are at least 2,700 confirmed cases of infection in the rest of the country. Another 50 people outside China have been found to be infected – five of them in the U.S. Dr. Tom Inglesby of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security assesses the severity of the situation.