This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Bracewell Partner and chair of the firm’s national white collar defense practice, Stephen Braga. Braga talks to us about the wonder that is white collar crime, one of his most interesting pro bono cases, The West Memphis Three, and the Lord of the Rings character named after him.

This week we're joined by Mandy Gunasekara, Founder and President of Energy 45 Fund and former Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation at the EPA. We talk Green New Deal, catching the "Potomac Fever," and the future of energy and environment legislation.

This week we're taking the show international with featured guest Alexander (Sasha) Kravtsov, Director General of Nexus Eurasia in Moscow. We discuss Sasha's experience representing Russian clients in the U.S. and U.S. clients in Russia and the former Soviet Union; how advocacy and strategic communications compare between the East and West; and Russian perceptions of American politics.

If January set the tone for 2019, we're in for a wild year! On today's episode, the team chats with David Drucker, Senior Political Correspondent at the Washington Examiner, about the shutdown ending, what could happen when the three weeks runs out, and what this means for the political landscape in the new year.