Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files

President Trump has announced a deal with Russia, lifting his own diesel sanctions and committing to spend $4bn of American money to Russian fuel, in return for a ceasefire on energy infrastructure. As Zelensky calls it a gift to Russia's war machine, did Trump just sell out Ukraine for cheaper diesel?

Christiane and Jamie unpack the logic behind it and examine Trump's claim that Zelensky should be replaced.

Later Christiane reports from Reykjavik's Hofdi House, 40 years on from where Reagan and Gorbachev came within touching distance of abolishing nuclear weapons, and walked away. Jamie, who worked on arms control at the time, explains why that "failure" broke the back of the Cold War, and why both now argue the same leap of thinking is needed to govern AI before it governs us.

Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Christiane is up for Best Host in the Signal Awards Listener's Choice. If you love the show, take ten seconds to vote: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2026/shows/craft/best-host

Christiane and Tina answer your questions on Trump's threats to make Canada the 51st state. Canada has reportedly prepared for the possibility of a US invasion- but how realistic is that threat, and is Mark Carney right to take it seriously?

The Cornell 7 case has raised questions about how universities and law enforcement respond to sexual assault allegations. Why do major institutions so often fail survivors, and what needs to change?

Plus: Tina weighs in on Prince Andrew's legal action against the police, as well as the latest row between Charles Spencer and King Charles over Princess Diana.

Please note: this episode was recorded on the 5th October.

Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.

The gruesome botched execution of Christa Pike has prompted an international debate about the use of the death penalty. Should it prompt America - the only major western democracy which still uses capital punishment - to finally scrap the death penalty?
Christiane and guest co-host Tina Brown dissect the 'barbaric' attempts to execute Pike, explain why prison doctors are so poorly trained and reveal why there is a shortage of lethal injection drugs in the US. They also ask: what does this extraordinary case say about America? Christiane talks about her personal experience of visiting a death penalty facility in person and she and Tina discuss whether anything is likely to change as a result of this story.
Plus, they look ahead to the midterms. Are these elections simply a referendum on Donald Trump? Christiane asks why so many senior Republicans still won't criticise the President by name and they discuss whether candidates would do better if they did. Plus Tina explains her theory on how Trump has lost his touch, and they give their reactions to the latest on the President's war with the press.
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Christiane and Jamie answer your questions on the five men arrested over a suspected plot at RAF Fairford, one of the military bases the UK let the US use to bomb Iran. Is Iran's war now spilling into Britain and Europe more generally?
A Baltic foreign minister recently told Christiane that Europe had been "a fat, lazy cat" until now - and credited Trump with finally getting the continent spending on defence. So why didn’t Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, agree?
Plus: is the UN worth anything without leverage over Washington, Moscow or Beijing? What did Trump actually gain in Greenland? And are Ukraine's strikes inside Russia backfiring?
Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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Xi got the pomp, the pageantry and a trip to see the US Constitution. America got a promise of two pandas.
In this episode, Christiane and Jamie ask what Trump's summit with Xi actually achieved? Why was there no AI agreement? Is the Taiwan arms sale dead or just delayed? And why is Trump pushing hardest on America's friends while reaching for its adversaries?
Plus Christiane gives her reaction to her exclusive UNGA interviews with Brazil's President Lula and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Follow us on social media @amanpourpod
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Watch us: https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourPod
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