♪ ♪ >>> "amanpour" on pbs was made possible by the generous support by rosalin p. walter> this is a typical week in the trump presidency. on the one hand, the president's state of the union address was well-received by most americans. on the other hand, there say bitter part fight over the so-called nunes memo. an indictment by devin nunes repr republican chairman of the house. democrats say it's aimed at deflecting the fbi russia investigation away from the president. not since watergate has the intelligence committee been poll l -- politicized as they launched scathing attacks on law enforcement. in all the heat around the memo, it's been hard to shed light on what the president actually said this week about where he stands on america's major challenges at home and around the world. for that, i've been speaking to elliott abbrahm, a deeply experienced politicianer that served republican presidents including ronald reagan and george w. bush. mr. abrahms, welcome to the program. thanks for joining us from washington. >> my pleasure. >> cast you mind back to the beginning