Today on the Playbook podcast, the president's top envoy, Steve Whitkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner

are in Berlin right now for a second day of crunch talks with President Zelensky is the war in Ukraine,

reaching its end game. The cost of living is the top issue back here at home as Congress

battles to make healthcare more affordable. And is President Trump going to make America stoned again?

We've got the latest on possible changes in marijuana regulations. Hello, I'm Jack Blanchard.

I'm Sophia Kai, and it's Monday, December 15th. Sophia, thank you so much for joining us.

Of course, I'm happy to be here.

It's great to have you. Happy Hanukkah to everyone who celebrates.

And we have to say at the start, of course, our thoughts go out to the victims of the awful

killing in Australia on Sunday. Terrible attack, awful headlines we all woke up to yesterday.

There have been more details emerging

through the night. All of that will be in the playbook newsletter. Sophia, I wanted to talk to you

about something closer to home. Another horrific shooting here in the US over the weekend, very

different circumstances, but something that you're feeling particularly keenly. Just tell us a bit

about what happened at Brown University. Yeah, so there was a

shooting at Brown University. It's where my brother graduated in May of this past year, so he still got

close friends who were on campus, who were in lockdown most of the entire afternoon and evening

well into the night. These students were in the middle of finals,

and they were locked down in their dorms, they were in the basement of the library, and this

became very real for them in a moment's notice.

It's unbelievable to even contemplate. At the time we're recording this, two students were killed, nine others injured.

I think the biggest story that's happening almost anywhere in the world today is happening over in Berlin and Germany.

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