Hello everyone and welcome to Ammanpur. Here's what's coming up.

You solemnly swear. In Washington, senators prepare for jury duty in President Trump's impeachment trial

while he flies off to join world leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

We ask whether Putin's Russia is making hay out of this DC dysfunction.

Plus, imperfect union.

NPR's Stephen Skeep tells me about his new book on America's first power couple and

impeachment's past. Then... I would show up at the major holidays, right? I'd get

some friends together, we'd go to a synagogue. I was proud to be Jewish, but that was it.

Former White House speech writer Sarah Hurwitz says signing up for an intro to Judaism

led to her own spiritual awakening. Welcome to the program everyone. I'm Christina Manpur in New York.

This is the week that President Trump's impeachment trial starts in earnest in the Senate.

But when it does on Tuesday the President himself will be at the World Economic Forum

in Davos, Switzerland joining other world leaders. From climate change to conflict in the Middle East,

the global challenges are as towering as ever. And right up there, US relations with Russia,

now more strained than at any time since the Cold War. Those

tensions come against a major power grab at home by President Putin and his

proposal for the most dramatic constitutional overhaul in a decade.

It would beef up the power of the parliament and reduce the clout of the presidency.

So is this all to retain his own grip on the country when his current term ends.

And what about the opportunities?

Putin seems to be vacuuming up

at America's expense on the world stage.

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