They had hoped for, and because the Supreme Leader would not want to give the iranian president and immediate when, especially in the runup to the iranian election. The relationship would improve and i do think you would get easy multilateral engagement between a Biden Administration and the u. S. Allies that help to put that initial iranian deal in place. You know that just a few days ago, when the trump brought ation furthering of an arms embargo against iran to a vote at the security counsel, did not even require a veto, it was 112 against the United States, quite an embarrassment for the trump administration. David wouldnt it be difficult to get the genie back in the bottle . Years have passed. The length of the curtailment in the element and they have been enriching uranium. Can we just go back to the status quo ante . Ian i am someone who believed the deal was a good deal, for what was work, but it was a limited deal. It did not stop the iranians and supporting hezbollah other organizations we consider terrorist organizations. Fromd not stop them developing Ballistic Missile technologies and testing those missiles, which was in breach of United NationsSecurity Council resolution, and it did not open trade or diplomacy between the United States and iran, so it was a deal, but it was a limited deal. If you asked me could we get that back, i want to make sure everyone understands that does not suddenly mean the United States and iran will be friends in any way, shape, or form. Americas closest allies will still be countries like the United States, the uae, and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Those countries are a lot closer diplomatically to each other than they were under the obama administration, in part because they all see iran as their common enemy, and even though joe biden would want to come back to the old deal, biden would also see iran as our principal antagonist as well. David lets go to a different hotspot that will be in the inbox for the next president. That is belarus and our relationship with russia. It seems to me that president putin has a bit of a problem there. Ian he does. What is interesting about belarus is the people of the country are not particularly antirussia. The most recent poll taken on this was back in december, but only overt but over 90 of belarusians had a generally favorable orientation toward russia. You would not find that in ukraine, or you would not have before the revolution. There is enormous outcry against lukashenko. They want him out. If the russians intervene, they will be mad at russia. We are already seeing the russians start to intervene. Belarus state television, which was off the air because the existing anchors refused to cover a propagandistic support of lukashenko, they wanted to cover the demonstrators. Now Belarus State Television is covering the regime. Apparently russians have come in provided by the russian government to allow that. They are engaged on the ground, not militarily. There are not great outcomes for vladimir putin. He would rather this continue to be a comfortable dictatorship aligned strongly with russia. Youre asking me about biden. The fact is the Putin Administration understands that as long as trump is in place, they will not be significant u. S. Outcry against russian intervention in crimea or southeast ukraine. Trump has said light cant we just forget about crimea, they already took it, it is not my problem. I have a hard time seeing trump standing up for democracy in belarus, trump standing up against the kremlin. Youve also seen the most important opposition member in coma because he was poisoned, one would presume by the russian government. Not something we see a lot, unfortunately, but the timing is unfortunate and certainly coincidental. You have to wonder, is the kremlin trying to create facts on the ground while they know trump is still there because they know life would get more difficult for the russians in a Biden Administration . David that is iran, that is russia. Lets get to the big one on the agenda. That is china. Do you think this is something of a success of President Trumps Foreign Policy relationship with china . Ian in the sense that pretty much everyone, democrats and republicans, agree that the United States needs to take a tougher policy, a tougher stance against china. They were involved in a serious coverup of the coronavirus for the first weeks, where they did not tell their own people, never wind the World Health Organizations. Hundreds of thousands of chinese leaving the country during that time. Biden is mad about that, trump is mad about that. They are trying to become a tech superpower. A lot more access and control over data of people outside china, and competing with american tech companies, both trump and joe biden would want to fight back against that. The chinese have unilaterally , no morehe rules set one state, two systems. The entire western world opposes china doing that. That would be true for chump that would be true for trump and biden. What you see is both the president and the former Vice President competing to show each are tougher against this chinese government. I think if biden came in you would see a stronger effort to make u. S. Policy more multilateral, use our allies and make statements together, where trumps orientation is more unilateral and forcing allies to get on board with the americans as opposed to constructing policy together. I think the broad sweeping strokes those policies towards china would not change much between these leaders. David not a potentially big difference on the substance of the position, and we have heard republicans say you do not hear about china at the Democratic Convention because they do not disagree with us at all. At the same point, is this fundamental, a different approach in the tech world, particularly the internet, where there is a term, net nationalism. The internet was thought to be open to all. Some countries, led by china, want to use it as an instrument of state power. Ian that is very clear. We used to talk about a world wide web. That sounds quite today. There is nos that sounds quaint today. The chinese have a separate internet and a separate internet of things that works for their own people and theres going to export to countries like zimbabwe, pakistan, mostly poorer countries that have benefited from chinese investments and loans. The advanced industrial democracies are almost all aligned with the american tech firms, and so we can talk about net nationalism, but the reality is theyre are two countries in the world that have Global Technology firms of scale. That is the United States and china. I think it is more accurate to talk about the Technology Cold war, which we are presently in. The chinese do not allow american tech firms like facebook or google or amazon to function openly in the chinese market. The largest data market in the world. United states is now making it clear that huawei and soon tiktok and we cap will not be operating in the United States. By the way, we do not want them operating with our allies. If they do operate with our allies, we intend to make that costly, in terms of intelligence sharing and perhaps economic sanctions as well to those countries. Once again, i think that policy would be almost completely upheld if we were to see a Biden Administration next year. Inx in closing david closing, when you talk about a tech cold war, i think it is fair to say the United States won the original cold war against the soviet union because we had more resources. Given a tech cold war, the fact that china is growing so fast and will eclipse us some point as a worldwide economy. Ian we had more resources but also our ideas were better. Ultimately the soviet union and the east bloc imploded from within because their ideology was bankrupt and because we were seen as leading by example. Purely a tech cold war between the u. S. And china, i am not sure Whose Technology will end up being more effective. I know a lot of top experts in this field, and they are not sure. If is mostly about scientists, it is probably the americans. If it is mostly about data, it is mostly the chinese. There is a big debate in that front. Where we are winning is on ideas. Our allies do understand the rule of law and a comparative market in the United States is a lot better to align yourself with then state capitalism authoritarian china. Even though the United States is doing our damnedest to shoot ourselves in the foot on those fronts, and we are not feeling like we are leading by example it is obvious if youre australia, if your japan, if your canada, if you are the u. K. And you are forced to choose between United States and china, you say i do not want to have to come i do not want to be forced to choose. You know who your choosing. David fascinating. Always a treat to talk with you. That is ian bremmer of eurasia group. We will have coverage of the fourth night of the Democratic Convention starting tonight at 9 00 eastern time as joe biden except his partys nomination for president. Ons is balance of power Bloomberg Television and radio. David this is balance of power on Bloomberg Television radio. We turned to Mark Crumpton for bloomberg first word news. , in as you and ian bremmer russia the Opposition Leader was hospitalized for suspected poisoning. The antiputin politician is in grave condition. Aids believe something was put in his tea while he was meeting with activists in siberia. China says trade talks with United States will take place soon. The two sides have been expected to talk last weekend about progress on the phase one trade agreement. President trump says he called off those discussions, saying i do not want to talk with china right now. On thesident will call United NationsSecurity Council to restore all Nuclear Related sanctions on iran. It is an attempt to kill off the landmark 2015 Nuclear Agreement and force iran back to the negotiating table. American allies have said they will not go along with any plans to reimpose sanctions. Former House Speaker paul ryan is trying a new business venture. Reports right is starting a blank check acquisition company. Bloomberg has learned you will serve as the chairman of executive Network Partnering corporation, which will seek to raise 300 billion in initial public offerings. The Wisconsin Republican chose not to run for reelection and was succeeded as speaker by nancy pelosi in 2019. Global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I am Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. David . Trumps formert Campaign Manager steve bannon was arrested today in new york, charged with fraud in connection with an Online Organization raising 25 million to help build a u. S. Mexico border wall. To go over what we know, we welcome bloomberg legal reporter greg farrell. Give me a sense of what this is about. I did not know anything about it, personally. Greg i was surprised as well. Prosecutors in manhattan have charged steve bannon and three others with misusing funds raised for the purpose of privately building the wall that the president has talked about for the past three or four years. What they did was they raised the funds on the premise 100 of the money people contributed would go towards building a wall. None of it would go towards the salary for expenses of the people behind it, perfectly a gentleman named brian colfage who was the prominent face of the matter. He was backed up by steve bannon. Through crowdfunding they raised all this money and then realized it would be easier to move as much as possible to a different charity with the same promise that 100 will go to the wall building. Four of them, according to the indictment, engaged in a shell game where some of the funds were shifted to Shell Companies or paid to a wife or Consulting Services or social media. Took in the colfage better part of a Million Dollars to pay for what appears to be a luxurious lifestyle. Steve bannon, who was a wealthy man from his career on wall street, used some of this money for travel expenses and stuff totally unrelated to the wall. David when you say travel expenses, it sounds like a few hundred dollars here and there. To have any idea how much money steve bannon may have taken out of this . Greg itooks like looks like tens of thousands of dollars because a guy like that travels all over the world and travels well. It is not like you or me with our monthly expense account we have to file. If you know what i mean. David i do not have tens of thousands of dollars. That is for darn sure. Do we expect the timing if this goes to trial . Greg if it does, it is months down the road. These guys have to make an appearance. I assume they will enter pleas of not guilty and make a determination as to whether or not it is worth fighting. Hanging over this all, the fact President Trump has paid attention to friends, former friends who got into legal trouble, sometimes offering to help or dangling that possibility. Im not sure if that would extend. There was a period of time when steve bannon was on the outs after he left the Trump White House a couple of years ago. Who knows. That is something that will come up is whether the president will think all of these guys are trying to do something nominally in favor of the wall, but they were defrauding trump supporters. David lets talk about President Trump. There is another chapter in the fight of the subpoena in manhattan . Greg it turned out to be a big morning. A Federal District judge in manhattan dismissed a complaint by crumbs lawyers, taking a second bite of the apple, that the District Attorney of manhattan should not be allowed to access or get a hold of eight years of trump tax records. Trump lost today. If you look in the past year, he has won by litigating this process. Your ago the man had to the manhattan a year ago the manhattan District Attorney try to get a hold of the Trump Organization tax records. The president fought that and argue he wanted to move to federal court. He argued a president is essentially above the law while he is president and that was smacked down by the second court of appeals and the Supreme Court decided last month in favor of vance. The Supreme Court allow this to go back by making the same arguments he did last year. He has won the race in terms of running out the clock for the next two months, because even if vance got the tax records, there is no way they will become public until there is any public action out of this. David do not hold your breath. Thanks to bloombergs great farrell. Ons is balance of power Bloomberg Television and radio. David this is balance of power on bluebird television and radio. Another stumble on the long load to recovery. Jobless numbers came in unexpectedly high. Over one million jobs, with new york, new jersey, and texas posting the largest gains. We bring in michael mckee. As i have looked at some of the commentators, it is not clear we know why. David a general feeling is at this point we are stalling out on the recovery because of the rising covid cases during july and august. I was thinking while you were talking to greg, this is a bad day for donald trump. He is getting a lot of bad news. This is not the kind of Economic Data you want to run on. The jobless claims numbers fell last week to the 900,000 range, it was revised up to 971,000 and economists thought they would go lower, but we are up to 1. 1 million during the last week. That is bad news because it was the survey week for august unemployment. At the beginning of september, we would get a number for the jobs report that may not be particularly good. Overall, you still see 28 Million People on the overall unemployment rolls, getting some sort of aid. That aid has now dropped back to the amount you get from your state, that 600 is gone. That is bad news as well if youre trying to convince voters things are getting better. One other thing i will mention come on the list of states that had the biggest increases, also was iowa, which is a battleground state and donald trump was just there. He just visited. David it will be an interesting Republican Convention next week. You mentioned the ppp program. Might this put more emphasis on the need to break through and get fiscal stimulus. Ive been talking about the fiscal cliff. Is it possible we will see the end of the cliff . David for most economists we have jumped over the cliff and are just starting to watch the dissent. Neither side seems to want to do anything. Folks at the Peterson Institute out with the study that says this could cost taxpayers 500 billion in terms of lost income. That could take four to five Percentage Points off of gdp. David thank you so much michael mckee, appreciate you being with us. We have breaking news. Lyft is suspending rideshare operations in california at midnight tonight after the state passed a law classifying drivers as employees rather than contractors. This is balance of power on Bloomberg Television and bloomberg radio. David this is balance of power on Bloomberg Television and radio. Im david westin. For bloomberg first word news, we turn to Mark Crumpton. Mark a federal judge has rejected President Trumps latest bid to block the manhattan District Attorney subpoena of his tax records. Cyrus vance jr. Is seeking eight years of the president s taxes and other financial records as part of a grand jury investigation looking into film starade to adult Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The president filed for an emergency appeal almost immediately. A former advisor to President Trump has been charged with fraud. Prosecutors say steve bannon and three others are being charged in connection with a group , whichwe build the wall raised funds to build a border wall. Bannon is accused of using that money to pay for his personal expenses. He is due in court today. To efforts byding the United States to restore sanctions against the country. New missiles today, including one named after a top general killed by a u. S. Drone strike in january. Most other countries, even european allies say that because the u. S. Left the 2015 nuclear deal, it doesnt have the authority to reinstate sanctions. Global Health Officials want to know more about an experimental covid19 vaccine recently approved in russia. The World Health Organization says it welcomes all advances in vaccine development, but that every vaccine must undergo the same clinical trials. So far, russias vaccine has only been tested on a few dozen people. Russia is the first nation in the world to license a coronavirus vaccine. Global news 24 hours a day, onair, and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Im Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. David thanks so much. The Democratic Convention so far has been a show of remarkable unity, as progressives like Bernie Sanders and elizabeth warren, and moderates, and even republicans like john kasich and colin powell come together to pledge their support for joe biden. But does this go beyond a desire to see somebody else other than donald trump in the white house . We welcome Christina Greer of fordham university. Thank you so much for being back with us. For someone, joe biden and kamala harris, or is it unity against somebody, donald trump and mike pence . Christine we are at a moment in our democracy where we are at a crossroads, as john kasich said. Many republicans who support joe biden recognize that if we go another four years with a trump administration, we may lose our democracy altogether. Positions, they devil is in the details because of the immense ideological diversities that exist within the democratic party. But joe biden and kamala harris, both being senators at some both of them know lbj sense how to legislate while also pushing forward policy as the executive branch. It will be a great asset for them to work across the aisle. That is what the Democratic Convention has shown in so many video montages, relationships that joe biden has had with republicans over the years, hoping that he will be able to have those same types of relationships if he is chosen as the executive. I do think this unification against donald trump and his administration is real because the threat to the american democracy is incredibly real as well. Suggest, ifu wisely they dont have unanimity on the policies, it may raise questions for governing if they are elected. I have a question, can the democratic ticket go forward with a powerful message of equality and racial justice, which we have seen over three nights and im sure we will see tonight, and not leave behind the white workingclass in america, the socalled reagan democrats . Christine i think we may see ,ome of the invited republicans because when you hear the democrats laying out their vision for what is reality, where they are tapping into this becauserkingclass is so many are out of work. We think of the 40 million americans who are currently unemployed. 170,000 about the over americans who have died from sheer incompetence and almost cruelty of this administration. That is touching the white workingclass. Possibly ast breadwinner, maybe your job, maybe your livelihood, because this president has put what he calls the economy in front of the american people. We have seen corporations have received money, trillions of dollars passing through, and it is not trickling down to a lot of regular white people. That is the messaging that you are hearing from democrats. We know that when people go to the polls they often go for pocketbook issues. They will ask themselves, and i better off november 3 that i was four years ago . So Many Americans will say no. I dont have a job. I no longer have savings. No, i dont have a mortgage i can pay. I dont have any industries i can work with because they have gone away because of the coronavirus, or the incompetence at the executive level. That is the fear of this particular administration because the case is pretty clear and laid out. It is just whether or not americans want to listen. David thank you so much, professor. Christina greer, associate professor of Political Science at fordham university. Catch our special edition of balance tonight at 9 00 eastern time, capping the last night of the Democratic National convention. On theup, bradley tusk role of Silicon Valley in the upcoming election. This is balance of power on Bloomberg Television and radio. Television and radio. David this is balance of power on Bloomberg Television and radio. Im david westin. Bradley tusk has gone from political strategist and advisor to the man who grants communication and lobbying campaign for major Silicon Valley firms like uber. He was also the Campaign Manager of the third mayoral race for michael bloomberg. We welcome him to bloomberg now. Lets start with technology and the election, as we are coming into the last night of the Democratic Convention. How will Technology Change this convention, particularly in a world of the pandemic . Bradley interesting question. I think in a few ways. Voter turnout, while physically will be lower because people wont want to go to polling places, as we have seen in the last handful of primaries come about by mail will increase significantly. 100 ave an election where of the voters know who donald trump is, 100 of the voters know there is an election. 75 of them will be able to vote if they want to from home through the mail. Assuming it goes smoothly and there is no guarantee it will. We have seen some issues raised by the Postal Service from the white house. But there is an opportunity for turnoutemic to increase , and then you get to an a veryn that will have clear signal from both sides. One thing that was notable from 2016 was enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton on the democratic side was low and a lack of turnout in states like michigan, ohio, wisconsin, is what led to her defeat there, leading to her defeat overall. David in all times, we would have exit polls, projections would be made, and by 11 00, by the times of polls closed in california, we would have projections. Are those days gone as a practical matter . Frank it is definitely possible. We are in a little bit of a transition period where because of the pandemic youll have less voting in person but were ideas which are notting quite at scale yet. Something like voting by mail becomes the predominate use for the 2020 election. It depends on how close it is. Biden is significantly ahead, he may still capture 275 on electionidtes day either way. But if you look at everything else, mailin ballots, it could take weeks. It in 2000 when it went on and on with the litigation, going on to the Supreme Court. Does this increase the likelihood that we will drag this out into court battles, maybe into january . Frank it is possible. In 2000, you have bill clinton leaving either way, so it wasnt like someone was trying to stay in the white house. In this case, you have an extremely aggressive incumbent in donald trump who has used litigation throughout his entire career to solve various problems. Unless the results are so overwhelming that there is no re harm thanes mo good, i think you can assume that president will file litigation to challenge the outcome. David in general, a perception that Silicon Valley leans to the left. I dont know if that is fair or not. Tir recently moved their headquarters. Will Silicon Valley overall the and ally of bidenharris . Frank i think so. One, culturally, Silicon Valley is very much a part of that california progressive mentality. Economically, the valley really relies on immigration, high skilled immigration. Differenthad a very perspective on immigration then what the Tech Industry would like. Value, like any business, wants stability. One thing they have found with the past four years with trump, even though the economy has done but you are just waiting every single day. When everyone is trying to run a business, they just want government to stay out of their way as much as possible. Having someone in the white house that is more calm and predictable is preferable. David we have some breaking theirthat lyft will stop operations in california at midnight tonight. Of ant an issue independent contractor versus an employee . Is this a fight with the legislature . Frank last year, the California Legislature said anyone that works in this economy, if you were a driver for uber or lyft, if you were a delivery door driver for post mates, you are an employee, not a contractor. Thatng economy opposed legislation because they say it increases their operating cost by as much as 20 . Put 100 million into an effort, a proposition that will be on the ballot this november, to overturn the legislation that passed last year. In the interim, the state of california was able to legally say that uber and lyft could not continue to refuse to classify their drivers as fulltime employees while this was playing out. Areesponse, uber and lyft saying they are suspending operations, i think mainly to get people to vote for their referendum in november. It would obviously work a lot better if we were not in the middle of a pandemic. Forest andalls in a no one is there to hear it, did it really fall . At a time when rides are down 80 , is suspending operations going to have a material little difference . David i wonder if this is an individual skirmish in a longer war. I will use the term, gig economy. We have to find a way to get Better Benefits to those workers , whether by the state, federal government, whether by legislating. As the economy goes in that direction, is in the economy going to have to protect those people . Frank absolutely. Right now, we have a binary labor law system where you are either an employee or a contractor. These laws were created in the 1930s and the world has changed dramatically since then. What made since then does not make sense today. A lot of people who work in the gig economy, they would like both. Flexibility of being a contractor. People like driving for any platform they can, so it maximizes their revenue. But at the same time, they want workers comp. , benefits. One idea that has come forward is the idea of a portable benefits plan. These Companies Pay into a program that provides benefits for their workers, but they still remain classified as independent contractors. David really appreciate you being with us, bradley. Founder and ceo of tusk ventures. Where we, frank luntz are in the polls today and whether we should be paying attention to them. This is balance of power on Bloomberg Television and radio. David this is balance of power on Bloomberg Television and radio. Im david westin. Polls in recent days have been pretty consistent showing President Trump trailing joe biden nationally and in key battleground states. But polls have been misleading in the past, so we have to take them with a grain of salt. We welcome now frank luntz come who has spent a career using, advising on polls, including two newt gingrich, rudy giuliani. Attention should we be paying to these polls that come out almost every day . Frank they are really only indicative of where the race is going. I tend to use them as a comparison. Donald trump was behind by maybe four points 90 days ago. Or 10now behind by nine points in most surveys. That tells me that he is flipping, something is happening, that either joe biden is gaining credibility or traction, or that donald trump is losing it. I look at the relative nature, how things change over 30 days. Im also trying to figure out who are the likely voters, who will participate . That is one of the greatest challenges in research. What we have found is that everyone is going to vote. Everyone is excited about it. That it is too early to make a conclusion about who the likely winner is, but joe biden is absolutely in the lead. For donald trump to challenge that, it just shows that he doesnt really understand survey research at this point. David everyone may be enthusiastic and committed to voting. Vote . F they cannot we have disputes around the country about mailin voting, questions about whether the ballot can get in for the Postal Service to deliver it. How can you judge as a pollster, what actually gets counted . Frank when im nervous about now is what if we get an election result on Election Night that indicates one candidate is the winner but as the postal votes come in and there will be millions of them then the vote changes. So you have one winner seemingly declared early wednesday morning, and then by friday or saturday or the next week, the numbers change. This is exactly what happened to six congressional races in california where republicans were leading but ended up losing the races. We have seated it at the local level. What happens to the country if this is what occurs on the National Level . Second, we dont know where covid will be on november 3. Some people may assume they will vote in person, and then may want to cast votes by mail. I am nervous about the lines at the polling places. Fundamentale have a fear that the democracy that we have known for over 200 years is neither free nor fair, that an increasing percentage of americans believe these elections are not necessarily counting every vote, not everyone gets the chance to participate. You, if you start to lose faith in the democratic do lose then you really faith in america and its future. Very picking up on that point, are we seeing a shift maybe i wasnt paying attention where the very legitimacy of the election becomes a part of the political game. We have a president already questioning certain ways of voting, saying that you cannot trust it. Is that now becoming a political point . Frank it was a political point in 2000 when we had an election that essentially ended in a tie. You had about one fourth of americans who believed that the other party won the election. We never addressed it, and it has become deeper and deeper. Democrats believe republicans practice voter suppression. Republicans believe democrats practice voter corruption. We see this increasing rejection of faith in not just the systems of government, but the election process itself. And it is frightening, because the consequences of this in this country are horrific. A simple rejection of whomever wins in november. David all of us have been burned by a poll here and there that has come out differently than what we thought. It is aerience substantial experience over many years is pulling more accurate today than years ago . About let me tell viewers one thing that happened in 2016. The exit polls had Hillary Clinton winning by 2. 9 . She won the popular vote by 2. 9 . 0. 8 percent is within the margin of error. That is appropriate. They got the states wrong but they got the National Numbers correct. We also know that donald trump is doing better in the swing states that he is overall in the country by about two Percentage Points. Are they more accurate . Pollsters pay much more attention now to the samples but arestill have polls that beyond the margin of error. Again, it is always meant to be indicative, representative, but dont take them as a sure thing. I know that on election day i will be really careful on how i result on the exit polls, having seen so many state numbers getting it wrong in 2016. David i was there in 2000 at abc news when we all got it wrong. As a final point here, as a practical matter, you are saying that we may not even be able to rely on what we hear on election day because it may not be all the results. Frank exactly. When you have votes being excepted on election day, it could take three or four days to come in. In the house races, it took more than a week before we knew the winter. David we in the media tend not to be patient. A treat to have you here, frank luntz. A programming note, you can watch our special coverage of the Democratic Convention starting at 9 00 eastern time. This is bloomberg. Mark im Mark Crumpton with bloomberg first word news. It is joe bidens moment to show how he will take on President Trump this fall. The democratic president of nominee delivers his acceptance beach tonight. The address will test his ability to connect with voters in a Virtual Campaign format. He will also try to uphold the centrist themes of the convention while keeping Party Progressives on his side. Former House Speaker paul ryan is trying a new business venture. He is starting a blank check acquisition company. He will serve as chairman of executive Network Partner corporation, which will seek to raise roughly 300 million in an initial public offering. He chose not to run for reelection and was succeeded as speaker by nancy pelosi in 2019. Europe continues to see a resurgence in coronavirus cases. Germany has confirmed more than 1000 new infections for a third consecutive day. Italy reported the most new cases since midmay. Scotland also reported its highest number of ca