Ex-Defense Secretary: Trump Admin Acting More Like Dictatorship Than A Democracy
Live Updates: Biden beat Trump by less than 276,000 votes in key swing states
Trump campaign holds press briefing to address election lawsuits
Kayleigh McEnany details Trump team’s allegations of election irregularities.
They’re still counting the votes in a handful of the key battleground states in the presidential election – but a look at where the current vote totals stand points to a second straight White House race decided by razor thin margins.
Joe Biden, as of Monday afternoon, had won a record-breaking 75.67 million votes nationally. And President Trump, in defeat, garnered a massive 71.07 million votes.
The margins were tighter in the crucial battleground states that Biden secured to win the Electoral College count.
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Louis Dreyfus to Sell 45% Stake to Abu Dhabi, Opening Commodity Giant for First Time
Billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus agreed to sell a 45% indirect stake in agricultural trader Louis Dreyfus Co. to Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, opening the family company to outside ownership for the first time in its history.
Louis-Dreyfus, who controls more than 96% of the holding company that owns LDC, has been taking big dividends over the past few years to help repay about $1 billion she borrowed to buy out other family members. LDC also signed a long-term commercial supply agreement with ADQ for the sale of agri-commodities to the United Arab Emirates.
In 2019, LDC was looking for equity investors to expand its geographical footprint. That initiative stalled earlier this year as sovereign wealth funds, other trading houses and private equity investors balked at valuations, and the logic of taking a minority stake.
“The transaction announced today constitutes a milestone in a decade-long strategy envisioned by the supervisory board, which started with the consolidation of LDC’s parent company’s shareholding,” said Louis-Dreyfus. “We are delighted to welcome ADQ to our shareholder group as long-term partners and investors, with a common vision for LDC’s future, and experience that will bring further value to the business and support the Group’s ambitions.”
Philippines Braces for New Storm Threatening Typhoon-Hit Areas
The Philippines is preparing for a new storm that’s headed to regions already battered by Super Typhoon Goni earlier this month, carrying out evacuations on Wednesday.
Storm Vamco, locally known as Ulysses, is forecast by the Philippine weather bureau to bring damaging winds and intense to torrential rains to provinces in the main Luzon island, including the capital region, this week. Vulnerable areas are prone to floods, storm surges and landslides during heavy or prolonged rainfall, it said.
Areas including Metro Manila was placed on the second-lowest alert in a five-step warning as the nation’s 21st storm this year picks up intensity with winds of as much as 155 kilometers (96.3 miles) per hour, the weather bureau said. As of 4 a.m. local time, Vamco was 415 kilometers east of Quezon province, packing winds of 100 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 125 kilometers per hour. Many schools suspended classes in the capital.
Super Typhoon Goni, the world’s strongest storm this year killed at least 25 people in the Philippines, left thousands homeless and damaged about 18 billion pesos ($372.4 million) worth of infrastructure and farm output, according to the disaster-response agency.
— With assistance by Kevin Varley
Raytheon To Acquire Privately Held Blue Canyon Technologies – Quick Facts
Raytheon Technologies (RTX) announced definitive agreement to acquire privately held Blue Canyon Technologies, a provider of small satellites and spacecraft systems components.
Blue Canyon Technologies, which was founded in 2008, is based in Boulder, Colorado with more than 200 employees. The company currently has more than 90 satellites in production and has supported missions for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Raytheon expects to close the acquisition by early 2021. Blue Canyon Technologies will report into Raytheon Intelligence & Space upon closing.
Ex-Defense Secretary: Trump Admin Acting More Like Dictatorship Than A Democracy
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen on Tuesday slammed Donald Trump’s administration for acting like a “dictatorship” as the president continues to refuse to accept defeat in the 2020 election.
“We’re witnessing the decimation of the democratic institutions which the American people have come to expect will be non-political in terms of our national security,” Cohen told CNN’s Don Lemon.
Lemon asked Cohen, a GOP former senator for Maine who led the Pentagon during Bill Clinton’s time in office, to comment on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “refusing to acknowledge” the victory of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Pompeo told reporters Tuesday that, “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” Trump has refused to concede the election, promoted baseless conspiracy theories about mass voter fraud and started to purge the Department of Defense of his critics. He praised Pompeo on Twitter:
Cohen told Lemon:
“My reaction is the way they are conducting themselves is more akin to a dictatorship than a democracy.”
“And I think the State Department has been politicized just like the DOD has tried to be politicized, and what we’ve done to undermine the intelligence community and other agencies,” he added. “I think it’s consistent with what has been taking place for four years now.”
Check out the interview here:
