ben tracy has more. >> reporter: shortly after jeffrey epstein was found dead in his jail cell, president trump retweeted this. >> for some odd reason, people that have information on the clintons end up dead. and they usually die from suicide. >> reporter: there's no evidence to support the conspirery theory the president is fueling. >> why did the president retweet that didn't suggestion? >> i think the president wants everything to be investigated. >> reporter: in a statement, a clinton spokesman said, the suggestion that the clintons were involved is ridiculous and not true. donald trump knows it. >> it's more recklessness. what he is doing is dangerous. >> republican marco rubio thinks it's dangerous. there's evidence that bots are pushing this theory online to divide americans. in a tweet, he said, putin has polarization. the russians have done this before. the russian disinformation campaign helped spread a bogus theory, that the clinton campaign paid to have a staffer murdered. seth rich was killed after an attempted robbery three years ago. >> that russian-fueled conspiracy theor

ben tracy has more. >> we have horrible trade deals and i am straightening them out. >> reporter: at his first meeting of the day president trump seemed to admit he is not sure about his trade war with china. >> reporter: [ inaudible question ] >> yeah. sure. might as well. might as well. >> reporter: do you have second thoughts -- >> i have second thoughts about everything. >> the white house says what the president meant is that he wishes he raised the tariffs higher. >> is he going to raise the tariffs higher and to what? >> he hasn't made any decision. >> reporter: new u.k. prime minister told the president he is not a fan of tariffs. >> just -- motive -- our view on the trade war -- >> reporter: today all seven world leaders met on the global economy, called for by president trump. a senior administration official said the white house feels french president emmanuel macron is spending too much on climate change and gender equality to score points and isolated president trump. >> it is billions and billions of dollars. tremendous for the farmers. >> reporter: later the president

>> quijano: ben tracy, thank you.he democratic candidates were out in force today assuring voters they have a plan to curb gun violence, but despite last weekend's deadly mass shootings, new gun policy remains a very tough sell. ed o'keefe reports from des moines, iowa. >> we should have a national licensing program in this country. >> i'm prepared by executive action to ban the importation of assault weapons into our country. >> we need far more bolder action to make our nation safe. >> reporter: democratic presidential candidates spent yet another day on the campaign trail focused on gun control policy about a week since mass shootings in texas and ohio. >> what we really need to do is also pass a ban on assault weapons, particularly the military-style weapons. >> reporter: democrats are pushing trump and majority leader mitch mcconnell to reconvene the republican- controlled senate to pass a bipartisan bill that passed earlier this year in the house. >> it would pass in any judgment, the president would sign it, an

>> strassmann: ben tracy, thank you. president trump has repeatedly lyasted that the u.s. economy under his watch has been great. and despite recent turmoil on wall street, a new cbs news poll finds a majority of americans give the president good marks for his handling of the economy. our poll also found slightly plre people are optimistic than pessimistic about the future of the economy. thd there is a new weather threat churning in the atlantic, its name is dorian, a tropical storm east of barbados and threatening to intensify into a hurricane. meteorologist jeff berardelli is tracking the storm with more. jeff? he the latest news is the storm has strengthened, winds up to 50 miles an hour. it is a small storm but bears watching because it is moving west at 14, meaning it's heading towards the caribbean. it will pass over the lesser antilles on tuesday with winds 65, 70 miles an hour then past near both puerto rico, haiti and the dominican republic as we head towards wednesday and thursday. it will probably begin to weaken once it moves over the big mountains, however it

>> ben tracy, thank you. >>> president trump has s. economy under his watch has been great.nd despite recent turmoil on wall street, a new cbs news poll finds a majority of americans give the president good marks for his handling of the economy. our poll also found slightly more people are optimistic than pessimistic about the future of the economy. >>> there's a new weather threat churning in the atlantic. its name is dorian. a tropical depression that's east-southeast of barbados and threatening to intensify into a hurricane. meteorologist jeff berardelli is tracking the storm and joins us with more. >> this is something we'll have to watch closely because it could become a hurricane, and it's headed for the caribbean. right now it's a fairly weak system. winds around 40 miles an hour. it's moving west fast at 14 miles an hour. could strengthen and impact the lesser antilles on tuesday and then head near or just to the south of puerto rico and haiti and the dominican republic by wednesday and thursday. maybe as a category 1 hurricane. the best chance of tropical storm forc

. >> dickerson: that was ben tracy for us in france with the presiden sherpartmentas beg inal iestigatist deputy was firor lyi about being shot, former deputy wedl reinosa made a frantic radio call last wednesday claiming he had been shot outside the sheriff station in lancaster. reinosa later admitted he made up the story and used a knife to cut fake bullet holes in his shirt. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg today made her first public appearance since eampleting radiation treatment for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas. ginsburg, who is 86 years old received a an honorary law degree in buffalo. she was in good spirits telling the audience it was beyond her wildest imagination that she would one day become the notorious r.b.g. g7 leaders pledged $20 million today to help fight wildfires in the amazon rainforest. more than 80,000 fires have been reported in brazil this year. many are blamed on deforestation. the rainforest is a major supplier of oxygen on this planet and home to one in ten species. in tonight's "eye on earth," manuel bojorquez explains why this crisis is worse

ben tracy is at the white house. ben, are officials there actually worried? >> reporter: the economy has been one of the 2020. officials here originally denied these reports that the president was considering a payroll tax cut, and then just hours later, mr. trump admitted he is. >> i've been thinking about payroll taxes for a long time. whether or not we do it now or not, it's not being done because of recession. >> the president says he's not worried about a recession even as his administration is trying to figure out ways to prevent one. options include a payroll tax cut that would benefit most workers, or cut the capital gains taxes that would mostly help wealth investors. >> we are better today than the rest of the country. >> reporter: unemployment is at a 50-year low, but cracks are starting to show, including an industry the president has often bragged about revitalizing. >> the steel industry is back. it's doing great. >> reporter: but now u.s. steel says it will lay off nearly 200 bo workers in michigan. and the president's tariffs on chinese goods

ben tracy is at the white house. what is the likelihood the president would do that? >> reporter: not very likely, because right now there is not bipartisan legislation on the hill that could actually quickly pass. white house officials do say the president is serious about doing something on gun control but he is now getting pushback from the nra. public pressure for gun control legislation is not letting up. on thursday, it could be seen in senate majority leader mitch mcconnell's hometown. >> we want a background check on every gun sale. >> reporter: mcconnell says he will not be intimidated by protests but in a rare move did say he is open to background check legislation. >> when we get back, hopefully, be able to come together and actually pass something. >> republicans want to do it and democrats want to do it. >> reporter: on wednesday when president trump visited the cities reeling from the nation's latest mass shootings, he also spoke on the phone several times with wayne lapierre, the head of the national rifle association. the nra does not seem to like what

ben tracy is at the white house. ben, what are they considering? >> reporter: well, good morning. we're told they are considering new tax cuts. white house officials are also throwing cold water on a report in "the washington post" of a payroll tax cut, telling us that is not something they're considering right now. payroll taxes are the amount of money taken out of people's pay checks to fund social security and medicare. if that tax is lowered it is seen as a way to quickly increase consumer spending and juice the economy. why is the white house concerned about the economy? well, a majority of economists predict the u.s. is headed for a recession by 2021 at the latest so tax cuts now could be a way to delay a recession until after the 2020 election. on twitter president trump continues to tout what he is calling a strong economy but at the same time is also criticizing federal reserve chairman jerome powell for what the president calls a horrendous lack of vision for not cutting interest rates enough. mr. trump called for the federal reserve to slash rates by a full percentage p

bern tracy is traveling with the president. ben, good morning. >> good morning. the president is not pushing for any sort of ban on assault weapons but he says the time has come for what he's calling meaningful background checks, though it's not clear if he can actually get republicans and the nra on board. as he left the white house friday, president trump had one word on his mind. >> but we have to have meaningful background checks. i'm talking about meaningful. add that word. meaningful background checks. >> he never defined what meaningful means. the president had several calls this week with wayne lapierre, the head of the national rifle association. it has opposed any expansion of balk ground checks. >> i think in the end, wayne and the nra will either be there or maybe will be a little bit more neutral, and that would be okay too. >> mr. president, but if the nra does not support that effort, will you fight them on it? >> we'll see where the nra will be. but we have to have meaningful background checks. >> the president also has to have republicans. he sai