Dictator is mercilessly trying to [ inaudible ]. Welcome to the lead im erica hill in for jake. We have breaking news in the money lead. President trump declaring the Oval Office Moments ago he is considering a payroll tax cut. Something white house aides repeatedly denied over the last 24 hours. But hes not considering it because hes worried about the economy. The president insisting that move would have nothing to do with increased fears of recession. Instead use the opportunity to once again slam Federal Reserve chairman jerome powell. Pamela brown starts us off today from the white house. Reporter President Trump pushing back against recession fears. I think the word recession is a word that is inappropriate. Reporter and defending the u. S. Economy to reporters in the oval office today. Were very far from a recession. In fact, if the fed would do its job, i think we would have a tremendous spurt of growth. A tremendous spurt. Reporter the president starting on twitter sharing a dozen tweets from allies and supporters praising his administrations efforts on the economy. From Vice President pence, our economy is thriving and americans are winning to the rnc chairwoman, Economic Confidence is at record highs. But even as the Trump Administration touts the economy, cnn has learned behind closed doors white house officials are mulling a payroll tax cut to offset anxiety over a economic slowdown. Payroll taxes, ive been thinking about payroll taxes for a long time. Whether or not we do it now or not is it is not being done because of recession. Reporter the economy not the only issue trump is considering. On gun control, trump once again seeming to back down from the push a few days ago for extended background checks. We have very, very strong background checks right now. But we have sort of missing areas, and areas that dont complete the whole after talking with lawmakers sand wayne la pierre, trump using the lobbying Group Language on guncontrol measures. A lot of people who put me where i am are strong believers in the Second Amendment and i am also and we have to be very careful about that. You know they call it the slippery slope. And all of a sudden everything gets taken away. Were not going to let that happen. Reporter now in addition to pressure from the nra, the president shift on background checks is after discussions with lawmakers and a briefing from white house officials who have been looking at various options. Now white house officials still maintain that gun control legislation is not off the table. The true test will be once lawmakers return from summer recess. But, erica, this is yet another example of the president touting initiatives but only to back away under political pressure. Pamela at the white house. Pam, thank you. As we look at all of this, i do want to go back for a moment to this payroll tax which weve heard so much about and this strong denial, i know, kaitlan, for a little while. What is your sense . Is this a serious consideration for the president or a trial balloon. He admitted he was thinking about if but the broader point is they are looking behind the scenes to stave off an economic turn down because even though she say they are not concerned about the recession, we are seeing concern in the white house. But the double edge sword is if it gets out they are preparing for a recession and downturn then it will lead to americans tightening they are belt and lead to more problems with the economy and so they are saying publicly they are not considering anything and even though the president said today the tay roll tax the payroll tax cut has been on his mind among other measures. But it was directly undercut the message about the strength of the economy. Right. But the president doesnt concern himself with undercutting his own message, it is what hes saying at this moment and not to mention a payroll tax cut could take money away from Social Security and the debt, but because there is a republican president , but the president believes that if everyone starts talking about and people start tightening their belt it will happen and hes put all of his eggs in the economy basket for reelection. So he has every intentive to keep the message up that everything is fine and everything is great. Lets remind people what that message is. Here is a little bit more from the president. Our economy is doing fantastic. Our economy is incredible. And were right now the number one country anywhere in the world by far as an economy. Very far from a recession. To jackies point, how long could the president continue with that message when the debt and the deficit continue to bloom, when there is this increasing concern of a trade war which he again tried to downplay today but it is fair. Look, reality is reality. The economy is slowing or not, will slow or not, germany is going into recession and there is quite a lot of evidence that i think we are heading toward a slowdown and might be heading toward a recession. And in 1991 we had a mild recession and told about payroll tax cut and capital gain and wherever the white house talks about this, they are flailing about trying too late. The truth is even if you cut the payroll tax in september, it is not clear it would the substance built in would lead us to a slowdown. But the politics of what happens for t for the for the first time in the President Trump president y is a slowdown and hes had a good back drop of economy and Economic Growth and we dont know what the politics of the democratic race are either if you get a serious slowdown. That is the big what if. What if there is a slow down and also the when. Because that depends on the message. Lets not forget there is only so much control any president has over the economy. Lets not forget on voting day or voting week or voting month, it is your perception of the Economic Conditions versus your personal circumstances. And lets not forget most importantly what President Trump is really good at. Hes an entertainer, looking so see what else i could say to distract from the possible recession coming that everybody in economics has substantiated with studies and reports and this is coming and now make a distraction. It is about getting that latest tweet out. He is if we do look at the numbers and the words from the president , there is numbers in this case. And tweeting out 6 million new jobs, over half of those for women in this tweet and 500,000 manufacturing jobs and record low unemployment against africanamericans and hispanics and Asian Americans. And we looked at the numbers. They are accurate. There is one minor tweak that i would make and that is while there has been record low unemployment for Asian Americans under President Trump, it has ticked back up recently. So we are not in that moment right now. But given those numbers, that is a trong platform for this president ial run on. Again, it is all personal. And if you look at the tweet under her tweet, it is the third lowest from january to july of any of the last ten years. So, yes, the numbers are correct, but if you compare them to the last ten years, especially the obama administration, it is not marginally that much better. The markets may be strong and he benefited when he took office from wall street. There was Economic Growth and he inherited a good economy but whether or not he can sustain that, he has also increased the trades and if you look at the numbers it is 95 of all of the tariffs on the backs of america and only 5 on china. So that doesnt bode well for the American Farmer or for the american worker. But the economy hes had any normal president would be at 55 or 60 approval. Maybe the credit is due to president obama and he slowed things down but if you went to a political scientist or historian and said here are the economic numbers for the first two and a half years of the presidency and were not in any terrible war, what is his Approval Rating likely to be and people would say 55 , 60 . The fact hes at 42 or 43 is because hes trump and people disapprove of other things hes done as i think they should and the question is how much lower does that 42 or 43 go without the Strong Economy bucking up some of the reluctant Trump Supporters who dont like a lot of what hes doing but do think, geez, the economy is good. I think if he loses that, geez, the economy is good sentiment, hes in real political trouble and in the yebl election and maybe to a republican primary challenger. And the people would do approve of the job hes doing, one of the main reasons is because of the economy. Despite what is going on in the west wing, the chaos and turmoil and the policy back and forth over the past two and a half years, they know they could bank on the economy and you see officials doing that and the president said he believes it is the media or the democrats or the Federal Reserve for the state of the economy because he didnt want to take that blame because he knows that is his argument he can make to 2020 voters. And hes hearing it even from people in the white house who agree that it is being overplayed, the fears of a recession and he doesnt have to worry about it but the economic advisers are. So the economy is going to be big in 2020. But that may not be what democratic voters should be look at. Jill bidens stark calculus on why she said people should vote for her husband as another candidate would tried to take on the former vp sees a major drop in our new cnn poll. Plus the Trump Administration making a surprising admission. That is all ahead. 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Bolstering his campaign line of the week which said hes the strongest candidate to beat President Trump and his wife jill biden who largely stays out of the fray out with a similar new blunt message to voters as Arlette Saenz reports, there is one reason to back her husband and it is not about the issues. Reporter joe biden back on the campaign trail in iowa, holding on to his status at the democratic frontrunner. His electability factor at the center of the pitch. In the first tv ad of the campaign, hitting iowa airwaves today. We have to beat donald trump. And all of the polls agree joe biden is the strongest democrat to do the job. No one is more qualified. His wife stressing a similar message in New Hampshire as she spoke to a group of teachers not necessarily committed to her husbands candidacy. Your candidate be better on health care than joes but you have to look at what who is going to win this election and maybe you have to swallow a little bit and say i personally like so and so better, but your bottom line has to be that we have to beat trump. Reporter the electability push comes as a new cnn National Poll shows that the majority of democratic voters want a candidate with the best chance of beating President Trump. While 39 say it is more important for a candidate to share their views on issues. In the overall race, the new cnn survey has biden maintaining his perch at the top of the democratic field. The former Vice President with a doubledigit lead over his rivals. As Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren battle it out for second place. Pete buttigieg and Kamala Harris both coming in at 5 . Marking a 12point dip for the california senator since june. Warren today honing in on the issue of criminal justice, releasing a plan that would repeal the 1994 crime bill. A measure biden helped write. It is a direct criticism of a bill that has been very harmful to millions of people. We need to correct that mistake. Reporter now, joe biden is kicking off a twoday swing through iowa, speaking here in prol, iowa behind me and tomorrow addressing a Labor Convention and later this week heading to the early primary state of New Hampshire. Erica. Arlette saenz in iowa, thank you. And as we listen to it, too, from jill biden, you have to swallow a little bit, she said, your bottom line has to be we have to beat trump. Is that the best message. That is a clear message. It is clear but is it the best one . What is best . Lets be real. Look at who he has to defeat. And lets not lets think in terms of a president ial campaign and name recognition which really matters and he has that and nobody else does. Lets not forget who he was. Senator and exVice President and the leading politician and he makes mistakes, but, god, look who is in the white house and he is not perfect and neither is donald trump and i think what jill biden did was she was a very realistic wife. Hes not perfect and he makes mistakes but hes your best bet. President trump said you have to vote for me it you want to keep your 401 k , which is not true but something similar in hur own democratic biden way. This isnt a soaring vision for the future kind of message. This feels like a message that happens later in a campaign when it is down to a couple of people and youre saying, okay, well you want to beat trump, go with me. It doesnt have the sort of forwardlooking optimism that youre hearing from some of the other candidates that that appeals. Maybe it is too early for that. Maybe. Anything is possible. And also you see democrats for the last two and a half years say theyve got people who they think could be a better president than President Trump and now making this argument, an argument similar to the one you saw trump make in 2016 where it was, at least im not hillary. And for joe biden, if at least im not trump. Which was effective in 2016 because people didnt know what they were getting in donald trump and will that work for somebody who occupied part of the white house is another question. And it is interesting because if you look at the new cnn poll, there has been a slight dip in terms of what is more important, people were asked what is more important, beating donald trump or sharing positions with the nominee. And this is down a little bit from june. But 54 say beating donald trump is the most important thing. Which makes jill bidens point. And it is unfair to say that is not an elevated or inspiring message. Some of us would be inspired by removing donald trump from the white house. Me. I think a lot of democrats and independent voters and more inspired well here is my Detailed Health care plan which differs in the following three tiny ways from this one who wants details. All of which will be changed by congress any way. We know if a democrat defeated donald trump in 2020, he is no longer president. We dont know what Health Care Congress will pass or gun control or Foreign Policy things so im very much on board that i think, a. , it is as you suggested, it issed card he has to play any way. He has to play the card that i can win but more than i can win, i could bring the country back together and restore decency in the white house and restore normalcy to our politics. And that is his message clearly. Were seeing that in his new ad. I want to play a snippet of this. The threat more serious. We have to beat donald trump. And all of the polls agree joe biden is the strongest democrat to do the job. So hes drilling down on that with the polling, with the messages. But also the voice in it. The reminder of hes middle class. And im curious, to your point of the messaging that the Trump Campaign had in 2016, anything is better than hillary, this is the joe biden that hes putting out there, that people are very familiar with. Is there concern in the white house that that may start to resonate . There is concern about it because of course they are the same people who will say they dont agree with the president s tweets and insulting former staffers or insulting congressmen or people like elijah cummings, they understand that kind of that is not appealing to those middle class voters they want. But of course as it was in 2016, the question is that is your strategy for the election, what is it once youre in the white house and governing and weaver seen it play out with donald trump who made the argument, im not Hillary Clinton and put me in the white house and now he relies on his himself and voters will have that question if someone does defeat donald trump and if it is joe biden people still want to know what will happen to their 401 k or their health care and what they will do with that. That is a shortlived promise for voters who still care who is president in in however many years if it is not donald trump. And the other thing fascinating in this poll is we saw Kamala Harris dip 12 points between june and this most recent polling in august after the last debate. Warren and sanders stayed steady. It shows how soft her support is. It is diffused and nowhere. There wasnt one candidate that went up so much because of Kamala Harris. Youve seen that little bit with bernie and Elizabeth Warren. The support kind of teetertotter between the two of them. She had that moment but it doesnt have a staying power because it is early. And shes not someone that voters know it says in the poll shes one of i think the top two candidates that voters want to know more about. So there is still time and room but surely she didnt solidify that support behind her after the debate performance. Stick around. Were going to tackle isis next. President trump claiming isis is totally defeated. You heard him say it. Up next, why his secretary of state now says its complicated. They give us excellent customer otservice, every time. E. Our 18 year old was in an accident. Usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. All i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. 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This of course after a pentagon report reveals the terrorist group is resurging in syria and iraq. Barbara starr joining us live from the pentagon. So the president has said isis was 100 defeated. The report, though, seems to disagree. Yeah, not so much, erica. President i think in recent months has acknowledged when he says 100 defeated, he means the physical territory that isis once controls across iraq and syria largely now under their control. But pockets of isis are reemerging and isis has money, financing and according and the ability to carry out attacks as weve seen. Now according to the latest estimates there may be Something Like 15,000 isis fighters now in iraq and syria. Listen to a little bit more of how secretary of state pompeo explained all of this. In their capacity to conduct external attacks has been made much more difficult. Weve taken down a significant risk. Not all of it. But a significant amount. Reporter so they do have some capacity to finance, train and equip and carry out attacks and there is even more. There is Something Like 70,000 people in displaced persons camps inside of syria. 70,000. And 50,000 are under the age of 18 and that becomes a new breeding ground. A new recruiting ground for isis, a new generation of isis fighters. So barbara, in terms of the president pulling troops out from syria, how much of a factor is that in isis well now there is about a thousand u. S. Troops left in syria and this means the Security Forces theyve trained there may be just a bit more vulnerable, a bit more struggling to push back against isis in that area. And when isis sees vulnerability, that is when it comes to the front. 3 erica. Barbara starr with the latest from the pentagon. As we look at all of this, i keep going back to hearing secretary pompeo say its complicated. That is a tough status update when you talk about isis, bill. Yeah. Honest, ive got to say and it is not just happy talk. To their credit, they have pummelled isis pretty well i think. And so far as we can tell, theyve done a good job on that front. The problem is trumps general aversion to leaving troops in places is doing more than just peopleling the bad guys which im all for but there is other things you have to have to have an effective policy and are we increasing the chances of instability in the middle east and elsewhere. Im doubtful about that. This is what he had to say last month when it comes to isis. We did a great job with the caliphate. We have 100 of the caliphate and were rapidly pulling out of syria. Well be out of there pretty soon. And let them handle their own problems. Syria can handle their own problems. Obviously that doesnt age very well. It is also interesting as we listen to what barbara just put out there about what is happening in syria with troops being pulled out and how things are being handled. What is the sense in the white house. The president reverses course on things all of the time. Is there a sense there could be a change in strategy. This is why defense officials didnt want the president saying Something Like what you just saw there. They are completely destroyed and they are gone because they knew that, of course, while they had greatly weakened them, there were still pockets of them and they were essentially trying to contain them and keep them out of urban areas. That is what defense officials on the ground were saying when the president was making comments like that and you saw james mattis resign over the syria troop withdrawal in december and it came to a disagreement with the president where the president thought he was right and mattis said you can think your right but i cant serve in this position because of that. So you see how the president s thinking goes against what some of his own closest military advisers have advised him to say about things like that. This is going to continue to be an issue when we talk about things like forever wars. Well touch on afghanistan because we did hear from the president on that today. But this is going to be an issue for democrats as well. It is in every election. Americans want to see their sons, their daughters, their spouses come home. This is tough. And it could be tough to sell. How are democrats going to tackle this, because they need a plan too. Well, i think you have to go with the truth. You have to go with what is providing stability for our forces. I think we have lost a lot of good men. I come from a family of veterans so thank god i never lost a Family Member but there are prices that are paid when you serve the military under circumstances that are trying and always trying. And isis and dealing with the caliphate, this is not like flushing the toilet. You just walk and away and say im done with it. No. This is what you mentioned earlier. If you dont have a Foreign Policy in place with with diplomats doing their job and that consistence, you create a vacuum and that is dangerous for our boys and women men and women and for everybody on the ground. Especially people who support us who are on the ground. So, yes, we have made strides in the caliphate which is as big as Great Britain in terms of space but that doesnt mean we are done and a doubt any democrat running would say we are done. That is a good strategy. And one of the things about this field is you do have three veterans. Tulsi gabbard and Pete Buttigieg and seth moulton have all served in iraq or afghanistan and have been talking about it on the campaign trail and have presented plans. So you do have this sort of first person narration that you havent seen in a lot of fields in the last couple of cycles. And perhaps that will make a difference. As we move forward and continue to have this conversation in debates and other forums. But there is a lot of isolationism in both parties. The president said syria can deal with its own problems. They cant deal with their own problems and half a million are dead and im against the President TrumpForeign Policy and the democrats for partly political reasons or dovish arent being honest about what we have to do around the world both diplomatically but also in terms of military force and the threat of military force. A week ago President Trump bragging the American Steel industry was growing. Now 200 people are losing their jobs. The trump policy that may be behind it all. That is next. Memory loss related to aging . D prevagen is the number one pharmacistrecommended memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. So, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. The United StatesPostal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. 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Maybe you should take that pen and use it to sign up with a different Insurance Company. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. In our National Lead, President Trump claims the Steel Industry is thriving thanks to him. Yet today were learning u. S. Steel is laying off about 200 workers in michigan temporarily and the president s tariffs may be partially to blame. If the economy is the defining issue of the 2020 election, cnns Martin Savidge found there is a divide in the rust belt over whether the trump economy is working for everyone. Reporter scranton, pennsylvania, home to the sitcom the office, the birthplace of joe biden, in a state where White Working Class voters helped propel donald trump to victory. And if he hopes to win again, trumps chances may hinge on the same voters and the economy. So im here asking people how is the economy . And im getting two very different answers. I think things are good. There is more jobs in the area and the stock market is high. I think were on the verge of a recession. Reporter i quickly pick up on a theme. How are you feeling about the economy . Im feeling optimistic. So if i ask you how is the economy, you say . Have some concerns. Reporter how people view the economy here is directly related to how they see the president. Jessica stottman owns this saloon and shes a huge trump fan. Did you like the fact he was a business man . Yes. Yes. That was one of the biggest things. I feel the country has become like a business. Reporter criminal defense attorney paul walker is definitely not for trump and he sees trouble ahead. And if this economy turns like i think it is going to, then it is going to turn on him. Reporter scranton is a town manufacturing job numbers the highest in a decade according to the department of labor. But there are signs hiring and production are slowing. Bad news for manufacturing workers that keep part of the president s base. People like douglas wald, an electrician suggesting clouds but he sees only sunshine where he works. We have more work than we know what to do with right now. Really . Yes. I ask another key question. Would voters stick with the president if the economy turns negative . Union rep joe leber who voted for Hillary Clinton doesnt think so. Were on a high right now and if we go belly up, i think it is a big difference. Reporter while trump voters say even if the economy turns bad, they would still back the president. Right now, yes. Would you vote differently . Not necessarily. Because i think the economy is always up and down. Reporter and there was another question that i decided to ask these trump voters especially and that was are there any democrats out there they might consider. Every one of them said no. I said what about home town joe biden . Even joe biden wasnt very much appreciated here. Martin savage, thank you. A cnn exclusive inside venezuela. How brutal violent gangs are using torture, murder and goldmines to help venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro keep his hold on power. Spending time together, sometimes means doing nothing at all. Holiday inn. Were there. So you can be too. Boom goes the dynamite, club yoko plays ] feels like im taking flight. [sfx poof] [sfx squeaking eraser sound effect. ] i am who i wanna be who i wanna be who i wanna be. Im a strong individual feeling that power im so original, ya sing it louder. I am, ooo ooo ooo ooo Ehhh Ehhh Ehhh preorder and get more. Get up to 150 samsung credit, plus 6 months of Unlimited Music with spotify premium. Announcer only fidelity offers four zero Expense Ratio index funds directly to investors. And we have zero account fees for brokerage accounts. At fidelity those zeros really add up. 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What do you look for i want free access to research. Yep, td ameritrades got that. Free access to every platform. Yeah, that too. I dont want any trade minimums. Yeah, i totally agree, they dont have any of those. I want to know what im paying upfront. Yes, absolutely. Do you just say yes to everything . Hm. Well i say no to kale. Mm. Yeah, they say if you blanch it its better, but that seems like a lot of work. No hidden fees. No platform fees. No trade minimums. And yes, its all at one low price. Td ameritrade. A cnn exclusive in our world lead. Deep in the venezuelan jungle a statesponsored network of gangs are fighting over goldmines, torturing, mutilating and murdering miners to keep control. Nicolas maduro is using the lucrative mines as a financial lifeline. We have exclusive access to the mines and i do want to warn you, some of the images youre about to see are graphic. Reporter on the fringes of the amazon rain forest, a statesponsored network of violent gangs and corrupt military hide amongst a vast land rich in minerals and seeping gold. All this is made this area maduros el dorado and it is this giving him the financial lifeline. Reporter weve come deep into the venezuela mining arc to find out how Nicolas Maduro is holding on to power, unable to resist american pressure. Hes given himself direct control over this land and hes bleeding it dry. Reporter enriching himself and buying the allegiance of the military and it all starts with a local miners. With mouths to feed at home and risk it all to operate this lawless region. We venture in 50 meters deep. It is a precarious operation. Inside of the mine they guide us past the evidence of a colonial thirst for gold. Along the way i meet darwin row has mining here for three years now. [ speaking Foreign Language ] reporter backbreaking work and intense humidity. [ speaking Foreign Language ] reporter everywhere you look spackles shimmer from above. This mine has been so productive for them because they have got 250 kilos of gold out of this mine just to give you a sense really of why it is called the millionaire mine. Reporter if 250 kilos or just over 550 pounds is accurate, that is well over 10 million at Global Market prices. All from one single dug hole. There are dozens around us. Thousands within venezuelas mining arc. But not all that shimmers is gold and these miners know it. These rocks need to be crushed, processed, scraped, and melted. Before you actually see the gold. This nugget here, 315. But it comes at a cost to the health of the miners as well as the environment. With mercury and other chemicals used to separate gold from grit, poisoning everything you see around us. But this is business. And these mills dont do it for free. And then there is an additional cost. Even if the miners are scared to admit it. [ speaking Foreign Language ] sflfrmts. Reporter it is clear there are other forces involved and people they have to pay in order to be continuing to work in these mines but clearly they are not prepared to tell us who they are. They have every reason to be afraid. These mines are run by a network of hooded militias who according to a senior military source and will extort and steal and silence. They do so together with complicit members of the military who they bribe to operate freely. [ speaking Foreign Language ] reporter a local miner too scared to speak out about the gangs close to the mines opens up once his identity is hidden. They mutilate people and cut them and torture them and the ones that speak are also tortured and mutilated. They kill them and throw them down the holes. Reporter one active senior military source confirms what weve heard in town telling me the same groups use death squads to commando bead yens, battling each other and for the control over the area. It is a pressure tactic of blood and bullets. I asked the miner if he blames maduro . Translator i think the government has the capacity to put an end to the piranhas if it wants to do it but they are not going to do it because they benefit from it. Reporter this is echoed from the top. General figurera was the former spy chief for the venezuelan president until april 30th when he defected. Translator maduro has knowledge of all of this and has done very little if anything. Reporter for years he was part of the inner circle with the u. S. Treasury sanctioning him that he over sass mass torture and Human Rights Violations and now with sanctions dropped hes speaking out about corruption at the very top, backing the u. S. Assessment that maduros family are also profiting. Translator there are companies linked to the Family Circle to buy the gold and the extraction of the gold in the south of the country. They sell one part to the central bank and the other part they take out of the country without any kind of control. Reporter in caracas we find this Network Expands beyond venezuela. In 2018 maduro traded gold to turkey, some in exchange for food which the government used in the subsidized food boxes but it didnt stop there. According to a source at the Venezuelan Central Bank, 26 tons of gold were taken out of the bank to the end of april. They were put into private airplanes and a destination middle east and africa. That is 1. 6 billion. Much of it skirting u. S. Sanctions. According to the source, several other shipments left caracas this year to United Arab Emirates and directly and via uganda on a russian plane. In exchange for euros. Translator maduro is at the helm of a criminal enterprise and hijacked all of the state institutions to work in his service. This is allowed him to corrupt Public Servants and military officials and all of the power structures in order to perpetuate his rule. Reporter this matches what we hear on the streets. Here where gold is a standard currency, many like this gold seller are just a cog in the system which is controlled all the way from the top. [ speaking Foreign Language ] reporter but with a river of gold running deep and the economy shrinking by half in a span of five years, there is little sign Nicolas Maduro and his men will turn their back on this blood gold. Here human misery goes hand in hand with environmental devastation. It is a free for all. A gold rush where the main winner is and cnn contacted the venezuelan government and the Venezuelan Central Bank but obtained no response. The venezuelan government has dismissed u. S. Sanctions in the past saying they are an attempt to get hold of its resources. We also reached out to the turkish government but received no response. 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But does say none of those payments were improper. Thanks for joining us here on the leed. Follow me on twitter at erica r. Hill and tweet at the lead cnn and our coverage continues right now. Happening now, breaking news. Another tax cut hours after a white house denial the president said hes weighing a payroll tax cut even as he insists the economy is great. Amid recession fears the president said hes prepared to stick with his china trade war even if it brings a recession. Reinstating russia. President trump said the g7 should once again become the g8 calling for russia to be let back into the elite group of industrialized nations even though it was kicked out for invading a neighbor. And new evidence russia may be trying to cover up a nuclear explosion. Bidens bouts. Joe biden launches an ad in iowa touting his