all those school kid kind of pranks and i fell for it and it was yuck, terrible. you have a great day. >> you, too. >> thanks so much. here is what we've got this hour. president obama weighing a critical decision today, what to do in syria. and a briefing is expected at the united nations today after inspectors gathered evidence to determine if there was a chemical weapons attack. we have reporters in new york, washington, and, of course, around the world. and investigators are digging into a dark path at an old reform school in florida. they're exhuming unmarked graves, and we'll have more on the disturbing story straight ahead. and three weeks after 16-year-old hannah anderson was rescued, she appears to be recovering from her terrible ordeal, but there are still so many questions. we hear from a family member who wants to know why this happened.

united nations inspectors have left syria with bags of evidence and stories from witnesses about a deadly chemical weapon attack. as the world waits to hear what they found, the united nations appears to be getting ready -- rather, the united states appears to be getting ready for a strike. u.s. secretary of state john kerry and president barack obama making the case to take action yesterday. we're covering every angle of the crisis in syria. barbara starr at the pentagon, jill dougherty at the white house, nick payton wash at the united nations in new york and fred pleitgen joining us from beirut, lebanon. let's begin at the pentagon. barbara, what moves has the military already made to get in place for any possible strikes? >> well, fred, by all accounts everything is in place. it's simply awaiting a decision from the president to execute an order to strike. there are still five u.s. navy warships in the eastern mediterranean, about 40 tomahawk cruise missiles on each of them.

these are very precise weapons guided to their preplanned targets by satellite coordinates, 1,000-pound warheads on them, so very lethal. the target list, by all accounts, will include command and control centers, regime elements, weapons delivery systems areas, that sort of thing. anything they can get after that they can tie to potential chemical weapons attack or the regime itself and its efforts to engage in chemical weapons attacks. so that's what we're looking at. but still, at this hour it awaits officially a decision from the president. he has to sign an execute order, it has to come to the pentagon, and then things will get moving if that happens. >> barbara, as you know, the uk said no to any involvement, but could the u.s. get help from other countries if, indeed, there is a strike? >> well, there's hope and there's help. there's no indication at this point of any other country at

the moment in a major way participating in this openly, publicly, with its weapons systems. that's not on the table publicly at least at the moment in any way. but make no mistake, in that region the intelligence services of both israel, jordan, turkey, even some of the lebanese intelligence services element are very active in the region, have a lot of especially the israelis and the jordanians, a lot of shall we say covert capability to understand what is going on inside syria, help collect intelligence, and pass it on to the united states. so there certainly is that level of effort still going on by all accounts, fred. >> thanks so much, barbara starr. keep us posted from the pentagon. let's go to the white house now where senior obama administration officials are holding a conference call with top senate democrats and republicans today. jill dougherty is live for us there now. jill, what is on the president's

agenda? we understand that a number of people, including the vice president as well as chuck hagel, all at the white house now, right? >> reporter: well, yes. and we do know that that meeting -- i should say that conference call is going to be taking place with senior administration officials and members of congress, but we've also been monitoring the driveway here next to the white house where all of the important vehicles of officials pull up, and we have seen defense secretary chuck hagel coming here, general martin dempsey, who is the chairman of the joint chiefs, and also vice president biden, and interestingly, vice president biden, according to his schedule, was supposed to be in wilmington, delaware, so they arrived. we asked why are they here right now because the understanding was that call with the congress was supposed to be taking place this afternoon. time not specified, but they're not explaining. so anyway, they are here, and the call that will be taking

place will have all, as you can imagine, the senior officials, susan rice, the national security adviser, secretary of state kerry, chuck hagel, defense secretary, and vice chairman of the joint chiefs and the director of national intelligence. mean while, susan rice has been tweeting, and one of the tweets that is kind of significant gives the reason. she says, quoting secretary kerry, the core of the decision is u.s. security and preventing attacks on innocents using the word's most heinous weapons. so that really in a nutshell is the core argument of why the united states, president obama, would say that he has to take some type of action. fred? >> all right. jill dougherty, thanks so much. at the white house. keep us posted. let's go to new york where the lead u.n. weapons inspectors have arrived from syria. the team is carrying crucial

cargo, data from the sites of those alleged chemical weapons attacks. these he can clue sif images from jfk airport upon that arrival. our nick paton walsh joining us right now from the united nations with the very latest. when might we hear publicly more details of the bags of evidence that were collected by these inspectors? >> reporter: well, we are supposed to hear from the u.n. spokesman in the next hour and a half or so, but it's no the quite clear how much we'll reveal. just to clarify, the samples taken from alleged chemical weapon attack sites in syria, they have now gone on a german foreign ministry charter plane from laeb lebanon to the hague in the netherlands where testing will take place. angela cane, who headed the u.n. inspections mission to syria, she's come back here to meet the u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon. quite possibly that meeting is

going on somewhere other than this building. we haven't seen anyone come in here just yet, but that will be updating him on her team's activities. there had been expectations that he would then go and talk to the security council about those initial reports. he himself said that. that has since it seems changed according to a western diplomat that spoke to me. they're going to wait for the fuller report which will contain the results of those lab samples being tested at the moment in the hague, but there is still, of course, a lot of scrutiny now at what will happen here at the united nations, how quickly will this report come forward, what will angela cane tell ban ki-mo ki-moon. the u.s. has put forward its intelligence. they are clear the regime was behind a chemical weapons attack. what the u.n. inspectors will find out under their mandate is whether or not chemical weapons are used. they won't apportion blame. >> nick paton walsh, thank you so much from the u.n. in syria today it is a waiting game, waiting to see

what the u.s. might do to punish the assad regime for allegedly using chemical weapons on its own people. the last of the u.n. weapons inspectors left syria today. they got a firsthand look at the places the rebels say were hit with chemical weapons and they talked with survivors as well. the u.n. is asking washington to hold off on any military action until their report is filed. our fred pleitgen is monitoring the situation from beirut. are you getting a sense people on either side of the border are nervous or anxious about a strike? >> reporter: i would say they're nervous. i wouldn't say it's so much fear. i would say it's more nervous. that's absolutely right, fredricka. also, there's different reactions when you look at the syrian military and you obviously look at syrian civilians. the military came out in the form of a navy commander who talked to a lebanese tv station. he said that the syrian navy was ready to blow anyone out of the sea, that the sea would become a graveyard for anyone who attacks syria. obviously referring to those

american destroyers that are in front of the syrian coast. the syrians generally, the government has been saying that it is ready for any sort of attack. it has not said how it plans to do anything except that it's also readying its air defenses as well. the situation on the ground is very different. there's a lot of syrians in the government controlled part of damascus and other places who are really nervous about what's going to happen. i wouldn't say they're totally in fear. when i was in syria two days ago, i didn't see people massively leaving the country, but they were stocking up on food. they were stocking up on other things as well just waiting to see what happens and, of course, the things they would be afraid of is if the assad regime is destabilized by american strikes, whether or not potentially damascus could become a battleground if the rebels then move in. that's what the people there are afraid of. of course, on the other side of the front line in the rebel-controlled territories, many people are hoping this military action would be more expansive than what the obama

administration is talking about, things like limited strike. they obviously want something bigger, fredricka. >> thanks so much fred pleitgen. keep us posted. back here in the u.s. there is some progress to report in that massive wildfire in and around yosemite national park. firefighters are gaining some ground. the fire is now 35% contained. the u.s. forest service says it now expects to have the fire fully contained in about three weeks. almost 200,000 acres have been burned so far. and parts of the country have been sweltering this week. earlier this week record-breaking temperatures forced some schools in the midwest to cut back on sports programs, and some of them even had to close, but now a cold front is marching across the country, so how will it affect the holiday weekend? let's bring in our meteorologist karen maginnis in the cnn weather center. what can people expect? >> well, it will take a little bit of doing, but a frontal system is expected to move across the northern tier states, but look at the high temperature for today in minneapolis. around 90 degrees.

so still kind of sweltering but not like those triple digits we've got in the south central united states, but that front moves through, yes, you will have to deal with some thunderstorms, but after that, those temperatures expected to be in the 70s. so some pretty nice weather. not for everybody, especially across the southeast. we'll start to see some thunderstorms develop here, monsoonal moisture just kind of pouring in across the desert southwest. but what about those hot temperatures? well, we'll find them all the way from kansas city to st. louis down to ft. smith. triple digits, but it will feel like between 100 and 100 degrees. you combine the temperature with the high humidity. so take it easy. over the next 48 hours, some pretty good thunderstorms rumbling around the ohio river valley, but not just there, across the southeast as well. if you're heading to some beach areas, maybe atlantic city, maybe you're going to coastal north carolina, maybe down towards the gulf coast, i think you'll see more dry weather than

thunderstorms, but can't say the same on labor day. on monday. >> okay. it always seems to be the case, right on the holiday, monday. thanks so much. appreciate that, karen. all right. so if the u.s. does strike syria, what would it look like? what would be targeted? we dig into what could happen with retired army major general next. and a family is asking why after two alleged murders and an abduction. the family of hannah anderson with lingering questions. [ female announcer ] are you sensitive to dairy? then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love.

welcome back. in the next hour the united nations has scheduled a briefing with reporters on the situation in syria. you will see it live as it happens here on cnn. it is set for 12:30 eastern time. right now all signs seem to point to the u.s. taking some sort of military action. major general james "spider" marks joining me now via skype. good to see you, major general. president obama said there will be no long-term commitment, no boots on the ground. he said that yesterday in that very brief briefing. so what kind of action will we

likely see? >> well, the president has described what it's not going to be. >> yeah. >> i think what we're going to see is very narrow, very precise strikes about going against assad's capability to deliver his chemical munitions. that means very precise strikes against his integrated air defense capabilities, his command and control capabilities, his delivery means, the rockets and the missiles that, in fact, where you upload the munitions, the chemical munitions, and then you deliver them. these are not being delivered by ander hand. they're being delivered by rockets. the united states will go after those and go after those as barbara starr has indicated from her information from the pentagon by way of cruise missiles that are probably going to be launched from the eastern mediterranean where we have five warships. what will happen subsequently after those strikes is there will have to be a period of assessment to see what type of degradati degradation, what type of damage has been done, and then there

will be restrikes into those areas and against those targets that have not been sufficiently degraded. >> so with those warships comes the utise of the tomahawk missis but when you outline all those potential facilities that could be targets, how does this military strike prevent any kind of further chemical weapons contamination? how do you get these weapons depots without causing more chemical destruction? >> one of two things. number one is we won't, we the united states, will not strike those depots, those inventories of chemical munitions, but we'll deny their delivery. that's point number one -- >> can i ask you to reiterate that? >> we have the capability to go after the chemical inventory approximates. >> let me ask you to reiterate only because we had -- we have a his and miss signal. if you don't mind reiterating

the beginning of your response to how the u.s. avoids any kind of further contamination of chemical weapons as it tries to take out these facilities. >> well, fred, i hope i'm coming through. fred, the first thing that the united states will do, it will go after the -- it could go after those chemical stockpiles, those inventories, but it wouldn't go after those with cruise missiles. the cruise missile is not the weapon system to be used against chemical weapons facilities. there are other weapon system that is could be delivered, but those would have to be delivered by fixed wing pilots aircraed a and that would only be done after the integrated air defenses in syria have been destroyed. >> meantime, as for syria, of course, syria, the government has sufficient notice now about this potential u.s. air strike or whatever kind of strikes we end up exhausting. what do you suppose syria is doing to, a, either protect its

air arsenal? has it likely moved that into iran? what is it doing about moving a lot of these potential targets? >> fred, that is the question right now. clearly assad may be a monster, but he's not an idiot. he's a very clever man. he's a survivalist. i would anticipate that all of his aircraft have flown to iran. they're probably positioned out of harm's way. he probably has taken all of his command and control capabilities, all his communications networks, all his computer networks, and he's shut those down so he has essentially gone to black intentionally. so it's harder for us to find him. then what's inside those stockpiles as we addressed have probably been moved and what's inside those facilities that will be struck have been packaged up and disbursed as well. >> all right, major general james "spider" marks, thank you for your time. appreciate it. what happened to all of those kids missing at a florida

reform school? now they're digging up the past and exhuming the remains.

this weekend florida is digging up its tragic past after a year of delays crews are exhuming what are believed to be the unmarked graves of boys who once attended a reform school west of tallahassee. it's closed now, but some former students say they were beaten there decades ago, and they remember school mates who disappeared without any

explanation. ed lavandera has been following this story for five years. he's joining us. ed, how did this saga reach this point anyway? >> reporter: you know, it's been a bizarre story, to say the least, and it has emerged decades and decades after all of these allegations actually took place, and right now we're on the grounds of where this cemetery is and for decades florida officials say there were only 31 people, young students, former students of this reform school that was once here, buried thon this site. some researchers came in a year ago and discovered that might not be the case. they have started the process of exhuming graves they have found outside of this initial cemetery area, and the question now really is what will they find and what will it be able to tell us about what might have happened here years ago. 31 rusting crosses with no names mark the spot where students

from a now defunct all-boys reform school were laid to rest long ago. >> we have something right there. >> reporter: now, a team of scientists from the university of south florida is trying to unravel the mystery. >> even if we can't name them, just the fact that they're not, you know, lost with trees growing through them i think is a big service to the community. >> reporter: for decades state officials insisted 31 boys were buried here on the grounds of the school once known as the dozer reform school for boys but the bodies were never properly accounted for. some died in a dormitory fire in 1914, some from a flu epidemic in 1918. but what haunts this place is the school's painful history. over the last few years dozens of former students have come forward to say teachers and administrators dealt ruthless beatings, sexual abuse, and even murder. using high-tech equipment the researchers found evidence of at least 19 more bodies buried in

this area. their research of school records also showed the bodies of another 22 boys who died at the school were never accounted for. >> this baby here is him. >> reporter: o'dell smil's brother owen has send to this school and she never saw him again. his family was told owen died of knew moan ya. >> my brother was running across an open field, and there was three men shooting at him with rifles. i believe until this day that they shot my brother that night and i think they probably killed him. and they brought him back to the school and buried him. >> reporter: she was recently swabbed for dna with the hope it can be matched to her brother. before dr. kimmerly's discovery in the cemetery, a florida state jeti investigation determined there was no evidence of criminal

activity. one school former administrator has denied the accusations but admits spankings did take place. no matter what is found during these exhumations, criminal charges are highly unlikely, but dozens of former students have called that investigation a cover-up and an attempt to whitewash the school's brutal past. >> you have to have witnesses and looking at all this, statements that have been taken, nobody could place a name with a homicide victim and a perpetrator. >> reporter: generations have passed, young boys are now grown men, and they're still searching for answers buried long ago. and here in the town where we are, this is a process that has really ruffled a lot of feathers in the town here. people who worry that coming here and digging up the past here essentially will make this town look bad, but there are dozens and dozens of families who are anxious to see what these researchers are going to find here and as we've talked about, what it might say about the past. fredricka. >> heartbreaking details.

thank you so much, ed lavandera in florida. and we'll be right back with much more on the "newsroom" after this.

college football, well, it's back. kicking off with a full slate of games today, but the biggest story this hour is on the nfl level. tim tebow, jerry greenberg is here with more on this morning's bleacher report. we are talking about somebody who was big in college ball but what's the latest now? >> one of the all-time greats in college, but tim tebow's stint with the patriots is over. nfl.com says the polarizing figure has been released just

two months after signing a two-year nonguaranteed deal. the quarterback was on his third team since being drafted in the first round in 2010. he completed less than 37% of his passes while playing in three preseason games for new england. he threw two touchdowns, two interceptions, and was sacked seven times. that's a lot of times to go down in three games. he was trying to win the backup quarterback job behind future hall of famer tom brady. once official tebow will become a free agent. last year's heisman trophy minner sacked by his own school. johnny manziel suspended for the first half of today's texas a&m opener. he committed an inadvertent violation. vegas, they still like the augies even though he will just play in the second half. a 28-point favorite over rice. alabama arrived in atlanta friday with quarterback a.j. mccarron wearing a walking boot reportedly for an ingrown toenail. no fear, tide fans. still expected to play tonight

against virginia tech. he's one of the best in the country tied guided tide to a 25-2 record the last two years winning back-to-back national titles. mccarron won't like this, hook 'em horns. may be the top ranked football team in the polls but the social networking site has compiled county by county data. the longhorns received the most likes. find your school on bleacher report.com. trending on bleacher report.com, time for some bathroom jokes. literally. behind door number one you will find a pitcher stuck in the dugout bathroom. we're going to bring in the crowbar and finally tampa bay rays reliever fernando rodney gets out and with 24 of your closest friends watching every moment, no worst place to get stuck in a bathroom than in a dugout. fernando did not have to pitch

in last night's game. tampa bay did lose to oakland. >> that is so embarrassing. it's one thing to let everybody know where you were and then you can't get out. ouch. do we have a little time still? i want to ask you a little more about tebow. >> let's talk. >> it kind of defies logic for a lot of people because they think if you're a great college ballplayer, clear i you can make that transition to the nfl, but maybe his story says it's not so easy after all. >> he was a great college player, but the talent margin is so great from even being an elite college football player to the next level at the nfl and the style of play in college is much different than the style of play with grown men in the nfl. tebow, even for the college level, was undersized, didn't have traditional form, but was able to compensate with the greatest talent around him. when he was at florida, he had some of the best players around him who are now excelling at the nfl level. now being undersized, not having the best form and technique is

really what's hurting him. he becomes a free agent. he still wants to play quarterback. many people think if he plays in the nfl, he'll have to switch positions possibly to a halfback or tight end role. >> we are talking future. it's not like we're talking about him -- he's riding off into the sunset. he's still a player. it really may be a matter of finding the right fit, the right team that embraces you. >> he did have some success in denver a couple years ago. >> hopefully he'll have another bout of success. thank you so much. appreciate it. across the southeast many farmers say this summer's torrential rains have virtually wiped out some crops. that could mean lower supplies and, of course, higher prices this fall, but no matter what, business at a fruit market will no doubt go on in one atlanta neighborhood where tom foreman takes us on this week's "american journey." >> it's going to be our

naturally sweetest fruit. passion fruit mango. >> reporter: as sure as peaches pop out in summer, every day customers pour into lotta fruita seeking something fresh. >> fresh cut coconut. >> reporter: and mere na perez knows how much that matters. when she moved to the struggling neighborhood, it was an urban foot desert with plenty of fresh fruit but almost no fruit and vegetables like she grew up with. >> i figured if i could not find this anywhere, why not open up my own establishment and be able to offer every day for me for selfish reasons and for everyone else. >> reporter: some predicted locals would not support her, but that was seven years ago. >> thank you very much. >> enjoy your lunch. >> reporter: and lotta fruita has been growing ever since with elaborate fruit cups, ice creams, smoothies, sandwiches, and much more. >> there's nothing like this anywhere around here. >> reporter: it's become so important to the community's

identity, it's just been given a $50,000 expansion loan from the city. >> this is an up and coming neighborhood being revitalized and so we're always looking to incentivize and assist investments that help attract and keep residents in neighborhoods like this. >> i am, you know, self-accre t self-accredit self-accredited, self-appointed fruitologist only because i have a love and passion for fruit all my life. mango s. >> reporter: perez's secret is simple. the first part -- >> everything that we do here, we would want to eat and we put a lot of care and consideration into what we do and how we propose it. >> reporter: and the second part? >> a lot of work. >> reporter: that's made this combination of fresh fruit and a fresh idea into a home grown success. tom foreman, cnn. >> yummy. i'm beth...

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this is cnn breaking news. >> and this just in to cnn from the syrian government now. the syrian prime minister saying this, quote, the syrian army's status is on maximum readiness and fingers on the trigger to confront all challenges, end quote. this came during a meeting with

a delegation of syrian expatriates. dana bash is joining us on the phone. we know there have been some conference calls between the white house and republicans and democrats. what are you hearing? >> that's right. they're going to take place our understanding is in a couple hours with at least on the senate side with republicans and democrats, but we also just learned that tomorrow, that's sunday, the white house is offering or at least administration officials are offering to come to capitol hill on a sunday to offer a classified briefing on the intelligence that the u.s. has on syria's chemical weapons to any and all members who are in town. sunday is labor day weekend. unclear how many will be able to make it in but it's significant for several reasons. one is that members of congress have been real chomping at the bit to get, understandably, to get information in a classified way that makes them feel

comfortable that any kind of military strikes would be justified, but also this is just tea leaf reading here, it might be questionable whether or not they would get that classified briefing after any military strike would start. so it might suggest, emphasize might, that nothing is going to happen before tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see, but that's the latest in terms of outreach which is continuing not just on an unclassified basis which will happen likely today on the telephone but in a classified way with house members tomorrow. >> so how is that different from the conference calls that are taking place today versus meetings or discussions tomorrow? >> it's a great question. it's different in a major way, which is what they're going to be able to do on a call for the most part, our understanding is to ask questions but probably not be able to get a lot more than what is being made publicly available because, you know,

it's not classified. when people actually go and physically sit and look at classified information and talk to members of the administration, the obama administration, and hear classified information, it's just a much richer, much more in depth kind of briefing. and you heard secretary kerry said in his statement yesterday that we're going to continue to brief members of congress and make classified information, classified intelligence available. you know, and, again, we've talked so much about how there's the iraq hangover. this is very much part of it. you know, trusting the intelligence is not something that members of congress want to do very readily. democrats or republicans. so to be able to actually see in a classified way what the u.s. really think it is has on assad's regime is important for these members. >> all right. thanks so much for that and bringing that to us, dana bash. about 45 minutes or so we understand there will be a press briefing for reporters at the united nations and that's scheduled for 12:30 eastern time. of course, we'll take that as it

happens. all this as it pertains to the crisis in syria. we'll have much more on this and other stories right after this. [ female announcer ] are you sensitive to dairy? then you'll love lactose-free lactaid® it's 100% real milk that's easy to digest so you can fully enjoy the dairy you love. lactaid®. for 25 years, easy to digest. easy to love.

for 25 years, hey guys, thanks for coming. are we in trouble? no, you're not in trouble. i just want to set some ground rules. like what? well, remember last week, when you hit vinnie in the head with a shovel? [chuckling] i do not recall that. of course not. well, it was pretty graphic. too graphic for the kids. so i'm going to have to block you. you know, i gotta make this up to you. this is vinnie's watch, and i want you to have it. you deserve it. no, thank you. t@at's really not necessary. no, no, come here...

all right. it seems as it this is happening all too often now. in this case in los angeles a home suddenly collapsed right in on itself. this happened last night, and you see the search and rescue teams there on the rooftop. they're using rescue dogs to make sure no one is trapped inside. neighbors said they heard a strange noise late last night and then saw a cloud of dust where the house once stood. the fire department says the home had been abandoned for several years but homeless people would sometimes seek shelter there. all right. some people in north carolina are outraged that a rifle is being auctioned off for an elementary school fund-raiser. a nonprofit hunting group organized the fund-raiser and says 300 tickets have already

been sold. the school approved the ralph but will not allow the gun at the school. and the attorneys for convicted murderer jodi arias are asking for her new jury to be sequestered. the judge has yet to pick a date for the new sentencing trial which will only determine whether or not she faces the death penalty. arias' attorneys say she can't get a fair trial because of the publicity around this case. arias was convicted of a new jersey court says if you text a driver and that driver gets into an accident, you could get in legal trouble. our legal guys join us with more on this in the next hour, but avery in cleveland, richard in los angeles, avery, might this be precedent setting ultimately? >> it is a juris prudential first. if you're driving and somebody texts you and you get distracted and you create injury, is the

texter liable in damages? well, a panel made that decision and it is a wild one. we'll have the legal answers for you and more coming up. >> richard, how do you see this case ultimately? >> fred, do you mean if i'm at cnn in los angeles and i text someone who i know is driving in the state of new jersey and that driver crashes, i can be held responsible for that? i don't think so, fred. we'll discuss this later. >> we're going to look into that because this is going to get the attention of a lot of folks. a lot of people doing that while they're driving, whether they should or shouldn't, right? we'll see you in a moment and we're learning more about a young girl, possibly kidnapped by a family friend. you'll hear from the friend of hannah anderson, next, and what one said she witnessed. [ female announcer ] when you're ready to take skincare to the next level you're ready for roc® new roc® multi correxion has an exclusive 5 in 1 formula it's clinically proven to hydrate dryness,

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three weeks after 16-year-old hannah anderson was found with a family friend who allegedly abducted her, there are still so many questions. why were her mother and brother killed and why was she taken, all by someone they called uncle jim. here's drew griffin. >> hannah anderson arrived at the memorial service for her mother and brother seemingly in an upbeat mood. family members say it's a facad facade. according to those in her on fami family, there are many unanswered questions. why did a long time family

friend kill hannah anderson's mother, christina, and her 8-year-old brother, ethan? what led dimaggio to leave behind timers that would set his california desert cabin ablaze with the two murder victims inside? and a question just as mysterious and far more delicate for members of the family, why did did dimaggio allow hannah to survive and kidnap her on a 500 mile journey to idaho? >> that he was terribly infatuated with hannah. it looks like it was premeditated. >> in fact, there was more evidence he may have been infatuated with a 16-year-old girl who grew up calling him uncle jim. hannah's friend, melissa, recalled a car ride with uncle jim and an awkward admission.

>> don't think i'm weird or creepy. if you were my age, i'd date you. >> in the beginning, i was a victim, but now knowing everyone out there is helping me, i consider myself a survivor instead. >> hannah anderson's brief comments on the nbc "today" show confirmed what little police have said. hannah anderson is a victim. >> i want to emphasize that during the law enforcement interviews with hannah, it became very clear to us, very clear, that she is a victim in every sense of the word in this horrific crime. from the time of her abduction on boulevard to her recovery in idaho by the fbi's hostage rescue team, she was under extreme, extreme duress. >> two weeks after making that statement, nothing's changed here at the sheriff's department. their investigation has found hannah anderson was nothing more than a victim in this case. pure and simple.

jim dimaggio is the perpetrator and he is dead. the case closed. it is cut and dry. jennifer is the late christina anderson's aunt, born three years apart. >> i just get this feeling it's not as cut and dry as it seems. i just get this feeling that i don't know how he could have done something like that to his friends. i just don't feel at ease about it at all. it's not cut and dry. >> for year, jim was the family friend. the cabin dimaggio owned an hour outside of san diego was the anderson family get away, but willis says in the past year, the family dynamics had changed. christina and brett had separated. brett anderson moved to tennessee. then, according to jennifer willis, dimaggio began to face financial troubles that eventually led to foreclosure on the cabin they all loved. jennifer talked to christina

just days before her murder. >> she came to me, she said, he's having a hard time, he's losing his house, he's short on money, doesn't know what to do. he's depressed and she went there to be by his side one last time. that's kind of person she was. dropped everything and went there for him. >> that's apparently when dimaggio snapped. the bodies were found in this burned down cabin. court documents show ethan's body so badly charred an autopsy could not determine the exact cause of his death. christina anderson had been hit in the head, wrapped in a tarp and left to burn, leaving a host of unanswered questions, including why. >> beside the fact for him, he's sick, he's a monster, he did what he did. why did it have to happen to them? >> why did it happen to tina and ethan and not to hannah? >> right. >> i mean, i hate to ask these questions almost, because we're dealing with a teenager, but was

there any relationship between her and jim dimaggio? >> none that i am aware of. none that anyone was aware of. i would never have imagined anything like that. with her. >> amidst all the turmoil, hannah anderson's family is trying to determine what happens next. the teenager is dealing with the loss of her mother and brother and the sudden return of her biological father, a man who returned from tennessee, hiring a publicist who is talking book and movie deals and telling hannah's extended family his daughter will now live with him. through that same publicist, he turned down cnn's request for an interview. >> hannah's back, she's safe, she's okay and from there, i think it should be left alone. >> relatives say she will return to school here in the next few days and will try to live quote, as normal life as possible.

>> all right. we're going into our second hour now. hello again, everyone. a look at our top stories that a look at our top stories that we're following for you. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com president obama is weighing a critical decision today, what dood in syria and a briefing is expect expected this hour after evidence was gathered to determine if there was a chemical weapons attack. we have reporters in new york, washington and of course, around the world. and texting while driving. it's against the law in a lot of place, but what if you just send the text message and your recipient is the one who's behind the wheel and gets into an accident? we'll explain why you could face legal trouble as well. and it has been three weeks since 16-year-old hannah annerson was rescued after a family friend abducted her. now, we hear from the sister of that family friend.

in about 30 minutes, we're expecting a briefing at the united nations surrounding the crisis in syria. u.n. inspectors left the country today after gathering evidence on a deadly chemical weapons attack at the briefing room of the united nations where we'll be taking those comments live in about 30 minutes. meantime, the representative for disarmament affairs arrived in new york last night. that's her in the center. she's meting with the secretary general today and the briefing will be about that meeting as the world waits to hear what was found exactly. the united states appears to be getting ready to strike. jill daugherty is live for us now at the white house. of course, the big question is, will the strike happen with or without the u.n. approval? >> well, they have said, made it very clear, they would not need u.n. approval, but i think more importantly right now, what seems to be happening is the administration according to one

senior u.s. official, needs to give more briefings to congress and they need to give more briefings to the allies and so, we have this now more specific information about those, about the conference calls, unclassified conference calls, that we already knew going to be taking place today. in fact, the first will be with senate republican conference at 1:00, so that would be in another hour or so. and then the second one today would be the senate democratic caucus at 2:30 p.m. eastern time. those are again, unclassified and they would be by phone. remember, a lot of you know, senators and representatives are out there in their home districts. but, the more significant thing i think is tomorrow, sunday, we are told by a senior u.s. official that there will be a classified briefing on capitol hill for those members of the house who want to see the

classified version of that intelligence report. that would be things that have not been disclosed to the public that only members of congress can see and they have to be here physically in washington to do that. again, because of security issues. and these briefings will be taking place and held by senior officials. secretary kerry, hagel, national security adviser, susan rice, and others. we also have seen video, also have seen the arrivals, which we have on video, of a number of those officials. they came here earlier today. defense secretary chuck hagel. martin dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs. secretary kerry is here and also vice president biden. so, a number of things happening on a very quickly changing day and then finally, also, fred, tweets coming out and they've become very important, obviously. several coming from national

security adviser, susan rice, who gave in a short form, the reason this administration believes you need to take some kind of action. she says at the core of this decision is u.s. security and preventing attacks on innocents using the world's most heinous weapons. back to you. >> thanks so much. keep us posted on these meetings today. let's go to pentagon now. barbara starr is there. what moves have been made by the u.s. military to get ready for these possible strikes? >> fred, over the last couple of days, we've watched as the us navy has assembled five warships in the eastern mediterranean equipped with about 40 tomahawk missiles apiece. very precise guided to their preprogrammed target via satellite gps coordinates.

thousand pound warhead, very lethal. this is the type of precision strike against a list of specific targets that the military would undertake if the order comes from the president. this is the weapon of choice, if you will, in this kind of situation. very narrow, very focused mission and not the risk of putting an aircraft with a pilot on board over syrian air space and risk being shot down. >> and is there any indication of timeline? they're all at the ready right now? whether the white house were to say let's do this tonight or in two days? >> right. well, there's certainly the political timeline joe was talking about in terms of the briefings, the consultations with congress, with the allies that the administration is going to calculate need to take place and what else needs to take place on that political ti timetab timetable. on a military timetable, they are ready to go, we are told. all this really awaits is an order from the president to execute his orders, his

operation and then the military will swing into full gear very quickly. and things could start unfolding very rapidly, but again, it will await that very formal execute order from the president of the united states. fred? >> barbara starr, thanks so much. appreciate that from the pentagon. so, if the u.s. decides to take military action to punish the syrian regime, it could happen at any time. today, syrians are watching and they're waiting and they're wondering what, if anything, the assad regime might do to retaliate if there is indeed an attack. u.s. secretary of state john kerry says syria's use of chemical weapons is quote danger to our national security. fred is in lebanon, so, what are you hearing from the regime? >> reporter: the regime is saying in the form of the prime minister, fred, they are in a full state of readiness with

their finger on the trigger and to elaborate, they mean their antiaircraft systems. they said they've been building these for the past 20 years and they're highly modernized and they say they are ready to strike back if in fact syria is attacked by for instance, the united states. now, it's not exactly clear what they could do. certainly, their air defenses are fairly capable, but no match against anything that the united states has and also, if you look at the syrian air force, most of their planes are from the 1970s and '80s and that seems to be something many people on the ground know as well. many we're speaking to on the ground in damascus say they don't believe the u.s. will strike. there are some out there who aren't sure these strikes are going to happen and there are those who say they hope the strikes will be limited. of course, the obama administration has said it doesn't want to do that, however, people there are quite

anxious, quite nervous, but at the same time, you don't see masses of people fleeing, at least not from the government's side. >> keep us posted from your vantage point. appreciate it. weighing this options in syria. what happens if bashar al assad's regime falls? peter bergen joining us live. and the sister of james dimaggio speaks out. she says the man accused of murdering hannah's brother and mother are not the man she knew. [off screen] give me a kiss! [speaking mandarin] what do you think? do you like it? [off screen] happy birthday!

can you see that? [speaking polish] [off screen] did he apologize? [off screen] thanks, micah! [off screen] bye, guys. bye. see ya. oh my god! every day, more people connect face to face on the iphone than any other phone. i miss you.

with intelligence it says dead on, the united states seems braced to launch a military strike on syria. while the government says it's not about regime change, a strike will help the syrian rebel forces, but who are the rebels? taking on assad. joining us now is peter bergen. so, peter, are you able to answer, who are the rebels? >> they're a mix. one of the reasons that the obama administration's been so reluctant, there are more than 1,000 different sort of groups. the free syrian army, which is regarded as being more moderate, less antiwestern and then of course, you have the most effective fighting force,

al-qaeda. doesn't go by the name of al qaeda in syria. it goes by the name of al mussara and other names, but it effectively is a branch of al-qaeda in iraq. the most effective fighting force on the ground and is one of many reasons the obama administration has been so reluctant because at the end of the day, best he could do to overthrow the assad regime as well. >> but we've heard at least loosely from the white house that the objective here is not to overthrow the assad regime, but certainly, a strike will perhaps destabilize it or does this strike bode well for the rebels? >> well, i think it, during the course of a war, air strikes went on for 78 days, so if it turns out to be two or three days of strike, i think in terms of what happens on the ground in syria, that's going to be almost irrelevant. will it send a strong signal to assad not to use chemical

weapons? may be. but the administration right now ironically given their public position about this for a long time doesn't really want to overthrow assad because what would follow would likely be a you know, a country where al-qaeda controlled a good chunk of the country. maybe not the entire country, but the fact that they're the strongest fight iing force on t ground speaks for itself. >> so, you mentioned there are many factions involved in how the rebels are being represented, but if there are some who are indeed tied to al-qaeda, you know, how much more dominant might those rebels be over the other groups of rebels that are taking on the assad regime? >> i think there are, i mean, not my opinion. i think it's widely held view that the al-qaeda affiliate is the most effective fighting force for several reasons in syria. one, a lot of them have battlefield experience in other

wars, such as a iraq war. two, they're willing to sacrifice themselves in this struggle. they're willing to take great risks. three, they're regarded as being uncorrupt, which is disticket from other rebels. four, they seem to have learned from some of their mistakes that al-qaeda made in iraq. they're not imposing taliban style rule. they're not cutting down on relatively minor infractions. they are acting almost in a hezbollah like manner in which they're providing social services to the population, food, medical services, legal services. and that explains why they're being pretty effective, fred. >> okay. peter bergen, thank you so much. we'll be checking back with you. we just learned that the president of the united states will be taking to the air waves or speaking on this matter at 1:15 eastern time. we'll bring that to you. again, all of this on a day where the president is also

scheduled to have unclassified conversations, conference calls with republicans and democrats and we have learned that classified talks will take place involving members of congress and top level members of the white house administration. that will take place sunday, but headline right now in about an hour from now, the president, of course, will be taking to the air waves. at least do some sort of briefings on the syrian crisis and of course, we'll bring that to you. coming up, next, our legal guy, well, they are back and our first case today, a man sentenced to just 30 days for raping a teenager. they'll evaluate that case and what's next in it. but first, more than 40% of those released from california's juvenile justice system end up back behind bars within one year. our cnn hero witnessed this revolving door firsthand and she decided to give these kids some new options.

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all right. this just in. just a day after president obama says that any strike in syria would not be open ended, that it would be very limited, a very limited engagement and that he is also consulting members of congress, now, we understand in just about an hour or so, less than an hour from now, the president will be taking to the rose garden with a statement. our jill daugherty is at the white house for us now. so, jill, what's our expectation? >> well, this decision by the president to come out into the rose garden and make a statement comes right in the middle of a period in which they are consulting with members of congress. both the senate today and we were led to believe tomorrow.

there would be a classified briefing on capitol hill, so if that is case, then we would have to think what would the president want to say at this point. he might want to make the case more strongly. again, we do not know specifically what he is going to say, but remember, secretary kerry, secretary of state kerry, made the case in a more formal way and then the president came in yesterday making it in a less formal way, so now, the president is going to weigh in and some have been saying that it's about time that he actually make the case, so we will have to see. it's coming very soon. but this is the context in which the context is going to make these statements. >> this is very perplexing timing if the president is going to be making that statement and further stating the case on a day when these unclassified conference calls are taking place and as you underscore, a classified conversation would be

take i taking place tomorrow on capitol hill involving top level white house folks. it seems like a strange order of events, does it not? >> it does unless this is not working the way the white house wants it. unless there is much more convincing that has to happen and there are indications of that coming from members of congress, as well as some of the allies. some of the international leader that is the administration has been talking with. so, it may be part of that. that classified briefing tomorrow was to present the actual classified information, which members could not get just on a telethon, so that would also indicate they wanted to provide more intel to them to make the case. >> then i guess the symbolism that comes from the backdrop of the rose garden when the president makes this statement certainly can't be overlooked.

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just want to let you know in about 45 minutes from now, a scheduled statement coming from the president of the united states right from the rose garden. of course, we'll carry that live. president obama talking about the crisis in syria. 45 minutes from now from the rose garden. this just less than a day after the president spoke from the cabinet room describing what this strike could possibtential be, that it would be very limited. this is what he said yesterday. >> this kind of attack is a challenge to the world. we cannot accept a world where women and children and innocent civilians are gassed on a terrible scale. this kind of attack threatens our national security interests. by violating well established international norms against the

use of chemical weapons. by further threatening friends and allies of ours in the region like israel and turkey and jordan. and it increases the risk that chemical weapons will be used in the future and fall into the hands of terrorists who might use them against us. so, i have said before and i meant what i said, that if the world has an obligation to make sure that we maintain the norm against the use of chemical weapons. now, i have not made a final decision about various actions that might be taken to help enforce that norm. but as i've already said, i have had my military and our team look at a wide range of options. we have consulted with allies, we've consulted with congress, we've been in conversations with

all the interested parties. and in no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground, that would involve a long-term campaign, but we are looking at the possibility of a limited, narrow act that would help make sure that not only syria, but others around the world, understand that the international community cares about maintaining this chemical weapons ban and norm. but again, i repeat, we're not considering any open ended commitment. we're not considering any boots on the ground approach. what we will do is consider options that meet the narrow concern around chemical weapons. understanding there's not going

to be a solely military solution to the underlying conflict and tragedy that's taking place in syria. and i will continue to consult closely with congress in addition to the release of the unclassified document. we are providing a classified briefing to congressional staff today and we'll offer that same classified briefing to members of congress as well as our international partners and i will continue to provide updates to the american people as we get more information. >> so, again, that was friday afternoon. the president there in the cabinet room saying that he was considering a number of options as it pertains to the crisis in syria. that he is continuing to consult congress. that this would not be an open ended commitment, no boots on the ground and now, we understand 25 minutes from now, from the rose garden, the president will be making a

statement. unclear whether he will be making a stronger case about the u.s. military involvement, but you heard him yesterday, it may not be just the military involvement, but there are other options that the president, the white house, is considering and all this on a day when the president also underscoring his consultations with congress. there are unclassified conversations taking place today with democrats and republicans and we did understand that there would be some classified conversations tomorrow, but again, 45 minutes from now, we'll be taking live the president's live statement on the crisis in syria from the rose garden and then we also understand that just within minutes in new york at the united nations, there is also a statement being made be reporters there. we want to listen in right now. >> and angela king, the high representative for disarmament affairs. the secretary general met with miss king, who just returned from damascus and briefed the

secretary general on her trip and on the current status of the investigation. she reported there was a wide range of fact finding activities pertaining to the 21st of august incident. the mission will be in a position to transmit its conclusions to the secretary general as soon as it has received the results of the laboratory results of the samples. so he can promptly present the results to member states and to the security counsel. the secretary general expressed his sincere appreciation to dr. selstrum and his team, including the security personnel and ininterpreters and also praised

the -- world health organization for their extraordinary cooperation and thanked miss kane herself for her effective coordinate between the mission and government of syria, despite the extraordinary and difficult circumstances. just a couple of other points. simply to say that the secretary general did speak briefly this morning with dr. selstruck this morning. this was simply to say thank you to the team and the secretary general will be briefed in more detail by dr. selstrum tomorrow. that is being done by telephone. that's what i have for you tomorrow. and just to update you on one other aspect. the team now in the netherlands will be spending the day

kolatik collecting the samples and other evidence which they have prior to the testing in the laboratories in europe, so that's what i have at the moment and i'm happy to take questions that you may have. yes. please use the microphone. >> thank you very much for briefing us on a saturday. thank you. sir, yesterday, the secretary of state said it clearly there is nothing inspectors can tell them that they don't know already and he also explained that the mandate of inspectors does not include finding who used the chemical weapon, only if it was used or not. and that the administration had concluded that the weapons chemical weapons had been used. my question is why doesn't the united nation and the secretary general step up to the plate and

expand the mandate of the inspectors to include finding out who is the culprit that used chemical weapon because when asked this question to secretary general, he said he will give the evidence to the international committee and they will decide. we know very well that the division within the security counsel will lead everybody to incriminate the other side and it will be no nearer to finding out who used this. we need an independent, fair and partial like the u.n. to determine who are the culprits who used the chemical weapon. >> that's a very long question, but simply to say thank you for your vote of confidence in the united nations and that is precisely the point here. that let me say it very clearly and forcefully, that the united nations' mission is uniquely

capable of establishing in an impartial and credible manner, the facts of any use of chemical weapons based directly on evidence collected from the ground. with regards to the other part of your question, the mandate is the mandate. the team and the secretary general will abide by that mandate to be able to expectations of the international community come up with as i've just said, in an impartial and credible manner, evidence collected from the ground and then analyzed and those findings will be made as i've just said, just a little while ago, available to member states as soon as that analysis is completed. >> i understand this is the mandate, but while my question is why doesn't the united nations secretary general take the brave step of stepping to the plate and expanding the mandate to determine who did this because we all know there's

not accountability which the secretary general has -- >> you seem to misunderstand where the mandate derives from. the secretary general's mechanism as defined and you can read all the details about it online, derives from a general assembly resolution that was then subsequently endorsed by the security counsel resolution. therefore, i think you can see where difficulties might arise with changing the mandate. the mandate is roh robust and provides for the united nations to be able to provide in an impartial and credible manner. a picture of what happened and let's be also very clear. the secretary general and the team have stepped up to the plate already. let's not forget that these are scientists and technical and medical experts who braved sniper fire to go to collect samples and to interview

witnesses and survivors. i think i would say that's the definition of stepping up to the plate. yes, then to pan. >> we haven't learned yet who shot at the team when they were -- >> well, frankly, it doesn't matter who's shooting when you're under sniper fire going to a job. it does not matter who is shooting. i frankly don't care who's shooting. it's outrageous they were shot at. what's your question? >> what happened to the investigation in -- the first reported one and this is where everything was initiated. >> i'm glad you asked that because as i said yesterday and aisle happy to repeat it again, the team has given a very clear und undertaking to the syrian authorities that it will return, the team will return to conduct investigation into all the pending allegations, including

assad. as i just said, the team left syria this morning so that they could take the samples safely to the laboratories where they will be analyzed and of course, beyond the samples, there's an entire body of evidence, witness statements, interviews with doctors as well as survivors, all of that needs to be colated and in some cases, translated and analyzed. they have work to do, but will be returning to complete the allegations. >> given the time lapse, given the opposition has told -- for some time now, shouldn't they have tampered with the -- wouldn't you expect they have tamper wd the evidence? >> well, listen. this is an argument that's been put forward also with regard to hota and the team has been able to collect samples from the

sites both by medical samples and environmental samples and they are satisfy ied they have material that they can now angel ice and there are also many other ways to help to investigate the pending allegations as we've said before. already, the work had begun on analyzing and collecting information that it was possible to collect at a distance without being on the spot. i'm going to go to someone else, okay? please. blue tie. yes, you. >> did the secretary general try to convince the united states not to strike any time soon before the report of the inspectors come out? >> what we have said and the c secretary general has said publicly, is that the team needed time to do its job. it needs time to be able to analyze the information and the samples that it has collected.

and the secretary general has said repeatedly there is no al te terntive to a political solution to this crisis, overall crisis in syria. a military solution is not an option. yes. >> speaking of that time, is there any sort of time frame being given, maybe an earliest date or latest date, just is there any time frame being given for these results to be analyzed in the laboratories? >> we are not giving a timeline, simply to say that i can help you here. that the mission as i just said, left syria and arrived in the netherlands today. and it will then begin its evaluation of all the available material. all the available information regarding the hota incident, including the analysis in two

designated laboratories, but before the mission can draw any conclusions, the process must be completed and secretary general has requested for the laboratory phase to be expedited as much as feasible and as he put it himself this morning, when speaking with miss kane, whatever can be done to speed up the process is being done, but we are not giving a timeline. yes, pan. >> you mentioned yesterday that the secretary general in the p5 meeting which includes the united states and france, underscored the importance of the charter. is the secretary general reaching out to the u.s. and france, who have indicated the possibility of a military strike, so encourage restraint or to discourage a strike? and also, what are you doing for the 1,000 u.n. staff in syria to

protect them? >> i'm glad you asked that question and i'll deal with that first. i've seen all kinds of reporting suggesting that the departure of the chemical weapons team somehow opens a window for military action of some kind. frankly, that's grotesque and it's also an affront to the more than 1,000 u.n. staff who are on the ground in syria delivering humanitarian aid and who will continue to deliver critical aid. of course, it would be only prudent to to look at the composition of the team, that 1,000 plus, to see who is most critical. to the work that's being done, but i can assure you that with humanitarian work that has been going on in extremely difficult circumstances working with the

syrian arab red crescent and others to provide aid to millions of displaced people, not to mention those in the neighboring countries who are refugees. that work will continue. >> thank you. >> on the first part, i would simply just say what i suggest today, which is that the secretary general has underscored the importance of the charter. >> made any effort -- has he had any separate conversations -- >> i'm just going to stick with what i've said. yes. helpful colleagues. >> yes, very. can you give some examples of which u.n. humanitarian bodies have a lot of staff in syria and secondly, you said the secretary general was being briefed tomorrow, but the team -- >> no, by dr. selstrum.

>> is he briefing somebody else after that? >> meaning what? >> you, like me? >> we will certainly endeavor to provide a readout of that briefing. and with regard to the first part of your question on which humanitarian agencies under the u.n. umbrella operating there, wfp, unicef and others and i will endeavor to provide a more detailed list. obviously, we're in the going to get into staff numbers and so on of each individual agency, but simply to say critical staff who provide critical assistance will continue to do so. >> are they international or local or both? >> they are u.n. staff. yes. >> just, you said repeatedly, there is no timeline for these reports. this is regarding the chemical analysis of everything going on.

what about the interviews? do you have any idea when the interviews are going to be translated and available or is it going to go all together over the report? >> the latter. of course everything needs to be compiled into a report. as we said yesterday, there will be this report on the 21st of august incident. it hinges on the analysis of the samples and on the evidence witness statements that have been collected. yes, they need to be translated. and yes, they need to be compiled, but all that is is being put together and will be put together in that report on the 21st of august incident in that one report. >> that's the secretary general after this report will be submitted to him and he seemed

to expect that from the information of the where abouts of the orgin of the chemical weapons, more clarity will be put in who did that. he shows the curiosity when he talks to mr. selstrum, et cetera. >> the aim of the game here, the mandate is very clear. that is to ascertain whether chemical weapons were used and not by whom. and that remains the mandate. i'm going right back to the back of the room. yes, sir, right to the back of the room. what are you watching on the tv this time? >> nothing. there's nothing going on yet. 1:15 probably. can you tell us if president obama will meet in person with secretary general after he gets more details tomorrow from dr. selstrum and will he be meeting with the security counstcil may

on monday or tuesday after they establish the new president. do we know if there might be a meeting in person with him? >> that, i do not know. i can tell you that the secretary general has been in touch both with the outstanding president of the counsel. in other words, the current representative of argentina and with the incoming representative of australia. that's what i have at the moment and as regards, the first part of your question, i do not anticipate any meeting as you've just described. i would point out this secretary general is going to be attending the g-20 summit in st. petersburg. he announced that yesterday and that provides a good venue for meeting all kind of world leaders, but at this point, we do not know exactly, precisely, which leaders he will be meeting with. >> thank you, martin. can you tell us if the secretary general has spoken with

president obama today and if so, what did he say to him and secondly -- >> he has not! he hasn't spoken with him today. can you tell us what is the secretary general's position on whether a military strike would be legal, legitimate or helpful? >> i would simply say what i said earlier, that the secretary general has underscored the importance of the u.n. charter. okay. yes, please. >> yes, i'm wondering about the report that came out today from the veteran ap reporter in the middle east who interviewed many of the rebels and has said that the rebels had been behind the chemical attack. i'm wondering as far as the mandate goes, he claimed that the rebels told him -- >> i've answered that question with respect. yes, sir. >> martin, our eagle eyed camera man down in the lobby didn't see

this. miss kane come in today at about ten after 12:00. did they sneak in the garage, meet at his residence? how long was the meeting? >> i would simply say they met for just over an hour, but not in the garage. no. please. >> during the meeting today has miss kane described her view on the possible attack by united states or france? >> the focus was on the mission that's just been complete d in syria and the work that needs to now be undertaken to analyze all of the material, the evidence that's been collected during what was obviously an extremely arduous undertaking for the technical and scientific experts and for the support team around

them. including miss kane, but including ininterpreter tors, drive drivers, security personnel. if you look at it, if you look at the time frame, this was done in an extraordinarily swift fashion. extremely professional with a limited number of hours to be able to get what they needed. they believe they have got s samples they can work with and that's what they intend to do now. >> the focus of that meeting, but are there any reference from miss kane about possible outcome? military attack? >> i would just stick with what i've said. yes. >> martin, once the report of the inspectors would come out and the strike if it will happen, what will be the nature of the mission of the inspectors when they go back to syria? >> i'm not going to speculate at this point.

i will simply repeat that we have given an undertaking, the team has given an undertaking to the syrian authorities that it will return to complete its investigation. i've got time for two more questions. yes. >> russian president vladimir putin said that he asked american to wait for the outcome of this u.n. investigation and also, he asked if american has any other evidence to bring it to the u.n. what's your reaction to that? >> i don't have any specific reaction at this point to president putin's remarks. i've seen them, we have seen them. i would simply say again that the team had a mandated job to

do and is continuing with that job. now, what they need to do is to analyze the samples and work on all of the other material evidence they have collected so that they can come up with their findings as soon as it is feasible and as i just said, the secretary general has said that whatever can be done is being done to accelerate that process. last question. yes? >> a few days ago, said that he is almost sure that -- have you had a chance to talk to him and understand -- based on? >> well, i think my colleague has addressed that already and i would simply reiterate that -- >> sorry about that. just lost that signal out of the u.n., but you can hear during that briefing now that we understand the secretary general, ban ki-moon, has met

with the leading weapons inspector, all of the weapons inspectors who were in syria, to look at the evidence of chemical weapons, have now made their way out of the country, but ban ki-moon has met with angela kane apparently, the colating of samples is now taking place in the netherlands. all this taking place as about 15 minutes from now, we understand president obama will be taking to the rose garden to make a statement about the crisis in syria. but we understand from the white house that this will not be a statement about any military strike being imminent, but instead, this will be a statement to the american people. all this taking place just a day after the president made the statement yesterday from the cabinet office saying that this will not be an open ended strike. if it does indeed come to that, there will be no boots on the ground and then of course, the secretary of state kerry, underscoring that the president

will want to continue talking to congress as he has been doing this weekend and of course, to the american people. so now, that portion possibly taking place today from that briefing coming from other rose garden. jill daugherty is live for us at the white house. so, this statement being underscored that this will be a statement being made to the american people, so it sounds as though the president will be trying to make the case about the importance of where u.s. military action and diplomacy play in syria. >> what we were being told is this is not a statement by the president about any imminent military operations in syria. it is, we understand, an update to the american people about the decisions he is making about how to proceed. in other words, the way forward. it would be a step in advance of

what they said yesterday. they think they've made the case, but there are some who are not convinced. those briefings we have been talking about with members of the senate, both republican and democrat, are going ahead. we're told that the senate republican conference that was going to be happening right about the time now that the president's going to be speaking, that's pushed back, but it's still happening. that's not classified. and then there's another not classified, unclassified briefing by phone with members of the senate from the democratic caucus. and then, he appears tomorrow, sunday, that classifiy eiey eieg on capitol hill is going ahead as planned. so, again, stressing not a big announcement about any military -- it's him telling the

american people where he is in his decisions on how to proceed. >> and all of this, clearly the message being said in concert with the secretary of state yesterday, also spelling out all the reasons why the u.s. has to care about the crisis in syria, but at the same time, not compromising national security, but making it clear that this country is making decisions based on its own timelines, so the president is known to be very careful about decisions being made. kerry underscoring that, too, and again, the president then perhaps stating, making a case to the american people just 15 or so minutes from now. we'll check back with you. we'll have much more from the news room right after this. hey love. [off screen] there you are. [speaking german] hi, grandpa! [off screen] give me a kiss!

[speaking mandarin] what do you think? do you like it? [off screen] happy birthday! can you see that? [speaking polish] [off screen] did he apologize? [off screen] thanks, micah! [off screen] bye, guys. bye. see ya. oh my god! every day, more people connect face to face on the iphone than any other phone. i miss you.

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i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world to our special coverage this hour of the crisis in syria. president obama's about to make a major statement when it comes to syria. we expect him to be in the white house rose garden. there you see live picture frs the rose garden in about 15 minutes or so. we're told the statement will not necessarily suggest an imminent u.s. military strike, but rather an update about his