information on capitol hill involving the obama administration and national security. why now? why would this videotape be afforded to us, be revealed publicly like this when so many members of congress have not seen it behind closed doors? >> fredricka, that's a very good question, and the timing is of clear significance here as the president and his team make the case. not sure why it would be revealed now, but i can build on what david kaye said a moment ago. in our reports over the past few weeks on the release of sarin gas and its effects and the effects of chemical weapons. i also interviewed a chemical expert from the proliferation of chemical studies. the images we're seeing here, and the use of sarin gas, she also reiterated that, because we talked about chemicals she has seen and others, and she told me, quote, if you don't have a gas mask on in an incident such as this, your body will begin to

shut down. it's not just what you see on the videos with the twitching, and the convulsing, you will die within minutes. essentially your nerves shut down and you asphyxiate almost from within when you're subjected to enough amounts of sarin gas, especially, to do damage. and that appears to be what's consistent with these videos. >> so if no longer the dispute is what chemical weapons were used, the dispute still remains who is responsible? you know, the international community, including the u.s., is blaming the syrian government, brian, but then you hear russia, an ally of syria, saying it's the rebels. how does anyone go about proving who was responsible for launching chemical weapons? >> that's been the nagging question, fredricka, for more than two weeks now, claims that either side are responsible for this.

there is always the nagging issue of could this have been manipulated somehow by the rebels? the administration says absolutely not. the overwhelming evidence points to the syrian regime. you're talking about communication intercepts. intelligence on where the bombs came from, where they were aimed and where they were not aimed. the administration says that is all consistent in favor of a finding that it was the syrian regime. but again, the russians and others are still pulling us back to that other side with these kind of nagging issues and raising the specter of the possibility that this could have been the rebels. so that will always kind of hover over this as the administration continues to make its case this week. >> all right, brian todd, thanks so much. stand by. again, jake tapper with us, bringing us these images exclusively. jake, you mentioned these images are on youtube. they were put on youtube before or after this select senate intelligence committee were able to see it? >> no, all these images have been uploaded on youtube and were uploaded on or around

august 21st, the date of the chemical weapons attack. what's different is that it's not -- these aren't just videos on youtube that we've seen, these are ones specifically being shown to members of congress by the intelligence community ain classified briefings as the obama administration tries to make a case for why there should be strikes against bashar al assad. we've seen in recent days images of the brutality of the syrian rebels. one of those videos posted by the "new york times," actually from a year and a half ago, as opposed to -- or earlier this year, but in any case, the point stands, fredricka, which is that there are serious concerns about some of the rebels and the brutality that they are capable of. these are the videos being shown right now to members of congress in classified briefings, just on thursday to members of the senate intelligence committee and their staffs, and senator feinstein, after she saw the video, let me read what she

said. she said, i've asked the cia to prepare a dvd which would have specific instances of evidence, largely victims, and what we see means, what pinpointed eyes mean, what convulsions mean, and other aspects. in other words, feinstein wanted to see not only descriptions and verified what is real when it comes to the chemical weapons attack, but also what it means as we're showing the viewers and some images that are very difficult to take. feinstein went on, and of course she is a supporter of president obama's pitch to use military intervention in syria, that's a pitch that president obama is having a very difficult time making a sale on to congress and to the public, but feinstein went on and said, we received that this morning, referring to the videos we're showing. it's horrendous so we're having that dvd multiplied so we're getting it out to every member of the senate, perhaps members of the house, so they can at their leisure go through it and also what it means to make a

determination that chemical agents are used. so that's new. we were able to obtain this video before it was distributed to other members of the senate and other members of the house, and, you know, there are -- the response to this, in addition to just how shocking it is, fredricka, and how upsetting it is, obviously when information like this comes forward, you'll have to wonder, why is this information coming out? you were asking that before of brian todd. obviously there is a debate whether or not use of force is appropriate. i don't know that this video answers that question. it doesn't necessarily say who is responsible for these chemical weapons attacks. it doesn't say necessarily that a military intervention in syria is the correct answer to this. but a piece of the puzzle, as members of the house and senate make their determination, is this video being shown to them by the intelligence community, and we felt like the viewers and the voters and the citizens of this country deserve to know what their elected

representatives are being shown on either side of the equation when it comes to whether or not use of force is appropriate in syria. >> right, and all those questions at the core of this debate. jake tapper, thank you so much. stand by as well as brian todd and david kaye. we'll get back to you in a moment. we'll take a short break. much more in the newsroom right after this. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day.

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welcome back. i'm fredricka whitfield. in case you're just joining us, we're having an important debate on what the u.s. should do about syria. jake tapper joining me live now. jake, these images are very disturbing, but this is information that the senate intelligence committee have seen. >> that's right. cnn obtained videos that were shown on thursday to members of the senate intelligence committee in a classified briefing. 13 videos, specifically. the senators were told that the intelligence community of the united states has verified them

as authentiauthentic. they seem to show the victims of a chemical weapons attack. they said they were consistent with sarin gas attacks. cnn, of course, cannot independently verify the authenticity of the videos. we're reporting on them. we have verified that senators were shown these videos by the intelligence community as the obama administration tries to make its case for limited military intervention in syria. we've seen videos in the past few weeks about the barbarity of some of the rebels in syria. these are some of the videos also affecting the debate behind closed doors. before i show some more of these videos, i want to caution our viewers that some of these images are disturbing. they are individuals after having suffered a chemical weapon attack. so we'll start -- i think we cut off with video 7 last time. we're going to start with video number 8 of the 13.

this one was shot in the damascus suburb of muadamea. the intelligence committee told the senators that this is verified, this is legitimate shot then right after the chemical weapon attack. it appears to show a man frothing at the mouth next to a boy. as a federal weapons inspector told david kaye not long ago, it is consistent with an agent, possibly sarin. let's go to video 9 now. the staging of this video was outside damascus, and this shows a boy with an oxygen mask on his face. in a second we will see him struggling to sit upright. he is alive in this video. he's struggling to sit upright and he's crying with men who appear to be medical personnel. we'll see him upright in a second. it's about a minute-long video. many of these videos are very

short, two minutes at the longest. here he is sitting up, struggling, obviously, in a great deal of pain. the intelligence community told the senators that these videos, they believe, are authentic. they do not think they are staged. they do not think they are faked. they have verified them. let's go to video number 10 of the 13. video number 10, the stated location was kafur botna outside damascus. damascus an area where there is a lot of support for the opposition. this might be one of the most upsetting videos. here is a little boy one or two years old. they're going to give him oxygen, they'll give him water in a second. it's a 45-second video. a lot of these victims, obviously, were children, were innocents. the prevailing theory by the intelligence community is that the area of damascus which is supportive of the opposition of the rebels, that conventional

fighting was not sufficient to oust and defeat the rebels in damascus, and so the theory is that assad or his regime allegedly launched a chemical weapons attack against damascus to quell the rebellion, to quell the support for the rebels. i want to show you two more videos, fredricka, of the 13. this is video number 11 also from kafur botna. these appear, and i really want to caution our viewers on this one. these appear to be the dead bodies of syrians, many of them children. the some of them the elderly, some of the arabic we hear in these videos are prayers. some of the arabic we hear refer to the dogs of assad, bashar al assad, and some of the arabic in the video says, look what they've done to innocent people. obviously, these images are very disturbing. and then lastly, i want to show you video number 12 of the 13.

this is from duma outside damascus. it's a 28-second video. it just shows the conclusion of such an attack. bodies wrapped in shrouds, ready for burial. burial comes within 25 hours of death in the muslim religion. making their argument to senators of membeand members of house. many have not seen this through classified briefings, but they are being called authenticated, verified. there are different ways in which the intelligence community says they have authenticated them. some have to do with when videos are shot outdoors using satellite imagery and believing they were consistent, the terrain was consistent with what was seen on that day. some of the other ways that it was authenticated by the intelligence community includes the fact that some of these videos were shot by different

people from different angles and sounds and videos, sounds and images seen in them are consistent throughout. other ways that the intelligence community is telling members of congress that these are legitimate has to do with survivor accounts being consistent with what is seen in these videos. fourth, that they have verified that the places where these videos were shot and the times when they were uploaded have been verified through various means. and fifth, that the symptoms as we described earlier are consistent with not just a chemical weapons attack but a sarin gas attack. now, again, for the context of this, none of this proves that the assad regime was responsible for it. none of this proves that a limited military intervention as the obama administration is supporting is the correct response to it. but, fredricka, we at cnn believe that viewers have a right to all of the information available when it comes to this momentous decision that members

of congress will face. we've seen barbarous images of syrian rebels attacking individuals, and this is some of the other side, as it were, a call to act. members of congress are describing this, or at least diane feinstein, the chair of the intelligence committee, sees these images and says members of congress need to see these before they make their decision. again, we do not have a position on the war and whether or not assad is responsible. we in the media have not seen anything to prove that assad is responsible for these chemical weapons attacks, but we do know that it did take place, the attacks, and as members of congress debate what to do about it, this is being shown to their elected representatives, therefore, we are also showing it to the people who elected those representatives, fredricka. >> and perhaps, jake, this brings a bit more clarity as to what diane feinstein meant when she said you haven't seen what i've seen. just some members of the

intelligence committee and the senate side have seen this. jake, we're going to take a short break. we'll get back to you in a minute. as you said, the intelligence committee has authenticated, has verified that indeed chemical weapons, or at least this video bears the hallmarks of the use of chemical weapons, but still unanswered who would be responsible for the use of chemical weapons. we're going to be joined by former u.n. weapons inspector david kaye right after this.

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back now to exclusive information that members of the senate intelligence committee have seen very disturbing images of what appear to be a video of syrians exposed to chemical weapons. jake tapper breaking the story and bringing us these images along with this exclusive

information. also joined by washington correspondent brian todd as well as former u.n. weapons inspector david kaye joining us via skype from delaware. jim, let me begin with you. the video we are now seeing, some 13 images, video we're now seeing, members of the intelligence committee have seen it, but no members of the house, apparently, have seen it, at least not in any classified meetings? >> that's right, not yet. they will see it and they will get the opportunity to see it when members of the house reconvene on monday. but specifically, the senate intelligence committee chairwoman diane feinstein requested this video, this dvd, i should say -- i'm dating mi myself with the remference to video -- and this dvd has 13 short videos on it, with youtube videos that were uploaded, which the intelligence committee have

verified as authentic, not just a chemical weapons attack, but a sarin gas attack, very disturbing images, all 13 of them, showing children, showing innocent elderly people c convulsing, some appear to be dead from this chemical weapons attack. but no, the images have not been shown to members of the house of representatives who theoretically will vote as well on this war authorization or use of force authorization, i should say, but that will happen. but no, it was only shown to senators and their staff on the intelligence committee on thursday, that's right, fredricka. >> okay, brian todd, let me bring you into the equation. how, if your view, is video like this authenticated or verified? how is it proven or disproved that chemical weapons may be used? >> fredricka, we've been talking to chemical weapons experts the last two weeks on this, and consistent with what john kerry said when sarin gas has been

found on these victims. we asked the experts how do you verify that? the experts we spoke to, including the gentleman we have on with us, david kaye, also told us these videos were consistent with those symptoms. david kaye told me sarin gas, when you're exposed to it, does not burn the skin. amy smithson from proliferation studies says your body starts to shut down, your nerves start to shut down, you start to suffocate from within. the symptoms we're seeing in these videos, the difficulty seeing, the foaming at the mo mouth, the twitching, all consistent with exposure to sarin gas. and you have to take blood, hair, in and the deceased victims, brain tissue samples and run them through what's called a gas chrometography system that can verify that sarin gas was used in these cases, fredricka. >> david kaye, let me bring you into this. we have seen, meaning the

television viewing public, have seen versions of video that look very similar to this. frothing at the mouth, someone shaking, eyes die lalated. how are these videos different from what you've seen? >> they're very much the same because these videos have been uploaded to youtube. i would just add on the authentication, and particularly the authentication of who did it, there is something to look forward to in the u.n. inspectors' report. the syrians use a form of sarin called binary. you take two chemicals that are not lethal and you combine them and make sarin. you don't do that until you're ready to use it, because sarin loses its lethality fairly quickly. that chemical was one passed to the syrians by the old soviet union. it uses some stabilizers that

are authentic to syria and the former soviet union and which rebels in no days could they dream to come up with that. so i think when the inspectors are in court, you'll have one piece and you'll have one with more legitimacy that will come from the international group, not the u.s., that will point another finger directly at the syrian government. zoz davi >> so david, help me understand how the binary would be used in the 13 clips we've seen? >> bite nathe binary is stabili another few chemicals, but when they're used, and the inspectors did not get in until nine days after this attack, they have a signature of their own. unless you had used these precursors and a stabilizer in

it, you wouldn't have had it. so the sir yayrians by some rea stretch of the imagination was able to make their own sarin gas. it would not look like what sitter yathe syrians used. if the inspectors come up with these fingerprints, you will have another piece of evidence that says this must have been carried out by the syrian government. >> david, i think you have a question for him as well. >> sure. we are a visual species and we react to things we see very much. you were cautioning just now and earlier in the broadcast that members of congress, before they make any determination, should not rely just upon the very disturbing images that we see of children convulsing and suffering. what are some of the other evidence that you think members of congress need to know beyond, of course, tying this attack to

assad and the decision whether or not military intervention is the correct course of action, which is a whole different thing. but when it comes to watching these images, what else should they know about the attack beyond these videos? >> well, sarin is an agent which by its very nature is hard to handle, it's very dangerous. if you mishandle it even if you're the one going to use it. you need to know generally -- in the levy case in tokyo, that sarin was a crude sarin, not anything like this, did not have the lethality, did not have all the hallmarks, members of congress, and i think most americans are ready, are willing to stipulate this was a chemical attack, probably with sarin. i think almost certainly, actually, with sarin, and i think most people -- the missing piece of evidence that absolutely ties it is something that ties it to the assad

regime. if you recall, in the intelligence briefing information released by the u.s. government, they pointed to, we have missile tracks, we have conversations, but they release none of that information other than the assertion of it. in fact, for me, and this is a bit of personal history, it's remarkable as i go back and remember and think about sitting through colin powell's briefing at the security council, you got actual photos, you got actual communications intercepts. i also remember they turned out to be all wrong, but leaving that aside, the administration of george w. bush actually released a considerable amount of raw intelligence. the administration didn't, and i think it will be saved in this regard by if they wait around until the inspectors' report which will be in depth, authentic and from two separate analytical labs. >> and then quickly, david, if i may interrupt there, how long would it take before that report were available?

>> i suspect we're probably into five or seven days more. there are some things you can do that makes it a little quicker, but a lot is riding on this. i can speak of having been under this in the past. you're under a tremendous amount of pressure because the policymakers, the governments, won't answer immediately. you're also under professional pressure. you know the consequences of a mistake. you want to get it right. and so you go one way or the other, depending on the pressure. i think if you have it by the end of this week, they've done a very quick job of it. not only are you looking at blood and urine samples and hair samples, you're looking at the clothing, the most likely place to find clear samples of sarin is in clothes. >> i'm going to leave it right there. we're going to see you again at the top of the hour, however, former u.n. weapons inspector, david kay, brian todd, both joining us from washington. thank you very much, gentlemen. we'll see you top of the hour,

3:00 eastern time. low wage recovery. fast food workers walking off the job in protest, calling for the nation's capitol walmart to pay more for minimum-wage jobs. "your money" starts right now. 169,000 jobs added in august. but millions of americans say they need two of those jobs just to pay the bills. i'm john berman in for christine romans. this is "your money." [ chanting ] >> demonstrations across the country. call it the "do you want fries with that" economy. the middle income jobs the u.s. lost in the recession are being replaced by low-wage jobs. and it's not just fast food. part-time work everywhere in this economy