by the regime. they also put out a map showing different locations around the capital of damascus where they believe people were affected by the chemical weapons attack. they say that is evidence of a widespread indiscriminate attack like the one that they suspect the syrians of carrying out earlier this year, jessica. >> devastating information. i'm curious, does the administration say they know what assad's motivation may have been for a chemical weapons attack? >> reporter: well, administration officials on a conference call earlier this afternoon with reporters, jessica, said that they believe what the syrians were essentially doing was executing a military maneuver, that they believe that the syrians were seeing the rebels advancing toward the capital city of damascus and that they launched the chemical weapons essentially to keep the rebels at bay, and i talked to a white house official about that report earlier this afternoon, and that official said to me that they believe that this presentation, quote, exceeds expectations, that the ticktock of information was