0 contractor who sold secrets to the russians. cnn sat down with him for the first time, first on-camera interview in 28 years. that's this weekend right here on cnn. >> and that is it. it will be. that's it for us here on "new day." thanks for joining us. it's time for "cnn newsroom" with the one and only carol costello beginning right now. >> have a fantastic weekend. "newsroom" starts right now. happening now in "newsroom" -- >> sent you to stop the war. >> we cannot afford to turn syria into another iraq. john mccain gets blasted. >> how much is the life of american servicemen worth? >> war wary and done with conflicts. town halls becoming staging grounds. >> why are you not listening to the people and staying out of syria. >> voters voice opposition and their absolute mistrust of congress. >> this is what i think of congress. they are a bunch of marshmallows. also, evidence growing at opposition building. president obama losing support in congress for a strike. >> i'm still a no at this point. >> the case has not been made to me that this war has anything to do with us. and breaking overnight. new details on the scope of american involvement. a special edition of "newsroom" starts now. goodern moi morning, i'm ca costello. breaking news here at home. 169,000 jobs added last month to our economy, which brings the unemployment rate down just a notch to 7.3%. that is the lowest level since december of 2008. alison kosik live in new york to tell us about this friday's jobs report. good morning, alison. >> good morning, carol. this jobs report was a miss. what was expected was 185,000 positions were added in the month of august. instead, we got 169,000 and, worse, you look at the revisions for june and july. july was revised from 162,000 all the way down to 104,000. and then fewer jobs added in june, as well then first thought. a second point to make. 7.3%. that dip in the unemployment rate to 7.3% not really for the reason you want to see. the reason that happened is because 312,000 people dropped out of the labor force. they stopped looking for work altogether, either out of frustration or the fact that they just couldn't get a job. that's not the reason you want to see as behind, you know, pushing that unemployment rate lower. carol? >> alison kosik reporting live from new york for us. later this morning, president obama will hold an overseas news conference and much of the world will be waiting for comments on military action on syria. the issue has largely overshadowed the g-20 economic summit now wrapping up in st. petersburg, russia. this is the so-called class photo taken just a few hours ago. look at all those leaders. obama has used this meeting to rally international support for the strikes. jim acosta is traveling with the president. he joins us live now from st. petersburg. good morning, jim. >> goodern moing, carol. that's right, president obama going through the motions of this final day of the g-20 summit. you saw there just a few moments ago. he did pose for that class photo with the rest of the leaders here at the summit and he is also meeting with a variety of foreign leaders. he's having a bilateral meeting right now with the france president earlier this morning. but, carol, obviously, you do get the sense from hearing from top administration officials that he is not quite lining up all of the support that he is, he was hoping to get here in st. petersburg. deputy national security adviser ben rhodes held a gaggle earlier this morning and walk out with majority of the leaders supporting them for a strike against syria and they will go along with the united states in terms of supporting this notion that chemical weapons should not be used. but they're not really saying which countries are with them. which countries are against them. we might get that after the summit is over. that's an indication there that perhaps they don't have all the support that they would like to have. one thing we should poin out, though, this news conference that president obama is scheduled to have at 9:50 this morning that could move around depending on how the bilateral meeting that is hapwing the french president is going and whether or not that runs late. questi carol, the big question opposed to the president is if he will take military action if he does not get congressional authorization? you played some of the sound from the town hall meeting with john mccain and some other lawmakers who say they're not convinced. listen to what a deputy national security adviser tony blinken said earlier on npr. he said it is neither the president's desire nor his intention to move forward with the military strike without congressional authorization. that is a comment that i think is going to be posed to the president at this news conference, if a reporter gets an opportunity and our brianna keilar, my colleague, will be there at the news conference. >> she will be front and center. i understand she's ready and willing to ask that question. jim acosta reporting live. if the united states does, indeed, launch military strikes against syria, new talk that long-range bombers could take part in the mission. this is a b-2 stealth bomber returning. the bombers would be outfitted with missiles so they wouldn't have to enter syrian air space and air defenses. a u.s. official tells cnn that no decision has been made on which assets would be deployed. in the meantime, military action in syria is proving to be a very tough sell for a lot of americans. polls this week show more people oppose military action than support it. lawmakers now asking for insight at town hall meetings across the country. and in some cases, these town hall meetings are getting ugly. like this town hall with senator john mccain. from cnn affiliate knxv in phoenix has more for you. >> i understand your skepticism. >> reporter: senator john mccain trying to make the hard sell. >> i am opposed to having a single american boot on the ground. >> reporter: this is one of three town hall meetings the senator has to get voter insight on u.s. involvement in syria. >> i really want to hear from you, rather than you hearing from me. >> reporter: for a whole hour, voters didn't hold back. >> how much is the life of american servicemen worth? to me, it's worth a whole lot more in the situation. >> no contemplation of putting a serviceman or woman -- i'm telling you there's not, sir. so, that is not, that is not an argument we can have. it's not going to happen. >> we cannot afford to turn syria into another iraq. or afghanistan. i beg you. >> reporter: even syrian americans who were split on the issue hashed it out at the meeting. >> it's not true. you are lying. >> you cannot shut me up here like you did in syria. this is the united states. >> reporter: this navy veteran told mccain he felt there were better ways the government could spend money. >> i would much rather use our taxpayers' money to take care of our vets that are coming home from the two conflicts we have already been in. >> i appreciate your service very much and i appreciate your opinion. i don't think i need to be l lectu lectured, too, about veterans. >> reporter: some supported a u.s. attack. a majority were against any involvement. >> sounds like a lot of people are posing this. you sound like you have your mind made up. >> you think i would be having a town hall meeting if i had my mind totally made up? do you? >> no, i'm just asking. the prior statements you made. >> ask a -- >> is there a chance you would vote no on syria? >> thank you. so, let's bring in our chief congressional correspondent dana bash live on capitol hill. dana, john mccain stood there and told the local reporter that he doesn't have his mind made up, but he did vote for a resolution authorizing some sort of military strike against syria. >> he did. and he got some changes made to the point where he felt comfortable enough to vote for authorization. i should say, one of only three republicans who did so in the foreign relations ch s committe earlier this week. john mccain is probably one of the politicians most comfortable with that kind of town hall setting. the most experienced with tough questions, but even for him, wow. that was really rough. i want to play even a little bit more of the kind of questions that he got about syria. >> do you really realize what you're getting, what you're getting our country into with this war in syria? if you attack the syrians, who do you think they're going to take it out on? israel. why are you not supporting israel on this one? we should be backing israel, not turning away from them. and, second of all, this is what i think of congress. they are a bunch of marshmallows. that's what they are. >> well, sir, i'll be glad to get you information about the exact position of israel on this issue. you may be surprised. >> now for the record, i think it's fair to say that john mccain doesn't disagree with the fact that most of his colleagues or congress in general is perceived as a bag of marshmallows. more specifically, more importantly, just to the point that the voter that john mccain was making about israel, he's right. the state of israel does support this idea. they're not publicly talking about it. they're not beating the drums publicly because they understand the way that they're perceived in that region, particularly by arab countries and they know that wouldn't do any good. i can tell you that the american/israelis public affairs committee here in the united states, very powerful pro-israel lobbying group is being very proactive about trying to get members of congress who are undecided to vote for this. i talked to several of them who said they're getting calls from all kinds of people who are affiliated with apac and absolutely they are supported. but i just have to tell you that the fact that we ran so much of this john mccain town hall isn't so much because it was fascinating to watch, but it is very much because this is what we're hearing from republicans and democrats that they are getting from their constituents back home. the phone calls, the conversations at gas stations and super markets. this is what they're hearing and it is very much a big part of why the momentum that the president had earlier this week appears to have stalled. >> well, john mccain certainly has his own mind. do you think that if he experiences more like this, which he will, i'm sure his office is getting hundreds of calls, too. is it possible that he could change his mind and, if he does, that would really hurt the president's effort, wouldn't it? >> anything is possible. you heard what he said to that reporter there. i'm not going to second guess that. but what i can say is that there are few members of congress in eager party who have been more outfrund front and more aggressive in trying to get the president to be more aggressive himself with the foreign policy towards syria and with regard to military involvement in syria. he made very clear that does not include boots on the ground from his point of view. but he is one of the people who have been urging the president to get out there. i think it will be very hard for him to vote no and he has said many times over the past week that he thought that congress voting against the president after he already made this decision would be catastrophic. i'm just quoting his own words back it him. if he changed his mind, carol, yes, that would be a huge and surprising and detrimental to the president. >> catastrophic to the president. dana bash, thanks so much. cnn has been tallying how congress will vote and based on our figures, the president still has a long way to go to get the support he needs and in the house, 15 democrats and 8 republicans are backing the president. 23 democrats and 86 republicans are against president obama. and more than 300 lawmakers undecided in the senate 17 democrats and 7 republicans support a strike against syria and four democrats and 14 republicans do not with 58 senators still undecided. the president has a long, long way to go. you can see, by the way, how your lawmaker plans to vote on a strike against syria. go to cnn.com/politics and click on counting votes. you can click through the interactive tally by state, name and comments. the running tally based on public statements, press releases and interviews from lawmakers. still to come in "newsroom" lobbying lawmakers and world leaders. president obama makes his case against syria. so, what should he do if he doesn't get the support? 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