0 chemical weapons would be "totally unacceptable." a couple of days later, u.s. officials said weapons had been loaded into bombs. by march 12th, president obama said the u.s. was investigating reports that chemical weapons had been used but he said we needed to find out precisely whether that red line was crossed. in late april, u.s. intel said there was evidence of the sarin gas, but the evidence was not conclusive. the president talked about needed to establish a chain of custody, as you would in a courtroom. that brings us to this week. the white house announcing it now has conclusive evidence in its view that chemical weapons have been used and that they have killed between 100 and 150 people, in a civil war that's taken at least 90,000 lives. reports yesterday that we will now ramp up our response. at this point, we don't know exactly what that response will be. we have only heard from the deputy, we have yet to hear from mystery that there were reports they were using sarin gas. now that we've established this chain of custody to president obama's satisfaction, well, we need to sit around and think about it more. his criticism is why wouldn't the commander in chief have a plan for this, and now some are already saying because the reason is because this decision has a lot to do with politics. and it's not just a pure let me review the evidence and make a judgment call type decision. >> well, the president certainly has left himself open to criticism that he lacks political courage when it comes to foreign policy and national security. the unhappy end to the war in afghanistan. my goodness. he had two surges but wouldn't sell the war. the nsa surveillance that's going on now. he is letting others defend it for him. this genocidal civil war in home, everything is bad. he has this reverse midas touch that's going on now. every day is a new revelation that upsets a new group of americans. yes, by comparison, talking about the syrian civil war and as the president gets ready for some globetrotting, going to europe, going to africa, doing all of this stuff, he understandably might want to focus on other things. but i really, really think deep down, this is a manifestation of the weakening of the president and his weaker and weaker hand as he becomes easier to push into things like this, because let me promise you one thing, counselor, this town, official washington very much wants this war, regardless of what the folks at home think. >> all right, so if we are taking another step toward getting involved in a war, in syria's well-publicized civil war, why didn't we hear from the president? this is a telephonic conference call by ben rhodes, who most americans have no idea who he is. why wouldn't we hear from our commander in chief about, you know, he was on camera so many times talking about the red line, the red line, the red line. now we hear from ben the red line's been crossed and we're going to step up military efforts among other efforts, without outlining what they are? no one even knows who this guy is. >> well, and here's the thing. for the president, he doesn't -- remember gay marriage? the whole thing about the president becoming personally okay, his evolution that led him to being okay with same-sex unions, even though he thinks it's okay for states to pan the practice. they let joe biden -- they let hillary clinton and a couple other people act as sort of stocking horses to soften up the grounds, so that when the president himself had come in, the way had been cleared substantially. he's not into staking out a bold position and then rallying people to the cause. he lets other people suffer the consequences, test the waters, go ahead of him, and then once it's safe, he proceeds. >> i mean, it would be nice if we're going to get involved in one of the bloodiest civil wars we've seen in some time, as i say, tens of thousands of people have been murdered and tortured and now we're saying we're getting in to some extent, we're increasing -- so far we've been sending food packages. now they're talking about stepping up, not boots on ground, but something short of that. what is it? it would be great if we could talk to the commander in chief about that. it would be great to hear from him. on what exactly he is thinking about before he goes and, you know, talks to the friends in europe about what they think. but so far, that's not happening. chris, thank you. >> yes, megyn. >> we'll have much more on this when our full panel joins us at 2:30. where is our commander in chief? what is he considering? why doesn't he discuss it with the american people before he talks about with it the g8? the assad regime reportedly has guidance to the agents in cincinnati reviewing the processing of tea party applications, among other duties. she was also the one who sat in on all the meetings that the inspector general had with the low level pelosi. she was their boss. he was criticized for that saying if you want to ask the employee who was responsible for all of this, it's probably not a good idea to have -- actually their boss's boss sitting in on the meeting. what if it was her? what are they going to say, right? we told you earlier that she had left the position, but the irs refused to confirm the circumstances. well, she's been fired. meantime today, we are learning that the fbi has yet to contact any, as far as we can tell, of more than two dozen tea party groups who say that they have been targeted by agents working under holly paz, and yesterday, the head of the fbi, they're supposed to be coordinating all this, had few answers when congress grilled him about what they have learned in their month-plus investigation so far. listen. >> what can you tell us about this? have you found any -- have you found the now infamous two rogue agents? have you discovered who those people are? >> needless to say because it's under investigation, i can't give out any -- >> can you tell me some basics? can you tell me how many investigators you've assigned to the case? >> may be able to do that, but i'd have to get back to you. >> can you tell me who the lead investigator is? >> off the top of my head. >> the most important issue in the front of the country, you don't know who's heading up the case, who the lead investigator is? >> at this juncture, no, i do not know. >> we'll speak with congressman jordan when he joins us live next hour about that exchange and whether he is satisfied with what the fbi director testified to. fox news alert now. we are following new developments out of south florida where dozens of people were hurt after a deck collapsed at a packed sports bar outside of miami. a live presser news conference expected to begin in moments. phil keating is live at the scene. coming up. and the obama administration and fema standing firm, deciding not to provide any more disaster relief to a community almost levelled bay industrial blast. we'll talk to the mayor of west, texas, about their outrage at fema. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn? yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. 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