0 more time. >> harris: fox reports on the crisis in syria. from the white house, the pentagon and middle east. plans for a potential u.s. military strike on syria are clearly proving to be a tough sell here at home. arizona senator john mccain who ran against president obama for the white house warns a no vote from congress could be catastrophic. nearly two weeks has passed since the alleged massive and deadly chemical weapons attack inside syria. the u.s. claims the assault killed for man 1400 people including more than 400 children. and secretary of state john kerry says u.s. intelligence concluded with high confidence the syrian government was responsible. over this weekend, president obama has said he has decided to seek approval from members of congress before launching a strike. even though he beliefs he does not need their approval. today the president met with lawmakers including his former rival on the campaign trail. republican senator john mccain ace mentioned after their meeting. senator mccain said the administration is pushing a goal it says degrade and upgrade. >> we do want an articulation of a goal that overtime will degrade bashar assad's capabilities increase and upgrade the capabilities of the free syrian army and the free syrian government. >> harris: many lawmakers say from both sides of the political aisle have not made up their mind on the issue. some dradz say president obama needs to do much more to make his case. >> the president has to work diligently not just the president but his whole cabinet has to work diligently to convince not just the congress but the american people that this is in the interest of the united states. not just simply in the interest of another country. >> meanwhile, the syrian president bashar assad warns any military action could have consequences extending across the middle east, speaking to a french newspaper he compared to a powder keg adding in the event of a strike quote the whole world will lose control of the situation. chaos and extremism will spread the risk of a regional war exists, end quote. still, we are now getting word of more u.s. warships moving through the area including a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. we have team fox coverage with jennifer griffin at the pentagon on the next potential steps. first though ed henry at the white house. first it sounds like the president is counting on now republicans to go along with military action. >> that's right, harris, these are republicans in the house that the president has kept at arm's length for five years. they have been bitterly opposed to him on policies like domestic healthcare and policy agenda as well. today he had john mccain as you mentioned a rival from the 2000 will campaign here with lindsey graham, someone else who sometimes works with the president but other times is a feers critic on national security issues. can you see this official white house photo from the oval office, susan rice the president's national security advisor there as well. after the meeting lindsey graham said a number of things including that the president has got to step up his game and make a more robust case to congress and measure people. he also said that case has to be -- it's not just about syria but this is basically a proxy war with iran. take a listen. >> the goal of this is to put it in my lap. i welcome a discussion about what we should do. i have been telling you for two years what i think. so i welcome the decision and my colleagues to those who say in the congress syria is not our business. and you really honest to god don't understand the world you live in. >> mccain and graham say they will not support the president on this. they want to hear more details. they suggest the congress made more progress with them. cheered by the fact mike rodgers the house intelligence chairman believes the president will ultimately get the votes. some of these leaders are coming together. will those rank and file republicans will bitterly oppose the president's agenda we just don't know. >> that is not such a surprise as democrats clearly split on this as well. >> that's right. some of these democrats feel burned by iraq war and whole question of wmd now they see a much different, initially only consulting congress and then doing this back flip over the weekend and saying okay, i will seek a debate and your votes in congress and try to get your approval and some of these rank and file democrats after getting briefings from the administration over the weekend said they are just not convinced yet, take a listen. >> i am hoping to find an answer to the question is there another way to halt halt -- hold assaad accountable. this is what the international community wants to do. we want to hold him accountable. we want there to be some consequences. what is that? is that just going to war? is that bombing? is that killing more people? i'm not there yet. >> so the bottom line tonight is the president is stepping up this lobbying campaign. why? well, dong comes back to session at the beginning of next week and you know the president is getting on air force one tomorrow night to go to sweden and on to russia for the g-20 summit bottom line is he gone for the rest of the week another big leaders with leaders and parties. he sees the clock is ticking. he has to change some minds over the next 24 hours. >> harris: maybe now is the opportunity talk with rush sharks thank you. the pentagon hard at work laying out those plans for a possible military strike should president obama give the go ahead, team fox coverage continues with jennifer, how is the pentagon reacting to the delay? >> well, harris, on the one hand senior pentagon sources responsible for the planning say the delay hurts assad as much as it does them from argument taking point of view, assad may be be moving scud missiles and are artillery delivery systems around. that also allows the u.s. and its intelligence services to see those assets and target them. the real cost is money. it costs a lot of money to have your navy steaming through the medicine mediterran and repositioning aircraft carriers from the indian ocean. the other toll is exhaustion. mistakes can be made if those go orders are not given. >> we have been given some reason to believe that very serious strikes may take place as opposed to cosmetic. and i say that may because we now need to see a lot of the details. >> that was senator john mccain as he left the white house. but pentagon sources who i have spoke to senior defense officials say that the plan to strike the syrian regime is the same this week as it was last week and it is unlikely to change all that much in the coming days and weeks. >> you know, jennifer, i was just mentioning russia and the possibility maybe even the relations are strained with us and for them to talk at the g-20 summit and then learning a short time ago that they have sent another russian ship to the eastern mediterranean. >> well, that's right, and president putin ordered this russian spy ship to leave the area earlier today to head toward the eastern mediterranean there are are also russian warships. the russians man the air defense sources inside syria. one of the reasons it decided to order nimitz is to signal to the russians and iranians not to try to come to assad's defense, harris? >> harris: one more point that happened today that maybe you can explain to us. a web site that's used to recruit u.s. marines was redirected. well, the main u.s. marine recruiting web site was redirected for a few hours overnight to a site that showed photos of people in u.s. marine uniforms holding signs urging marines to refuse orders to attack syria. the sign said i didn't join the marine corps to fight for al qaeda in a syrian civil war. the syrian electronic army a brazen group of hackers claimed responsibility. another signed the decision to stall has given president assad a propaganda victory. harris? >> harris: i will talk with an upcoming guest who is a ventricle about this one as well. thank you. a top syrian official reaching out to the united nations against. why the president one of our key allies in the kate middle east does not mind congress running plan by congress first. details, stay close. weigh you down? as soon as you feel it, try miralax. it works differently than other laxatives. it draws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. don't wait to feel great. miralax.