Obama’s top national security aides planned to hold the first of two days of weekend briefings for Congress. And the president and top aides were expected to continue consultations with foreign allies.
Senate Republicans and Democrats were to get separate briefings on Saturday. House members of both parties received an invitation to attend a members-only classified briefing at 2 p.m. ET Sunday.
It was not clear what the weekend sessions meant for the timing of a possible attack. Obama has signaled that he does not think he needs explicit congressional authorization to make war on Bashar Assad’s regime — but it seemed somewhat unlikely that the president would pull the trigger before the Sunday briefing.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral James Winnefeld, were to update Senators via an unclassified conference call "this afternoon," a senior administration official said.
