This is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockerfeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Im matt lauer. Im Savannah Guthrie along side al roker and Natalie Morales. Were so happy to have you back. Its really fall out. Its back to school here. My kids at home. Sorry about that. Back to school day. Did you get a new lunchbox. I did. I got the star wars one. Oh, cool. Dont leave him hanging. Meanwhile, this did seem like a good idea back in august, didnt it . Were waiting for our new set. I had a dream about it over the weekend. I had dreamed it had a jacuzzi. Did it . Nice. Well find out in about a week they say. Mean team, wooif got a lot of news to get to. Were going to begin with air strikes in syria. Intensifying in washington as Congress Ends its summer recess today and prepares to vote. Peter alexander is at the white house. Peter, good morning to you. Good morning. Within the last couple of hours secretary of state john kerry traveling this morning in europe said syrian president Bashar Al Assad could avoid a military strike by turning over all of his chemical weapons within a week but he was sure that would never happen. Kerry was responding to assads latest comments at that time american evidence of chemical weapons use is, in assads words, a big lie. The white house is launching its biggest congressional push since the fight over healthcare. Reporter facing one of the most crucial weeks of his presidency and skepticism from lawmakers, president obama jump started his personal effort to convince congress to strike syria. Joining a dinner sunday at the Vice President s residence with key republican lawmakers. We cannot turn a blind eye to imagines like the ones we have seen out of syria. Reporter his weekly address previewing tomorrow nights primetime speech and today hell sit for national tv interviews. Meeting in london this morning, secretary of state john kerry tried to dispel any doubt. The chemical weapons in syria we have tracked for some period of time now are controlled in a tight manner by the assad regime. With civil war echoing around him, syrian president Bashar Al Assad is trying to fend off an american attack warning of retaliation if the u. S. Strikes. In an interview with cbs news denying responsibility for gassing his own people. But u. S. Government Officials Say they authenticated these 13 videos after last months chemical weapon attack near damascus. The clips not independently authenticated by nbc news will be shown to house members during a classified meeting today. The question then becomes what are the consequences for him for having done this and what does the world read to how we react to it. Reporter still, many in congress question u. S. Intervention. Little wars start big wars and we have to remember that and i think we have to be very cautious. Make no mistake about it. The minute one of those cruise missiles lands in there, they are into syrian war. White house advisors acknowledge they havent done a good enough job clarifying their position. Demonstrating the consequences of inaction and why American National interests are at stake. Theyll try to do that over the next 24 to 48 hours. The question now is whether its too late. All right. Peter alexander at the white house for us this morning. Thank you. Chuck todd is nbcs chief White House Correspondent and political director. Chuck, good morning to you. Good morning, sir. The president is going to be taking his case to the American Public over the next couple of days with a series of interviews with networks and speech to the nation. Hell be talking to members of congress. How worried are they . Very worried. If you look at the Public RelationsCampaign Going on over the last 48 hours and the next 48 hours, theyre rolling out Hillary Clinton to say something. She coming to the white house for another event but she is now going to talk about syria because theyre trying to lobby democrats. Youve got the president doing all these interviews today and the speech to the nation tomorrow. You have Denis Mcdonough doing what he did yesterday and all the talk shows. Its not that they believe they need congress on this and want to punish assad and syria policy but they realize a loss like this could be politically crippling to him all over washington on all the different battles he has coming in the next six months. As you say that, let me ask you this, if the numbers, theyre all over the place but they seem to be leaning heavily against an air strike in congress, in terms of the votes that are already lined up. Is there an escape hatch for the president . Is there a way for him to save face politically if this vote goes against him . Theres a couple of ways. We already heard john kerry, the ultimatum. Thats another way of buying time. The french already said who are supposedly going to be with the United States if an attack happens said lets delay an attack and wait for the United Nations. If they know theyre going to lose, a call to wait for the United Nations investigation to be complete and the whole report come out. Thats one way to delay. The other option is finding a way to pass something in both houses. Even if they dont match. They dont ever try to bring them together but then they can say well, we got some support to do something. Real quickly, this final push to change opinion in congress and in the American Public. Do you think the centerpiece of the president s comments will be if we let syria get away with it, watch out for iran . I dont think the iran argument is going to be effective with the public. However i think the iran argument is effective politically in capitol hill. You can bring in israel if you consider yourself a proisrael member of congress you should vote for this. The patriotism pitch we heard, the other day in the president , it is americas duty to do this whether we like it or not, thats what the public is going to hear tuesday night. Chuck todd, thanks as always. Weve been asking you to weigh in. Sh chuck todd, thanks as always. Should the u. S. Intervene militarily. So far more than 80,000 of you answered on facebook with about 90 saying no and well be tracking the global conversation about syria on facebook all week long. To voice your opinion head to nbc news. Com taking sides. Meantime, a programming note. Ill be sitting down with president obama later today to talk about syria and this vote on capitol hill. You can see it tonight on nbc news with Brian Williams and of course much more tomorrow on today. We look forward to that. Natalie is here with another dangerous wildfire out in california. Its the season of the wildfires. Certainly is. Absolutely. Big concerns over the fast growing wildfire outside San Francisco. The blaze broke out sunday and quickly then spread to 800 acres. Dozens of homes have been evacuated. Firefighters have also been dealing with triple digit temperatures. The blaze there now is about 10 contained. Officials are trying to find out what caused a horrifying accident sunday on a ride in connecticut injuring many children. Ron in is in norwalk, a frightening time there. This ride surged to a stop midride causing a frantic chaotic scene. 18 people, mostly children are recooping this morning after suffering minor injuries when an amusement ride at a connecticut festival collapsed sunday afternoon. The ride lost power causing riders to hit one another and the ride itself. It was so frightening seeing kids screaming and flying off the ride. Pure anxiety and hysteria. It was devastating you. Reporter several of the riders were treated at nearby hospitals but all injuries were considered nonlife threatening. The rides were owned and operated by stewart amusement company. Preliminary investigations show it suffered a mechanical malfunction adding our first and only concern is for the wellbeing of those involved and their families. Were continuing to cooperate with authorities as they investigate the root cause of the accident. Police said riders fell to the ground but later said that wasnt the case. Frightening moments for all of those involved. Good news, everyone is safe. Ron, thank you. Also a scary time for passengers on a thai airways plane. It skidded off a run way injuring 13 passengers. Officials blame a landing gear problem. Passengers were evacuated down emergency slides. A new study may fuel more debate about mammograms and when women should start getting them. Many women diagnosed with Breast Cancer before the age of 50 had never been screened. They suggest earlier regular mammograms for all women. More on this later on in the program. Gas prices are inching higher. Gas prices have risen 3 cents a gallon over the last two weeks to an average 3. 58 a gallon for regular. Gas is 25 cents a gallon cheaper than yesterday. At the u. S. Open today they go at it in the mens final but last night another huge win for serena williams. She won in three sets to win her 5th womens singles title at the u. S. Open. Her 17th major title overall. Thats how you celebrate as a champ. Congratulations. You can call her queen serena now. I used to have long nails before i watched that. Two hours and 45 minutes. This is the second major title she won in three weeks. She won the today show challenge. Interesting that you brought that up. Yeah. Way to go. You warmed her up, matt. Meanwhile, it feels like a i know students across the country have been back in school for weeks. Here in new york they go back to school today. It feels like a back to school day. Temperatures are approaching 100 degrees and we talk about the reminisces of what happened in utah, it left all the vegetation gone. They got an inch or two of rain in alpine, utah. Tons of mud and debris for the third time in three weeks they have seen this flooding. And then back to the fire in california where it continues to burn. The big problem is we are just heading into the heart of wildfire season. So lets look at the weather conditions for all of the folk there is in Northern California today. We are expecting the winds to continue. They will be about 8 to 12 Miles Per Hour but its going to be hot with temperatures up into the 90s. We also have a Tropical Storm out there. Tropical storm humberto. Its moving west at 12 Miles Per Hour. If it becomes a hurricane by wednesday morning at 8 00 a. M. , that will, again, then tie the record for the latest hurricane ever. That was back in 2002 with hurricane gustof. We asked people, if you could get paid to do something you really love, what would you do . [ woman ] id be a writer. [ man ] id be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] id be an architect. What if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you . When you think about it, isnt that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love . Good morning to you. Im meteorologist christina loren. Taking a live look you can see the bay bridge, all of the smoke from the morgan fire. Were going to give you an update in about 15 minutes on nbc bay area. Its going to be hot in livermore, 92 in san jose, 86 along the east shore, 87 oakland and hitting 78 degrees in San Francisco. Through the rest of the week temperatures drop off. Thats your latest weather. Savannah. We have details on a Youtube Video on friday that is getting a lot of attention. An ohio man posted it confessed to being drunk during a deadly crash. He could be indicted today. Kristen dahlgren is at the courthouse in columbus. Reporter vaufz savannah, we have breaking news. We learned that Matthew Cordle has been indicted on vehicular homicide. He made clear in the video he made himself. He does not intend to fight. The confession has been viewed over 1 million times since it was posted last week. I made a mistake and got in my truck. Completely blacked out and decided to drive home. Reporter it begins with the face obscured and face altered. My name is Matthew Cordle. On june 22nd, 2013, i hit and killed vincent. Reporter he was a 61yearold navy veteran and photographer and father of two. Killed when cordles truck slapped into his jeep at 2 20 in the morning. Cordle was speeding and driving the wrong way. The video was surprise to cordles defense attorney. In my years, i never met prior to charges being filed accepted responsibility. The compelling statement by the offender with a goal of deterring other people from drinking and driving. Almost like a Public Service announcement. Reporter the video, cordle says thats why he is speaking out. Im begging you, please dont drink and drive. Reporter but vincents daughter says the video is quote, misleading. It is so he will get a lighter sentence. Cordle has been charged. He is expected to turn himself in. If he is convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison. Kristen, thank you. We want to turn to Buckingham Palace that led to an embarrassing situation over the weekend. Nbcs Michelle Kosinski is there with more. Reporter security is tight outside the palace. If we take a step away from our designated camera area, police are here in two seconds. It is mistifying that an intru e intruder got inside and then it was Prince Andrew. If you believe british papers, Prince Andrew was furious about what went on wednesday as he strolled along in the palace garden. Armed Police Stopped him yelling put your hands up and dead on the ground for half a minute. Now Scotland Yard has apologized and saying no weapons were drawn or force used. Prince andrew responded. Police have a difficult job to do. Sometimes they get it wrong. Im grateful for their apology. They have to follow procedure. One incident, the queens dresser forgot her security pass. She left it upstairs. She will go back up. Started to go past the police man and pushed against the wall. Prince andrew was not allowed in. Reporter this was one strange week. It emerged that a 37yearold dee jay may have scaled one wall 12 feet high and kicking in a door and making his way according to reports inside a state room. He was about to smash through the glass when Police Caught him. The second man caught outside the palace. The target . The spectacular crown jewels on display in the state rooms. The only way you will completely guard the queen or the president in the white house is if you erect a 50 or 60foot fence with guard dogs and thousands of guards which is unacceptable. Reporter security will never been 100 here. In the past, people have gotten on the roof, balcony and once in the queens bedroom while she slept. Usually the security is scaled back when the royal family is not here. They were not on monday. Back to you. Michelle in london, thank you very much for the time in the queens bedroom. That is a big oops. That is. That has to have happened a long time ago. Exactly. London, as we all know, was the home of the summer games last year. Games will be helped in tokyo in 2020. Ann thompson has more. Good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. You know, tokyo won the bid for the 2020 games by promising the Olympic Committee that the games are in safe hands. The theme is discover tomorrow. That is boosting japan today. Tokyo. Reporter to understand japans reaction to tokyo winning the 2020 games, just remember what happened here two and a half years ago. The earthquake and tsunami that killed 15,000 people. Now this nation on the cusp of an economic recovery has reason to celebrate. Today, the japanese stock market hitting a fiveyear high. In the shopping district in ginza, this woman says it is promise. Since the tsunami and earthquake, tourism has dropped. She hope was the olympics, people will come and learn tokyo say great city. When they come, they will see wrestling. It beat out softball and baseball to remain in the olympics. It is another statement to say today is the most important day in the 3,000 year history of our sport. Reporter an olympic sports since the ancient greek games. Now in japan the work begins. The weeks of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains. The Prime Minister promised the Olympic Committee the problem would not affect tokyo. This nation hosted the two Winter Olympics in 1964 and prepares to welcome the world again. The international Olympic Committee has one more piece of business. That is to choose a successor to president jacque roge. Savannah and matt. Thank you. What do you think . You, me and spandex . Yes. Wrestling is back. Go give it a shot. Coming oh, there you are. We need to show this video . We look 60 years old. Im coming for you. Coming up, we take a turn with the interview with anthony weiner. Does he have any regrets . And alarming news about the nbc reuters investigation. It helps adoptive parents here in the u. S. Find homes for their children. This is today on nbc. There are so many things that we do on a daily basis. We run errands. We run to the grocery store. In fact, the average american drives fewer than 29 miles a day. The 100 electric nissan leaf goes twoandahalf times that on a single charge. Its a car. It just doesnt take gas. [ farrar ] so think about where you go in a day. 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