Biden's Pardon Backlash, Protests in Georgia, Offensive In Syria
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President Biden is getting blowback for his decision to pardon his son. Look, you understand his feelings as a father, but he shouldn't put those aside. Some critics think the choice could upend his legacy. I'm Amy Martinez, that's Leila Fadl, and this is Up First from NPR News.

A nearly 14-year civil war in Syria was frozen in an unsettling stalemate, then a rebel offensive in Syria against the government shook the status quo. How opposition forces are taking advantage of Syria's distracted allies cut up in other conflicts. And protesters in Georgia are calling for elections as the government suspends talks for membership to the European Union. They stole our voice, they stole our future. And...

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President Biden came into office promising to respect the independence of the justice system. But this week, he did something that his critics and even a few of his allies say undermines his arguments that no one is above the law. He pardoned his son Hunter after saying many times he would not.

Good morning, Asma. Good morning, Leila. Okay, so the president signed this full, unconditional pardon for his son. Tell us more about how this is being received. So,

So it did not come as a complete surprise, but the reaction has been strong. Mona Charan is a former Republican who a couple of weeks ago, worried about this possibility, wrote a piece for the anti-Trump publication called The Bulwark, saying President Biden don't pardon Hunter. So I asked her what she made of the president's decision. Look, you understand his

Biden ran on preserving democracy and the rule of law, and he was a former chair in the Senate of the Judiciary Committee. Trump has long insisted the Justice Department is being weaponized against him and his supporters. He's been saying that the Justice Department is being weaponized against him and his supporters.

And now Biden is saying his son was unfairly targeted by the justice system. As you can imagine, Republicans were quick to criticize the president. House Speaker Mike Johnson explicitly blamed Biden for damaging trust in the justice system. OK, so you mentioned that some Democrats are trying to argue that the other side is worse. What are other Democrats saying?

To be clear, Biden has many defenders in his party who say that he made the right move and reject that what Biden is doing is somehow equivalent to what Trump has done. But some Democrats are publicly frustrated by the president's pardon. They point out that the president's son, Hunter, was convicted by a jury of his peers. I spoke to Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado yesterday.

He told me there's already this feeling in America that powerful people live by a different set of rules than normal folks. And this feeds into that. He also told me that he's worried about how this could embolden Trump.

I am worried that one of the things that will come from this is that the next president, who himself is not committed to the rule of law at all, will use President Biden's pardon of his son as a cudgel and as a precedent to erode the rule of law.

And he's not alone. The governor of Colorado said it will tarnish Biden's reputation. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan said it erodes faith in government and described it as an improper use of power. One reason why this is also top of mind to Democrats is that Trump has said he'll pardon January 6th rioters on day one.

And Trump's first response to the news of Hunter Biden's pardon was to again refer back to those January 6th rioters. He sees those as political prosecutions. This pardon could make it harder for Democrats to criticize Trump if he moves forward with that pledge. And really quickly, how is the White House defending this decision?

We haven't heard from the president directly since he issued a press release about the pardon Sunday night. He's in the country of Angola for the next couple of days. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did tell reporters on that foreign trip that they feel that Hunter Biden was singled out because his last name was Biden.

Over the last few months, she has told reporters that a pardon was not in the works. And so she's facing a lot of questions now about the administration's credibility over the issue. And PR's Asma Khalid. Thank you, Asma. Good to speak with you.

From afar, the rapid advance by rebel fighters in Syria seemed to come out of nowhere. Yet this is part of a series of events in the Middle East that have been taking place for more than a year now. Collectively, they have destabilized the wider region and helped reignite a civil war in Syria that had settled into a years-long stalemate. For a closer look, we're now joined by NPR national security correspondent Greg Myrie. Hi, Greg. Hi, Layla. Okay, so let's start with a

quick update on the latest fighting in Syria after this rebel offensive began. Where do things stand? Right. So the rebels have effectively captured Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, which is in the northwest. And they've been pushing south now for several days in the direction of the capital, Damascus, though that's still quite a distance away. Syria's government army is trying to regroup. Syria is getting at least some help from its traditional allies.

Russia is carrying out airstrikes. Iran is trying to rally diplomatic support. So right now we're watching to see if the rebels can continue to gain ground or if the Syrian army, along with its allies, can stop the advance and mount a counterattack. Now, this isn't happening in a vacuum, right? What other events are linked to what we're seeing in Syria?

Yeah, Leila, I think we really need to begin with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th last year. The very next day, the Lebanese group Hezbollah joined in, firing rockets into northern Israel as a show of support for Hamas in Gaza.

And then the fighting kept spreading in the region. We saw the first ever direct confrontations between Israel and Iran. And despite all this fighting in Syria, President Bashar Assad tried to keep a low profile. He wasn't saying much. He didn't want to get involved in the surrounding conflicts.

Now, Assad has been accused of widespread abuses and atrocities since Syria's civil war began in 2011. But the war has been on a low simmer for the past few years, and Assad wanted to keep it that way. But what sparked this new round of fighting?

So I put that question to Paul Salem. He's based in Beirut with the Middle East Institute. He drew a series of connections that followed the Hamas attack on Israel last year. In Israel's large-scale retaliation, it has dealt a staggering blow to Hezbollah in Lebanon. And Hezbollah in Lebanon, which was one of the main fighting forces that saved the Assad regime from collapse in 2015, they are no longer really available to do that.

Also, Iran itself, they really are on the back foot as well. So the rebels saw Syria's allies weakened and distracted, and they launched this offensive against the Syrian government troops. And the speed of this rebel advance has really surprised most everyone.

Yeah, I mean, this stunning takeover of Aleppo, can it keep going? Do the rebels have the firepower to keep going? You know, it's not clear. The rebel force is known as HTS. It's an Islamist group once linked to al-Qaeda. It's cut those ties, but it still wants to establish an Islamist state. The group isn't claiming territory as fast as it was a few days ago, and it could become stretched too thin if the Syrian forces can regroup.

Okay. Can the Syrian forces, the Syrian army regroup and counterattack?

That's really an open question. Paul Salem says Syria's allies are providing some help. Russian air forces are already pounding areas in what's called the rebel-held areas. Iran is already moving allied militia forces to Syria. I wouldn't be surprised to read reports that Hezbollah is moving fighters from Lebanon to Syria as well. But he stresses that this help is expected to be limited. Absolutely.

That's NPR's Greg Myrie. Thank you, Greg. Sure thing, Layla. Thank you.

A political crisis is deepening in the country of Georgia. Yeah, for much of the past week, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets. At issue is a government decision to suspend membership talks with the European Union. And as a former Soviet state, some fear the country could be slipping back into Russia's orbit. NPR international correspondent Charles Mainz is on the line from Moscow, but recently returned from reporting in Georgia. Good morning, Charles. Morning, Leila.

So what's the latest with the protests?

Well, it was another tense night in the capital of Tbilisi, but there seems to be a pattern emerging. Every evening, mostly peaceful protesters, now in the tens of thousands, gather outside the parliament. And every evening, we see heavy police presence disperse them using tear gas and water cannons. And then things seem to devolve into more pitched battles between smaller groups of demonstrators who clearly came prepared. They're wearing gas masks, armed with pyrotechnics, in other words, fireworks, that they shoot back at security forces.

And there have been reports of injuries from both sides, including over 100 police. We don't have figures for the protesters, but there are clearly more. And at least 220 people have been arrested so far, some amid some pretty aggressive policing. Remind us, how did this all start? Well, you know, you mentioned the decision to suspend talks with the European Union. The government indeed said it won't engage with the EU until 2028.

As to why, the answer lies in recent parliamentary elections. An October vote in Georgia saw the ruling Georgian Dream Party claim victory with some 54% of all ballots, a result that was certified, by the way, by the election commission. The opposition argues those results were rigged.

And as of last week, the European Parliament agreed. They're calling now for a do-over. That's infuriated the Georgian Dream government, but of course also galvanized supporters of the opposition. People like Bochum Sikoladze, a sailor from the Georgian Navy I met at an earlier rally. He told me he'd always hoped the crowds would come. They stole our voice, they stole our future.

And we do not accept that. We'll stand here, how long it takes. I'll protect my country, I'll protect my voice. And I'll be glad if many, many people will join us. Was there a larger significance to the vote?

Well, you know, it's important to point out that even before these protests, this election was seen by the opposition as a critical vote to get Georgia back on track with the EU and the West in general. Over the past year, Georgian Dream has legislation and positions that seem to echo Kremlin policies that have really been used to crack down on freedoms here in Russia. Has that fed the impression of a Kremlin hand in a lot of this?

Well, you know, clearly the opposition and in particular the country's pro-EU president, Salome Zor-Rashidi, thinks so. Whether or not that's true, they vamp these claims in order to rally the West to their cause. And to a degree, it's working. The U.S. froze a strategic partnership agreement it had with Georgia. Baltic countries, of course, also former Soviet republics, have imposed sanctions on Georgian Dream's leadership.

But Georgian Dream is also digging in. The prime minister has vowed no negotiations with the opposition, and the government argues its problems with the West are overhyped and really temporary. They argue things will quickly settle down once Donald Trump gets into office in January. That's NPR's Charles Maines in Moscow. Thank you, Charles. Thank you, Leila.

And that's Up First for Tuesday, December 3rd. I'm Leila Falded. And I'm A. Martinez. For your next listen, how about Consider This from NPR? We're here to first give you the three big stories of the day. Our Consider This colleagues take a different approach. They dive into a single news story and what it means to you in just 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get those podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Roberta Rampton, Andrew Sussman, Nick Spicer, Lisa Thompson, and H.J. Mai.

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