On today’s show: Trump advisers have renewed a push for a pardon of Edward Snowden. The Washington Post’s Michael Scherer explains why. Rebels in Syria overtook the capital, Damascus, forcing President Bashar al-Assad to flee and bringing an abrupt end to more than a decade of civil war. Mensah M. Dean of The Trace investigates the intergenerational fallout of gun violence in the U.S. Plus, the College Football Playoff is set, Trump gives his first televised interview since the election, and why the internet reacted the way it did to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: What controversial pardon is being discussed?
Chapter 2: What happened in Syria over the weekend?
But first, a major turn of events in the Middle East, where rebels captured Syria's capital, Damascus, over the weekend, forcing President Bashar al-Assad to flee the country and bringing an abrupt end to more than a decade of civil war. al-Assad's fall was met with joyous celebrations in the streets of Syria and in countries around the world.
Long live Syria! Long live al-Assad!
It's a historic moment for Syrians who've lived under the oppressive hand of the al-Assad family since the early 1970s. Over the course of the 13-year-long civil war, millions of people were displaced, hundreds of thousands imprisoned, and more than half a million people killed under al-Assad's rule.
On Sunday, when the Assad regime fell, prison guards across the country abandoned their posts, setting free scores of people, some who had been considered missing for decades. Al-Assad and his family arrived in Moscow on Sunday, when they were given asylum by the Russian government, which had been a key supporter of the regime.
As we mentioned last week, when rebel forces took Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo, Russia, along with Iran, are Al-Assad's main allies, and both have been preoccupied with their own conflicts, in Ukraine and Israel, respectively, which left Al-Assad exposed. But while some are celebrating the end of the regime, many are anxious to learn what comes next.
Here's Sky News reporter Alistair Bunkle.
It is a new dawn for the country, but there are dark clouds on the horizon. When that celebration calms down, the hatred and anger after decades of repression and harsh rule could spill out, and it'll be hard to contain it. And who is going to govern Syria? It is divided many ways, and many rebel factions will want to vie for their own slice of power.
The main rebel group that toppled al-Assad is called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. It was once an al-Qaeda affiliate, and even though it has since denounced terrorism, the U.S. still designates it as a terrorist group. For President Biden, this presents a late-in-his-presidency foreign policy challenge. He spoke on Sunday, seeming to recognize the optimism of many Syrians.
It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country. It's also a moment of risk and uncertainty As we all turn to the question of what comes next, the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risks.
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Chapter 3: Who is Edward Snowden and why is he significant?
Edward Snowden is responsible for the biggest leak of classified information about U.S. surveillance in American history.
That's Washington Post reporter Michael Shearer. Snowden, as you might remember, was an intelligence contractor with the National Security Agency, the NSA. Back in 2013, he released a stack of documents, more than three miles high, according to a House report, with the goal of, in his words, exposing government abuses, including data collection on U.S. citizens.
He and his supporters call him a whistleblower. His critics say he put Americans at risk. He's been living in Russia for years to avoid prosecution. Trump came close to pardoning Snowden at the end of his first term, pushed then by Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.
At the time, he decided he wasn't going to go forward with a pardon of Snowden, but he said it was a very close call and he said it could have gone the other way.
Today, even more people in his circle are advocating for a pardon.
And that includes his son, Donald Trump Jr. It includes Gates, who's still close with him. It includes Tucker Carlson, who has been down at Mar-a-Lago. Tulsi Gabbard, his nominee to be director of national intelligence. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee to be health and human services secretary.
One of the reasons to justify a pardon of Snowden, this idea that the deep state, that the intelligence apparatus exists, his somehow corrupt needs to be checked as part of their argument. And this is actually an argument that appeals to Donald Trump.
Trump himself has claimed to be a victim of government abuse, calling his various legal investigations witch hunts. National security experts say if Trump pardoned Snowden, it would be an insult to their work. Here's Sue Gordon on CBS's Face the Nation. She was principal deputy director of national intelligence in Trump's first term. She's talking about what Snowden did.
He had no authority and he had different paths. And he harmed America. He not only harmed intelligence, he harmed our allies and partners. And so if they vacate it, what they're basically saying is all those rules you follow in order to be able to serve America, they don't matter anymore.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of a potential pardon for Snowden?
Snowden declined to comment for this reporting, and Trump's team did not respond to Scheer's questions about their potential plans for a pardon. Now to a new investigation from The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom that tracks gun violence in America. This is part of a series with the Philadelphia Inquirer that zooms in on Philly.
Chapter 5: How did Trump's advisers react to the idea of a pardon?
Chapter 6: What does the future hold for Syria after Assad's fall?
It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country. It's also a moment of risk and uncertainty As we all turn to the question of what comes next, the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risks.
Biden also said it's the U.S. 's mission to prevent ISIS from taking hold of the country. And he promised U.S. troops in the country would be protected. Within 24 hours of the al-Assad regime's downfall, U.S. forces carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting ISIS camps in Syria. Meanwhile, President-elect Trump, who twice tried to end U.S.
troop presence in Syria during his first term, called the country, quote, a mess on Saturday and said the U.S. should not get involved in the conflict. As for the immediate future, opposition leaders have left Syrian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghazi al-Jalali in place until a new government can be formed. Ghazi al-Jalali has since called for a peaceful transition of power and free and open elections.
Let's turn now to a different matter of national security and a conversation in President-elect Trump's circle that's raising some eyebrows. A growing number of advisers are pushing for Trump to pardon Edward Snowden.
Edward Snowden is responsible for the biggest leak of classified information about U.S. surveillance in American history.
That's Washington Post reporter Michael Shearer. Snowden, as you might remember, was an intelligence contractor with the National Security Agency, the NSA. Back in 2013, he released a stack of documents, more than three miles high, according to a House report, with the goal of, in his words, exposing government abuses, including data collection on U.S. citizens.
He and his supporters call him a whistleblower. His critics say he put Americans at risk. He's been living in Russia for years to avoid prosecution. Trump came close to pardoning Snowden at the end of his first term, pushed then by Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.
At the time, he decided he wasn't going to go forward with a pardon of Snowden, but he said it was a very close call and he said it could have gone the other way.
Today, even more people in his circle are advocating for a pardon.
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Chapter 7: How do national security experts view Snowden's actions?
In a wide-ranging sit-down on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump talked about how he'll prioritize deporting migrants with criminal records. He also discussed what he thinks should happen to some of his political opponents, in particular members of the committee that investigated the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
And Cheney was behind it. And so was Benny Thompson and everybody on that committee. For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail. So you think Liz Cheney should go to jail? For what they did.
Everyone on the committee you think should go to jail?
I think anybody that voted in favor. Are you going to direct your FBI director and your attorney general to send them to jail? No, not at all. I think that they'll have to look at that.
Various news outlets are reporting the Biden administration is considering blanket pardons for people they believe could be targets for retribution under Trump. In sports news, the first-ever 12-team college football playoff is set with a big surprise on the bracket. SMU was awarded the final spot over Alabama, a perennial powerhouse.
It was quite the debate, according to the selection committee chair. Alabama was ranked higher than Arizona State, which earned a top-four seed by way of winning its conference championship. Georgia, Boise State, and Oregon, the number one overall seed, rounded out the rest of the top four. They'll get a bye in the first round, which starts on December 20th with Notre Dame versus Indiana.
And in New York, authorities continue their search for the man they believe shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week. He was captured on thousands of surveillance cameras across the city, and investigators believe he left the city by bus on Friday. Police released two additional photos of the suspect over the weekend.
There has been a strange sense of glee on the Internet around this story. Photos from a shooter lookalike contest over the weekend in New York are getting shared. A jacket similar to the one that the shooter was photographed wearing is getting lots of clicks.
New Yorker writer Gia Tolentino has a piece out about the Internet's reaction to Thompson's murder and why so many people are being so flip about it. She writes that while the details of the crime itself are remarkable, the Internet's reaction has been, quote, even wilder, even more lawless.
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