breaking overnight. a bombshell reversal by president biden, issuing a sweeping pardon to his son

hunter. we're live with why the president says he used the executive action just weeks before behind hunter biden was be sentenced in two separate cases. the lake-effect snow dropping up to four feet in areas around the great lakes, and more could be on the way. michelle grossman is tracking the system. ready, set, click. the busiest day for online shopping is officially under way. how retailers are gearing up to make sure your haul gets safely to your doorstep. and as more americans get their shopping done online how mom and pop shops are working overtime to stand out and draw in a crowd. a reality funnier than fiction. eddie murphy and martin lawrence are about to be in-laws. the comedy legends already arguing about who's paying for their son and daughter's wedding. "early today" starts right now.

good morning, glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. we begin with breaking news, a shock announcement from the white house. president biden is pardoning his son hunter. hunter biden was set to be sentenced later this month on federal gun and tax evasion charges. the president had previously assured the public that he would not offer clemency, brie, good morning. this is quite the reversal from the president. >> reporter: that's right, frances. ever since hunter biden was convicted in june, the president has promised not to interfere in the case. let's take a listen to what he said back then. >> i am satisfied that i'm not going to do anything, i said i'd abide by the jury decision. i will do that. and i will not pardon him. >> reporter: but last night, president biden gave his son a full and unconditional pardon anyway, defending his decision in a statement. he said, quote, i believe in the justice system, but, as i have

wrestled with this, i also believe raw politics has infected this and has led to a miscarriage of justice. i hope everyone understands why a father and president would come to this decision. a spokesman for president-elect trump said, quote, the justice system must be fixed, and due process must be restored for all americans, which is exactly what president trump will do as he returns to the white house. mr. trump himself reacted online, posting to h his truth social platform, quote, does the pardon given by joe to hunter include the j-6 hostages who have now been in prison for years? such an abuse and miscarriage of justice. now that is in reference to rioters who stormed the capitol on january 6, nearly four years ago. many have been convicted of violent assault. hunter biden faced up to 17 years in prison. in a statement, he said in part, i will never take the clemency i've been given today for granted and will devote the life

i have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering from addiction. a representative for special counsel david weiss did not respond to request for comment. and hunter biden's attorney declined to comment as well. meanwhile, president-elect trump has made another controversial pick for a high-profile role. this time, it's trump loyalist kash patel for fbi director. the choice is raising eyebrows in part because of controversial statements from patel. now democrats are also deriding what they call his lack of experience and promise an uphill confirmation hearing. frances? >> brie, thank you. now to the syrian government, it's lost control of aleppo for the first time since the start of the country's 13-year-old war. after islamist rebel fighters advanced and captured most of the city over the weekend. let's turn to nbc's claudio lavanga for more. good morning, claudio. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right.

the rebels launched that surprise attack on saturday, and they quickly took control of vast amounts of territory, especially in the north and northeast, northwest of syria, including the city of aleppo, which is syria's second-largest city. now they advanced through the city and continued through sunday, according to the syrian human rights organization, which is an independent war monitor, saying that they took control also of the international airport in aleppo and also the military academy. of course two very strategic targets there. now, in the meantime, the government troops who are loyal to the president of syria, bashar al assad, have been trying to repel the rebels by rushing through reenforcements on the frontline and launching several airstrikes on the territory controlled by the rebels now, including the city of aleppo, reportedly killing dozens of civilians. now, according to the war monitor, now the, some of those airstrikes were carried out by

russian fighter jets. so once again, syria has asked russia for help in trying to get back control of this territory as it's been doing since the civil war broke out in 2011, but russia also seems to be worried about the quick, the quick gains of this rebels with the military peskov, the kremlin's spokesperson urging the syrian government to take back control quickly and restore order, frances. >> claudio lavanga for us, thank you. the husband of a missing oregon woman is in custody accused of murder. 71-year-old michael fournier was charged with second degree murder after susan lane fournier who had previously filed for divorce was found dead a week after she went missing while hiking. a winter storm slammed the country over the holiday weekend. the arctic blast buried the

northeast in snow. george solis has the latest. >> reporter: a life-threatening winter storm hitting in the great lakes region. blizzard-like conditions from ohio, across new york, travel treacherous. nearly four feet of snow and counting. >> sometimes i shovel the steps off. >> it looks like a complete whiteout. you couldn't see anything in front of you. the roads, you couldn't even see nothing. >> reporter: so much snow it shocked residents used to big winters. >> this snow appears to be a lot more dense, a lot more heavy. it's heavier. my snowblower won't even move it. >> reporter: a nightmare in neighboring erie county, pennsylvania too. the governor declaring a disaster for residents buried in two and a half feet of snow with more on the way. officials with this dire warning. >> don't travel. >> stay home, stay home. stay home. >> reporter: and it's not just snow. bitter cold sweeping the plains and southeast in the days ahead.

back in western new york on football's biggest weekend, heavy machinery and fans rushing to dig out high mark stadium here ahead of the bills game. some fans braving the elements and getting here hours ahead of kickoff to dig out their tailgate spots. >> we got to dig out all the gear. we knew it was coming eventually, so, just got to get ready. >> and our thanks to george solis for that report. let's get a check on that winter weather with michelle grossman. >> that snow's going to continue. we have 5 million under winter alerts this morning. lake effect warnings, winter weather advisories for places like syracuse, erie, cleveland, grand rapids. we will see the snow continuing over the next several days. banding will set up once again. that will reduce visibilities. we could see one to two inches per hour where we see the bands set up especially downwind of

lake erie. you can see the snowstorm's going over the great lakes, the water's still really warm with the cold air going over the lakes. downwind is where we'll see the snow falling. as we go throughout time through tuesday, the heaviest spots, where you see the pinks and purples, that's where we're expecting at least another foot of snow in some spots. it is chilly, too. the eastern half of the nation remains well below normal for this time of the year. freeze warnings and frost advisories. at the freezing mark r the most in the south central states. we do have showers and storms for southern texas. that's your monday forecast. >> thanks so much, michelle. josh allen had snow problem

making history on sunday night football. >> this is behind cooper who brought it in. pitched it back to allen who's going to go to the goal line! and get in! >> thanks to that heads-up lay between m and amari cooper, the bills superstar became the first qb to pass, run and catch for a touchdown in the same game. it came as buffalo clenched their fifth straight afc title. earlier in the day, the battle of the birds and the ravens squandered an early lead as legendary kicker justin tucker missed three kicks in one game for the first time in his career. that allowed the eagles and saquon barkley to run up the score as philly gets its eighth straight win. we're back in a minute with oprsanfbi warning for online

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it's the biggest online shopping day of the year, but cyber monday has serious competition from black friday. plus, the fbi's warning online shoppers about holiday scams. cnbc's charlotte reed is here with the details. hi, charlotte, good morning. >> good morning, frances. well, indeed, as customers are chasing bargains amongst all the black friday and cyber monday offers, the fbi is warning them to be extra careful. the fbi has been highlighting four types of fraud, non-delivery scams, non-payment scams and gift card fraud. you should look at non-delivery scams scams alone, look twice before clicking on suspicious links or

attachments on e-mails, making sure the websites are secure and check sellers are legitimate businesses with positive reviews. the fbi keeps warning that if it seems too good to be true, that's because it is. of course these warnings come as shoppers are spending more online than ever. shoppers spent a record $10.8 billion online for black friday. that's 10% more, compared to last year, according to adobe analytics. the popular purchases were makeup or headphone as well. but they say that worldwide, 69% of all black friday purchases were made on mobile devices. that means less people are going to shop. traffic was down 8% compared to 2023. >> charlotte, thank you. it is the biggest online shopping day of the year as we were talking about. and brian cheung shows us how stores are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to prep for cyber monday. >> reporter: inside this massive

walmart fulfillment center? green castle, pennsylvania. >> this is our newest next-gen fulfillment center. >> reporter: 20 miles of conveyer belts race through a facility the size of 26 football fields. this center opened just six months ago. now ready for its biggest test yet. is cyber monday like your super bowl? >> it's the super bowl. we plan all year for this event. >> reporter: over 1,000 workers. gearing up for what is still the biggest online shopping day of the year, cyber monday. over 13 billion dollars expected to be spent. and walmart trying to capture as much of that money as they can. >> our business is growing. walmart u.s. e-commerce sales have grown 22% in the last quarter. >> reporter: this new facility part of a supply chain arms race. amazon's planning on hundreds of

new facilities, and target will invest $100 million into its supply chain. walmart says 95% of their u.s. customers can get next-day or two-day shipping thanks to facilities like this one. using artificial intelligence and robotics, it cut down on the time it took for a package to leave its facilities, right down to the sticker. this is where we're applying the sticker to the box. this is like a custom cutter for boxes? >> yes, this is a small factory. >> reporter: a smart machine churning out boxes specced out just for you. >> and we optimize the right-sized box just for that order. >> reporter: the goal, cut down on waste and time, to get those gifts to you faster than everybody. >> our customers want speed. they want great prices. they want value and convenience. >> reporter: a cyber monday battle for your dollars, playing

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the risk of turbulence injuries. the u.s. postal service has temporarily suspended mail service to canada as the country faces an ongoing postal strike. the workers are fighting for what the union says is fair wages, improved working conditions and other workplace improvements. hhe usps pause impacts all their international service the. the. he.tless e. .severe ulcerative colitis symptoms s.ing back. start toway from uc with tremfya... with rapid relief at 4 weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation. at one year, many people experienced remission... and some saw 100% visible healing of their intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb.

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to compete with retail giants. maya eaglin has the story. >> reporter: this time of year, some things never change. >> i like the ninja turtles. >> barbie doll. >> a wedding dress. >> reporter: children around the world are making their lists, and holiday shoppers are filling their carts. it's not just the big name stores that are working to serve up smiles. smaller toy stores are, too. according to the toy association, an estimated 3 billion toys are sold annually in the u.s., that adds up to $41 billion in sales. we turned to the toy experts. the march hare is one of the few locally remaining stores. they took over the store a few years ago. >> we had dinner one night. my husband said why don't we buy the toyshop. and we all were like, really? >> reporter: there's a legacy of toy stores on east ninth street. >> there used to be gun called dinosaur hill that was here for

30 years and closed during the pandemic. >> reporter: how are you able to remain competitive? >> we have a lot of stuff in the shop that can you not find in some of the more major retailers. >> people want to come support something that's part of their community and a way to feel like they're part of something. >> reporter: and they're not wrong. just in 2023, u.s. consumers spent around $17 billion on small business saturday. but it's not just new york city. susan hay opened the hay market in long beach island, new jersey with her late husband john in 1976. >> it's my life, my labor of love. when i first went into business, somebody told me that most small businesses end in year. and i thought, i'm gonna stick it out for five years. so, and that was 50 years ago. >> reporter: from puzzles and stuffed animals to collectibles and creative crafts. susan says the holidays are actually her slow season, with less folks on the island. >> in the summer, we're just jammed with people all the time.

>> reporter: she says there's a legacy of community felt in the loyal customers who practically grew up or saw their kids grow up in the store. >> when they come here, we have to come here, because they think i own the hay market. >> it's more than just stuff. it's a placeful of memories. >> reporter: these charming small toy stores may feel like a relic of the past, but maybe some of us can bring back the magic together. now to the mega millions jackpot that keeps reaching new heights. the jackpot has soared to a whopping $541 million. it would be the 12th largest prize in the game's history. the next drawing is set for tomorrow night. how good of a christmas would that be? a holiday season for anybody who wins. thanks for srting your wtak

breaking overnight. president biden pardons his son hunter after