breaking overnight. president biden pardons his son hunter after repeatedly saying

he would not use his executive authority to do so. why the president says he changed his mind, plus the early reaction from republicans. a new escalation in syria. regime leader bashar assad firing on his own cities to squash the advance. we're live with what this new escalation could mean for syria's 13-year civil war and the wider region. back here at home, an arctic blast as millions try to return home after the holiday weekend. michelle grossman is here with how long the chill will last. football turning into foot brawl. both in college and pro games. the big fines for one melee requiring pepper spray to break it up. and a winter blowout in buffalo. the bills ice out the niners in a snow-covered field in sunday night football. on this monday, december 2nd.

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 pardoning his son hunterer, he was set to be sentenced later this month on federal gun and tax evasion charges. >> the president had previously assured the public he would not over clemency, he defended his decision saying i believe in the justice system. i also believe raw politics has infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice. i ho americans will understand 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. behind now avoids what could have been many years in prison. in a statement, he said, quote, i will never take the clemency

i've been granted today for granted. he said i will help those suffering and sick from addiction. a spokesperson for special council david weiss did not respond to comment. meanwhile, trump has made another pick. this time it's kash patel for fbi director. democrats are deriding what they call his lack of experience and call for an uphill confirmation hearing. >> reporter: president-elect's pick of kash patel to lelead th fbi sparking mixed reaction. >> he represents the type of change that we need to see in the fbi. >> i will vote no. and i will organize not just my colleagues but the american public. >> reporter: patel says he'll return the agency to its rightful mission, protecting the american people. >> i am honored to be here in support of donald j. trump. >> reporter: despite holding several positions in the first trump administration, patel is facing criticism for a lack of experience as well as his

controversial positions. >> we will go out and find the conspirators. i'd shut down the hoover building on day one and open it the next day as a museum of the deep state. >> reporter: mr. trump underscoring his disapproval for chris wray. >> apparently he has demonstrated too much independence and objectivity in the job for donald trump. >> reporter: wray now faced with the choice to either resign or wait to be fired. the fbi reacting in a statement, saying director wray's focus remains on the men and women of the fbi, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for. patel's senate confirmation could be an uphill battle, while many republicans agree with his goals for the fbi, others have previously said it should operate free of presidential influence. the news capping a busy few days

at mar-a-lago ter kind prime minister justin trudeau spent friday night making his case against mr. trump's plan to impose tariffs on canada and mexico in an effort to curb the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs into the u.s. >> our thanks to alley for that report. the house task force investigating the assassination attempts on president-elect donald trump is set to hold its last hearing on thursday before releasing its final report. a spokesperson tells nbc news, acting secret service director ronald rowe will be the sole witness at the capitol hill hearing. the bipartisan group of lawmakers will finalize their report and move to make it public. the syrian government has lost control of aleppo for the first time since the start of the country's 13-year-old war, afteislamic rebel fighters advanced and captured most of the city over the weekend. let's turn to claudio lavanga for more. good morning, claudio. >> reporter: good morning, frances. that's right. the rebels launched a surprise

attack on saturday, and they quickly took control of vast amounts of territory in different provinces, especially in the north and northwest of the country and now including the city of aleppo, which is syria's second largest city. well, now their gains continued on sunday, at least according to this syrian human rights organization, which is an independent war monitor. they a the rebels also took control of the international airport over aleppo sunday and also of the military academy, twvery strategic targets, of course, and now they are believed to be in control of most of the city if not all of the city. in the meantime, the government troops that are loyal to president bashar al assad have been trying to repel the rebels by rushing through reenforcements or launching airstrikes on the territories that have been conquered by the rebels, including the city of aleppo where reportedly dozens of civilians have been killed. now some of those airstrikes, at least according to the war

monitor, have been carried out by russian fighter jets. so once again, as it has happened since the start of the civil war in 2011, 2011, syria has asked russia for help in taking control of its territory. to the point that russia is now be able to, because dmitry y not peskov, the kremlin spokesperson said openly or urged openly, the syrian government, to take control, to take back control quickly. frances? >> claudio lavanga, thank you. new pressure for a cease-fire between israel and hamas after the release of propaganda video of a hostage. he was taken hostage with 250 people. a tearful alexander asks president-elect donald trump to use his power to negotiate

freedom for the hostages. alexander's mom tells nbc she was both shaken and relieved to see letter son in the video and is urging trump and president biden to act now to secure their release. in what is likely to be his last foreign trip while in office, president biden heads to angola today. in a three-day visit to the african country, mr. biden ill highlight a u.s.-backed railway project. it is intended to curb china's influence in the mineral-rich region. white house officials said the president will also announce new developments on health, agriculture and security. the holiday weekend capped off with treacherous conditions in parts of the country. an arctic blast dropped a massive amount of snow in the midwest and northeast. the storm buried roads in watertown, new york. and in buffalo, scores of fans scrambled to shovel out bills stadium ahead of sunday night football. maggie vespa has a closer look at the travel impact.

>> reporter: the record-smashing, post-holiday rush hitting its peak with the nearly 80 million americans racing home. >> if you are worried about crowds, please do not go here. >> reporter: congestion mounting. >> oh, my god, all these people are every where, why don't they go home? >> reporter: our team got trapped in the holiday traffic first hand. this traffic has been bumper to bumper. like, we are crawling. meanwhile with tsa predicting a record 3 million people will have taken to the skies. how have you all at american airlines been able to keep things moving and keep everything on track? >> first, it really starts with a solid plan. building a schedule that we know we can execute. we start planning for the holiday peak, even during the height of the summer. our teams were training on deicing, even in the midst of record summer heat. >> reporter: the rush colliding

head on with an early winter weather blast and marred by a bizarre headline overseas, where the russian woman who mysteriously stowed away on this delta flight from new york to paris last week caused a disturbance on her return flight to jfk, the source confirming she was removed from that plane by french authorities and remains in their custody. it's unclear when she'll be returned to the u.s., where a record holiday travel rush rages on. >> our thanks to maggie for that report. now let's get an update on that crush of weather. >> that snow is going to continue. we're looking at a lot of snow still to come. some spots could see a foot of snow if not a little bit more. 5 million people impacted by winter alerts. lake-effect snow warnings of course. we have winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories.

feeling like winter once again agross the great across the great lakes. one to two inches per hourur as the snow falls through wednesday. then we're looking at snow falling, where you see the lighter blue, the lighter colors, that is the heaviest snow falling. it's reducing visibilities in a lot of spots. where you see the pinks and purples, the darker blues, that's where we're expecting the most amount of snow. that would be downwind of lake erie and lake ontario. it will be chilly in the eastern half looking at a nice day in te with the exception of southern texas where we could see showers and storms. all right, that's your monday

forecast. >> okay, we'll be ready for the week. thank you. early today is back in a minute with a snowy sunday night showdown. e veig, , breaking ornht thnew fine against michigan and osu over their post-game brawl on saturday. of women are struggling with hair damage? just like i was. dryness and frizz could be damaged hair that can't retain moisture. new pantene miracle rescue deep conditioner, with first-of-its-kind melting pro-v pearls... locks in moisture to repair 6 months of damage in one wash, without weigh down. guaranteed or your money back! for resilient, healthy-looking hair... if you know, you know it's pantene. i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin... ...that stayed clear, even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection,

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blowout, 35-10. breaking overnight, the big ten handing out fines to michigan and ohio state after the wolverines' upset win. the league ordered both schools to pay $100,000 each, saying it considers this matter concluded and will have no further comment. the fight not just an issue for college ball this weekend. morgan chesky has the latest. >> reporter: from college football to the pros. big games. boiling over. >> oh, my goodness. >> reporter: in jacksonville, an on-field frenzy between the jaguars and houston, texas following a late hit by trevor lawrence, knocking him out of the game. the latest after a string of clashes over an intense college rivalry weekend. >> incredibly ugly scene for a beautiful rivalry. >> reporter: at ohio state, a buckeye-wolverine melee after michigan upset their rival. >> an unsportsmanlike gesture by the woerines.

>> reporter: the fight over a michigan flag planted on ohio state turf, spiraling to the point police used pepper spray to break up the players. >> there's some prideful guys on this team that just weren't going to let that happen. >> rivalry games get heated, especially in this one. we got to handle that better. >> reporter: ohio state confirming at least one officer had to be taken to the hospital. >> when you see pepper spray being deployed on a football field. >> that was terrible. i think we all love the pageantry that comes with these rivalry games. obviously, people getting pepper sprayed, falling victim to something like that, that's something that the ncaa can't afford to have happen again. >> this is scary. >> reporter: this scuffle at the nc state game erupting >> florida plants the flag. >> reporter: by a fight in florida. after the gators trounced rival florida state. >> it's a distraction from a

really-well-played football game, right? so i want to apologize on behalf of the entire organization. >> reporter: beloved rivalries all but overshadowed when a game went too far. morgan chesky, nbc news. still to come, movie theaters served up a cinematic turducken this weekend. moana, wicked and gladiator pushed them to new heights. oes , so you can save your shirt and maybe even a little money. moat the... library.s right... for a better clean with less... it's got to be tide. if advanced lung cancer has you searching for possibilities, discover opdivo plus yervoy, the first combination of 2 immunotherapies for adults newly diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer that has spread, tests positive for pd-l1, and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. opdivo plus yervoy helps your immune system fight cancer in 2 ways. opdivo and yervoy can cause your immune system to harm healthy parts of your body during and after treatment. these problems can be severe and lead to death.

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i know what i have to do. >> i could really use your help. >> can i get a chi-hoo? >> there is no telling how far moana two will go. the long-awaited sequel led to a historic weekend at the box office, $120 million since its wednesday release. wicked remained pretty popular, adding another 117 million over

the five-day period. gladiator two rounded out the top three with 44 million, propelling the thanksgiving box office to a record $420 million total. we're getting people now going around getting seconds and thirds of their still-favorite movie, which, you know, obviously shows in the amount of box office. >> they're all so good. some people saw wicked twice in one weekend. i'll see it again. 25 years ago they started life, but now eddie murphy and martin lawrence are to be connected for life. martin's daughter announced she's engaged to the son of murphy. martin lawrence has planned for this day for a while. here's what he told jimmy kimmel in 2022 about a potential wedding and having his future in-law foot the bill. >> i mean, if they're to get married. >> you're not going to pay for that, are you?

eddie has to pay for it. >> eddie wasn't having that, saying that since the father of the bride usually pays, it would be martin's responsibility. >> can you imagine the speeches they're going to be giving? like a full-on standup set with those two dads. when we come back, stay sharp this holiday season. the fbi's warning against holiday scams, and there's a word for all that mindless phone scrolling, it's oxford's word of the year. incoming dishes. —ahhh! —duck! dawn powerwash flies

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unexpectedly resigned with the company, citing different views. it comes amid declining sales and a drop in shares this year. harry potter ctor rupert grints faces tax bills. and the oxford word of the year for 2024 is brain rot, caused by consuming trivial content. start to break away 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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alive. nbc's jose diaz balart has the story. >> reporter: in southwest oklahoma, students and staff at comanche academy charter school in lawton honoring their teacher with a traditional dance. surrounded by her students, she talked about the sacred moment she calls magical. you just recently got a massive surprise by your students. >> this was a huge honor and a huge blessing. i didn't get my degree for recognition. i got my degree to show our children how hard work pays off. >> reporter: that celebration for miss lynette as they call her was for completing her bachelor's degree in elementary education. ♪ ♪ >> our ancestors say -- >> reporter: it was a life-long dream. a journey she started nearly 30

years ago. finally finding the courage to cross the finish line to help kids here preserve their comanche language and history. [ speaking in a non-english language ] >> reporter: you speak with such passion and such emotion about how your blood and your culture mean so much to you. >> i think that through our culture and our ceremonieses th we do have it does ignite a certain spirituality inside of you. to give you the purpose. >> reporter: that spirituality, that sense of purpose, so clear. when her students talk about why miss lynette's lessons mean so much. >> she's the best teacher ever. >> reporter: one teacher's

lessons, inspiring the next generation with a deeper understanding of their past. >> i can't put it into words. of the honor i feel getting to be here every day. it is a blessing. to be their guide. >> and our thanks to jose for that report. before we go, here's al roker with what's ahead. >> this morning on the third hour of "today", vicky nguyen's going to tell us what to buy if december. plus jimmy fallon live bringing holiday cheer to studio 1a. and we'll start our new december work out plan on the third hou

at five. in a stunning reversal, president biden pardons his son hunter. the move clearing years of legal trouble. the critical reaction this