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lewis: hello. i'm lewis vaughan jones. you are watching "the coext" on bbc news. >> he is one of the greatest men i know, and i stand by the jury decision, i would do that and not pardon him. >> you have republicans screaming about hypocrisy because he had said in public at least 10 times that he would not pardon his son hunter. and then you've got democrats also saying they think this is a mistake. lewis: welco to the program. strong criticism of joe biden as he grants his son hunter a legal pardon despite saying he wouldn't. in france, the government could collapse by wednesday. the far left and far-right say they will back a vote of no-confidence. what do countries need to do about climate change? the u.n.'s top court will try to

answer that, and we will speak to a lawyer representing the most affected nations. we start in the u.s. the white house is defending president joe biden's decision to issue an official pardon of his son hunter, who was set to face senteing this month for tax evasion and gun convictions. joe biden said although he believed in the justice system, politics has infected this process and has led to a miscarriage of justice. president-elect donald trump has called apartment itself an abuse and biscuit -- called of the pardon itself and miscarriage of justice. sarah smith reports. >sarah: as the biden family gathered to celebrate thanksgiving, hunter biden was alongside his dad. it was here the president decided to give his son the gift of an unconditional pardon despite his previous permits is not to do so.

--previous is promises not to do so. pres. biden: i'm extremely proud of my son hunter. he has overcome addiction and is one of the brightest, was decent men i know, and i'm satisfied i will not -- i said i would abide by the jury decision and i will do that and not pardon him. sarah: president biden wants americans to forgive that naked hypocrisy which could spare his son arison sentence the reaction as swift as it is predictable, righteous indignation from biden's opponents. >> first came the decision, now the outrage. >> he lied repeatedly saying he wouldn't pardon hunter. i figured he would. when you expect worst, you oftentimes get it. hunter biden was the batman for the biden crime family. sarah: hunter biden's offenses include failing to pay tax in los angeles from 2016to 2019 and lying on the gun purchase form claiming he wasn't taking drugs

when he was an addict. he was convicted of illegally purchasing and owning a gun. he pleaded guilty to tax offenses in l.a. his pardon covers any and everything he may have done from the start of 2014 until now. hunter biden has been extensively investigated by republicans in congress looking for corruption and hoping to tie it to his father. with a pardon that predates his controversial business dealings, he will be protected from further prosecution. >> they have taken the light of my dad's love, the light of my dad's love for me, and presented it as darkness. sarah: joe biden says he believes hunter was the victim of politically motivated prosecutions that would never have come to court if he was in the president's son. sound familiar? it is the same argument donald trump uses about all the cases against him. on social media called hunter's pardon and abuse and miscarriage

of justice. joe biden says he hopes americans will understand why a father and president would make this decision. well, it's sier to understand why i dad would do it than a politician who knows what the consequences could be. lewis: let's speak to our north america correspondent jess parker. talk us through the reaction. >> unsurprisingly, there has been plenty of criticism from within republican circles, but perhaps more interestingly, because you would expect that from the republicans, within the democratic party there has actually been a growing number of voices who have been critical of this decision. i'll review some of the quotes. colorado senator michael bennett said it further erodes justice system is equal for all. vermont senator peter welch calling this unwise. there has clearly been discomfort, voiced on the record by some senior democrats about

what mr. biden has done here. ke sarah was reporting, some people have sympathy that an 82-year-old man whose son was financially set to go to jail and someone who struggled with addiction issues, he wanted to spare him going to jail. but the fear is that joe biden, having used this power, something he said he would not do on the record, that was repeated several times by his top team, that this sets a precedent and double standard that could be used against the democratic party in the future. lewis: and of course the white house will be out defending the decision, they will continue to be asked a lot of questions about it. one of the kind of answers we are hearing about the justification for the change in decision, chge of joe biden's mind? jessica: i was listening to a briefing earlier between reporters on air force one as they headed to angola with the

president, between those reporters and joe biden's press secretary, and she was more or less sticking -- quoting from joe biden's lengthy statement from sunday night something that she kept emphasizingk his presentl that his press secretary, was that joe biden wrestled with the decision. they are saying it is a big moral dilemma for joe biden and that he considered it deeply and heanded on this decision and he hopes the american people would understand. and they are saying as well, the white house, they believe hunter biden cause of who he is and who his father is was basically unfairly targeted in these cases. interestingly, that is something that has been rejected in a court filing by the special counsel who led the prosecutions today. they saying that is not the case that there was unfair treatment in this regard. but that is an argument that joe biden strongly made in a

statement last night and was reiterated by the white house. lewis: thank you very much for that. let's speak to a lawyer who served as u.s. pardon attorney from 1990 to 1997, a justice department position devoted to assisting the president on clemency issues. thank you for coming on the program. >> i'm very happy to be here. lewis: what was your reaction to this? >> well, i was surprised. not so much that he had issued the pardon of his son, but the breadth of the pardon grant was what was surprising to me. lewis: what does that mean, the breadth? margaret: he pardoned not only the o cases that hunter is currently charged with, but also extended it to any case that might be brought against him by a federal prosecutor for an 11-year period. that is an unprecedented sort of preemptive pardon that has only

been done once at least in the last 150 years. that was for richard nixon, by president ford in 1974. it's been really quite an interesting time. thinking about whether this use of our pardon power, which is almost unprecedented, is valid. lewis: can you give us a sense by way of contrast, how is this power usually used by the president? margaret: well, the usual case is when someone has been convicted and sentenced and has either served their sentence and contributed to the community -- that is the conventional full pardon -- or if they have been sentence and are serving a prison term, the sentence might be commuted. those are the two different kinds of clemency. in both cases they have been charged and convicted.

president trump did a number of grants where he pardoned someone who had been charged, but not yet convicted. he would get into the middle of the se and pardon the person and end the case at that point. but there is no case in which trump did not pardon quite specifically, and the thing that is different about the hunter biden pardon is that it does extend to any charge that might be brought during this 11-year period. lewis: those that have any implications, do you think, for the future? does it set a new precedent? is there something to be concerned about? margaret: i don't know. who knows? i rather doubt it. at the time of the nixon pardon there were questions raised about whether this was an appropriate use, valid use of the president's power.

the prosecutor at the time decided not to challenge it. i think everyone was tired of the episode and wanted to have nixon leave office. i don't know what president trump will plan to do with this. he may do nothing, and probably that would be best. but it's very hard to predict. lewis: is there a wider philosophical or human about stripping th power altogether? --argument about stripping this power altogether? margaret: i doubt it. if there is one thing i really would welcome, to tell you the truth, it would be a conversation about what function the president's power serves in the current federal justice system. that has not been a conversation we have had. and there have been many people who have been applying for pardon through the normal process who have not had their cases decided, and there are hundreds of cases that are pending of ordinary people who applied for pardon or commutation of sentence.

whether they ought to be continuing to wait is another good question, and whether we want to hold this remedy out for them anymore. lewis: fascinating. thank you very much for coming in the program. margaret: you're very welcome, thank you. lewis: want to take you live to georgia. you may have been following night after night of this, the fifth night, protesters in georgia out on the streets confronting police, as you can see there. just after midnight in the capital, to police the -- tb lisi. we have had four nights of clashes between police and protesters, protesters angry at their government. the new prime minister saying they will put on hold effectively talks to join the european union until at least 2028. there has seemingly been some rolling back on that statement by officials there, but it hasn't kept protesters at home.

we have on previous evenings seen fireworks thrown, water cannon used. we have been keeping about these pictures just for the last little while, and we will be keeping across these and hours ahead. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news.

lewis: this is bbc news. the united a nations is holding an emergency meeting on events in syria. the syrian army says it is preparing a counteroffensive against islamist forces who have taken the country's second-largest city, aleppo, and a surprise offensive over the weeken here is international editor jeremy bowen. jeremy: at that we can only couple days afr starting their offensive, rebel fighters were celebrating in aleppo's ancient citadel.

during years of war, the citadel was an impregnable regime fortress. these men took it almost without a fight. back in january 2017, i was in aleppo in the days after the assad regime captured the east of the city from rebels who had held it since the war in aleppo started in 2012. there was massive destruction from russian and regime airstrikes. this was all a huge victory for the regime, but in the years that followed, the war gradually froze, but it never ended. once again, president bashar al-assad's beleaguered. he had an emergency meeting in damascus with the r rating foreign minister. assad's survival will depend on his allies, who are worried about their own futures. in aleppo, hds fighters are pulling down portraits of

assad, their enemy. they are considered terrorists by his regime, and by the u.s., u.n., u.k., and the eu, because their roots are in al qaeda. a woman who follows jihadis media says she sees them changing its image as syrians are repelled by extremist religious rhetoric. >> they have been portraying themselves as a nationalist rebel group, basically trying to shake off their jihadist past and prove they don't have any lasting links to al qaeda or jihadist groups and that they are simply after toppling the government of bashar al-assad. lewis: jeremy is here with me. talk us through the state of the fighting right now. what is the state of play? jeremy: last wednesday it all started. this group led by the dominant partner in his coalition, hts,

they moved out of their power base, which is idlib, on the border with turkey, and pushed towards aleppo. that was, according to their social media, their target. they got there so quickly, more quickly than anybody expected. within two days they were posing for photos and selfies and things at the mighty citadel of aleppo, a regime stronghold. they then pushed on, and i think got overexcited and were thinking we will go all the way to damascus, but that's a long road. there will be a lot of trouble on the way. they have pushed out their area of control into the aleppo countryside into the next account on the road towards damascus. now the syrian regime is striking back. there have been lots of pictures -- we are seeing a few of them now -- circulated by the white

helmet civil defense group which show the aftermath of -- immediate aftermath of bomb attacks. seems that were horribly -- scenes that were horribly familiar for years and years in syria and similar ones that become familiar in the last year since the hamas attacks in gaza started this pcess, which this is part of, of essentially absolutely appending the status quo in the middle east, plunging the region into turmoil, with consequences that people didn't necessarily see, cluding this lightning offensive against the assad regime. lewis: what are the conditions that specifically allowed them to make this decision, make this progress? jeremy: well, i think they saw an opportunity f the reason assad survived the first decade or more of the war in syria, multiple insurrections, armed insurrections against him, which

at one point controlled the majority of sections of the country. the reason he survived was because of military intervention by russia in 2011 an5-- in 2015 and also by iran, which is always supported him, and the lebanese hezbollah group. those following the news know that in the last month or two hezbollah had massive blows directed against them by the israelis. the israelis are bombing them again at the moment despite the cease-fire tonight. i ran, too, its whole concept of security in the region has taken a hammer from the israelis. that is a big problem for them. russia, as we know, has its hands full in ukraine. essentially they are still its allies, but they've got bigger fish to fry, which come under the category of their own survival. while they might get help, they won't get the help they had before. plus assad himself is weaker

than he was at the height of the war because the economy in syria has absolutely collapsed, and even his loyalist groups, his own communal group are impoverished because of what is happening. i think they will be asking questions like we fought for this man, what is he doing for us. lewis: on that, what is the level of support throughout the country for the rebels? jeremy: well, it's hard to know. we can't get in there to report it properly. for reporrs to get into syria you need to cross over the border from turkey without a visa, which the turks aren't allowing at the moment, as far as i know, or you go in with a visa into damascus from beirut and the syrians aren't getting visas and haven't for several years. one thing we can conclude is that this hts-led rebel group,

who have their roots in the jihadist movement, they were originally an offshoot of al qaeda, they have been trying to buff up their image and change their image, dilute that jihadist element -- still islamist, but saying they just want an islamic system inside syria, not a wider caliphate, which was being talked about by al qaeda 10 years ago. that is because it syrians are fed up with and repelled by extreme religious rhetoric. that might be making them more popular than otherwise they might be. lewis: jeremy, thank you very much for that. here in the u.k., tv presenter gregg wallace has apologized for claiming complaints about his behavior came from "a handful of middle-class women of a certain age." heays he is going to take some time out. it comes after days of allegations about inappropriate comments over many years.

tonight's episode of "masterchef" will be broadcast as planned. the bbc says it is life-changing for the chefs who take part as contestants and is about more than one person. >> i want to apologize for any offense that i caused with my post yesterday and in the upset i may have caused to a lot of people. reporter: gregg wallace saying sorry after a video that got britain talking. he said he wasn't in a good headspace when he posted it and has been under a huge amount of stress. >> it's obvious to me i need to take some time out while this investigation is underway. i hope you understand, and i hope you do hope that you will accept this apology. there has been -- reporter: it's a different tone from his comments on social media yesterday. then gregg wallace claimed that the allegations against and had come from -- >> a handful of middle-class women of a certain age --

reporter: that video sparked an immediate backlash, with even a spokesperson claiming the comments were inappropriate and misogynistic f others were more positive. >> he was great with me, really supportive. i found the whole "masterchef" experience a positive one. reporter: the "masterchef" presenter, seen in tonight's episode, which it has been confirmed will go ahead, has been under pressure after bbc news revealed a string of misconduct allegations against him, which he denies. our investigation heard from 13 people over a 17-yearperiod. allegations include gregg wallace taking his top off in front of a female worker, staring at a worker's chest and asking her for massages, and asking a junior female employee logistics of how she has sex as a lesbian.

wallace stepped back from "masterchef" last week after we put the allegations to him. today there are calls for the bbc to consider pausing the series. >> it's not my decision, what the bbc does with its scheduling. but i feel that while this is all in the news, it is on every front page, top of every bulletin, maybe ou of respect for those victims it could be paused this week while investigation is ongoing. >> 20 minutes left. reporter: for now the bbc has confirmed that all filmed episodes of "masterchef" will be broadcast including the christmas special. a source said that "masterchef" was life-changing for the chefs who take part and the show was about more than one individual. lewis: next to france. the government is heading for collapse, pushing the eurozone's second-biggest economy deeper into political crisis. french prime minister michel barnier has used a special procedure to force controversial social security budget through without a vote in parliament. he said it is needed to rein in

a spiraling government deficit. the use of that loophole triggered a vote of no-confidence by both a hard left and hard right-wing parties, who say they will vote against mr. barnier. barring a last-minute surprise, his fragile coalition will be the first government to be forced out by a no-confidence vote since 1962. stocks have fallen in the interest on government debt is up. here's our paris correspondent andrew harding. andrew: this is an argument over the economy, over the budget, the fact that france is heavily in debt and needs to cut its spending and increase its income if it is to fit with bu rules and stabilize things in the country. but fundamentally this is a political crisis, a power struggle that has been building for months now, and it has finally broken, or looks like it

will break on wednesday when it is likely that michel barnier and his government will be voted out. you mentioned the word "crisis," and one could call it that. in the short term, not much is going to change for the french people here. some sort of caretaker government will mumble on for weeks if not months. there is the possibility of extending the budget through next year. france has got quite good, actually, coping in this political model. but fundamentally that political power struggle needs a political resolution, and that means new elections. they are not do here, or at least the earliest they can hold parliamentary elections is next some of it lew: plenty more analysis from paris later. i'm lewis vaughan jones. this is bbc news. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

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