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🎧 In a White House statement last night, President Biden said when he took office, he promised not to meddle with the Justice Department. He said has kept his word, even as he said Hunter was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted.” He continued by saying Hunter was charged after opponents in Congress instigated the prosecutions to try to hurt him politically, NPR’s Ryan Lucas tells Up First. In the process, Biden says Hunter was unfairly singled out. Hunter says his mistakes have been used to humiliate him and his family, and he won’t take the clemency for granted. Hunter added he’ll devote his life to helping those who are still sick and suffering. 

🎧 Patel says he is ready to use law enforcement power to go against those who opposed Trump, including members of Congress, people who prosecuted him and reporters, NPR’s Carrie Johnson says. Trump picked Wray after he fired Jim Comey in 2017. It’s rare to fire an FBI director with time left on his term, but it has happened before, Johnson says. It’s not known if Wray will be fired in January or if he might resign. However, the FBI said over the weekend that Wray is focused on the FBI workforce and protecting Americans from threats.

🎧 Rebel general Ahmed Homsi tells NPR's Ruth Sherlock they were able to break through three lines of defense within 72 hours and thought they might be able to carry on to the capital, Damascus. The U.S., Russia and others have designated HTS as a terror organization because some members had links to Al-Qaeda. Sherlock says the group has tried to rebrand itself as a less hardline group in recent years, though it's still religious and conservative. Sherlock says many Syrians would welcome a rebel takeover because the country is run by a brutal dictatorship. The rebel offensive slowed down yesterday, and the government says it’s taken back some territory in central Syria.