Sunday Snapshot: Trump doesn't need a pardon

1. Trump: I don't need to pardon myself

President-elect Trump dismissed the idea of pardoning himself in a "Meet the Press" interview, saying he didn't need to do it as he's winning "almost all" of his legal cases.

Driving the news: Pardons have become a hot topic amid reporting that President Biden might issue them pre-emptively for individuals who have drawn the ire of Trump and his allies, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

• The idea for Trump to pardon himself was also floated during his previous presidential term, something which the president-elect said in the pre-taped interview that he "didn't want to do."
• Trump said he had the option to pardon himself, but a "very specific lawyer" in his administration advised him that doing so would imply guilt. "I could have saved myself a lot of legal fees," Trump said about a pardon.

What they're saying: Trump said he never considered if Biden would offer him a pardon, but added that he didn't think the president would do it.

• "He's the one that started this whole thing," Trump said. "He got the Justice Department to go after me."
• Trump also accused the Justice Department of running the two cases where he's facing violations of state laws — his hush-money case in New York and the election interference case in Georgia.

Read the full transcript of Trump's "Meet the Press" interview.

2. Syrian shock felt globally

The upheaval of leadership in Syria has thrust the region and several world powers into an unexpected period of uncertainty.

The big picture: 900 U.S. troops remain in Syria, where they have been conducting counterterrorism operations against ISIS.

• The U.S. has condemned Assad's brutal regime, which has been supported by Iran, Russia and Hezbollah. But Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has also been labeled a terrorist by the U.S.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that he expects there will be an "assessment as to whether or not the (U.S.) troops should remain" in Syria.

• "This is going to be an area that's going to be volatile and in transition," he said, pointing to Russian bases in the region that are both at risk for Russia in the face of the rebel offensive and a lingering threat to the Syrian people.

Zoom out: Trump began his withdrawal of U.S. troops from Northern Syria in 2019, abandoning Kurdish partners in the region and earning him condemnation from fellow Republicans (including Marco Rubio, who he's tapped to serve as his secretary of state).

• "He [Trump] does absolutely support the Kurds," Turner said Sunday, predicting the president-elect is "going to look for a diplomatic solution."

Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former commander of CENTCOM, told ABC's Martha Raddatz Sunday he thinks there is "less danger" in the region for U.S. troops at the present moment, as Iran, Hezbollah and Russia are on their "back heels."

• But he noted that while the fall of Assad leaves U.S. enemies without a partner and is "bad news for them," it's not obvious "who it's good news for."
• He continued: "I'm not sure it's ultimately going to be good news for the people of Syria .... we could have an Islamic state arise there, which will have profound negative implications across the region."

Yes, but: While the future is murky, Syrians and others have rejoiced at the downfall of a regime that gassed its people and clung to power over more than a decade of civil war.

• Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, said on "Face the Nation" he is feeling "an indescribable feeling of happiness" at Assad's defeat.
• Asked what comes next as rebels take over political prisons, Moustafa told Brennan the "first thing that we are working really hard and ... all the rebel factions are working really hard to do is find Austin Tice."
• Tice, an American journalist who has been missing in Syria for 12 years, is believed to be alive, President Biden told reporters Sunday.

3. Congress wants answers on assassination attempts

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), the ranking member on the bipartisan Trump Assassination Attempt Task Force, said in an interview aired Sunday that the Justice Department and FBI's lack of transparency with Congress over the two attempted assassinations of then-candidate Trump is "an unacceptable position."

Catch up quick: The Butler, Pennsylvania, shooting that left one rally-goer dead sparked a series of investigations into the security failures that day, eventually leading to a change of Secret Service leadership.

• But Crow and others still have questions: "Why did the shooter do this? What drove him to do it? Was he a lone wolf shooter? Did he have associates or affiliates? What was his motivation? How was he radicalized?"
• He said the agencies' safeguarding of information differs from what he's encountered in his past committee work.
• "You can't tell me there isn't a way to put us into a secure facility and get us information about an ongoing criminal investigation when I regularly am receiving briefs on what our spies and our military special operators are doing regularly around the world," he said.

More from Axios' Sunday coverage:

• Trump sticks by tariffs, but no guarantees on inflation
• Trump suggests deporting families with mixed immigration status
• Takeaways from Trump's "Meet the Press" interview