President Donald Trump was criticized after he claimed during a sit-down interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O'Donnell that he doesn't know who Binance cryptocurrency exchange founder Changpeng Zhao is despite pardoning him less than two weeks ago.
In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to violating anti–money laundering laws after Binance allegedly failed to report suspicious transactions involving groups such as Hamas and al-Qaida. He later apologized, paid a $50 million fine, and served nearly four months in prison before being pardoned by Trump.
The White House justified the pardon by claiming Zhao’s prosecution was part of President Biden’s “war on cryptocurrency.” Trump has since declared his intention to make the United States a global leader in digital currency. In response, Zhao pledged to “do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto.”
Zhao still retains his ownership stake in Binance, which has had business ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm owned by the Trump family.
With this in mind, O'Donnell asked:
“The government at the time said that C.Z. had caused ‘significant harm to U.S. national security,’ essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around. Why did you pardon him?”
Trump replied:
“OK, are you ready? I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
O'Donnell noted that in 2025, Binance "helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin and then you pardoned CZ" and asked Trump to explain how he responds to the “appearance of pay for play," to which Trump said:
“Here’s the thing: I know nothing about it. My sons are into it. I'm glad they are because it's probably a great industry, crypto. They're in business, they're not in government."
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
People were quick to call this out.
Trump's claims that he cannot recall the nature of the pardon are alarming given how Trump has alleged without evidence that former President Joe Biden’s pardons were signed using an autopen, citing a report, published by the Oversight Project, a branch of the Heritage Foundation, that has been used by commentators to fuel claims about Biden’s cognitive decline.
The autopen, a machine designed to replicate signatures, which Trump himself has admitted to using, has long been used by public figures, including U.S. presidents, for signing notes and letters.
However, Trump's claims that Biden's pardons should be rendered null and void are part of his efforts to prosecute his political opponents, particularly since Biden's pardons were preemptive, a move to protect his relatives, all members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack, and several of Trump’s most prominent adversaries.
@JennJVN/X
@HunterBiden/X
@HunterBiden/X
