Trump Explains Pardoning Crypto Tycoon: ‘Okay, Are You Ready? I Don’t Know Who He Is. I Know Nothing About it’
President Donald Trump says he knows nothing about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, despite granting him a pardon last month.
Former President Donald Trump says he knows “virtually nothing” about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao—or about his family’s financial connections to the crypto mogul’s company—despite granting him a presidential pardon last month.
In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired Sunday, Trump was asked why he pardoned Zhao, the former Binance CEO widely known as “CZ.” His response was blunt: “Okay, are you ready? I don’t know who he is.”
Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance in late 2023 after pleading guilty to failing to prevent money laundering on the platform. He served four months in prison and was released in September 2024.
Trump said his decision to pardon Zhao was motivated by a desire to make the United States more competitive in the growing cryptocurrency market—while also taking a swipe at the Biden administration. “My sons are involved in crypto much more than I am. I know very little about it, except that it’s a huge industry,” he said. “And if we’re not going to lead it, China, Japan, or someplace else will.”
Although he insisted he had no personal relationship with Zhao, Trump claimed the former Binance executive “was treated really badly by the Biden administration.” He added, “They sent him to jail, and they really set him up. That’s my opinion. I was told about it.”
“I don’t know the man at all. I don’t think I ever met him. I have no idea who he is,” Trump continued. “I was told that he was a victim, just like I was, and like many other people, of a vicious, horrible group of people in the Biden administration.”
Trump’s claim that he was unfamiliar with the details of his own pardon decision comes as Republicans criticize President Biden for using an autopen to issue pardons. In March, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Biden’s pardons were “invalid because they were done by autopen,” alleging that “Joe Biden did not sign them and, more importantly, did not know anything about them.”
The debate over presidential pardons has also drawn attention from Congress. After Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released a report about Biden’s use of an autopen, Speaker Mike Johnson said the president “didn’t even know what the categories were, much less the individual people he pardoned.”
Binance, meanwhile, has faced intense scrutiny from U.S. regulators. In 2023, the company agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine to settle charges that it enabled illicit activities, including terrorism financing and child exploitation. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland called it “one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history.”
After Trump’s election victory, Zhao pursued clemency aggressively, publicly praising Trump and filing formal pardon requests. Around the same time, Binance developed financial ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture linked to the Trump family.
In May, World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff—whose father, Steve Witkoff, served as a top Trump administration official—announced that the company’s stablecoin would help facilitate a $2 billion investment in Binance by the Emirati state firm MGX. Later that month, the SEC dropped its case against Binance and Zhao.
Trump officially granted Zhao’s pardon on October 23.
When pressed by CBS about whether the pardon was influenced by money or personal connections, Trump brushed off the suggestion. “I know nothing about it because I’m too busy,” he said. “My sons are into it. I’m glad they are because it’s probably a great industry. They’re running a business; they’re not in government.”
As for Zhao, Trump reiterated, “I know nothing about the guy, other than I hear he was a victim of government weaponization. And when you say the government, you’re talking about the Biden government.”
Watch the full clip below:
