President Trump’s Interview on Cryptocurrency Pardon
President Trump told 60 Minutes in a wide-ranging interview that he doesn’t know the billionaire cryptocurrency exchange founder he recently pardoned. Mr. Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, a Chinese-born Canadian founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, last month, suggesting he was a victim of political prosecution by the Biden administration.
“I don’t know who he is,” the president told correspondent Norah O’Donnell in the interview. “I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
O’Donnell pointed out that Binance helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin earlier this year. The deal helped boost the profile and value of World Liberty Financial, which was founded last year by Mr. Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., and others.
O’Donnell asked the president how he addressed “the appearance of pay for play.”
“Well, here’s the thing, I know nothing about it because I’m too busy doing the other—” he said.
“But he got a pardon,” O’Donnell said.
“I can only tell you that—” the president said.
“He got a pardon,” O’Donnell pressed.
“No, I can only tell you this. My sons are into it. I’m glad they are, because it’s probably a great industry, crypto. I think it’s good. You know, they’re running a business, they’re not in government,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump’s sons and World Liberty Financial have denied any involvement in the pardon.
Zhao, who is known as C.Z., pleaded guilty two years ago to a money laundering-related charge. He served four months in prison, and Binance was banned from operating in the United States. The government at the time alleged that Zhao caused “significant harm to U.S. national security,” essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move around millions of dollars.
After the pardon was announced last month, Mr. Trump was asked why he pardoned Zhao and whether the decision had anything to do with his family’s crypto business.
“A lot of people said that he wasn’t guilty of anything,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “I don’t know him. I don’t believe I’ve ever met him. He had a lot of support, and what they said that he did is not even a crime. It wasn’t a crime. That he was persecuted by the Biden administration. And so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.”