Critics on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump for claiming he doesn’t know Changpeng Zhao, the Binance cryptocurrency exchange founder he pardoned less than two weeks ago.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Norah O’Donnell pointed out to Trump that Zhao was convicted in 2023 of violating anti-money laundering laws.
“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,” she noted. “Why did you pardon him?”
“OK, are you ready?” Trump replied. “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.”
U.S. officials had accused Binance of failing to report suspicious activity, including transactions linked to Hamas, al Qaeda and websites known to distribute child porn, according to Reuters.
He paid a $50 million fine and served four months in prison, while the company paid $4 billion in penalties.
Trump deflected on that as well when asked about the “appearance of pay for play.”
“Here’s the thing: I know nothing about it,” he said. “My sons are into it.”
He added that his sons are “not in government.”
The president’s critics also noted that Trump and his allies have railed against former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen while in office as proof he didn’t know who he was pardoning and that any actions he signed by autopen ― including those pardons ― should be invalid.
Now, Trump has admitted that he didn’t know who he was pardoning himself ― and plenty of people called him out over it:
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