President Donald Trump claims he knows virtually nothing about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao—or the company’s recent financial entanglements with his own family—despite issuing him a pardon last month.
Asked in a CBS 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday why he pardoned the former crypto executive known as CZ, Trump responded bluntly: “Okay, are you ready? I don’t know who he is.”
Zhao, who stepped down as CEO of Binance in late 2023, pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to sufficiently combat money laundering on his platform. He served four months in jail and was released in September 2024.
Trump suggested his pardon was intended to make the U.S. more competitive in the rapidly evolving crypto industry while simultaneously taking aim at the Biden administration. “My sons are involved in crypto much more than I— me. I— I know very little about it, other than one thing. It’s a huge industry,” he said. “And if we’re not gonna be the head of it, China, Japan, or someplace else is.”
Despite insisting he didn’t know CZ personally, Trump claimed Zhao “was treated really badly by the Biden administration.” He elaborated: “They sent him to jail and they really set him up. That’s my opinion. I was told about it.”
Trump went further: “I don’t know the man at all. I don’t think I ever met him. I have no idea who he is. I was told that he was a victim, just like I was and just like many other people, of a vicious, horrible group of people in the Biden administration.”
The claim that Trump had little knowledge of his own clemency decision comes as he and other Republicans have attacked President Biden for issuing pardons via autopen. In March, Trump wrote on Truth Social that many of Biden’s pardons are invalid “because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!”
The controversy over pardons has drawn congressional attention. After Republicans on the Oversight Committee released a report on Biden’s autopen use, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the former president “didn’t even know what the categories were, apparently, much less the individual people, that he pardoned.”
Binance has faced enormous scrutiny. In 2023, the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle allegations that its platform facilitated illicit activity, including terrorism and child exploitation. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland described it as “one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history.”
Following Trump’s election, Zhao pursued clemency aggressively, publicly praising the former president and submitting pardon applications. Binance also became financially linked to World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform tied to the Trump family. In May, World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff, son of top Trump administration official Steve Witkoff, said the company’s stablecoin would help facilitate a $2 billion investment in Binance by Emirati state investment firm MGX. Later that month, the SEC dropped its case against Binance and Zhao.
Trump announced Zhao’s pardon on Oct. 23.
When pressed in the CBS interview about potential “pay for play,” Trump again shrugged: “Well, here’s the thing, I know nothing about it because I’m too busy.” He added, “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.”
On Zhao himself, Trump concluded, “I know nothing about the guy, other than I hear he was a victim of weaponization by government. When you say the government, you’re talking about the Biden government.”
Watch the clip below:
O'DONNELL: Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao?
TRUMP: Are you ready? I don't know who he is
O'DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. And they you pardoned him.
TRUMP: Here's the thing — I know nothing… pic.twitter.com/rJFXsJ2VvF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 3, 2025
