Despite giving Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao a presidential pardon last month, President Donald Trump asserted that he has no idea who Zhao is.
The president dismissed queries about Zhao’s case and his family’s cryptocurrency-related business activities during a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night, referring to it as a “Biden witch hunt.”
Trump had no idea who CZ is
Trump said, “Okay, are you ready?” in response to a question on why he pardoned Zhao, who had admitted to breaking anti-money laundering rules in 2023. I have no idea who he is. I’ve heard it was a Biden witch hunt, and I know he received a four-month term or something.
Following up, interviewer Norah O’Donnell noted that Binance had “helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase” of the stablecoin owned by World Liberty Financial, which is funded by the Trump family.
“I know nothing about it because I’m too busy,” Trump said, dismissing the inquiry. When questioned about his family’s engagement in cryptocurrency, the president emphasized that he was not directly involved and stated that his sons were “running a business.”
The president’s remarks coincide with the continuing investigation into the connections between Binance and World Liberty Financial, a Trump family business that is purportedly supported by cryptocurrency companies.
Lawmakers have widely criticised Zhao’s pardon because they see it as a possible conflict of interest. Zhao was given a four-month jail term.
Staying ahead of China in crypto
He said he only cared about one thing, and that is whether the USA would be number one in crypto, and that crypto had turned out well, so in that sense, he had been right.
He said crypto had become a massive industry, if one wanted to call it that, and that he was proud to say they were far and away ahead of China and everyone else, although China was getting into it in a big way.
He warned that going after people would kill the industry and that would be very bad because a tremendous number of jobs were at stake. He said he had campaigned positively and openly on crypto while Biden had campaigned against it.
He said they were totally in favour, that many people had been under indictment and had been let go, and reiterated that “Biden was a corrupt president” who went all in on crypto at the end because he thought he could get some votes.
The US Government shutdown
Trump spoke to domestic concerns during the same interview, such as the current government shutdown, which is now on course to be the longest in US history.
On the other hand, the lawyer for U.S. Senator and top Senate Banking Committee Democrat Elizabeth Warren in a letter, denied allegations that she denigrated Binance co-founder Zhao in comments made shortly after President Trump pardoned him. Warren claimed the statement was “true in all respects.”
Trumps’s statement has raiders a lot of eyebrows in the crypto community as it raises questions on whether Trump actually knew what he is doing and what CZ has done. It raises questions on whether CZ actually deserved the pardon from him, because Trump is not even aware of who CZ is.
Following President Donald Trump’s pardon of CZ, Binance is apparently looking at methods to reenter the US market.