President Trump said Sunday that he knows “nothing” about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao despite pardoning the convicted crypto billionaire.
Trump’s decision to pardon Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering regime, has drawn scrutiny in recent weeks given the Trump family’s business dealings with the crypto exchange.
“I don’t know who he is,” Trump told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in an interview for “60 Minutes” aired Sunday. “I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
“My sons are involved in crypto much more than me,” he added. “I know very little about it, other than one thing. It’s a huge industry. And if we’re not gonna be the head of it, China, Japan, or someplace else is. So, I am behind it 100 percent.”
Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison and was released from custody last September. He has reportedly been lobbying the White House for a pardon in recent months, as the crypto industry has found a key ally in the second Trump administration.
It represents a sharp departure from the industry’s tenuous relationship with the Biden administration. Crypto firms were particularly frustrated by former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who they accused of attempting to regulate via enforcement.
Trump’s pardon has faced pushback given Binance’s ties to his family’s crypto venture World Liberty Financial. An Emirati investment firm used the company’s stablecoin to invest $2 billion in the crypto exchange in May.
“I said, ‘Eh, it may look bad if I do it. I have to do the right thing,’” Trump said in Sunday’s interview. “I don’t know the man at all. I don’t think I ever met him. Maybe I did. Or, you know, somebody shook my hand or something. But I don’t think I ever met him.”
“I have no idea who he is,” he continued. “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.”
When O’Donnell pressed Trump on his limited knowledge of Zhao, the president said he knew “nothing about it because I’m too busy doing the other thing.”
“Norah, I can only tell you this. My sons are into it,” he added. “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.”
