Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said officials meticulously followed established procedures when reviewing Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s pardon before it reached President Trump’s desk.
Speaking to 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump stood by his decision to pardon CZ, stating that he didn’t know him and that the criticism of the pardon was politically motivated.“OK, are you ready? I don’t know who he is,” he said, adding that he had only heard he was a victim of Biden’s administration.
His remarks, however, drew backlash from those who took them to mean he didn’t even know the person he had pardoned. In a Tuesday briefing, Leavitt clarified that Trump’s remarks about CZ were intended to emphasize that “he doesn’t know him personally” and “has no personal relationship with this individual.”
She emphasized that the pardon was carefully evaluated by both the Justice Department and the White House Counsel’s Office.
Leavitt says President Trump corrected the injustice done to CZ
Leavitt emphasized that a group of seasoned attorneys reviews all pardon requests before they are presented to the president. However, CZ’s pardon has sparked considerable controversy after reports surfaced that Binance and the founder had assisted World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm run by the family of President Trump, with its own stablecoin plans and a $2 billion investment deal.
Nonetheless, CZ, not Richard Teng, has publicly denied those claims. Leavitt also insists that the Biden administration weaponized the Justice Department against Zhao, resulting in excessive and unfair punishment.
In November 2023, CZ pleaded guilty to violating the proper Anti–Money Laundering compliance system at Binance, a breach of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. U.S. prosecutors had sought a three-year prison sentence, but the judge ruled it “too harsh” and instead handed CZ a four-month term, which he began serving in April 2024.
“The president is correcting that wrong, and he has officially ended the Biden administration’s war on the cryptocurrency industry, and I think that’s the message he sent with this pardon,” Leavitt said.
In an unaired section of Trump’s 60 Minutes interview, Norah O’Donnell questioned him about “the appearance of corruption” surrounding CZ’s pardon. Trump responded that he wasn’t worried about it and preferred not to address the question, adding that the U.S. held the top spot in crypto due to his presidency and that he wouldn’t let China take that lead.
In the YouTube upload of the 60 Minutes interview, CBS explained it was shortened for clarity. Before the removed portion, Trump said his sons were more involved in crypto and admitted he knew little about the sector except that it was enormous.
Trump and Republican lawmakers are questioning the validity of Biden’s pardons
Lately, President Trump and GOP lawmakers have been pushing that Biden’s “autopen” pardons are invalid because the president allegedly did not know anything before approving them. According to the Oversight Committee’s report, Biden appeared so uninvolved in the process that it cast doubt on the validity of all pardons reportedly granted under his name.
In response to the report last month about Biden’s autopen pardons, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) even said it seemed the president didn’t even know the categories, let alone the individuals, he pardoned.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told reporters that under Biden’s process, a staffer drafts a memo for the president to review and initial, authorizing the use of the autopen, after which another staff member completes the signature.
However, when pressed by reporters about the parallels between the Oversight Committee’s claims against Biden and Trump’s own remarks on 60 Minutes, he said Trump sometimes “says things,” and aides need to “analyze and give him another chance to clarify if he misspoke.”
Speaker Johnson, on the subject, claimed he had not seen Trump’s interview and thus could not comment on it.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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