O'DONNELL: Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 3, 2025
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
President Donald Trump told “60 Minutes” host Norah O’Donnell that he didn’t know who former Binance CEO and convicted criminal Changpeng Zhao is even though Trump pardoned him only a month ago. Trump also claimed he knew nothing about Zhao’s crimes.
CNBC reported in April 2025: “Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering violations in November 2024, was sentenced to four months in prison.”
The Daily Beast reports that most of this segment was edited out of 28-minute CBS News broadcast, but later the transcript of the un-aired part was posted online. On a side note, the head of CBS News is pro-Trump COVID-denier Bari Wiess.
(Sources: CNBC, CBS, The Daily Beast)