After President Donald Trump claimed that he doesn’t even know who Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of Binance, is, critics left no stone unturned to troll the President. What sparked the memes and online frenzy was Trump pardoning the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange just days ago.
The President appeared to brush off responsibility for the controversial pardon during a sit-down with 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell. The pardon was so controversial that it shocked financial watchdogs and national security experts.
O’Donnell pressed him, reminding the president that Zhao, often known as “C.Z.,” was convicted in 2023 of violating anti-money laundering laws. “The government at the time said that C.Z. had caused ‘significant harm to U.S. national security,’ essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around,” she said. “Why did you pardon him?”
Trump’s response left viewers stunned. “OK, are you ready?” he replied. “I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
If Trump doesn’t know about the pardon, who signed it? https://t.co/hZS2gG5nlp
— Maine (@TheMaineWonk) November 3, 2025
Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering system at Binance, which Reuters reported enabled transactions linked to al-Qaeda, Hamas, and even websites distributing child exploitation material. While Binance itself paid an astounding $4 billion in fines, he resigned as CEO and paid a $50 million punishment. In the end, Zhao was imprisoned for four months.
However, critics have a lot more to add to this story, and to Trump’s denial. As per multiple reports, Binance has financially backed several Trump family crypto ventures this year, including the TrumpCoin initiative and a new NFT platform tied to Trump-branded digital assets. Binance even announced a partnership with a Trump-affiliated crypto fund just days after Zhao’s pardon.
O’Donnell questioned whether that created an “appearance of pay for play.” Trump immediately deflected on hearing this. “Here’s the thing: I know nothing about it,” he said. “My sons are into it.” Pressed further, he added, “They’re not in government.”
after months of focus on Biden’s autopen pardons: https://t.co/UiLpAxJJdd
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) November 3, 2025
Several critics called him out for the hypocrisy. Especially considering Trump’s repeated attacks on former President Joe Biden for using an autopen to sign pardons. Previously, Trump had also accused Biden of being “unaware” of who he was pardoning. He also wrote on social media, “In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them, but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!”
President’s own words boomeranged against him. “He literally just admitted he pardoned someone he doesn’t know — someone his administration called a national security threat,” one user wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Political commentator Keith Boykin added, “If Biden had said this, Fox News would be running 24-hour specials.”
Meanwhile, watchdog groups are reportedly pushing for congressional scrutiny of the pardon process, calling it “a dangerous pattern of cronyism cloaked as populism.” However, not so interestingly, Zhao’s pardon and the timing of Binance’s renewed Trump connections speak a different story. Even some Republican insiders are privately admitting to the same, and this one “doesn’t pass the smell test.
