The White House thoroughly reviewed the pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, following standard procedures before sending it to President Donald Trump for approval, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
In a Sunday interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Trump defended the pardon, saying he had “no idea” who Zhao is and dismissing criticism as politically motivated.
Leavitt clarified in a Tuesday briefing that the president’s remarks were intended to indicate he “does not know him personally” and has no personal relationship with Zhao.
She emphasized that the pardon was evaluated with “utmost seriousness” through a “thorough review process” conducted by the Department of Justice and the White House Counsel’s office.
“There’s a whole team of qualified lawyers who review every single pardon request before it reaches the president,” Leavitt said. “He is the ultimate final decision maker.”
The pardon comes after multiple news reports suggested that Binance and Zhao assisted the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, in developing its stablecoin and using it in a $2 billion investment deal—a claim denied by Binance CEO Richard Teng.
Leavitt said the pardon was a way for Trump to “correct” a perceived injustice. She argued that Zhao had been “over-prosecuted by a weaponized DOJ,” and that the Biden administration had sought an excessive penalty.
Zhao pleaded guilty in November 2023 to failing to maintain an effective Anti–Money Laundering program at Binance, violating the US Bank Secrecy Act. US prosecutors had initially recommended a three-year prison sentence, but the sentencing judge deemed it “too harsh” and instead imposed a four-month term, which Zhao 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,” Leavitt said. “I think that’s the message he sent with this pardon.”
Supporters, including Zhao’s lawyer Teresa Goody Guillén, argued that the sentence was excessive given that Zhao was a non-violent first-time offender and the conviction involved only a single compliance-related charge.
In a portion of Trump’s 60 Minutes interview that was cut from broadcast, CBS’s Norah O’Donnell asked whether he was concerned “about the appearance of corruption” regarding Zhao’s pardon. Trump responded, “I can’t say, because — I can’t say — I’m not concerned. I don’t — I’d rather not have you ask the question.”
He then added that the US is “number one in crypto in the whole world” because of his presidency, and emphasized that he did not want “China or anybody else to take it away,” calling crypto “a massive industry.”
CBS’s YouTube upload of its interview with Trump notes that the segment was “condensed for clarity.”
Before the cut question, Trump said his sons are more involved in crypto than he is and admitted he knows very “little about it, other than one thing: it’s a huge industry.”
