Trump Pardons Changpeng Zhao After Full Legal Review

Donald Trump Pardons Changpeng Zhao After Full Legal Review, Says White House

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: November 05, 2025

Key Takeaways

The White House said Changpeng Zhao’s pardon followed a formal legal review before reaching President Trump for final approval;
President Trump stated he didn’t personally know Zhao and dismissed backlash as political, not based on the case itself;
The pardon was described by the White House as a response to overly harsh treatment by the DOJ under the Biden administration.

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The White House's decision to pardon Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance $24.11B , has followed a standard review process, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Leavitt stated that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and White House legal staff carefully examined the request before passing it along to President Donald Trump for a final decision.

During a 60 Minutes interview on CBS, President Trump said he did not know who Zhao was. He dismissed criticism of the pardon by suggesting it was being used for political attacks.

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Leavitt later clarified that President Trump’s comment was only meant to show that he had no personal connection to Zhao.

She also emphasized that a group of legal professionals had reviewed the case, as they do with all pardon applications.

Leavitt also said Zhao’s case reflected an issue with how the DOJ approached cryptocurrency cases under the Biden administration. She claimed Zhao was treated unfairly and that the legal actions taken against him were too aggressive.

According to her, the pardon was meant to address that. She said:

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.

Recently, Zhao considered filing a defamation lawsuit against US Senator Elizabeth Warren. What happened? Read the full story.