Did Trump ever meet the Binance founder? Internet wants the President to come clean about pardoning Changpeng Zhao after claiming to not know him

Donald Trump's 60 Minutes interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell - which was aired on Sunday, November 2 - has become the talk of the internet this week. The conversation has been going viral for multiple reasons, one of which was the President's comment about Changpeng Zhao.

CNN put together a montage of Trump playing dumb about the pardon of the Binance founder twice in about a week pic.twitter.com/jSkVd5fcxg

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 4, 2025

On 60 Minutes, O'Donnell questioned why Trump pardoned Zhao after the prosecutors' claim about the businessman having caused "significant harm to US national security. In response, Trump said:

"Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is."

The President's answer has left netizens bewildered, especially as it comes a month after he pardoned Zhao himself. X users are accusing Trump of lying and using his presidential privileges to pursue his personal goals,

"Trump’s memory always seems to vanish right after the crime. Convenient how “I don’t know him” has become his legal defense strategy." - commented an X user.

"He is getting worse at lying" - tweeted another one.

"Funny how he goes so fast from saying "I don't know who this guy is... MY SONS..." as if he is openly admitting he pardoned them to help their business interests (which are also his business interests)." - pointed out a third one.

Besides X, Trump's pardon of Zhao is also being questioned on Reddit, with multiple Redditors commenting.

"I would have felt better about it if Trump owned it and explained why. I was not satisfied with the "I don't know anything about it" answer. The optics are pretty bad when you consider CZ helped the Trump family crypto business bring in millions. You'd think he would have a prepared answer for that." - wrote a Reddit user.

"Seems like a payoff." - added another. 

"I don't care about the pardon. He had already served his prison sentence. I do think Trump's interview response on it was unacceptable, especially in light of his previous remarks about Biden's autopen usage." - commented a third one. 

Soon after pardoning Chengpang Zhao last month, when Trump was questioned about the decision, his following response suggested that the two had never met in person:

"A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything. He served four months in jail and they say that he was not guilty of anything. I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people."

Trump added that while he didn't believe to have met the Binance founder personally, he had been told that what Zhao did was "not even a crime". 

Per AP News, Trump's opinion of Zhao's sentencing was also echoed by Mark Bini, the former federal prosecutor, who said he went to prison for what "sounds like a regulatory offense, or at worse its kissing cousin". 

Changpeng Zhao thanked Trump after his pardon

Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
🙏🙏🙏🙏

Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.

(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025

After he was granted a pardon by President Trump, Zhao acknowledged it in a tweet (posted on October 23), expressing his gratitude to him for "upholding America's commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice."

For the unversed, the Binance founder was sentenced to 4 months of prison last year in April, after he pleaded guilty to US money laundering law violation charges. 

Zhao, who already served his sentence, was also ordered to pay a fine of $4.3 billion after his company was found to help users bypass sanctions, BBC reports.