CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Calls BS on Trump Over Wild Confrontation at White House About Pardon
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins called BS hours after confronting President Donald Trump at the White House over his pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao — which earned her another attack from the president.
Trump lashed out at Collins when she pressed him about the pardon during an event in the State Dining Room, telling her, “You know nothing about nothing, you fake news!”
On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, the anchor rolled tape of the fracas, then knocked down Trump’s response:
COLLINS: Tonight, at the White House, President Trump defended his decision to pardon the founder of Binance, who goes by the nickname CZ, running the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange that also happens to host the Trump family’s crypto firm.
I asked the President about this decision, earlier at the White House today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Today, you pardoned the founder of Binance. Can you explain why you chose to pardon him, and did it have anything to do with his involvement in your family’s–
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Which one? Who’s that?
COLLINS: The founder of Binance. He has involvement in your own family’s crypto business.
D. TRUMP: The recent one? That’s the — I believe we’re talking about the same person, because–
COLLINS: CZ.
D. TRUMP: –I do pardon a lot of people. I don’t know. He was recommended by a lot of people. A lot of people say that — are you talking about the crypto person?
COLLINS: Yes.
D. TRUMP: 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 that what he did–
COLLINS: He admitted to his crimes.
D. TRUMP: Well, you don’t know much about crypto. You know nothing about — you know nothing about nothing, you fake news.
But let me just tell you that he was somebody that, as I was told — I don’t know — I don’t believe I have ever met him — but I’ve been told — a lot of support, he had a lot of support. And they said that what he did is not even a crime. It wasn’t a crime. That he was persecuted by the Biden administration. And so, I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Despite what the President said there. In 2023, CZ actually pleaded guilty to these crimes, that he failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program for the platform. He agreed to step down as the CEO, and ended up paying a $200 million in fines.
The company itself paid more than $4 billion in penalties, following that years-long investigation, that alleged Binance allowed bad actors to operate on the platform, enabling transactions linked to child sex abuse and narcotics, even failing to report transactions — transactions for financing terrorist organizations like Hamas and al Qaeda. Basically, they could move money around on the platform.
CZ was ultimately sentenced to four months in prison. But back in May, he made it clear he was pursuing a pardon from the President. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANGPENG ZHAO, FOUNDER, BINANCE: I certainly wouldn’t mind one, so.
But the — there are legal means to apply, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course I’m sure.
ZHAO: So, I’ve got lawyers applying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The reason the pardon matters is it means that they can now allow Binance to operate in the United States, again, potentially benefiting a company that has ties to the President’s family’s crypto firm, which is World Liberty Financial. Binance hosts the Trump family’s crypto firm on its platform.
Binance has also helped popularize — popularize World Liberty Financial’s proprietary tokens, the sale of which has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for the Trump family. In fact, one of the biggest sources of income found in the President’s financial disclosure report, earlier this year, was a $57 million token sale that was made from World Liberty Financial.
The Wall Street Journal estimated that WLF has added more than $5 billion in paper wealth, to the Trump family fortune, surpassing actually the President’s real estate assets.
Just last week, we had Eric Trump here on the program. We asked him about how much of the family’s wealth is now intertwined with crypto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Some people want to know how do you draw the line between what he does as President, and what your family does as business?
ERIC TRUMP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Well, I think you know me well enough to know that I stay the hell out of Washington, D.C., and I always have.
And listen, again, we found crypto because we were debanked. They tried to take everything away from us, and we found that industry because of that.
COLLINS: I think some people might want to know, how do you determine whether something is a conflict of interest? Who really is doing that, in this position for you?
E. TRUMP: Well, we have — obviously, we have external ethics advisers. We take that very, very seriously.
COLLINS: So you don’t ever talk about crypto with your dad?
E. TRUMP: I really — I really don’t. I really don’t.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
