President Trump has sought to distance himself from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao after facing backlash for pardoning the cryptocurrency billionaire whose company has had business dealings with the Trump family’s digital finance venture.

The president’s comments have revived scrutiny of his family’s financial interest in the crypto industry and Trump’s own repeated claims that former President Biden was not aware of whom he was pardoning at the end of his term.

In an interview with “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday, Trump insisted he did not know Zhao personally, in response to questions about his family’s involvement with Binance and whether it amounted to corruption.

“OK, are you ready? I don't know who he is,” Trump said when asked by correspondent Norah O’Donnell why he pardoned Zhao. “I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”

“But this man was treated really badly by the Biden administration. And he was given a jail term. He's highly respected. He's a very successful guy,” Trump added. “They sent him to jail, and they really set him up. That's my opinion. I was told about it.”

Trump’s comments about Zhao and the rationale for pardoning him raised red flags for Democrats, who were quick to point out that the president has spent months questioning the validity of Biden’s pardons. House Republicans last week called on the Justice Department to investigate Biden’s pardons.

“Who's running the @WhiteHouse?” former Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates posted on the social platform X in response to Trump’s pardon comments Monday.

Trump has claimed Biden’s use of the autopen to sign off on numerous pardons at the end of his term showed Biden was not really in charge or aware of what he was doing. Trump dug in on those claims during Sunday’s interview, insisting his predecessor “didn’t have a........

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