Last month, President Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, a move that raised plenty of eyebrows given Binance’s promotion of the Trump family’s crypto ventures. Trump was asked about Zhao’s pardon on Sunday during an appearance on CBS News’s 60 Minutes, where the president gave a bewildering answer. But viewers didn’t even get to see the strangest part, which was edited out.
There are essentially three versions of the 60 Minutes interview that the public can access. There’s the 28-minute version that aired on TV (and is available on YouTube), there’s the 1-hour and 13-minute video version that was posted to YouTube by 60 Minutes, and there’s the transcript of the interview published online by CBS News.
Naturally, we expect the two video versions to be different. That’s just editing and a normal part of presenting the news. But the portions that get cut can sometimes matter in the broader scheme of things. And a portion of the interview—where Trump is asked about cryptocurrency and the ways that Trump’s family has profited from it—doesn’t show up in the “extended version” released by 60 Minutes. We only know that because it’s in the transcript, as the Daily Beast was the first to point out.
The background
First, a little background on the reason Trump was asked about Changpeng Zhao in the first place.
Trump’s sons, Don Jr. and Eric, created a company with Steve Witkoff called World Liberty Financial in September 2024, just a couple of months before the presidential election. The company’s crypto coin, $WLFI, didn’t really take off until Trump beat his Democratic challenger Kamala Harris in November 2024. By March 2025, World Liberty launched a stablecoin called USD1. MGX, a state-backed company from the United Arab Emirates, used that stablecoin to invest $2 billion in Binance, according to the New York Times.
Binance called it the single largest investment in a cryptocurrency company ever, and it obviously raised questions about the ethics of a sitting president’s family profiting from foreign entanglements with the UAE, as well as a private crypto firm where the founder went to prison.
Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering violations in 2023 and served four months. Zhao owed $50 million in restitution, and his pardon likely means he won’t have to pay that back, since that’s what has happened with many of Trump’s other pardons.
Which brings us to Sunday night, when 60 Minutes journalist Norah O’Donnell asked Trump about the pardon of Zhao.
What TV viewers saw
TV viewers of 60 Minutes saw Trump questioned about a variety of topics like deportations, inflation, and the prosecution of his political enemies, like former FBI director James Comey. When Trump was asked about Changpeng Zhao (often referred to as CZ) and the pardon he issued, Trump insisted he didn’t even know who the guy was.
O’DONNELL: Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao?
TRUMP: Are you ready? I don’t know who he is
O’DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin. And they you pardoned him.
TRUMP: Here’s the thing — I know nothing about it
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) November 2, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Below is a transcript of what viewers saw.
NORAH O’DONNELL: He pled guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money laundering laws.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Right.
NORAH O’DONNELL: The government at the time said that C.Z. had caused “significant harm to U.S. national security,” essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around. Why did you pardon him?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay, are you ready? I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.
NORAH O’DONNELL: In 2025 his crypto exchange, Binance, helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin. And then you pardoned C.Z. How do you address the appearance of pay for play?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, here’s the thing, I know nothing about it because I’m too busy doing the other—
NORAH O’DONNELL: But he got a pardon—
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I can only tell you that—
NORAH O’DONNELL: He got a pardon—
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Norah, I can only tell you this. My sons are into it. I’m glad they are, because it’s probably a great industry, crypto. I think it’s good. You know, they’re running a business, they’re not in government.
The claim that Trump didn’t even know who CZ was is indeed interesting, especially since the president has repeatedly claimed that his predecessor, President Joe Biden, didn’t even know what kind of legislation he was signing during his cognitive decline in the Oval Office. But we obviously can’t take everything Trump says at face value.
The show cut out large portions of the conversation where Trump praises crypto and says it’s necessary to be competitive globally, none of which was particularly newsworthy for viewers at home. Trump also rambled on and on about Biden being the “most corrupt president” America has ever had. And viewers can see all of that in the online “extended” interview. But there was a moment that wasn’t in either video that’s very notable.
The part that’s only in the transcript
According to the transcript, Trump was asked about the appearance of corruption with his pardon and financial interest in crypto. And he replied that he didn’t want to answer that question, something that’s not available to see in either video that’s been published by 60 Minutes.
The transcript:
NORAH O’DONNELL: So not concerned about the appearance of corruption with this?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: 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. But I let you ask it. You just came to me and you said, “Can I ask another question?” And I said, yeah. This is the question—
NORAH O’DONNELL: And you answered—
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t mind. Did I let you do it? I coulda walked away. I didn’t have to answer this question. I’m proud to answer the question. You know why? We’ve taken crypto—
NORAH O’DONNELL: But just generally speak—
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me. We’re number one in crypto in the whole world. Other people wanna be. They’re fighting like hell to be. But we’re number one in crypto because I’m the president. Biden wanted to also, at the very end, you know, he totally switched his thing.
You know, Biden was totally in favor of crypto at the end. Do you know that many people that were indicted under Biden for crypto, at the very end before the election, were let go? You know why? He wanted the vote. We are number one in crypto and that’s the only thing I care about. I don’t want China or anybody else to take it away. It’s a massive industry.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Mr. President, thank you.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much.
The transcript suggests that this portion was the actual end of the interview as it happened in real-time, though the crypto portion was pushed much earlier in the videos both online and that aired on TV. And it’s not clear why this was the only part that appears to have been in the transcript but doesn’t show up in either video.
Why it matters
We can, however, take a guess at why this little section was deleted from the videos. Trump has bragged about how he got CBS News to pay $16 million in a settlement. Trump alleged that 60 Minutes edited a video to make Kamala Harris look better, something that seems ridiculous when you actually watch the videos side by side. But Trump insisted that such editing was a form of election interference, something most experts said wouldn’t have stood up in court.
CBS News settled with Trump in a move that was widely seen as capitulation in order to allow its parent company, Paramount, to merge with Skydance, something that needed regulatory approval. Stephen Colbert, the late-night host whose show is being cancelled under pressure from Trump, called the settlement a “big fat bribe.” The merger happened without a problem, and more recently, the right-wing founder of The Free Press, Bari Weiss, was hired to oversee all of CBS News.
As the Daily Beast notes, the transcript shows that CBS also didn’t air the part where Trump bragged that the network had paid him “a lot of money.” That part was in the extended video, however.
The future of Trump’s war on media
Trump seems to be chalking up wins in the mainstream media left and right, though he’s been sometimes stifled. Trump’s head of the FCC, Brendan Carr, led a failed campaign to have ABC host Jimmy Kimmel ousted. But Trump hasn’t given up on purging the airwaves of dissenting voices.
Over the weekend, Trump posted about late-night host Seth Meyers because he made fun of Trump, insisting that being 100% anti-Trump was “probably illegal.” It’s not illegal, obviously.
Trump’s buddies in Congress seem largely fine with everything Trump does, even if it means pardoning guys like Zhao and stifling speech.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has previously been critical of President Biden’s use of an autopen, was asked Monday about Trump’s claim that he didn’t know who CZ was. Johnson, in typical fashion, said he didn’t see the interview, so the reporter should ask Trump.
