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. When Trump was asked about Zhao’s pardon during a 60 Minutes interview, viewers didn’t even get to see the strangest part of the conversation, which was edited out.
### Multiple Versions of the Interview
There are essentially three versions of the 60 Minutes interview that the public can access. The version that aired on TV was 28 minutes long. In that segment, regarding the pardon, Trump insisted he didn’t even know who Zhao was. Below is a transcript excerpt from 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 especially interesting, given that the president has repeatedly accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of not understanding the legislation he was signing due to cognitive decline.
### What Was Edited Out?
The show cut out large portions of the conversation where Trump praised cryptocurrency as necessary for the United States to remain competitive globally—comments that were not particularly surprising. Trump also spent time criticizing Biden, calling him the “most corrupt president” America has ever had.
All of this is visible in the online “extended” version of the interview. However, there was a notably significant moment missing from *both* the TV and extended video versions—the moment that only appears in the transcript.
### The Revealing Transcript Excerpt
According to the transcript, when asked about the appearance of corruption connected to his pardon and his financial interest in crypto, Trump responded that he “didn’t want to answer that question.” This exchange isn’t available to view in either video version. Here’s the part from 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 this exchange was the actual end of the interview in real time. Interestingly, the crypto discussion was pushed to an earlier position in both the online and the TV versions of the interview. It remains unclear why this part—where Trump hesitates to address corruption concerns—was entirely cut from the videos.
### Why It Matters
We can speculate on why this section was deleted. Trump has a history of alleging that 60 Minutes edited videos unfairly, claiming it was a form of election interference. While those claims did not hold up in court, CBS News ultimately settled with Trump for $16 million, a move many viewed as a capitulation designed to facilitate the approval of Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
Stephen Colbert, the late-night host whose show was reportedly being canceled under pressure from Trump, called the settlement a “big fat bribe.” The merger proceeded without issue, and recently, Bari Weiss—the right-wing founder of The Free Press—was hired to oversee all of CBS News.
As noted by the Daily Beast, the transcript also confirms that CBS did not air the part where Trump bragged that the network had paid him “a lot of money.” This was included in the extended video version, however.
### The Future of Trump’s War on Media
Trump appears to be chalking up wins against the mainstream media, despite some setbacks. For example, his FCC head, Brendan Carr, led a failed effort to have ABC host Jimmy Kimmel removed. Yet Trump has not backed down from attempts to purge media voices critical of him.
Over the weekend, Trump targeted late-night host Seth Meyers after Meyers mocked him, claiming that “being 100% anti-Trump was probably illegal.” Of course, that is not true.
Meanwhile, many of Trump’s allies in Congress seem largely unbothered by his actions, even when it includes pardoning controversial figures like Changpeng Zhao and attempting to stifle free speech.
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*This ongoing media battle raises important questions about transparency, the influence of money in politics, and freedom of speech in America’s democracy.*
https://gizmodo.com/trump-60-minutes-edited-crypto-binance-2000680807
