Alone among the broadcast networks, the CBS Evening News on Thursday had not a single mention of Donald Trump’s sudden pardon of money-laundering convicted cryptocurrency billionaire Changpeng Zhao.
While ABC and CBS, as well as PBS, all covered the somewhat surprising legal break delivered to the Canadian-born Binance founder, it was crickets on the Bari Weiss controlled former home of Walter Cronkite. Fox doesn’t have a nightly news show, but the pardon was also covered by the likes of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal and Fox News as well CNN, New York Times, AP, Reuters, Axios and many more.
With the pardon unveiled on Thursday, morning, the absence of any story on Zhao which was one of the biggest stories of the day, is all the more noticeable as questions over the deep and blatant entwinement the Binance boss has had in recent months with the Trump family’s lucrative crypto companies. Add to that the fact that one of the major elements of the Biden administration’s prosecution of Binance and its four months imprisoned ex-CEO was the lack of oversight the crypto exchange provided to crack down on widespread criminal and terrorist use of the platform.
Specifically that terrorist use saw the likes of Hamas using Binance for their finances. As well, global gangs moved around funds around that came out of child sex trafficking, prosecutors said.
Entering a guilty plea in 2023 and stepping down from the Binance top job, Zhao got out of prison after four months in September 2024. Even with that punishment, the exec lost none of his controlling shares in the 2017-formed company, and with this week’s pardon, could well moving right back in to the crypto C-Suite.
At the regular White House briefing on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered that Trump had “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency.” In case, you didn’t pick up what Leavitt and Trump were putting down, the press secretary then added: “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.”
In that context, last night’s CBS Evening News led with the NBA gambling scandal arrests, the administration’s “expanding military campaign against drug trafficking in South America,” and interviews with Customs and Border Patrol’s Greg Bovino and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker over harsh ICE crackdowns in Chicago.
Halfway through the broadcast, a segment on the much-criticized destruction of the White House’s East Wing for Trump’s new donor paid for ballroom took centerstage. In a follow-up, Thursday’s broadcast also took a look at the ongoing shutdown of the federal government and the fallout and delays being experienced at major USA airports. Towards the end of the October 23 CBS Evening News, Gayle King previewed a October 24 CBS Mornings segment on the final performance of Misty Copeland at the American Ballet Theatre.
Still, from top to bottom, nowhere on the John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois anchored show was there even a mention of Zhao’s pardon or his business relationships with the Trump family.
It is worth noting the pardon was covered in a written piece on the CBS News website, with an update at 6:33 pm ET on October 23. As well, CBS Evening News‘ official X feed sent out a post as recently on pardon as 7:30 am PT today.
However, reps for CBS News, which Free Press founder Weiss has been running for Paramount chief David Ellison since earlier this month, did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on the lack of coverage of the Zhao pardon.
While Ellison has publicly offered a neutral political stance as his vision for CBS News, his appointment of Weiss as well as former Trump officials throughout CBS News and his inner circle has raised eyebrows. Brows that have gone even higher with Paramount’s ongoing vigorous multi-billion-dollar pursuit of Warner Bros Discovery – a pursuit partial fueled by the implied promise that the well-connected Paramount can get the whole deal approved by the feds faster than anyone else.
On the other hand, probably cause ulcers down at the Melrose lot, Trump has repeatedly referred to Ellison, who received quick regulatory approval of his Paramount purchase, and his Oracle founding/world’s second richest man father Larry as “friends of mine and “big supporters of mine.” Trump also said of the Ellisons that “they’ll do the right thing” and will unlock the “great potential” of CBS News, which hasn’t always been POTUS’ most admiring outlet, if you know what I mean?
No friend of the Trumps, Sen, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Thursday pillaried the pardon.
“First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge,” the former presidential candidate said. ‘Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon. Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him. If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness.”
As for current UAE resident Zhao, who goes by CZ online and elsewhere, and Binance …he said it all. “Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation and justice,” Zhao wrote on X.
“We thank President Trump for his leadership and for his commitment to make the US the crypto capital of the world,’ a Binance spokesperson stated after the pardon was made public. “CZ’s vision not only made Binance the world’s largest crypto exchange but shaped the broader crypto movement. Binance remains focused on building a secure, transparent, and user-first platform that reduces fees and increases access to the financial system for all.”
