Trump is ‘compromised’

Transcript

00:00Trump is compromised. A new 60 Minutes investigation led by Scott Pelley is raising questions about

00:07whether President Donald Trump's pardon of Binance founder Chung Peng Zhao was influenced

00:12by Trump family business ties ahead of the October 2025 pardon. Pelley opened the broadcast by

00:18stating, our reporting shows that Zhao's company supported a Trump family firm at critical moments

00:23leading up to the president's pardon. According to the report, Zhao had donated software to

00:28World Liberty Financial, a crypto enterprise closely linked to Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

00:33to support its launch. The next month, Chung Peng Zhao applied for a presidential pardon, Pelley said.

00:39Elizabeth Oyer, who served as pardon attorney during the Biden administration, said,

00:44the influence that money played in securing this pardon is unprecedented. She was replaced earlier

00:49this year by a person whom Pelley described as a Trump loyalist. The segment also highlighted a

00:55$2 billion investment made by a United Arab Emirates fund into Binance earlier this year

01:00and completed it using the Trump-linked World Liberty cryptocurrency. One unnamed source told

01:0660 Minutes the decision was nuts. Notably, Reuters previously reported that the Trump sons raked in

01:11more than $800 million from sales of crypto assets in the first half of 2025.

01:16The only reason it makes sense is to ingratiate with the president, Lessig said of the UAE investment.

01:23When asked whether that meant the president was compromised, he replied,

01:26compromised is exactly the description. The UAE fund told 60 Minutes the deal was based solely

01:32on business suitability. The report aired amid renewed tension between Trump and major news outlets.

01:38Pelley, meanwhile, used a commencement address in May to warn that freedom of speech is under attack

01:42and that insidious fear had taken hold early in Trump's second term.