Trump Pardons Billionaire He 'Doesn't Know' — Again
The New York Times dutifully reports that Donald Trump expressed complete ignorance of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the Binance billionaire he inexplicably pardoned just last week during his chaotic departure from office. This 'I don't know him' defense is a classic, often deployed after a convenient transaction. Forget the high-profile federal conviction for money laundering that CZ just received;
Trump's memory is apparently as selective as his business partners. This isn't an isolated incident, of course. Think back to the pardons for Bannon, Arpaio, and others. The pattern establishes itself: a public figure faces federal heat, a pardon mysteriously appears, and Trump later claims no recollection of the individual, perhaps as if the pardon fairy simply materialized. (One might wonder how
many more of these 'strangers' he's helped evade justice.) The transactional nature of a Trump administration was never subtle; sometimes it's outright clumsy.