US President Donald Trump says he does not know who Changpeng Zhao is, despite pardoning the cryptocurrency multi-billionaire last month.
The president's pardon lifts restrictions that had stopped Zhao from running financial ventures, but it is unclear whether it changes his standing with US regulators or his role at Binance.
At the time of the pardon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Zhao's prosecution under the Biden administration part of a "war on cryptocurrency", pushing back on critics who said the pardon appeared motivated by Trump's personal financial interests.
"This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration," she said, adding that the case had been "thoroughly reviewed". "So the president wants to correct this overreach of the Biden administration's misjustice and he exercised his constitutional authority to do so."
The president pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder of the world's largest crypto exchange, in October.
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