The president formally signed the pardon for Zhao a week later, setting off an uproar in Washington. Democrats—pointing to steps Binance has taken that boosted the cryptocurrency company that Trump Jr. co-founded along with his father and brothers, World Liberty Financial—said the move amounted to brazen corruption. Several Republicans, including Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Trump donor Joe Lonsdale, said they were alarmed by it. Trump ally Laura Loomer called it a “terrible Pardon idea.”

For Binance, it was the culmination of a nearly yearlong effort to pursue clemency for its founder. It had paid lobbyists around $800,000 to lobby for a pardon, U.S. policy changes and other matters, according to federal records. It also approached other lobbyists about a pardon, offering success fees of as much as $5 million if they could help secure one, according to people familiar with the outreach. The company pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering rules and paid a $4.3 billion fine, and Zhao served a four-month prison sentence on a related charge. A pardon could make it easier for the company to return to the U.S. market.

Tom Clare, a lawyer for World Liberty Financial, said the firm played no role in Zhao’s pursuit of a pardon and that Trump Jr. and his brother don’t serve on the board or engage in the day-to-day management of World Liberty Financial. The company “did not discuss, facilitate or influence” Zhao’s pardon, he said. All interactions between World Liberty Financial and Binance have been “routine,” he said.

A lawyer for Zhao, Teresa Goody Guillén, said that his pardon wasn’t linked to any business decision and that he was “pardoned for justice.” A Binance representative said the company had “limited involvement” with World Liberty Financial-related products that was “confined to contractual terms that are available to other projects.”

Trump is a Catholic church raised by Maga. Selling pardons and molesting boys and covering it up, what else they have in common?

The clemency for Zhao was one in a series of pardons in recent months that have surprised even some of the president’s closest advisers. This month alone, Trump pardoned a former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted of conspiring with cartels to ship 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S.; a Texas Democrat, Henry Cuellar, charged with taking nearly $600,000 in foreign bribes; and a sports executive, Tim Leiweke, who had been indicted by Trump’s own Justice Department. The men have previously denied wrongdoing.

Trump pardoned Hernández so quickly that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other senior officials had no advance notice—and even Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally who had been pushing for the pardon, told people he was stunned by Trump’s speed. Stone said he wasn’t paid for his advocacy, which he said came after he had reviewed the case.

Trump had asked aides for months if Cuellar would flip to the Republican Party if he pardoned him, according to people familiar with the conversations. He hasn’t switched parties. Trump’s pardon for Leiweke came after former Rep. Trey Gowdy raised the case with him at Mar-a-Lago after a round of golf, the Journal previously reported. The president, Gowdy told the Journal, had asked if there was anything he needed.

Trump himself has suggested that he doesn’t spend too much time on the particulars of a case if he is persuaded that someone was unfairly targeted. “I know very little about him,” he said of Hernández in an interview with Politico. “They think he was treated horribly, and they asked me to do it.”

Liz Oyer, the Justice Department’s former pardon attorney who was fired in March, said Trump’s approach subverted what the pardon process was designed for. The president “appears to be considering political, personal and financial interests and not the interests of the American public,” she said.

>>1469725
I'll never forgive Trump for pardoning a fucking Canadian. Literally the worst thing he's done is pardon that fucking Canadian fuck, Zhao.

Of course trump accusing others of Pay to Play is a confession.

>>1469725
>Democrats—pointing to steps Binance has taken that boosted the cryptocurrency company that Trump Jr. co-founded along with his father and brothers, World Liberty Financial—said the move amounted to brazen corruption.
And were oddly silent about Hunter Biden and Burisma... by the way how much did that blanket pardon cost?

>>1469749
Trump proved Biden was right to hand out every pardon he did the second he went after Letitia James for daring to hold him accountable to the law and James Comey for... I don't even know why Trump hates Comey, the fucker handed him 2016 on a silver platter he should be sending him "Thank You" baskets every week.

>>1469751
>It's only okay when WE do it!

>>1469753
Yes, you memorized the RNC's catchphrase for the last 40 years, very good

>>1469725
A million dollars for a whole-ass presidential pardon? Christ, if you're going to be a corrupt fuckhead can you at least not be cheap over it? Fucking Dr. Evil over here.

>>1469749
>Hunter Biden
Someone forgot to update one of the bots

>>1469793
Someone forgot how to make a counter-argument.

>>1469801
You're a faggot and there's nothing to argue

>>1469762
Other than 'lobbyists said', where did that $1 million figure come from?

>>1469725
how's that any different from the justice system, you have retarded bleeding heart sanctuary city grand juries that would indict a ham sandwitch because they were told it liked trump.

>>1469749
Plently of democrats criticized Biden for his pardon of Hunter and his family (even though his plea deal only fell through because Republicans got a whistleblower, who turned out be a foreign agent to lie about him). Now which Republicans have criticized Trump for all his pardons?

>>1469801
Whataboutism is never a valid defense so instead of playing into you trying to distract from some clear corruption (hey remember when Trump said he was going to drain the swamp?) it’s a much better option to make fun of you for being a cultist and a dick sucker.

>>1469916
Oy vey, this goy should know his place.

>>1469911
>Plently of democrats criticized Biden for his pardon of Hunter and his family
Only because it was one of many things that cost them the election, but they didn't say jack shit about the Biden family, Burisma, or our government ordering Ukraine to fire the guy looking into corruption. In fact they went as far as defending it as a 'right-wing conspiracy' and we have no proof of anything - they were nothing but 'unverified allegations from the FBI'. Now here we are in this thread with unverified allegations of corruption, and what's the reaction? Funny how it changes when a Republican is in office.

>>1469916
>Whataboutism is never a valid defense
Ironically used on /news/ everyday. 99% of the time it's WhataboutTrumpism or WhataboutJan6thism.

>so instead of playing into you trying to distract from some clear corruption
>Shokin investigates corruption with Burisma in 2016
>Hunter, who is on the board, makes a phone call to daddy
>the state department threatens to withhold $1 billion in aid unless shokin is fired
>shokin is fired
>dems be like: "lol what corruption? What are you talking about? It's a conspiracy!"
You, and your masters, had no problem with clear corruption back then. So you don't get to say shit.

>>1469922
Good post

>>1469919
Biden pardoned his son after the election and that wasn't even an issue for the voters cared about in this election.

>Biden family, Burisma, or our government ordering Ukraine to fire the guy looking into corruption
>https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-informant-who-made-up-biden-bribe-story-gets-6-years-prison
>Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the Bidens accepting $10M in bribes from Ukrainian gas company Burisma
That was all a lie.

>unverified allegations of corruption
>https://www.fox13now.com/news/national-news/nyt-justice-department-closed-probe-into-trumps-border-czar-tom-homan-for-accepting-bag-of-cash
This is one example that no one involved even denies!

>>1469924
just introduce yourself as 'russia shill' next time

>>1469924
Nice whataboutism, but that has nothing to do with trump selling pardons.

Reminder to ignore russian shill whataboutisms and focus on trump's corruption and criminality.

>>1469933
>Trump's corruption and criminality.
Homan accepting bribes and Trump's DOJ dropping the case is not an example of Trump's corruption?

>>1469922
And that makes Trump selling pardons okay because…?

>>1469941
Look, the important thing to realize is nobody has standing to criticize daddy Trump and we should let him do whatever he wants.

>>1469941
Because you've yet to prove that it's happening. You had no problem dismissing all the corruption the Biden family was involved with, so unless you have some actual hard evidence you can fuck off.

>>1469958
and don't forget hunter's penis, russian shill anon

>>1469958
It’s what the new article is about, so if I get this right the burden of proof if Trump is doing something wrong is if he’s literally shoving his dick down your throat but then only maybe? Again, you don’t deserve serious consideration.

>>1469958
But we literally have proof it happened. Ches McDowell got paid a few million by Changpeng Zhao, went to the White House with Trump Jr, and the next week Zhao got a presidential pardon in spite of Trump openly admitting he had basically no idea who he was.

>>1469976
>But we literally have proof it happened.
We literally have proof of several million dollars going to Hunter or companies linked to the Biden family, with the state department pressuring Ukraine to fire the investigator looking into the company and a $7 million bribe to the prosecutor to drop the whole case. You fucks on the left swept for Biden back then, you don't get to cry about corruption now.

>>1469977
god you're esl

>>1469977
Your whataboutism is pathetic. Corruption on one side doesn’t make corruption on the other okay. You defending it however makes you seem like a dick sucker and a cultist.

>>1469979
You don't get to pick and choose, nigger. You want to turn a blind eye to corruption when it's your guy in office, don't complain when I do the same. I won't be listening to you.

>>1469981
get a real job faggot

>>1469725
He would sell his own mother's dusty corpse pussy if he was convinced that it'd get him some gold or attention.

>>1469978
There's so many of them here now. Over at /vr/ there's a jeet who is insisting that in English if there's a similar word in to any other word in the English language in a sentence, then "[sic]" must be used.
lol can you imagine what that would look like all the damn time?

>>1469981
>Hmmm, now I have no choice but to be corrupt myself
>This is completely fine

>>1469987
Don't cry when we swing the pendulum back.

>>1469992
...by also being corrupt? You do realize that a corrupt Republican government is still a corrupt government right? And a corrupt government never has your interests in mind?

>>1469993
>And a corrupt government never has your interests in mind?
I got everything I wanted from Trump and then some. Please keep repeating this meme and telling me how I'm voting against my own interests.

>>1469994
Well you guys are complaining about Somalians scamming millions when Trump pardoned a guy who scammed over a billion the exact same way for one.

>>1469995
And Biden pardoned his son who was getting millions from Burisma. So let me sum up your argument real quick:
>Noooooooo you can't vote for your corrupt government you have to vote for OUR corrupt government!
Suck my dick.

>>1469999
Didn't those charges never pan out? Also, let's take everything you say about Biden at face value; isn't Trump pardoning people who scammed over a billion and literal drug kingpins worse?

>>1470000
>isn't Trump pardoning people who scammed over a billion and literal drug kingpins worse?
maybe to brain damaged libs
They've already been arrested for scamming/drug dealing. They're off the streets, and their victims have a path towards restitution
So what does Trump do? Charge them even more money to clean their record. Money that the American people wouldn't have unless Trump wrung it out of them.
Only Demofarts would froth at the mouth from TDS from Trump extracting extra financial compensation from people trying to cripple America
Whats their answer? Put them in jail and spend money making sure they're safe and fed for years?
Only Leftist retards would get angry at extracting money from drug dealers instead of giving it to them

>>1470000
but his russian overlords need him to whine about hunter biden some more or he doesn't get his vodka rations

>>1469995
>when Trump pardoned a guy who scammed over a billion the exact same way
Btw who was this guy?

>>1469981
The start of the thread was about Trump corruption and you came in crying about how other people were also corrupt. You don’t care about the nature of the shitty behavior, it’s very much about you defending Trump, you’ve proved that multiple times in this thread. It’s very sad. You should get help.

>>1470005
>Trump corruption
Selling pardons is only considered corrupt to TDS sufferers.

>>1470007
Selling get of jail free cards to the politically connected and wealthy is generally viewed as blatant corruption

>>1470008
you're talking to a retard who's paid crumbs to suck billionaire dick all day, or maybe even does it for free. he's not worth listening to, only worth pointing and laughing at

>>1470008
>muh opinion...
discarded, because you're wrong and probably not American
Americans generally know Presidents don't have any restrictions on how they allocate pardons
you're just inventing reasons because 'orange man bad'

>>1470004
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Esformes
Fucker barely even stepped foot in a jail cell. But wait, he's actually done this SEVERAL TIMES across both admins
>https://arkansasadvocate.com/2025/12/29/judge-wont-delay-order-that-nursing-home-owner-pardoned-by-trump-report-to-arkansas-prison/
Fortunately, this guy had state charges Trump couldn't get him out of.
Oh, and here's a really fucking ironic one.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Archer
This was literally Hunter Biden's business partner lmao.

>>1469749
>>1469919
>>1469924
>>1469977
Trump literally pardoned Hunter's buisness partner this year lmao.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Archer
>In March 2025, Archer received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for his 2018 conviction in the Oglala Sioux tribal-bond case. News reports noted the pardon followed the Supreme Court's January 2024 refusal to hear his appeal.

>>1470011
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Esformes
>President Donald Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.
You said he was pardoned.
>when Trump pardoned a guy who scammed over a billion the exact same way

>>1470011
>>1470012
>Trump said he had heard from “many people” that Archer was treated unfairly because he became a witness for congressional Republicans who were investigating possible corruption of former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter through the son’s business deals.

>“They think he was treated very unfairly,” Trump said of his advisers. “He was a victim of a crime, as far I’m concerned. So we’re going to undo that.”

>>1470025
>Guys he wasn't pardoned, he just barely had to serve any jailtime

>>1470005
>You don’t care about the nature of the shitty behavior,
Neither do you.

>>1470027
I'm sorry, did he NOT take over 60 million from a native american tribe? You realize he got convicted in 2018. UNDER TRUMP.

Seems the message is "Be of use to Trump and Republicans and we'll get you out of anything you've been held accountable for".

>>1470028
>>Guys he wasn't pardoned
>after saying he was pardoned
When you learn the difference between a pardon and a commutation - the thing Biden did with over 8,000 people in just one term - then get back to me.

>>1470031
>I'm sorry, did he NOT take over 60 million from a native american tribe?
Yeah well I'm racist so I don't give a shit about them.
>You realize he got convicted in 2018. UNDER TRUMP.
And then his appeal to the supreme court was denied because of his involvement with Hunter Biden... y'know that thing you were "lmao" ing about?
>This was literally Hunter Biden's business partner lmao.
>Trump literally pardoned Hunter's buisness partner this year lmao.
>lmao

>>1470031
>Seems the message is "Be of use to Trump and Republicans and we'll get you out of anything you've been held accountable for".
And democrats don't do the same fucking thing? I seem to recall at one point we traded the Merchant of Death for a black WNBA player who hates America. But let me guess, that was different?

>>1470041
>we
you're really bad at pretending to be american, obvious russian shill

>>1469732
The fact that leftist like you are getting so ass angry about it is all worth it. I don't give a shit what Trump does so long as the libtears flow.

>>1470031
That's was always the message when it came to trump's failed coup.
He even tried to save that one fellow traitor in Colorado who tried to steal the election for him there but was convicted at a state level so Colorado told trump to fuck himself.

And then he retaliated by dismantling America's early warning weather system since it was located in that state.

>>1470035
>And then his appeal to the supreme court was denied because of his involvement with Hunter Biden...
>His appeal to the supreme court
>In 2024
>The 6-3 Republican Supreme Court
>denied because of his involvement with Hunter Biden
No they denied it because he had no grounds for appeal you fuckin retard.

>>1470048
>denied because no grounds for appeal
>no grounds for appeal because of involvement with Hunter Biden
lmao, stop making a fool of yourslef

>>1470049
No grounds for appeal because he fucking did it. What he got convicted for literally had nothing to do with Hunter Biden; he stole 60 million from a bond sale for himself. All the tribe had to do was point out their bonds got sold and they got no money. It was open and shut fraud.

>>1470050
>literally had nothing to do with Hunter Biden
but you literally introduced this guy as 'Hunter Bidens business partner'
Pick one, either Hunter is relevant to this case or not, not whatever is more convenient for you
Do you have brain damage?

>>1470048
>Trump said he had heard from “many people” that Archer was treated unfairly because he became a witness for congressional Republicans who were investigating possible corruption of former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter through the son’s business deals.

>>1470052
>but you literally introduced this guy as 'Hunter Bidens business partner'
This. They were all lmao about it, now they want to pretend his relationship with Hunter has nothing to do with it.

>>1470052
>but you literally introduced this guy as 'Hunter Bidens business partner'
lmao who would even do that, that's next level stages of uneducation
https://imgur.com/a/O9hbCa2

>>1470054
What he was sentenced for didn't involve Hunter though.

>>1470056
>This was literally Hunter Biden's business partner lmao.
>Trump literally pardoned Hunter's buisness partner this year lmao.
>What he was sentenced for didn't involve Hunter though.

>>1470057
Ok good, now that we've established the supreme court not hearing his case had nothing to do with Hunter, we can also establish that Trump doesn't give a shit about Burisma and any alleged corruption beyond using it to attack his political opponents.

If what Hunter and company did was so fucking awful and corrupt, Trump didn't fucking care about even letting one of them see justice for another crime.

>>1470058
>Ok good, now that we've established the supreme court not hearing his case had nothing to do with Hunter
Even though you made such a big deal about his relationship with Hunter lmao
>If what Hunter and company did was so fucking awful and corrupt,
We'll never know how fucking awful and corrupt Biden was because he pardoned his son who was taking in all the bribe money. If not for that, Hunter would be sitting in the same jail cell that Biden tried to put Trump in.
>Trump didn't fucking care about even letting one of them see justice for another crime.
You have no fucking right to talk about justice after all the shit your guy pulled.

>>1470059
And we once again loop around to "I think Biden was corrupt, so it's fine that Trump is openly corrupt"

Thanks for showing you have zero credibility and everything you say can be safely discarded.

>>1470062
>And we once again loop around to "I know Biden was corrupt
ftfy
>so it's fine that Trump is openly corrupt"
Bitch some more, faggot. You have no issue with corruption when a filthy dem is in office. I'm not listening to another fucking word of your hearsay no matter how much you cry and scream.
>Thanks for showing you have zero credibility and everything you say can be safely discarded.
Likewise, fuckface.

>>1470063
The shill is ignoring that Devon Archer was pardoned because he blew the whistle on the Biden pay to play scheme.

>>1470065
Accurate

>>1470031
Frankly with how openly Trump says he barely even knows who any of these guys are, just that "someone" told him they were treated unfairly, the message is that you need to figure out who the "someone"s are and send those people a briefcase full of unmarked Nvidia share certificates or tickets to the latest and greatest loli island getaway.

Lot of hurt Trumptard feelings ITT

>>1470159
They lash out at what they can't blame on democrats.

>The fact that leftist
>singular
No wonder your English education is inferior, thus you're inferior too, when your number of brain cells is in the singular, Ivan.