Add Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to the list of prominent Republicans who say they “don’t know anything” about President Donald Trump’s pardon of the billionaire founder of a cryptocurrency exchange. It is a catalog that includes Trump himself.
On Oct. 23, Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, who goes by “CZ.” In 2023, Zhao resigned as the CEO of Binance and pleaded guilty to failing to rout out money laundering on his platform. He served four months in prison. After Trump’s victory in 2024, Binance “formed a high-level task force to strike a deal with the Trumps’ nascent cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, that Binance could leverage into clemency for Zhao,” The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter. The publication added that Binance “catapulted the Trump family venture’s new stablecoin product, enhancing its credibility and pushing its market capitalization up from $127 million to over $2.1 billion.”
Trump has denied knowing much, if anything, about the pardon he signed.
“I don’t know who he is,” Trump told 60 Minutes on Sunday. “I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has also pleaded ignorance.
“I don’t know anything about that,” the speaker said on Monday, adding to the growing list of news items he has not seen. “I didn’t see the interview.”
On Monday night, it was Mullin’s turn. Appearing on CNN’s The Source, Mullin was asked by Kaitlan Collins to offer his reaction. Collins played Mullin two clips of Trump claiming not to know much about Zhao. In one of them, Trump said the pardon was recommended to him.
Here is their exchange:
COLLINS: Should the president know who he’s pardoning?
MULLIN: Well, I don’t know anything about this one. That’s the first time I’ve seen that. But I would say the president has the authority to pardon people. And and that’s within his realm to do it. So, I’m not gonna question who he pardons, who he doesn’t pardon.
COLLINS: But the argument from Republicans is that Biden used an autopen for pardons and that he didn’t know who he was pardoning
MULLIN: Well, we know that to be true.
COLLINS: I mean, Trump is openly saying he did not know who he was pardoning.
MULLIN: He said it was recommended to him. That’s what he said. It was recommended to him. He gets a lot of recommendations. He pardons a lot of people. Those were his words. If you talk about the difference between Biden, Biden, his pardons were an autopen. That’s not even up for discussion.
COLLINS: But Biden also knew– I mean, he pardoned his family members. He knew who they were.
MULLIN: Well, that was one of how many thousands did he pardon? So, my point that I’m trying to get to Kaitlan, I’m not trying to avoid the question. I don’t know anything about it. This is the first time I’ve heard about the pardon. The president has a right to pardon who he wants to. I guarantee he signed the pardon himself, not an autopen. And I know he has to take recommendations. That’s what we all do. You take recommendations, we take– I take recommendations. We got a great team that works around us. He’s got a great team that works around him. And he trusts them. He trusts them good enough that if he thinks– I mean, you heard him say that if they think he needs to be pardoned, then he’ll sign the pardon. If he thinks they need to be dug in further, then he’ll dig in further. He has the right to question whoever he wants, but he also trusts his team around him.
COLLINS: But would you want to know who you’re pardoning if you’re pardoning someone?
MULLIN: I’m not the president of the United States, nor the governor of a state. I’m a senator, one of 100.
COLLINS: Senator Markwayne Mullin, thank you for your time tonight.
MULLIN: Thank you.
Trump’s pardon of Zhao comes as congressional Republicans have asked the Department of Justice to investigate former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen to sign some official documents, including pardons. The House Oversight Committee claimed in a report that these pardons are “illegitimate.”
Watch above via CNN.
The post ‘I Don’t Know Anything About It’: Sen. Markwayne Mullin Ducks Kaitlan Collins’ Question About Trump’s Crypto Pardon first appeared on Mediaite.
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