Trump’s CZ pardon draws fury from Maxine Waters over ‘pay-to-play’ crypto ties

Representative Maxine Waters slammed US President Donald Trump’s pardon of Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, calling it a corrupt favor.

United States Representative Maxine Waters strongly criticized US President Donald Trump for his decision to pardon Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.

Trump pardoned Zhao on Thursday, saying people told him “what he did is not even a crime.” Waters, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Financial Services, hit back later Thursday, claiming in a statement that “Trump is doing massive favors for crypto criminals who have helped line his pockets.”

“Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao—who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering and facilitating suspicious transactions with child abusers, drug dealers, and terrorists—is an appalling but unsurprising reflection of his presidency,” Waters said. Trump said his decision to pardon Zhao followed “a lot of people” telling him CZ wasn’t guilty.

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