Pardon reporting appeared particularly partisan from “60 Minutes” as the latest episode sought to paint a picture of personal enrichment for the Trump family.
A $16 million settlement and editorial changes at CBS News appeared to have had little to no impact on “60 Minutes” and what many viewed as Trump Derangement Syndrome-skewed coverage of President Donald Trump. This included pulling on a thread that alleged the chief executive’s pardon of cryptocurrency billionaire Changpeng Zhao had been awarded after the former Binance CEO had “enriched” a company tied to the president’s sons.
After corporate media writ large was seen as giving former President Joe Biden a pass on blanket preemptive pardons that included members of his own family, in addition to the autopen scandal, a CBS News correspondent opened a segment stating, “Last month, President Trump granted a pardon to a billionaire felon, after the felon’s company enriched a Trump family business.”
“The pardon went to Changpeng Zhao, a Chinese-born businessman, who was accused by the Justice Department of causing, quote, ‘…significant harm to U.S. national security…’ The president says he does not know Zhao,” continued Pelley. “Our reporting shows that Zhao’s company supported a Trump family firm at critical moments leading up to the president’s pardon.”
To support the latest line of attack against Trump, the correspondent spoke with former Justice Department pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer, a Biden appointee who contended she had been replaced by a “Trump loyalist.”
When asked if the pardon was “unusual,” Oyer asserted, “The influence that money played in securing this pardon is unprecedented. The self-dealing aspect of the pardon, in terms of the benefit that it conferred on President Trump and his family and people in his inner circle, is also unprecedented.”
President Trump’s pardon of Changpeng Zhao came shortly after Zhao’s company, Binance, helped catapult the Trump family’s cryptocurrency firm, World Liberty Financial, into international recognition. The firm is a major source of the Trump family’s fortune. 60 Minutes reports,… pic.twitter.com/dVPVNVj6Zb
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 15, 2025
Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance in 2023 after pleading guilty to criminal money laundering charges. He went on to serve four months in prison before his September 2024 release.
Citing “sources,” the company the billionaire was said to have supported through “donated software” is World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company co-founded in part by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
“The next month, Changpeng Zhao applied for a presidential pardon,” said Pelley, who made note of a $2 billion investment from the United Arab Emirates made in World Liberty crypto. “And shortly after the application, he was at the center of a blockbuster deal that put World Liberty on the map.”
“The only reason it makes sense is to ingratiate with the president,” argued Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig before the correspondent asked, “Are you saying the president is compromised?”
“‘Compromised’ is exactly the description, because we can’t know what’s the actual reason for the decisions that the administration is making,” continued Lessig. “Are the reasons helping America? Or are the reasons helping America and also helping them privately?”
Meanwhile, as “60 Minutes” maintained the public perception of bias against Trump, social media reactions to the report couldn’t help but wonder when the program might take an interest in the various business connections of the Biden family.
so why all of a sudden is this a concern of 60 minutes. Why wasn’t this type of journalism done with the most corrupt family ever, the Biden family.
— Paul Waletzko (@PaulWaletzko) November 17, 2025
— Montgomery Granger (@mjgranger1) November 17, 2025
Really disappointed in Barri Weiss for having no positive impact on blatant hit pieces that CBS and 60 minutes keep punching.
— Anne Lane (@AnneLan27095018) November 17, 2025
@bariweiss same old shit. when is the Biden crime family expose? actual corruption. lame.
— Timothy McGrath (@TimMcGrathMtg) November 17, 2025
Soooooo the auto pen pardons do not get covered….
— MasCrypto#2 (@MS40435236) November 15, 2025
The do pretend journalism when republicans are in office.
It’s very popular with the hysterical lemming crowd.
— Jem from Jexium Island (@JexiumIslandJem) November 17, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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