Trump claims not to know fraudster who boosted his crypto venture after pardoning him
President Donald Trump said he pardoned Changpeng Zhao, a billionaire who boosted a crypto company owned by the Trump family, because "a lot of people" said he was innocent.
During a Thursday Oval Office event, a reporter asked whether Zhao's pardon had anything to do with his family's World Liberty Financial crypto venture.
"I do pardon a lot of people," Trump replied. "A lot of people say that he wasn't guilty of anything. He served four months in jail, and they say that he was not guilty of anything."
"That what he did, well, you don't know much about crypto," he told the reporter. "You know nothing about nothing, you know, fake news. But let me just tell you that he was somebody that, as I was told, I don't know him. I don't believe I've ever met him. But I've been told by — a lot of support, he had a lot of support. And they said that what he did is not even a crime."
Trump claimed that Zhao had been "persecuted by the Biden administration," even though he pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements.
"So I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people," Trump concluded.
GOP senator of poverty-stricken state walloped with $8M IRS tax lien: report
The junior U.S. senator representing a state with one of the highest rates of childhood poverty in the country has been slapped with an $8 million IRS tax lien, Politico reported Monday.
Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV), the former governor who assumed former Sen. Joe Manchin's seat, is tardy on making good on assessments dating back to 2009 -- debt that has followed him long before he was elected as governor in 2016.
Justice’s fortune comes from farming, resorts and ownership of coal mines that he sold to Russian interests for $568 million in cash and stock, also in 2009. He later repurchased them at a discount.
According to Politico, information about the lien came out over the weekend when the press was consumed with the nationwide “No Kings” rally against Donald Trump.
The report noted, “It wasn’t immediately clear why the IRS decided to move forward with the lien at this time. The IRS filed two documents. Both indicate they were prepared and signed Sept. 30, and stamped Oct. 2 by a clerk for Greenbrier County,” adding, “One of the assessments from the IRS is dated Nov. 25, 2015, appearing to put the agency near the end of its 10-year window for taking action.”
While running for the Senate seat he now inhabits, the 74-year old Justice pushed back at reports of his tax woes, telling reporters, “I’ve told everyone that if you’ll tend to the business of the state of West Virginia as I’m tending to the business of the state and you’ll just stay out of my family’s personal stuff, you’ll find the final outcomes will be exactly what I’ve told you they’ll be. They’ll be worked out.”
