October 17: Trump commuted George Santos's sentence after three months of a seven-year term. Santos had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, including charging donors' credit cards without authorization and taking $3,000 from a GoFundMe for a Navy veteran's dying dog. The commutation eliminated Santos's $374,000 restitution obligation. Santos has stated he will not repay victims unless legally required.
Trump cited Santos's consistent Republican voting record as a factor in his decision.

October 23: Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, Binance's founder, who had pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering. Zhao served four months of his sentence. Binance paid $4.3 billion in fines after admitting it facilitated transactions involving terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers.
Notable context: Trump's family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, has gained approximately $5 billion in value since the election. Binance hosts the Trump family's crypto platform and participated in a $2 billion transaction involving Trump's stablecoin. In September, Binance retained a lobbyist with connections to Donald Trump Jr., paying $450,000 for services including advocacy for "executive relief."
When asked why he pardoned Zhao, Trump said: "I don't know, he was recommended by a lot of people."

The timeline: Within six days, Trump granted clemency to a Republican congressman who admitted to defrauding donors and veterans, eliminating his restitution obligations, and to a cryptocurrency executive whose company has business relationships worth billions with Trump's family venture. Both individuals had pleaded guilty to federal crimes. Both had their sentences significantly reduced or eliminated.

Interested in hearing different perspectives on this.

cool story

Crime is legal if you are, or are friends with the president.

Should've let them rot.

I don't give a *****

gigemtxag2025 said:

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October 17: Trump commuted George Santos's sentence after three months of a seven-year term. Santos had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, including charging donors' credit cards without authorization and taking $3,000 from a GoFundMe for a Navy veteran's dying dog. The commutation eliminated Santos's $374,000 restitution obligation. Santos has stated he will not repay victims unless legally required.
Trump cited Santos's consistent Republican voting record as a factor in his decision.

October 23: Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, Binance's founder, who had pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering. Zhao served four months of his sentence. Binance paid $4.3 billion in fines after admitting it facilitated transactions involving terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers.
Notable context: Trump's family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, has gained approximately $5 billion in value since the election. Binance hosts the Trump family's crypto platform and participated in a $2 billion transaction involving Trump's stablecoin. In September, Binance retained a lobbyist with connections to Donald Trump Jr., paying $450,000 for services including advocacy for "executive relief."
When asked why he pardoned Zhao, Trump said: "I don't know, he was recommended by a lot of people."

What was Zhao found guilty of?
Zhao was released from prison in September 2024, after serving a four-month sentence for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act. He was the first person to ever serve prison time for breaking that law, which was passed in 1970.

The timeline: Within six days, Trump granted clemency to a Republican congressman who admitted to defrauding donors and veterans, eliminating his restitution obligations, and to a cryptocurrency executive whose company has business relationships worth billions with Trump's family venture. Both individuals had pleaded guilty to federal crimes. Both had their sentences significantly reduced or eliminated.

Interested in hearing different perspectives on this.

---

Let's cut the crap about Zhao. Served his sentence after being the ONLY person ever sentenced to prison time under a 50+ year old law. Maybe BIden DOJ could have not overcharged. Which I believe is the issue with Santos as well.

Didn't you hear? Hunter Biden was paid $500k a year to sit on the board of directors at Burisma, so Trump's blatant corruption doesn't matter.

The $250 million transfer of wealth from taxpayers to Trump? Doesn't matter

The Trump and Kushner families making hundreds of millions in real estate deals in the Middle East? Doesn't matter.

Hunter. Hookers. Cocaine. Burisma. Big Guy. Laptop. Crime family. Etc. etc.

Nothing matters anymore. Standards don't exist.

Pardons and commutings are BS and should never have been given to presidents.

That's all.

flown-the-coop said:

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gigemtxag2025 said:

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October 17: Trump commuted George Santos's sentence after three months of a seven-year term. Santos had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, including charging donors' credit cards without authorization and taking $3,000 from a GoFundMe for a Navy veteran's dying dog. The commutation eliminated Santos's $374,000 restitution obligation. Santos has stated he will not repay victims unless legally required.
Trump cited Santos's consistent Republican voting record as a factor in his decision.

October 23: Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, Binance's founder, who had pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering. Zhao served four months of his sentence. Binance paid $4.3 billion in fines after admitting it facilitated transactions involving terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers.
Notable context: Trump's family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, has gained approximately $5 billion in value since the election. Binance hosts the Trump family's crypto platform and participated in a $2 billion transaction involving Trump's stablecoin. In September, Binance retained a lobbyist with connections to Donald Trump Jr., paying $450,000 for services including advocacy for "executive relief."
When asked why he pardoned Zhao, Trump said: "I don't know, he was recommended by a lot of people."

What was Zhao found guilty of?
Zhao was released from prison in September 2024, after serving a four-month sentence for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act. He was the first person to ever serve prison time for breaking that law, which was passed in 1970.

The timeline: Within six days, Trump granted clemency to a Republican congressman who admitted to defrauding donors and veterans, eliminating his restitution obligations, and to a cryptocurrency executive whose company has business relationships worth billions with Trump's family venture. Both individuals had pleaded guilty to federal crimes. Both had their sentences significantly reduced or eliminated.

Interested in hearing different perspectives on this.

---

Let's cut the crap about Zhao. Served his sentence after being the ONLY person ever sentenced to prison time under a 50+ year old law. Maybe BIden DOJ could have not overcharged. Which I believe is the issue with Santos as well.

---

Let's cut the crap and just admit you don't care about open corruption when 'your team' does it.

And yes, I criticized Biden for his son's pardon.

TexAgs politics doesn't care. Trump can do anything he wants. They support him fully and to the bitter end.

Go listen to Tucker's interview with Santos. The time in no way whatsoever fit the crime

You started it. This cycle won't end until it is forced to. Thanks a lot.

The bottom line is you insane little marxists set world records in political prosecutions the last time you were in power.

So I don't give a ***** Cry more. Soak your pillows in your tears. I really, really don't give a *****

Hullabaloonatic said:

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flown-the-coop said:

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Let's cut the crap about Zhao. Served his sentence after being the ONLY person ever sentenced to prison time under a 50+ year old law. Maybe BIden DOJ could have not overcharged. Which I believe is the issue with Santos as well.

---

Let's cut the crap and just admit you don't care about open corruption when 'your team' does it.

And yes, I criticized Biden for his son's pardon.

---

So a guy that was overly persecuted by the Biden DOJ, a man sentenced to prison - the only one EVER sentenced to prison for violation of said law, who then served his sentence, is not worthy of a pardon?

Keep in mind they guy pled guilty due to the overcharging. Have you heard of Gen Mike Flynn and others that the Biden DOJ deployed the same lawfare tactic on.

So yea, I am calling a spade a spade. Your side should own up to your lawfare and corruption and the fact Trump is not only fixing it but teaching *******s like Comey, Bolton and Big Tish a lesson on abuse of their positions.

Silent For Too Long said:

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The bottom line is you insane little marxists set world records in political prosecutions the last time you were in power.

So I don't give a ***** Cry more. Soak your pillows in your tears. I really, really don't give a *****

---

Amen. And a Women.

Trump is undoing Dem wrongs.

Some of that will be correcting egregious sentencing by vindictive, activist judge.

Grassley yet again proved up the Dem weaponization of the DOJ included the FBI director, the attorney general and others.

But they claim that is just whataboutism. Trump is pure evil for pardoning a guy who has been out of prison for over a year.

Can you connect the dots for us on how CZ's prosecution was politically motivated?

AtomicActuator said:

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Can you connect the dots for us on how CZ's prosecution was politically motivated?

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What was Zhao found guilty of?
Zhao was released from prison in September 2024, after serving a four-month sentence for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act. He was the first person to ever serve prison time for breaking that law, which was passed in 1970.

And because of whataboutism, let's all pretend to ignore the Obama admin letting UBS, HSBC and others off the hook for their decades of laundering money for the drug cartels.

How many of those execs did Obama jail? I mean, there was a whole series on HSBC called "Dirty Money" starring Pocahontas, who ultimately received enough lobbying money to STFU on the subject.

It is true that Zhao was the first person sentenced under that law.

But the scale was unprecedented. Binance facilitated over 1.5 million transactions totaling nearly $900 million that violated U.S. sanctions, including transactions involving Hamas, al-Qaeda, and Iran. They essentially turned a blind eye to terrorism financing, drug trafficking, child sexual abuse materials, and ransomware transactions.

And it was all deliberate. Zhao knew Binance was required to implement anti-money laundering protocols but instead directed the company to disguise customers' U.S. locations to avoid compliance.

Yes, he was the first person imprisoned under that law. But maybe the reason isn't "overcharging." It seems more likely that no one had previously violated it at this scale, this deliberately, while making tens of billions of dollars in the process.

gigemtxag2025 said:

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It is true that Zhao was the first person sentenced under that law.

But the scale was unprecedented. Binance facilitated over 1.5 million transactions totaling nearly $900 million that violated U.S. sanctions, including transactions involving Hamas, al-Qaeda, and Iran. They essentially turned a blind eye to terrorism financing, drug trafficking, child sexual abuse materials, and ransomware transactions.

And it was all deliberate. Zhao knew Binance was required to implement anti-money laundering protocols but instead directed the company to disguise customers' U.S. locations to avoid compliance.

Yes, he was the first person imprisoned under that law. But maybe the reason isn't "overcharging." It seems more likely that no one had previously violated it at this scale, this deliberately, while making tens of billions of dollars in the process.

And even if you think he deserved zero prison time instead of four months, does that make Trump, with billions in business tied to Binance, the appropriate person to make that call?

---

HSBC and UBS most certainly violated it. And for way, way, way more than $900 million over decades.

So pardon if I call out continued selective weaponization of the DOJ to protect allies and attack political opposition.

Trump is the right one to make the call since he is the ONLY one that can make the call.

That's a good point about HSBC and UBS. They absolutely processed way more money for cartels and sanctioned entities, and their executives didn't go to prison. That definitely looks like selective enforcement.

I think my issue is that Trump isn't correcting selective enforcement based on principle. He's selectively un-enforcing it for people who have billions in business with his family.

If Trump had pardoned Zhao as part of a broader criminal justice reform agenda, or if he'd also gone after the HSBC executives who got away with worse, I'd be more persuaded by your argument. But he didn't pardon Zhao because big banks got away with it. He pardoned him after Binance paid $450k for lobbying that explicitly included "executive relief," Trump's family venture gained $5 billion in value through business with Binance, and Binance participated in a $2 billion transaction with Trump's stablecoin. Then when asked why, he said "I don't know, he was recommended by a lot of people."

I am curious: how does this fit into a "weaponization" narrative? CZ wasn't a Biden political opponent. He wasn't a Trump supporter being targeted. He was a billionaire running the world's largest crypto exchange who violated U.S. banking laws.

TOUCHDOWN! said:

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Didn't you hear? Hunter Biden was paid $500k a year to sit on the board of directors at Burisma, so Trump's blatant corruption doesn't matter.

The $250 million transfer of wealth from taxpayers to Trump? Doesn't matter

The Trump and Kushner families making hundreds of millions in real estate deals in the Middle East? Doesn't matter.

Hunter. Hookers. Cocaine. Burisma. Big Guy. Laptop. Crime family. Etc. etc.

Nothing matters anymore. Standards don't exist.

---

These are the best kind of tears. Whining hissy fit borne out of pure frustration that Trump is winning and destroying every Democrat narrative of the last half century.

gigemtxag2025 said:

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That's a good point about HSBC and UBS. They absolutely processed way more money for cartels and sanctioned entities, and their executives didn't go to prison. That definitely looks like selective enforcement.

I think my issue is that Trump isn't correcting selective enforcement based on principle. He's selectively un-enforcing it for people who have billions in business with his family.

If Trump had pardoned Zhao as part of a broader criminal justice reform agenda, or if he'd also gone after the HSBC executives who got away with worse, I'd be more persuaded by your argument. But he didn't pardon Zhao because big banks got away with it. He pardoned him after Binance paid $450k for lobbying that explicitly included "executive relief," Trump's family venture gained $5 billion in value through business with Binance, and Binance participated in a $2 billion transaction with Trump's stablecoin. Then when asked why, he said "I don't know, he was recommended by a lot of people."

I am curious: how does this fit into a "weaponization" narrative? CZ wasn't a Biden political opponent. He wasn't a Trump supporter being targeted. He was a billionaire running the world's largest crypto exchange who violated U.S. banking laws.

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Just to point out that there is nothing wrong with this.

Was the Trump businesses treated differently by Binance that resulted in the $5 billion value "gained"?

He violated the law and served his time.

There is nothing for MAGA to apologize for here. Sorry, your pardon outrage is simply not moving anyone's needle.

Whataboutism and all.

AtomicActuator said:

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Crime is legal if you are, or are friends with the president.

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Sure worked for Biden, especially for his crackhead son who should be serving about a 10-year prison sentence right now.

Ag98and03 said:

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TexAgs politics doesn't care. Trump can do anything he wants. They support him fully and to the bitter end.

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Literally not true, bless your heart.

It's sad that you and 12 other people believe that. You literally believe that he is "doing anything he wants"

You are clearly not paying attention.

Irrational hatred is a hell of a drug.

Ag98and03 said:

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TexAgs politics doesn't care. Trump can do anything he wants. They support him fully and to the bitter end.

---

Remember when Biden granted clemency to a drug dealer who murdered a woman and her 8 year old son? Yeah, liberals everywhere didn't give a **** either.

I can't believe you showed back up.

That's about the 10th time someone has spammed the Hunter Biden argument already. We got it.

But bad behavior doesn't justify more bad behavior.

But there's a few good reasons that presidents historically have waited until they are leaving office to do all their sketchy pardons. On top of it being too late for any political consequences from the public, it also helps to reduce the chances that bribes and reciprocal agreements are done, since the outgoing president no longer needs political favors, in theory, can't really be punished for not pardoning someone who tried to bribe him.

Edit: dang, replied to the wrong one - you didn't mean Hunter I assume. The rest of the point stands.

I didn't ***** about Biden's pardons so I can't ***** here. If I do it shows I am just a partisan hack.

So are we back to Trump is being bribed?

Is it the Russians? Chinese? Musk? SBF? the Saudis?

Who is the boogeyman who is corrupting Trump this time?

If he is taking bribes, pony up the proof and impeach him, convict him and go after his family.

Or you have nothing because Trump adheres to the rule of law. It's quite refreshing.

I must've missed the Bat Signal last night. There sure are an awful lot of "CMs" and Leftists clutching their pearls and freaking out in general. Smells a lot like desperation or am I reading too much into it?

He has an ongoing business relationship with CZ's company, and he's made huge amounts of money selling crypto.

I never said this was a straight bribe, but it certainly looks to have conflicts of interest.

So you're saying "there is nothing wrong with" a company paying $450k for lobbying that explicitly includes "executive relief," then the president pardoning their convicted executive after his family makes billions in business with that company? You're saying you don't think conflicts of interest matter anymore.

Really, should a president be able to pardon executives of companies that pay for lobbying specifically requesting pardons, have multi-billion dollar business relationships with the president's family, and generate hundreds of millions in profit for the president personally?

If your answer is "yes, there's nothing wrong with that," then okay. I don't know how I would continue the conversation from here.

But you're not elaborating on your connection to Biden DOJ overreach. CZ was charged in 2023. World Liberty Financial didn't even exist until September 2024, months after CZ was already in prison. How was Biden's DOJ "weaponizing" prosecution against someone who had no connection to Trump at the time?

Also, with no intention of being condescending, I can't tell if you know what a pardon does since you keep mentioning that CZ "served his time." It's not just a symbolic act at this point. A pardon completely erases the felony conviction, which restores his ability to operate in finance and run companies without restrictions, removes the legal and professional stigma of being a convicted felon, and allows him to fully resume control of a company he owns 90% of.

That's an enormously valuable gift - potentially worth hundreds of millions or billions in business opportunities - to give someone whose company just made your family hundreds of millions of dollars.

And I'm not sure what "whataboutism" you're referring to. You brought up HSBC and UBS to justify the pardon, and I engaged with your point and explained why it doesn't change the corruption concern. That's just me responding to your argument. Can you point out what you were you referring to?

AtomicActuator said:

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He has an ongoing business relationship with CZ's company, and he's made huge amounts of money selling crypto.

I never said this was a straight bribe, but it certainly looks to have conflicts of interest.

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If Trump let's a fart out he is accused of pollution, corruption and he apologizes its only done do get bribes.

It only looks bad when you view it with the worst possible assumptions.

I have to disclose to my employer in writing that I'm on the board of our local Little League, so they can review it and question me for possible conflicts of interest.

It's not an assumption of the worst, but an attempt to prevent even the appearance of a COI. Presidents historically did similarly to prevent any appearance of impropriety.