For months, President Donald Trump has aggressively promoted a conspiracy concept suggesting that former President Joe Biden was so mentally impaired that his workers manipulated him into signing paperwork throughout his presidency that he had not truly permitted.
The wild concept grew out of Biden’s use of an autopen machine, a machine that replicates an individual’s signature. Presidents have used such devices for decades to streamline the signing course of — however Trump has been relentless in his pursuit of spinning Biden’s use right into a scandal, suggesting lots of his orders are “VOID.”
Specifically, nullifying Biden’s presidential pardons would make it simpler for Trump to go after much more of his political enemies within the courts. Individuals like “shifty” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), whom he dubbed a “low IQ struggle hawk.”
So when Trump added a gallery of presidential portraits to the West Wing colonnade, Biden’s image was conspicuously absent, changed with {a photograph} of an autopen machine. Trump has talked up the conspiracy concept quite a few occasions throughout questioning from the press, no matter whether or not he was particularly requested about it, and even talked about it throughout completely unrelated speeches. In Might, he declared that “whoever was utilizing” the machine was basically “usurping the facility of the Presidency.”
“Aside from the RIGGED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020, THE AUTOPEN IS THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY!!!” Trump wrote in June. He ordered an investigation into Biden’s autopen use the identical month.
That’s what made his “60 Minutes” admission so astounding.
Requested by CBS Information’ Norah O’Donnell to justify his resolution to pardon crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao, Trump responded: “I don’t know who he’s. I do know he bought a four-month sentence or one thing like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
Trump pardoned Zhao, who goes by CZ, lower than two weeks in the past.
However by his personal telling, not solely was he not fully conscious of his motion, he was leaning on info relayed to him by others — simply as he accused Biden of doing.
Zhao — who created Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency alternate — was pardoned after pleading responsible to enabling cash laundering in 2023.
O’Donnell approached Trump with a line of questioning concerning the pardon, provided that his household has made hundreds of thousands from cryptocurrency, drawing accusations that Trump had corruptly pardoned Zhao with a view to enrich the Trump clan.
(You may learn your entire transcript of his “60 Minutes” interview here.)
The president’s response was to distance himself from Zhao whereas reaffirming his help for the cryptocurrency business as an entire. He mentioned that his sons are “concerned in crypto way more” than he’s.
“I do know little or no about it, apart from one factor. It’s an enormous business. And if we’re not gonna be the top of it, China, Japan or someplace else is. So I’m behind it 100%,” Trump mentioned.
“This man was, in my view — from what I used to be informed — that is, you understand, a four-month sentence. However this man was handled actually badly by the Biden administration. And he was given a jail time period. He’s extremely revered. He’s a really profitable man. They despatched him to jail and so they actually set him up.”
“That’s my opinion. I used to be informed about it,” Trump mentioned.
O’Donnell tried once more to ask concerning the corruption accusations.
“How do you deal with the looks of pay-for-play?” she mentioned.
“Properly, right here’s the factor, I do know nothing about it as a result of I’m too busy doing the opposite —” Trump started to answer.
O’Donnell interrupted to level out he had signed a presidential pardon for the person, which isn’t any small factor.
“Norah, I can solely inform you this. My sons are into it. I’m glad they’re, as a result of it’s in all probability an important business, crypto. I feel it’s good,” Trump mentioned. “You realize, they’re working a enterprise, they’re not in authorities.”
“My one son is a No. 1 bestseller now. My spouse simply had a No. 1 bestseller. I’m pleased with them for doing that. I’m centered on this. I do know nothing concerning the man, apart from I hear he was a sufferer of weaponization by authorities,” he mentioned.
Trump, like Biden, isn’t any stranger to questions on his psychological health. The 2 males are solely about three years aside in age.
Trump is now making two arguments that don’t seem to take a seat effectively collectively: The pardon he issued a billionaire crypto tycoon shouldn’t be scrutinized as a result of he doesn’t completely know who Zhao is, however that Biden’s pardons ought to be scrutinized for basically the identical motive.
