Donald Trump's 60 Minutes Interview Manages To Dismantle His Biggest Gripe About Biden

Joe Biden has long been aware that he lives rent-free in Trump's head. When Trump sat down for an interview with "60 Minutes" in November 2025, it didn't take long for him to mention his predecessor's name. As the interview went on, things escalated from Trump blaming Biden for high grocery prices to declaring, "Joe Biden was the worst president in the history of our country" multiple times. Trump also criticized Biden's use of an autopen when issuing pardons. He's always ready to lash out at Biden about the device, even using a photo of it instead of Biden's portrait on the presidential walk of fame. Trump has also complained that Biden didn't even know what was being signed by the device.

However, when journalist Norah O'Donnell asked Trump about the reasoning behind his own pardon of Changpeng Zhao, a crypto executive known as "CZ," the president proclaimed a surprising lack of awareness. "I don't know who he is," Trump informed O'Donnell. The admission completely undercut all of the president's qualms about Biden supposedly having issued pardons with abandon. 

Unlike Trump, Biden has made it a point to confirm that he did, in fact, know who he was pardoning. "I made every decision," Biden informed The New York Times in July 2025. Due to the large number of pardons being issued simultaneously, Biden also explained that he decided to use an autopen to streamline the process. The former president also threw shade at Trump, saying, "he doesn't focus much." This lack of attention could be the reason that Trump asserted he didn't know he was pardoning Zhao.

On social media, some people saw Donald Trump's comment about not knowing Changpeng Zhao as a possible reason to be concerned about his cognitive health. "Did they use an autopen, is that why he doesn't know? Or is it just the dementia?" queried one user on X (formerly Twitter). Claims of Trump's declining memory were dogging the president during the 2024 campaign, and some even believe his cognitive decline was evident as far back as 2015. Either way, Trump's admission during his "60 Minutes" interview won't help matters.

Others, however, questioned Trump's honesty and thought he was deliberately feigning ignorance. "Trump keeps pardoning strangers who somehow make his family rich. Wild coincidence, right?" asked another X user. Binance, Zhao's company, has been intertwined in business dealings with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto company. A third group felt that both interpretations were discouraging. "Not sure which is worse. Trump's brain is so addled that he really doesn't remember who Zhao is or Trump does know and is straight up gaslighting everyone," mused another X poster.

While it's not clear if Trump used an autopen to sign Zhao's pardon, the president has affirmed that he's used an autopen as a way to streamline his presidential workload. Contrary to Trump's fixation on Biden and autopens, it's surprisingly old tech. Other presidents have used this common Oval Office tool for a variety of reasons without a lot of scrutiny.