Overview
- Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff moved to introduce a Senate resolution condemning President Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, a measure expected to stall in the Republican‑led chamber.
- Several Senate Democrats announced a probe of the pardon in a letter reported by Semafor, with Warren, Chris Van Hollen, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono and Bernie Sanders seeking answers from Attorney General Pam Bondi.
- Representative Ro Khanna said he will file legislation to ban the president, Congress and other elected officials from owning or creating cryptocurrencies, citing the pardon as his impetus; the bill had not been formally filed as of Tuesday.
- Reporting and public filings detail a concentrated 2025 lobbying push tied to Binance and Zhao, including a late‑September $450,000 Checkmate Government Relations engagement and roughly $290,000 to attorney Teresa Goody Guillén, totaling about $860,000 this year.
- WLFI, the Trump‑family‑linked project’s token, jumped more than 15% immediately after the pardon, intensifying scrutiny of business overlaps that critics say present conflicts of interest.