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You are here: Home / Corruption / The Price of a Pardon

The Price of a Pardon

October 30, 2025 at 11:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Binance’s effort to clean up its legal mess in the U.S. turned into one of the most blatant examples yet of Donald Trump monetizing his presidency.

Around the time of the 2024 election, representatives for Binance founder ChangPeng Zhao began quietly reaching out to Trump allies.

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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