Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Sunday, November 30th.

Today on Forbes, Trump's crypto cronies, they sent the president money and got off easy.

Shortly after Donald Trump pardoned crypto's richest man, Changpang Jiao, the president faced questions about whether his personal financial interests had impacted

the decision, given that a May deal involving Zhao's company helped boost Trump's net worth

by hundreds of millions of dollars. The president said, quote, I don't know him. I don't believe

I've ever met him. He had a lot of support. And they say that what he did is not even a crime.

Never mind that Zhao himself pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering

program. Liz Oyer, who oversaw the pardon office at the Department of Justice until March,

reached a simple conclusion. She said, quote,

Trump has created a pay-for-play pardon system. Other crypto investors and companies,

facing all sorts of legal issues, seemed to sense an opportunity, too. About a dozen donated

to Trump's political groups, partnered with his crypto ventures, and invested in his companies

as the administration made decisions on legal matters impacting their businesses. It all left the

president in a nice position, with an industry full of people eager to help his family expand its own

crypto ventures. The White House fielded so many questions about crypto conflicts of interest that it has developed

a set of pre-written responses to send reporters. In one such statement sent to Forbes early last

week, press secretary Caroline Levitt declared, quote, neither the president nor his family

have ever engaged or will ever engage in conflicts of interest.

Through executive actions, supporting legislation like the Genius Act, and other common-sense

policies, the administration is fulfilling the president's promise to make the United States

the crypto capital of the world by driving innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.

It's easy for Trump's team to brush aside ethics concerns with Republicans in charge of Congress.

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