Donald Trump says he isn't considering pardoning Derek Chauvin in George Floyd's murder
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump said Friday he is not considering pardoning Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted for his role in the death of George Floyd, nor was he aware of an influential conservative podcaster's push to reprieve Chauvin of federal charges.
"No, I haven't even heard about it," Trump said when asked whether he's looking at pardoning Chauvin at the request of his allies. "I haven't heard of that."
Ben Shapiro, founder of the Daily Wire, this week launched an online petition calling for Trump to pardon Chauvin, who in 2021 was sentenced for 22 and a half years in prison on state charges for second- and third-degree murder, and 21 years on federal charges for depriving Floyd his civil rights when he knelt on top of Floyd's neck for nine and a half minutes as he lay on a Minneapolis sidewalk in May 2020.
Top White House adviser Elon Musk quickly embraced the idea, writing in a post on X, "Something to think about."
Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man, died after being stopped by Chauvin, a white police officer, during a May 25, 2020 traffic stop in Minneapolis as he arrested him for using a counterfeit $20 bill. A teenager's video footage of Floyd struggling to breath beneath Chauvin's knee sparked weeks of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 and reignited the Black Lives Matter social justice movement.
On his podcast this week, Shapiro argued Chauvin did not receive a fair trail because of the widespread attention to the case including former President Joe Biden's discussing the case publicly. Shapiro pointed to Floyd's preexisting heart condition, arguing "the evidence demonstrates certainly (Chauvin) was not guilty beyond reasonable doubt" despite both a federal and state jury's verdict otherwise.
Shapiro who attended Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday as a guest of Speaker Mike Johnson, said the "the railroading of Derek Chauvin" fueled the 2020 protests that led to property damage in some cities and he contends hurt race relations.
Chauvin is serving his state and federal prison sentences concurrently. Pardoning Chauvin for his federal charges would not change his state conviction.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.