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President Donald Trump has said that he has no plans to pardon Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020, despite growing calls from some conservative figures, including commentator Ben Shapiro.
Some shit you should know before you read: Back in 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck and back for more than nine minutes during an arrest for using a counterfeit $20 bill. The incident, captured on video, showed Floyd repeatedly pleading, “I can’t breathe,” before losing consciousness and dying. This sparked nationwide protests against police brutality. Chauvin was later arrested and found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, receiving a 22.5-year state sentence, along with a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. While the official autopsy ruled Floyd’s death a homicide due to law enforcement restraint, some, including Chauvin’s defense team, argued that preexisting health conditions and fentanyl use contributed to his death rather than asphyxiation, a claim that was disputed in court.
What’s going on now: While speaking to reporters at the White House, President Trump said he has no plans to pardon Derek Chauvin, Trump responded, “No, I haven’t even heard about it,” dismissing the notion outright. The push for a pardon was initiated by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who argued that Chauvin’s conviction was politically motivated and that his trial was influenced by public pressure.
Shapiro launched an online petition urging Trump to grant a federal pardon, stating that Chauvin was “unjustly convicted” and that his case symbolized the excesses of the “woke movement.” Elon Musk later amplified Shapiro’s call by sharing his petition on social media, commenting, “Something to think about.”
In an open letter to Trump, Shapiro wrote that pardoning Chauvin would be a necessary step in reversing what he described as a “dark, divisive, and racist era” in American politics. He claimed that Chauvin’s conviction was less about justice and more about appeasing political and activist pressure following the widespread Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
This all comes as George Floyd’s family has condemned the calls for Derek Chauvin to be pardoned, arguing that it would undermine justice and reopen painful wounds. Floyd’s brother, Terrence Floyd, directly addressed Ben Shapiro’s push for clemency, saying, “Stay in your lane. Your opinion is your opinion, but facts is facts… Chauvin’s knee was on my brother’s neck.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who led the prosecution against Chauvin, also criticized the pardon effort, calling it a “blatant disrespect for the law” and warning that it would “cause untold injury to George Floyd’s family and the many, many people who feel vulnerable because they share experiences like the one George Floyd experienced.”
