Trump Won't Pardon Derek Chauvin
Trump Won't Pardon Derek Chauvin
President Trump shot down speculation Friday that he might pardon former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin after conservative media personality Ben Shapiro publicly urged the commander-in-chief to do so.
“No, I haven’t even heard about it, no. I haven’t heard of that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
George Floyd died after Chauvin, now 48, knelt on his neck for nine minutes while arresting him for using a fake $20 bill at a store.
Floyd’s final moments were captured on video, unleashing unrest in major cities — with a Minneapolis police precinct burned to the ground and fire set to the “Church of the Presidents” and a National Park Service building just north of the White House during running battles between protesters and Secret Service officers.
Shapiro argued this week that Chauvin — who is concurrently serving a 22.5-year state prison sentence after a local jury conviction for murder and a 21-year federal sentence after pleading guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights — was unable to get a fair trial due to the massive public interest in the case and cited alternative theories for Floyd’s cause of death.
Trump only has the power to pardon Chauvin on federal charges, meaning the former officer would not be released from prison.
“George Floyd was high on fentanyl; he had a significant pre-existing heart condition,” Shapiro said on his radio show Tuesday. “George Floyd was saying he could not breathe before he was even out of the car. He was in the car saying he could not breathe.”
In a public letter to Trump, Shapiro wrote that “there was no opportunity for blind justice to work, and a man is now rotting in prison because of it” and called Chauvin’s conviction “the defining achievement of the Woke movement in American politics.”
The idea of a pardon for Chauvin, which could trigger further unrest, was divisive among Trump supporters.
Rob Smith, a prominent black Trump supporter affiliated with Turning Point USA, slammed Shapiro’s suggestion, saying, “It is absolutely destructive. It makes no sense.
“Why did Ben Shapiro want to start this conversation right now?” he asked. “Who does this benefit? Doesn’t benefit Trump, doesn’t benefit America, doesn’t benefit race relations, doesn’t benefit anything.”
Trump Slams Zelensky for Rejecting Crimea Proposal for Peace
Apr 24, 2025
4 min
WATCH: Ben Shapiro Interviews Zelensky
Apr 24, 2025
1 min
Trump Ends DEI in Colleges
Apr 24, 2025
2 min
Musk and Bessent Had Heated Argument in WH
Apr 24, 2025
2 min
Trump: New Reciprocal Tariffs Coming in 2–3 Weeks
Apr 24, 2025
1 min
Vigilante Justice in Bronx: Rapist Beaten to Pulp by the ‘Community'
Apr 24, 2025
2 min
Italy: African Soccer Player Fired After Threatening Meloni’s 7-Year-Old Daughter
Apr 24, 2025
2 min
DNI Gabbard Refers Intel Officials to DOJ for Prosecution Over Leaks of Classified Information
Apr 24, 2025
2 min
Trump to Let Putin Keep Land Seized from Ukraine
Apr 24, 2025
4 min
Senator Dickie Durbin Is Retiring After 44 Years
Apr 24, 2025
9 min
Rand Paul Fights Trump on Tariffs and Deficit Spending
Apr 24, 2025
5 min
US Has Used Direct Energy Weapons on US Soil Targeting Americans, Including CIA Whistleblower
Apr 24, 2025
<1 min
The Anti-Woke Cardinal from Africa Who Conservative Catholics Want as Pope
Apr 24, 2025
4 min
Rubio Lays Down the Law with Iran
Apr 23, 2025
5 min
46 Honduran Nationals Working for Sinaloa Drug Cartel Arrested in Portland
Apr 23, 2025
2 min
World Economic Forum Opens New Probe Into Founder Klaus Schwab
Apr 23, 2025
3 min
Tesla Profits Drop 71% — Musk to Reduce DOGE Role
Apr 24, 2025
2 min
Putin Offers to Halt War in Ukraine Along Current Front Line
Apr 23, 2025
3 min
Trump Considers $5K 'Baby Bonus' to Boost Declining US Birthrates
Apr 23, 2025
2 min
Trump Says He Has No Plans to Fire Powell, Market Jumps
Apr 23, 2025
2 min