Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro announced Tuesday that he wants President Trump to pardon former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of all federal crimes in the May 2020 death of George Floyd.
“The Ben Shapiro Show” host has launched a petition backing a public letter to Trump, 78, contending that Chauvin, now 48, was “unjustly convicted” of Floyd’s killing, which led to riots on cities across the US and a national reckoning on the issues of race and policing.
A local jury in Minnesota found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in April 2021 and later sentenced him to 22.5 years in prison.
The following year, Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to two violations of federal civil rights law, one in connection with Floyd’s death and one related to Chauvin’s 2017 arrest of a 14-year-old.
A pardon by Trump would only erase the federal charges against Chauvin, who is currently behind bars at a low-security facility in Texas.
“There was massive overt pressure on the [Minnesota] jury to return a guilty verdict regardless of the evidence or any semblance of impartial deliberation,” Shapiro wrote in the letter.
“This pressure took the form of threats, coercion, and intimidation,” he continued, faulting politicians for publicly prejudging the case. “There was no opportunity for blind justice to work, and a man is now rotting in prison because of it.”
“Make no mistake,” Shapiro went on, “the Derek Chauvin conviction represents the defining achievement of the Woke movement in American politics.”
On May 25, 2020, Chauvin confronted Floyd after a store clerk accused him of trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill.
During the ensuing confrontation, Floyd fell to the ground, after which Chauvin was recorded with his knee on Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes.
During the encounter, Floyd was repeatedly heard saying he could not breathe, including before he fell to the ground.
Floyd, who was motionless and had no pulse for the final moments of the encounter, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
“George Floyd was high on fentanyl; he had a significant pre-existing heart condition,” Shapiro argued on his radio show. “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.”
“Derek Chauvin, for large segments of even the tape that was shown, had his knee on George Floyd’s shoulder or back, not on his neck,” Shapiro added. “The autopsy of George Floyd showed that he had no damage to his trachea, that probably George Floyd died of excited delirium.”
The conservative pundit also underscored that there were no accusations in the Minnesota trial that “Chauvin had committed a hate crime against George Floyd or that he targeted George Floyd because of his race.”
“I think it is worthwhile to remember that there is a man whose rotting in prison because the media decided in the middle of 2020 that they were going to turn a tragic law enforcement stop … into the raison d’être of the entire 2020 election,” Shapiro contended.
“Special White House employee” Elon Musk later chimed in on Shapiro’s petition writing on X that it was “something to think about.”
Trump, 78, has wielded his pardon power aggressively during his second term, granting clemency to thousands of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot defendants hours after being sworn into office.
