When Elon Musk recently shared a clip of Ben Shapiro suggesting that Donald Trump should issue a federal pardon for Derek Chauvin—the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the murder of George Floyd—it sparked a lot of questions. Would Chauvin actually go free? Is Trump even considering it? What does this mean?
Shapiro has even taken it a step further, launching an online petition to gather signatures in support of the pardon.
But as of now, Trump doesn’t seem interested. When asked about it on March 7, he responded, “No, I haven’t even heard about it.”
For context, Chauvin is serving time for both state and federal charges. He’s currently in a Texas prison, serving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence for second- and third-degree murder in Minnesota, plus a 21-year federal sentence for violating George Floyd’s civil rights.
Even if Trump did decide to pardon Chauvin at the federal level, it wouldn’t mean he walks free. He’d still have to serve his state sentence, just in a Minnesota prison instead of a federal one. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison made that clear, telling MPR, “Trump has no power to pardon Chauvin’s state conviction. None.” He also said that pushing for a pardon would be nothing more than “disrespect for George Floyd and the rule of law.”
The Floyd family feels the same way. Philonise Floyd told CNN that a pardon would be devastating. “It is so personal. We saw our brother tortured to death,” he said. “If he does this, it will set America back 400 years.”
And here’s where it gets ironic—Shapiro wasn’t always in Chauvin’s corner. Back in 2020, after the video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes went viral, both Shapiro and Trump condemned his actions. Shapiro even called them “egregious” and said Chauvin should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
As it stands, Chauvin is set to remain behind bars until at least 2038.
