Trump says he is NOT considering pardon for Chauvin

Last week, conservative pundit Ben Shapiro created a buzz by calling on Trump to pardon former Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

Trump ended the speculation days later, saying that it is not even on the table at this point.

George Floyd and Officer Derek Chauvin

I am sure most of you remember the death of George Floyd, which resulted in nationwide protests for months, resulting in city streets being put on fire, businesses ransacked, and police precincts being burned.

This all started because George Floyd used a counterfeit bill at a local store in Minneapolis, and Chauvin was one of several officers who responded to the call.

According to bodycam footage, when officers arrived, Floyd was clearly out of sorts and appeared to be on drugs, later confirmed by the autopsy report. While Floyd was upright, then alone in the back of the police car, he was complaining that he could not breathe and started to get squirrely with the officers.

He was eventually taken out of the car and subdued on the ground by Chauvin, who had placed his knee in the neck and back area of Floyd. Floyd eventually stopped answering the police, and when they checked, he had stopped breathing. Chauvin was arrested and convicted for Floyd’s death, and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.

Shapiro Calls for Pardon of Chauvin

During the trial of Chauvin, he was clearly convicted for the murder of Floyd before he ever walked into that courtroom.

While I agreed Chauvin should have been held responsible, I thought the sentence was considerably stiffer than it needed to be considering the circumstances. After the autopsy report came out, I probably would have been satisfied with Chauvin being dismissed from the force.

That seemed to be the line of reasoning from Shapiro, who outlined how outside pressure resulted in the case against Chauvin, then stated, “Under these circumstances, there was no opportunity for blind justice to work, and a man is now rotting in prison because of it.”

He concluded, “Make no mistake—the Derek Chauvin conviction represents the defining achievement of the Woke movement in American politics.  The country cannot turn the page on that dark, divisive, and racist era without righting this terrible wrong.”

Trump Not Considering Pardon

In my initial report on this, I noted how Shapiro made some good points, but I also noted that considering the outrage over the murder, a pardon for Chauvin would likely result in nationwide rioting again, and that is something I believe Trump wants to avoid at all costs during his second term.

So, when Trump was asked if he was considering a pardon for Chauvin after the Shapiro letter went viral, Trump responded, “No, I haven’t even heard about it, no. I haven’t heard of that.”

Do I think Trump has heard about it? Yes, especially since Elon Musk commented on the Shapiro post for the pardon. However, I think Trump is going to play dumb here to keep the peace. He does not even want this to get grip in the media because he knows how disastrous it would be for him to pardon Chauvin.

So, right or wrong, just or unjust, Chauvin is likely to stay in that jail, at least until Trump’s term is done. Perhaps someone else will pardon or commute his sentence, but it will not be Trump, at least not at this stage of his presidency.