The clemency push for Derek Chauvin is “something to think about,” according to the billionaire
Elon Musk has amplified a campaign urging US President Donald Trump to pardon a white police officer convicted for the murder of a black man in 2020 that led to violent protests across the US.
Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis policeman, is currently simultaneously serving a 21-year federal sentence for civil rights violations, and a more than 22-year state sentence for the second-degree murder of George Floyd, a black man who died in his custody in 2020. The widely circulated video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s body sparked intense media scrutiny and led to riots across the US and beyond.
On Tuesday, Musk, a current senior adviser to Trump, reposted a video on X from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro advocating for the president to pardon Chauvin, adding a brief comment: “Something to think about.”
Shapiro launched a petition this week calling for Chauvin’s clemency, arguing that the former officer was “unjustly convicted.” In a public letter shared on his website The Daily Wire, he claimed that Chauvin’s trial was compromised due to “massive overt pressure” on the Minnesota jury – driven by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement – to deliver a guilty verdict, regardless of the evidence or impartial deliberation. He asserted there was “no opportunity for blind justice to work,” leaving Chauvin “rotting in prison because of it.”
Shapiro claimed Floyd was “high on fentanyl” and had a significant pre-existing heart condition and that he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before exiting the car. He argued that Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s shoulder or back, not his neck, citing an autopsy showing no tracheal damage. He also noted that Chauvin was not accused of racially targeting Floyd.
Last December, a judge allowed Chauvin’s lawyers to examine Floyd’s heart tissue and fluids to challenge his conviction, arguing a heart condition – not Chauvin’s knee – caused his death.
“Make no mistake — the Derek Chauvin conviction represents the defining achievement of the Woke movement in American politics,” Shapiro stated. “The country cannot turn the page on that dark, divisive and racist era without righting this terrible wrong.”
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told the Minnesota Star Tribune this week that a pardon from Trump wouldn’t free Chauvin, as he is still serving a state sentence. Chauvin’s expected release date is December 10, 2035.
In November 2023, Chauvin survived an attack at a federal prison in Arizona, suffering 22 stab wounds from another inmate. The attacker allegedly told investigators he chose Black Friday for its symbolic connection to the BLM movement. Chauvin was released from the hospital a few days later and was transferred to another facility.
