There are rumors that President Donald Trump may issue a federal pardon for Derek Chauvin as the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s death draws near.
KSTP reported Tuesday that Governor Tim Walz, the Minnesota National Guard, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Attorney General Keith Ellison have been warned of a possible unrest if Chauvin is pardoned.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene recently added her voice to a growing MAGA push for Trump to pardon Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer convicted over the killing of Floyd on May 25, 2020.
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In March this year, Trump denied any plans to pardon Chauvin. Amid fresh rumors that the ex-officer could be pardoned, a White House official told Fox News this week that Trump’s stance hasn’t changed.
Still, Minnesota officials say they are not taking any risks. Not too long after Trump assumed office this year, he pardoned two Washington, D.C. police officers convicted in the 2020 killing of Karon Hylton-Brown, a 20-year-old Black man. Many believed that Trump would go on to pardon others in similar cases against Blacks, with Chauvin being next.
The former Minneapolis police officer was charged with unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He was convicted on all three charges in the spring of 2021.
Chauvin is currently serving a 22-and-a-half-year state sentence for the second-degree unintentional murder of Floyd. He is also serving a concurrent 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who led the prosecution of Chauvin, told Newsweek that Trump doesn’t have any authority to pardon Chauvin’s state conviction. He said that even if Chauvin’s federal sentence were commuted, he would still go back to Minnesota to serve the remainder of his state prison term.
“A pardon of Chauvin’s federal conviction would only send him back to Minnesota to serve the remainder of his sentence in state prison,” Ellison explained. “The only conceivable purpose would be to show further disrespect for George Floyd—and for the rule of law.”
Governor Walz said that even though the presidency has not spoken officially about any federal pardon, the state is ready for any development.
“With this presidency, it seems like that might be something they would do,” Walz told reporters on Wednesday.
