The chief of the Minneapolis Police Department has come forward to dismiss speculation that President Donald Trump will grant a federal pardon to Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd in 2020, just days after Minnesota’s attorney general rejected the idea.
“There is absolutely no credible information we have to suggest that’s going to happen,” MPD Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters Monday during a news briefing, according to KMSP. O’Hara was addressing public concerns ahead of Floyd’s five-year death anniversary, which is May 25, 2020.
“Of course, because there’s all these rumors, we’ve been in communication with our partners at the state, at the federal level to ensure that we and all of our partners are prepared in the event something like that [a Chauvin pardon] happens, and it causes some type of civil disturbance,” according to O’Hara.
Last week, Minnesota’s attorney general told MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” that efforts to petition Trump for a federal pardon are irrelevant to Chauvin’s state conviction, as he “still owes Minnesota 22 ½ years,” according to AG Keith Ellison.
“He’s not getting out,” Ellison stated bluntly.
Chauvin, 49, is currently serving concurrent state and federal prison sentences for killing Floyd, 46, during a police encounter in which he knelt on Floyd’s neck and back for more than nine minutes.
A 12-member jury convicted Chauvin on state charges of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He later pleaded guilty in a federal civil rights case for depriving Floyd of his rights.
Conservative pundits and Trump ally Elon Musk have recently pushed for Chauvin’s federal pardon. On March 4, right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro launched an online petition on his video podcast and X, encouraging viewers to support the cause. Musk posted a clip from the podcast on his X page, captioned “Something to think about.”
Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for his civil rights conviction in June 2021. In April 2021, he received a 22 1/2-year sentence for state charges. In 2023, the US Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal in his state case.
“I think they’re pushing for it because they want to agitate and outrage people,” Ellison told MSNBC of the pardon. “I’m not sure if Trump will pardon Chauvin, but even if he does, his prison sentence will remain unchanged. He still owes Minnesota 22 ½ years, and he will pay it either in Minnesota or elsewhere.
O’Hara told reporters Monday that he was in Washington, D.C. earlier this month and was asked by police chiefs “from around the country” about the possibility of Chauvin being pardoned.
“I’ll tell you what I’ve told them,” he joked. “There is no credible information that something like that will happen.”
When asked about the cellphone footage that showed Floyd’s murder, O’Hara stated, “We all saw that video, and we all knew it was wrong, including the president five years ago. Google it. “Google his reaction to the video.”
Ellison stated on MSNBC that a Chauvin pardon would not be “good” for America.
“In no case is it sensible,” he said.
