‘Something to think about,’ Musk says of petition calling on Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin
Original source: Alpha News
SpaceX CEO and Trump confidant Elon Musk called a petition that urges the president to pardon Derek Chauvin “something to think about” in a social media post Tuesday.
Ben Shapiro with the Daily Wire launched the petition to pardon Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the death of George Floyd.
“There is a man that is rotting in prison because the media decided in the middle of 2020 that they were going to turn a tragic law enforcement stop that ended with the death of a man who had a significant problem with drugs and pre-existing health problems into the raison d’etre of the entire 2020 election,” Shapiro said during his podcast episode, a clip of which he shared with a link to “PardonDerek.com.”
Shapiro described Chauvin’s conviction as a “terrible wrong.” His X post and petition link were then shared by Musk, who oversees Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Something to think about,” Musk wrote.
“We write to urge you to immediately issue a pardon for Officer Derek Chauvin, who was unjustly convicted and is currently serving a 22-and-a-half year sentence for the murder of George Floyd and associated federal charges,” the petition reads.
The petition goes on to say that the “evidence demonstrates that Derek Chauvin did not murder George Floyd.”
The petition was widely shared across social media on Tuesday, including by political commentator Auron MacIntyre, who said “Derek Chauvin is the political prisoner of a previous regime. His continued incarceration is itself a heinous crime.”
Trump only has the authority to pardon Chauvin’s 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. The former officer is also serving a 22½-year state sentence after he was convicted in 2021 of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
Chauvin continues to fight both his federal and state convictions in the courts.
Alpha News’ documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis” chronicles the events of Floyd’s May 2020 death, the riots that followed, and Chauvin’s ensuing criminal trial.
Assistant Minneapolis Police Chief Katie Blackwell filed a lawsuit against Alpha News and reporter Liz Collin last year, claiming she was defamed in the film and Collin’s book “They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and the Death of George Floyd.”
The lawsuit is ongoing and a judge heard Alpha News’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit last month. During that hearing, Alpha News attorney Chris Madel said the case is not about “retrying Derek Chauvin” but upholding the First Amendment rights of journalists.