With less than two weeks until the five year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, several right-winged leaders have called for President Donald Trump to issue a federal pardon to Floyd’s killer. The push is a clear slap in the face to the Minnesota justice department that sentenced Derek Chauvin to more than two decades in a state prison. But more than just that, according to the Minn. attorney general, a Trump pardon wouldn’t hold any real weight.
Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s Democratic attorney general, recently spoke to Rev. Al Sharpton about his work to prosecute Chauvin in 2021. And according to him, no matter how hard folks like Ben Shapiro cry for Chauvin’s release, it simply won’t be happening. Although the motivation behind the push to free Chauvin is unclear, Ellison has some theories.
“They’re [MAGA] pushing for it because they want to outrage and agitate people,” Ellison told Sharpton in a May 11 interview. No matter what, however, Ellison said they don’t stand a chance. “I don’t know if Trump is going to pardon Chauvin or not, but if he does, it doesn’t change his prison sentence,” Ellison continued. “He still owes Minnesota 22 and a half years.”
Ellison went on to say Trump and MAGA are worried about the wrong thing. “They might want to signal that they are pro-police officer,” he started. “But the fact is they’re the ones who pardoned 1,500 people who attacked police officers,” referring to Trump’s pardoning or commuting the sentences of all Capitol insurrectionists on his first day back in office. “So that is a strange thing,” the AG continued.
The anniversary of Floyd’s death is March 25, less than two weeks away. And as we saw in 2020, Floyd’s murder was powerful enough to send thousands of people across the global to the streets in protest. After Floyd’s death, legislation to regulate police-community relations was passed in several states, including Minnesota, where his murder occurred.
Although almost five years are gone, the number of deadly incidents involving police hasn’t decreased, according to the Minnesota attorney general. He went on to say “there’s a lot of work that remains to be done.”
With this in mind, Ellison is urging folks to think about what’s at stake if they take to the streets. He said the president could be trying to “provoke people to go to the streets so that they can— I don’t know— invoke the insurrection act or something.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a federal law giving the president power to deploy military to a specific area if provoked.
Despite the ongoing threats, Ellison said Trump’s efforts to erase Floyd from American history or even attack diversity on the federal level will not change the hearts of Americans. “The spirit of the moment” and “the inspiration that he [Floyd] provided burns bright in the hearts of all Americans that care about justice,” Ellison said.