Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro sent a letter to Donald Trump on Tuesday, urging him to pardon Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020.

Shapiro said Chauvin was “unjustly convicted”

Shapiro shared the formal request on the conservative media outlet The Daily Wire, which he co-founded, alleging that Chauvin received unfair treatment after the killing.

“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 Ben Shapiro Show host wrote in his letter to Trump, according to The Hill.

Blavity reported that Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on his neck for over 9 minutes, resulting in cardiopulmonary arrest from “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” according to the autopsy report, per The Associated Press. His death led to widespread protests across Minneapolis and other cities nationwide that called for Chauvin to be held accountable for his actions.

‘There was massive overt pressure on the jury to return a guilty verdict’

In the letter, Shapiro called out the Black Lives Matter movement, alleging that it incited a race war, and called out the organization for being at the center of the nationwide demonstrations, saying that they led to “riots” and “property damage.”

“As you know, this was the inciting event for the BLM riots that caused $2 billion in property damage in cities across the United States and set America’s race relations on their worst footing in recent memory,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro continued, alleging that Chauvin did not kill Floyd and that he died of a fentanyl overdose. The conservative media pundit also contested the circulated video showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck. He claimed Chauvin was wrongfully targeted and did not receive a fair trial.

“Perhaps most significantly, there was massive overt pressure on the jury to return a guilty verdict regardless of the evidence or any semblance of impartial deliberation. This pressure took the form of threats, coercion, and intimidation,” Shapiro said.

Chauvin is serving both federal and state charges

He also said that then-President Joe Biden and other politicians “pre-judged the outcome of the trial and took to national media to create pressure on the jury to go along with their preferred narrative.”

On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He was ordered to serve a 20- to 25-year sentence in federal prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights, which was to be served concurrently with the 20+ sentence he received in his state conviction.

The Star Tribune reported that Elon Musk reshared a video from Shapiro on X, formerly known as Twitter, further commenting on why Trump should reopen Chauvin’s case and pardon the federal charges against him.

“Something to think about,” Musk wrote in the post.

In the video, Shapiro said pardoning the ex-cop’s federal charges would be “incredibly controversial, but I think that it’s absolutely necessary.”

X users react to Shapiro’s remarks

X users reacted to Shapiro’s request and Musk’s support, with some calling it racist, others threatening to leave the platform.

Derek ChauvinElon MuskGeorge Floyd