President Trump shot down speculation Friday that he might pardon former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin — whose 2020 murder of George Floyd unleashed months of protests and rioting nationwide — after conservative media personality Ben Shapiro publicly urged the commander-in-chief to do so.
“No, I haven’t even heard about it, no. I haven’t heard of that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after Chauvin, now 48, knelt on his neck for nine minutes while arresting him for using a fake $20 bill at a store.
Floyd’s final moments were captured on video, unleashing unrest in major cities — with a Minneapolis police precinct burned to the ground and fire set to the “Church of the Presidents” and a National Park Service building just north of the White House during running battles between protesters and Secret Service officers.