Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) rebuffed a pro-MAGA campaign to free Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd.
Conservative influencer Ben Shapiro was leading the effort to pardon Chauvin.
"If we are issuing pardons, however, there is one person that President Trump should pardon from federal charges forthwith," Shapiro opined recently. "President Trump should, in fact, pardon Derek Chauvin."
"But when it came to BLM, the inciting event for the BLM riots that caused $2 billion in property damage in the United States and set America's race relations on their worst footing in my lifetime was, in fact, the railroading of Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd," he added.
The former officer was serving a federal sentence of 21 years and 22 1/2 years on state charges.
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Semafor asked Walz what he thought of the push to have Trump pardon Chauvin.
"It would undermine the faith in the system," the governor explained. "This was a man who murdered George Floyd on TV. He was prosecuted. If he got pardoned, Derek Chauvin would come back and do 22 and a half years in a Minnesota state prison. If he wants to come and stay in Stillwater, we will certainly take him coming back to Stillwater. But he's not walking free, whether he gets pardoned by Trump or not."
Walz said "racism" was motivating the movement.
"It's racist. OK? That's what I believe," he said.