What if everything you were told about the trial of Derek Chauvin was a lie?
Like everyone else in America, I first saw the tape of Derek Chauvin and George Floyd on May 25, 2020, what appeared at the time to be nine minutes of a police officer’s knee on Floyd’s neck.
Given the tape alone, I drew the same conclusions as most Americans. I tweeted that the police officer’s behavior was abhorrent. I called for his prosecution. I said that nobody is defending the actions we all witness.
So, it’s not as though I was initially a believer in Chauvin’s innocence. But over time, new evidence emerged. A lot of new evidence. And I realized I had done something absolutely wrong. I had rushed to judgment as new information was released: the full body camera footage, the complete autopsy findings, the Minneapolis Police Department training materials.
My viewpoint changed, and it changed dramatically. But for most Americans, their only opinion on the case was formed in the hours after the original tape broke. They didn’t know about the new evidence, or they didn’t care. The legacy media were deeply complicit in this. They didn’t cover the details of the autopsy, the details of the complete body camera footage, and the defense presentation at trial.
They let that original impression sit in the minds of the American people for years, and they did that for a reason. They had a predetermined narrative of the race-based guilt of Chauvin and, according to the Left, of white people everywhere.
Taking stock of these larger forces at play helps to make sense of the bias that continues to this day. The George Floyd narrative was set.
A racist white police officer murdered a black man in cold blood? Case closed. Evidence to the contrary? Irrelevant. MPD training protocols dismissed? Toxicology report ignored? Medical examiner’s findings about contributing factors? Conspiracy theories.
WATCH: Episode 1 of “The Case for Derek Chauvin” on The Ben Shapiro Show
Consider, for example, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who last week dismissed my call to revisit the Chauvin trial by declaring on his show that he “doesn’t care about the autopsy,” effectively admitting he doesn’t care about the facts or the truth.
This cavalier dismissal of medical evidence perfectly encapsulates how much of America approaches this case.
“See, you’re trying to go down the lane I wasn’t trying to go down,” Smith declared. “I’m not going to let you take me there, which is why I turned down your invitation to appear on your show. We’re not getting into all of the science and what the doctor said and an autopsy report, even though I just read it to you to some degree. We don’t have to go there.”
A proper analysis of any case requires examining all the available evidence, not just the parts that confirm preexisting narratives based on the first available information. The media, the politicians, and the prosecutors had no interest in presenting the complete picture. Judging by their reaction to the announcement of this series, they still don’t.
You’re not going to hear it from CNN. You’re not going to hear it from MSNBC. You certainly won’t hear it from politicians who built their careers on the back of this case. But you’ll hear it here, because unlike those who rendered judgment and moved on, I believe truth emerges when we’re willing to revise our positions in light of new information.
On March 4, 2025, I launched a petition called pardonderek.com, calling on President Trump to exercise his constitutional authority to pardon former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin from his federal convictions in the death of George Floyd.
This isn’t just about one man, though the unjust conviction of one man should be enough. This is also about restoring the rule of law after a disgraceful period of politically motivated race and identity obsessed weaponization of the justice system.
Since returning to office, President Trump has been taking historic action to dismantle the radical ideological framework infecting our institutions. In just six weeks, he has signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken over 400 executive actions, declaring that America will be woke no longer. He’s systematically dismantling DEI programs across the federal government. He’s targeting what he calls the tyranny of diversity and forced so-called inclusion in our institutions. He has banned men from women’s sports, returning education to a merit-based system, and declared there are only two genders in America.
But all of this will remain incomplete if we don’t address the original sin that kickstarted the entire woke revolution, the match that lit the powder keg of woke insanity and then spread through every American institution like wildfire.
President Trump’s war on wokeness cannot be considered complete unless he addresses the fundamental injustice that started it all. Pardoning Chauvin is about making a definitive statement that the rule of law matters more than mob justice — that America is finally ready to correct the catastrophic error that sent our country spiraling into years of racial division and leftist cultural supremacy.
Of course, I understand that this is politically radioactive. I get it. I understand the entire American Left will completely melt down if President Trump were to do this. I get that the media will lose their collective minds.
But frankly, I don’t care, because justice should matter more than political expediency.
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