The Ben Shapiro Show - The Case For Derek Chauvin | Episode 1: The Background

00:00:00.000 What if everything you were told about the trial of Derek Chauvin was a lie?

00:00:03.000 Today, we're launching one of the most important multi-part series we've ever produced at this company.

00:00:07.000 We're examining the terrible miscarriage of justice that took place in the case I think you'll agree with me that President Trump should immediately pardon Derek Chauvin for his federal convictions.

00:00:26.000 New episodes of this series will be dropping every Tuesday and Thursday.

00:00:30.000 Watch them, share them, join the discussion with Daily Wire members and Ben Shapiro Show producers inside the Daily Wire Plus app.

00:00:36.000 The truth matters and justice matters, and you're not going to hear this anywhere else.

00:00:39.000 This is The Case for Derek Chauvin, Episode 1, The Background.

00:00:47.000 Like everyone else in America, I first saw the tape of Derek Chauvin and George Floyd on May 25th, what appeared at the time to be nine minutes of a police officer's knee on George Floyd's neck.

00:00:56.000 Given the tape alone, I drew the same conclusions most Americans drew.

00:00:59.000 I tweeted that the police officer's behavior was abhorrent.

00:01:02.000 I called for his prosecution.

00:01:03.000 I stated that nobody is defending the actions we all witnessed.

00:01:05.000 So it's not as though I was initially a believer in Derek Chauvin's innocence.

00:01:09.000 And then, over time, new evidence emerged.

00:01:12.000 A lot of new evidence.

00:01:14.000 And I realized I had done something absolutely wrong.

00:01:16.000 I had rushed to judgment.

00:01:18.000 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.

00:01:27.000 But for most Americans, their only opinion on the case was formed in the hours after the original tape broke.

00:01:32.000 They didn't know about the new evidence, or they didn't care.

00:01:35.000 The legacy media were deeply complicit in this.

00:01:37.000 They didn't cover the details of the autopsy, the details of the complete body camera footage, the defense presentation at trial.

00:01:43.000 They let that original impression sit in the minds of the American people for years.

00:01:48.000 And they did that for a reason.

00:01:50.000 They had a predetermined narrative of the race-based guilt of Derek Chauvin and, according to the left, of white people everywhere.

00:01:56.000 Taking stock of these larger forces at play helps to make sense of the bias that continues to this day.

00:02:00.000 The George Floyd narrative was set.

00:02:02.000 A racist white police officer murdered a black man in cold blood.

00:02:05.000 Case closed.

00:02:06.000 Evidence to the contrary?

00:02:08.000 Irrelevant.

00:02:08.000 MPD training protocols?

00:02:10.000 Dismissed.

00:02:10.000 Toxicology report?

00:02:12.000 Ignored.

00:02:12.000 Medical examiner's findings about contributing factors?

00:02:15.000 Conspiracy theories.

00:02:16.000 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, quote, doesn't care about the autopsy, effectively admitting he doesn't care about the facts or the truth.

00:02:27.000 This cavalier dismissal of medical evidence?

00:02:29.000 Perfectly encapsulates how much of America approaches this case.

00:02:34.000 See, you're trying to go down the lane.

00:02:36.000 I wasn't trying to go down.

00:02:37.000 I'm not going to let you take me there, which is why I turned down your invitation to appear on your show.

00:02:43.000 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.

00:02:51.000 We don't have to go there.

00:02:53.000 A proper analysis of any case requires examining all the available evidence, not just the parts that confirm pre-existing narratives based on the first available information.

00:03:00.000 The media, the politicians, the prosecutors, they had no interest in presenting the complete picture, judging by their reaction to the announcement of this series.

00:03:07.000 They still don't.

00:03:08.000 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.

00:03:15.000 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.

00:03:23.000 On March 4th, 2025, I launched a petition at 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.

00:03:36.000 This isn't just about one man, though the unjust conviction of one man should be enough.

00:03:39.000 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.

00:03:47.000 Since returning to office, President Trump has been taking historic action to dismantle the radical ideological framework infecting our institutions.

00:03:54.000 In just six weeks, he signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken over 400 executive actions declaring that America will be woke no longer.

00:04:00.000 He's systematically dismantling DEI programs across the federal government.

00:04:04.000 He's targeting what he calls the tyranny of diversity and forced so-called inclusion in our institutions.

00:04:09.000 He's banned men from women's sports, returned education to a merit-based system, declared there are only two genders in America.

00:04:14.000 But all of this, all of it, will remain incomplete.

00:04:17.000 If we don't address the original sin that kick-started the entire woke revolution, the match that lit the powder keg of woke insanity that then spread through every American institution like wildfire.

00:04:27.000 President Trump's war on wokeness cannot be considered complete unless he addresses the fundamental injustice that started it all.

00:04:32.000 Pardoning Derek 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.

00:04:45.000 And of course, I understand that this is politically radioactive.

00:04:47.000 I get it.

00:04:48.000 I understand the entire American left will melt down completely if President Trump were to do this.

00:04:52.000 I get that the media will lose their collective minds.

00:04:54.000 And frankly, I don't care because justice should matter more than political expediency.

00:04:59.000 I think that it is sadly another example of blatant disrespect for the law, blatant disrespect for George Floyd and his family and people who Remember those very, very ugly days.

00:05:14.000 I hope that Donald Trump has enough humanity to recognize that releasing Derek Chauvin would cause untold injury to George Floyd's family and the many, many people who feel vulnerable.

00:05:29.000 This is to create dissension.

00:05:31.000 This is to create animosity.

00:05:34.000 This is to create protests in the streets.

00:05:37.000 Just let it stand.

00:05:38.000 I mean, really, just let it.

00:05:40.000 What what what crime can insurrectionist right now?

00:05:44.000 Derek Chauvin.

00:05:45.000 Come on.

00:05:46.000 Tell me what crime you're just going to allow it to stand because it's a crime.

00:05:50.000 Inciting event for the BLM riots that caused two billion dollars in property damage and set race relations in America on their worst footing in my lifetime was the death of George Floyd, of course.

00:05:59.000 The evidence demonstrates conclusively Officer Derek Chauvin did not commit murder.

00:06:03.000 There were no accusations even at a state trial that Chauvin had committed a hate crime against George Floyd or targeted him because of his race.

00:06:10.000 Nonetheless, on the basis of extraordinarily scanty evidence with massive pressure on the jury, the mayor of Minneapolis spoke out in support of a $27 million settlement approved by the Minneapolis City Council to the Floyd family immediately before the trial.

00:06:23.000 Joe Biden suggested Chauvin was guilty before the verdict.

00:06:25.000 Jurors were being openly threatened.

00:06:27.000 Derek Chauvin was convicted on state charges and then pled guilty to federal charges on unreasonable use of force.

00:06:33.000 Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?

00:06:39.000 They're a good family and they're calling for peace and tranquility no matter what that verdict is.

00:06:47.000 I'm praying the verdict is the right verdict, which is...

00:06:50.000 I think it's overwhelming in my view.

00:06:52.000 I am very hostile and I hope that we're going to get a verdict that say guilty, guilty, guilty.

00:07:01.000 And if we don't, we cannot go away.

00:07:04.000 And not just manslaughter, right?

00:07:05.000 I mean...

00:07:06.000 Oh no, not manslaughter.

00:07:07.000 No, no, no.

00:07:08.000 This is guilty.

00:07:09.000 It's a murder.

00:07:10.000 It became intentional and deliberate.

00:07:13.000 And justice must be intentional and deliberate in this courthouse.

00:07:19.000 And so today's settlement reflects our shared commitment to advancing racial justice, our sustained push for progress, our commitment to Minneapolis, and our commitment and compassion to one another.

00:07:36.000 Now, critics will argue, and they have argued, what's the point?

00:07:39.000 Even with a federal pardon, Chauvin would still serve his state sentence.

00:07:42.000 After all, A.G. Ellison is still in charge over in Minnesota, and so is Tim Walz.

00:07:46.000 This is technically true of course but it fundamentally misunderstands the critical differences between federal and state incarceration that would make a presidential pardon extremely significant.

00:07:54.000 Chauvin was arrested four days after Floyd's death.

00:07:56.000 At first, he received a third-degree murder charge, which would have required proof of intent or premeditation.

00:08:01.000 But public pressure kept increasing.

00:08:03.000 The mob demanded retribution.

00:08:04.000 A Change.org petition to raise the degree amassed nearly three million signatures online and hashtag raise the degree trended number one on Twitter on the day of Chauvin's arrest.

00:08:13.000 State prosecutors, knowing they could not successfully argue a first-degree charge, decided to simply add a charge instead.

00:08:19.000 Less than a week later, Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder, which doesn't actually require intent.

00:08:24.000 Coleman Hughes' meticulous 2024 analysis of the Chauvin case via the free press exposes precisely why a pardon is morally imperative.

00:08:30.000 Simply put, the prosecution failed to meet the constitutionally required burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt, the absolute cornerstone of our criminal justice system.

00:08:38.000 When two plausible explanations exist for Floyd's death, one implicating Chauvin and one pointing to Floyd's severe heart disease and fentanyl levels, the legal standard would be acquittal.

00:08:47.000 The case against Chauvin collapses under proper scrutiny of the evidence.

00:08:50.000 To make matters worse, by May 2021, Merrick Garland's DOJ brought down civil rights charges against Chauvin for unreasonable force under the color of law.

00:08:58.000 Having been found guilty on all counts in a state trial just a few weeks prior, Chauvin took a plea deal so he wouldn't have to face trial again.

00:09:04.000 When basic judicial standards aren't met, when reasonable doubt clearly exists, as Hughes and others have meticulously documented, it becomes not just appropriate but essential for the president to exercise his constitutional power of clemency.

00:09:15.000 The federal charges should never have been issued in the first place, which is exactly why the presidential pardon power exists, to correct fundamental miscarriages of justice that occur within the federal system.

00:09:24.000 Here's an additional, an integral detail, that aside from me, ironically, only CNN has mentioned.

00:09:28.000 Derek Chauvin is currently serving concurrent sentences, 22 and a half years on state charges, 21 on federal charges.

00:09:34.000 Under Minnesota's state sentencing structure, inmates typically serve only two-thirds of their sentence behind bars.

00:09:39.000 The remaining one-third is under supervised release.

00:09:41.000 That's codified in Minnesota statute.

00:09:43.000 244.101, which stipulates that for felony offenders sentenced to a fixed executed sentence, the executed sentence consists of two parts.

00:09:51.000 First, a specified minimum term of imprisonment that is equal to two-thirds of the executed sentence.

00:09:56.000 And second, a specified maximum supervised release term that is equal to one-third of the executed sentence.

00:10:01.000 That means Chauvin would serve approximately 15 years of his 22 and a half year state sentence in actual confinement.

00:10:06.000 But the federal system operates differently.

00:10:08.000 Federal inmates earn good time credit that reduces sentences at a much lower rate than state systems.

00:10:13.000 According to federal guidelines, prisoners can earn up to 54 days of good time credit per year for good behavior.

00:10:18.000 On a 21-year federal sentence like Chauvin's, the maximum reduction would only be about 3.1 years, resulting in approximately 17.9 years of actual incarceration, three years longer than what he'd serve under Minnesota's more lenient system.

00:10:30.000 Additionally, Minnesota recently enacted the Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act, which could potentially allow prisoners to be released after serving about half of their sentence rather than two-thirds if they demonstrate good behavior and participate in rehabilitative programs.

00:10:43.000 While there are questions about Chauvin's eligibility under the specific exclusions of the MRRA, this could potentially reduce his incarceration time to 11.25 years if he qualified.

00:10:53.000 So a federal pardon from President Trump wouldn't just be symbolic.

00:10:55.000 It could potentially reduce Chauvin's actual incarceration by several years.

00:11:00.000 Aside from all of this, he should have, through the appellate process, been granted a new trial due to the prejudicial pretrial publicity, jury intimidation, the trial court's abuse of discretion in failing to change venue, which collectively violated his constitutional right to due process and a fair trial.

00:11:14.000 Before we continue, it's now essential to understand who Derek Chauvin was before that fateful day, because the media has shown absolutely zero interest in presenting a fair portrait of the man they've demonized.

00:11:25.000 We'll get to more on this in a moment first.

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00:13:18.000 Derek Chauvin was born and raised in the St. Paul area of Minnesota.

00:13:21.000 He attended Park High School in Cottage Grove, a predominantly white suburb where he later lived as an adult.

00:13:26.000 Although he didn't initially complete high school, Chauvin persevered, obtained his GED, he attended several community colleges, and ultimately he graduated from Minnesota's Metropolitan State University in 2006 with a bachelor's in law enforcement.

00:13:38.000 Chauvin's dedication to service extended beyond law enforcement.

00:13:41.000 He served as a military police officer from 96 to 2000, stationed in Rochester, Minnesota, and Hohenfels, Germany.

00:13:47.000 His career included work as a security guard, as a McDonald's cook, before he joined the Minneapolis PD as a community service officer in January 2001, eventually serving 19 years on the force.

00:13:56.000 Throughout his career, Chauvin received recognition for his service.

00:13:59.000 He was awarded two Medals of Valor, one in 2006, another in 2008, as well as two Medals of Commendation in 2008 and 2009. In 2006, Chauvin was specifically recommended for a Medal of Valor for his role in a shooting incident involving a man who aimed a shotgun at officers.

00:14:13.000 The exact kind of courageous action the media conveniently ignored when they were crafting their narrative about the deeply evil cop.

00:14:18.000 The left wants you to believe that Derek Chauvin was a rogue officer with a history of brutality.

00:14:22.000 They breathlessly reported that he had 18 complaints over his 19-year career, as if that's some sort of smoking gun proving he was a racist monster waiting to kill somebody.

00:14:30.000 When you actually examine the complaints one by one, what you find is not a pattern of abuse, but rather the normal course of what tends to happen when you're policing high-crime areas for nearly two decades.

00:14:40.000 The third precinct where Chauvin worked had dramatically higher complaint rates than other precincts in Minneapolis.

00:14:45.000 It's critical to understand that increase was not due to worsening officer behavior, but rather to changes in the complaint filing process that made it significantly easier for citizens to report perceived misconduct.

00:14:55.000 Further context comes from understanding disciplinary outcomes.

00:14:58.000 Only about 1.5% of complaints filed against Minneapolis police resulted in suspensions, terminations, or demotions between 2013 and 2019. When including letters of reprimand, that rate rises to just 2.6%.

00:15:10.000 This means the overwhelming majority of complaints were found by the Minneapolis Police Department to be specious.

00:15:16.000 When we consider all these statistical factors, a department with a civilian review board with 80% more complaints, working in the highest complaint precincts in the city, with an exceptionally low rate of disciplinary findings, a statistically realistic benchmark for an officer in Chauvin's position over 19 years should probably be significantly higher than the national average of 1.8 complaints.

00:15:35.000 Yet the media continues to utilize that last number to distort the national view of Derek Chauvin.

00:15:39.000 So, let's go through the complaints chronologically so you can see exactly what we're dealing with here.

00:15:43.000 In 2006, Chauvin was one of six officers who responded to his stabbing.

00:15:47.000 A suspect named Wayne Reyes, who had allegedly stabbed his girlfriend and a friend, was shot dead when he pointed a shotgun at officers from his truck.

00:15:54.000 This wasn't an unarmed suspect gunned down in cold blood.

00:15:56.000 This was an armed, dangerous suspect who had already violently attacked two people and was threatening to kill police officers with a shotgun.

00:16:02.000 All the officers, including Chauvin, were put on paid leave during the investigation.

00:16:05.000 That's standard protocol.

00:16:07.000 And of course, they were then cleared because they acted appropriately in the face of a deadly threat.

00:16:10.000 In fact, Chauvin later got a Medal of Valor for his response in this incident.

00:16:14.000 The media conveniently omits that Chauvin was commended for this incident.

00:16:18.000 They prefer to count it as a complaint without providing the context that would show that he was doing exactly what police officers are actually supposed to do, protect the public from violent criminals.

00:16:27.000 That same year, in 2006, Chauvin and seven other officers were named in a federal lawsuit filed by an inmate at the Minnesota Correctional Facility.

00:16:34.000 This is the type of frivolous lawsuit that gets filed against police officers all the time.

00:16:38.000 How serious was it?

00:16:39.000 The case was dismissed the following year.

00:16:40.000 The media still counts that as a complaint against Chauvin.

00:16:43.000 Now the fact the lawsuit was dismissed tells you everything you need to know about its validity.

00:16:46.000 That doesn't stop the media from including it in that running tally of complaints.

00:16:50.000 In 2007, Chauvin received one of his only formal disciplinary actions for a traffic stop involving a female driver from Minneapolis who was allegedly going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit.

00:16:59.000 Despite Chauvin being accused of being too aggressive, this was a complaint about a traffic stop.

00:17:02.000 No one was injured.

00:17:03.000 The discipline was a letter of reprimand, not a suspension, not a demotion, not criminal charges.

00:17:07.000 A letter.

00:17:08.000 In 2008, Chauvin responded to a 911 domestic assault call.

00:17:11.000 When he arrived, he and his partner confronted Ira Latrell Tolles, who was hiding in a bathroom.

00:17:16.000 According to the police report, when Tolles tried to flee, he grabbed at Chauvin's gun, forcing Chauvin to fire twice, hitting Tolles in the stomach.

00:17:23.000 Tolles survived.

00:17:23.000 Chauvin was placed on paid leave during the investigation.

00:17:25.000 Again, that's standard protocol.

00:17:27.000 The subsequent investigation cleared Chauvin.

00:17:29.000 His actions were deemed appropriate when confronting a domestic violence suspect who attempted to take his weapon.

00:17:33.000 In fact, he got another Medal of Valor for that incident.

00:17:36.000 In 2011, Chauvin was part of a group of five officers who chased down a man named Leroy Martinez in a housing complex after they spotted him running with a pistol.

00:17:43.000 One of the officers, Terry Nutter, shot Martinez in the torso.

00:17:47.000 Martinez survived.

00:17:48.000 All the officers were placed on leave.

00:17:49.000 They were ultimately absolved of any wrongdoing.

00:17:51.000 Police Chief Timothy Dolan explicitly stated the officers acted appropriately and courageously.

00:17:56.000 Again, This counts as a complaint against Chauvin, according to the media, despite the fact he didn't fire his weapon and was officially commended for his actions.

00:18:03.000 In 2013, Chauvin and another officer witnessed a white male teenager shooting a Nerf dart out of a car window as part of a Nerf gun game among teenagers.

00:18:10.000 When the teenagers arrived at the home of 17-year-old Christopher Berg, Chauvin and the other officer confronted them.

00:18:15.000 According to Berg, at least one officer drew a gun.

00:18:17.000 They allegedly forced him into their car shouting obscenities and berating him.

00:18:20.000 Clearly, the police officers were responding to what could have initially appeared to be a real weapon.

00:18:24.000 When Chauvin observed what appeared to be something fired from a moving vehicle, he was operating in a context where, unfortunately, drive-by shootings were not abstract possibilities but regular occurrences that did injure and kill Minneapolis residents, including kids.

00:18:36.000 His initial threat assessment, while it was wrong in this specific case, reflected the dangerous reality of policing in an area where objects fired from vehicles frequently meant bullets rather than foam darts.

00:18:45.000 In November 2013, Minneapolis police pulled over LaShawn Braddock shortly after midnight based on a warrant.

00:18:50.000 Braddock claims when he hesitated to get out of the car, an officer aggressively hit his window with a flashlight, and then other officers tried to pull him from the car.

00:18:57.000 Braddock admittedly hesitated to comply with police command, so it would make sense that after he hesitated to comply, officers used necessary force to subdue him.

00:19:05.000 Non-compliance with police orders, even if you have a good reason, typically results in officers escalating their use of force.

00:19:10.000 That is standard procedure nationwide.

00:19:13.000 Another complaint stems from February 15, 2015, when Chauvin arrested Julian Hernandez at the El Nuevo Rodeo nightclub.

00:19:19.000 Where Chauvin worked as an off-duty security officer.

00:19:21.000 According to Chauvin's report, Hernandez tried to leave the club through the wrong door and Chauvin escorted him down a stairwell.

00:19:27.000 Hernandez, who admitted he had been drinking, claims Chauvin pushed him down the stairs.

00:19:30.000 Outside, Chauvin reported that Hernandez tried to turn around as he was preparing to handcuff him, so he pushed him away by applying pressure toward his lingual artery.

00:19:38.000 Hernandez claimed Chauvin told him you just need to leave, but wouldn't allow him to leave, and then choked him.

00:19:42.000 He said he tried to sue the department, but no lawyer would actually take the case, so he let it go.

00:19:45.000 So, here's the situation.

00:19:47.000 An intoxicated patron at a nightclub, trying to exit through the wrong door, escorted out by security, allegedly resisting being handcuffed.

00:19:54.000 Chauvin applied a restraint technique to control the situation, which is typically what security personnel are supposed to do.

00:19:59.000 The fact Hernandez couldn't even find a lawyer willing to take his case speaks volumes about the credibility of the accusations.

00:20:04.000 In April 2016, Chauvin was involved in an incident with a man named Jimmy Bostic at the Midtown Global Market.

00:20:10.000 Private security guards had asked Bostic to leave after he was accused of panhandling.

00:20:13.000 Bostic argued Chauvin was called in.

00:20:15.000 Chauvin escorted Bostic outside, writing in the arrest report that Bostic had threatened to spit on the owner.

00:20:19.000 I closed distance with Bostic, Chauvin wrote, and secured his neck head area with my hand.

00:20:23.000 Bostic claimed that his Chauvin and private security guards attempted to put him in cuffs.

00:20:26.000 He yanked his arm back and then Chauvin wrapped his arms around his neck.

00:20:29.000 After being released from police custody, Bostic said emergency medical workers took him to the hospital where he stayed for over a day due to an asthma attack.

00:20:36.000 The disorderly conduct charge against him was eventually dropped.

00:20:38.000 Bostic admitted to pulling his arm away when officers were trying to handcuff him.

00:20:42.000 That is called a resisting arrest, and it typically justifies the use of physical restraint techniques.

00:20:46.000 He was treated and released at the scene, deciding on his own to go to the hospital.

00:20:49.000 This complaint, like all the others, resulted in no disciplinary action because Chauvin was following department protocols.

00:20:54.000 In June 2017, Chauvin responded to a call where a woman named Zoya Code had allegedly tried to strangle her mother with an extension cord.

00:21:01.000 Code claimed that her mom was the one swinging the cord around and that she merely grabbed hold of it.

00:21:05.000 According to prosecutors, based on Chauvin's report, In body camera video, Chauvin told Code she was under arrest and grabbed her arm.

00:21:10.000 When she resisted, the two officers placed her in handcuffs, then picked her up and carried her outside the house face down.

00:21:15.000 Chauvin then knelt on the side of Code's neck for less than five minutes until backup arrived, as per Minneapolis police protocol.

00:21:22.000 The misdemeanor domestic assault and disorderly conduct charges filed against code were ultimately dropped, but no disciplinary action was taken against Chauvin because he was following department protocols for subduing a non-compliant suspect in a domestic violence situation, one of the most volatile and dangerous calls officers respond to.

00:21:37.000 In March 2019, Chauvin was involved in an incident with a man named Sir Riley Peet.

00:21:42.000 According to the arrest report written by Chauvin, Peet was wandering around a gas station asking officers for a ride.

00:21:48.000 After Peet refused to take his hands out of his pockets, an officer tried to grab him and they scuffled.

00:21:51.000 Chauvin then sprayed Pete with pepper spray and restrained him, pinning him face down on the ground by kneeling on his lower back.

00:21:56.000 Pete was arrested on charges of misdemeanor obstruction of the legal process and disorderly conduct, but court records are unclear about the outcome.

00:22:02.000 Records show Pete has a history of court-ordered treatment for mental illness.

00:22:05.000 Again, this is a situation where a suspect refused to take his hands out of his pockets when ordered to do so by police, a major red flag that could indicate the presence of a weapon.

00:22:13.000 Chauvin used appropriate force to subdue a non-compliant individual who could have posed a threat to officer safety.

00:22:19.000 That's it.

00:22:19.000 The supposedly damning 18 complaints against Derek Chauvin.

00:22:22.000 What do they actually show?

00:22:24.000 What they actually show is an officer working in high crime areas for 19 years, dealing with non-compliant suspects, domestic violence situations, armed suspects, intoxicated individuals.

00:22:33.000 In all but one or two minor cases, investigations cleared Chauvin of wrongdoing.

00:22:36.000 Most importantly, none of these complaints suggest racial bias.

00:22:40.000 Of the incidents where the race of the individual is mentioned, we have complainants who are white, black, Latino, Native American.

00:22:46.000 There is no pattern suggesting Chauvin targeted people of color.

00:22:49.000 He was an equal opportunity enforcer of the law who operated in a diverse, high-crime area.

00:22:54.000 The left would love you to believe these complaints prove Chauvin was sort of a ticking time bomb, which should have been removed from the force years ago.

00:22:59.000 When you actually examine the details, what emerges is a portrait of an officer doing a difficult job in challenging circumstances operating within departmental guidelines.

00:23:08.000 Now, the left would rather you not know these details because they contradict the narrative that Chauvin was a racist monster who deliberately murdered George Floyd out of some sort of racial animus.

00:23:16.000 But facts don't care about their feelings.

00:23:18.000 The facts show Chauvin's record was typical for a veteran officer working in a high-crime urban environment.

00:23:23.000 Chauvin's then-wife, Kelly Chauvin, a Hmong American who won the Mrs. Minnesota pageant, described him in a 2018 profile as such a gentleman and just a softie beneath his uniform.

00:23:32.000 Derek's marriage was further collateral damage in the wreckage following Floyd's death and his own conviction.

00:23:36.000 After revealing she hasn't been able to find work or resume her career as a realtor because of threats and her own fear of exposure over the case, experiencing vandalization of both the Chauvin's homes in Minnesota and Florida, and facing significant online harassment, receiving hateful online remarks with some labeling her a self-hating Asian, making derogatory comments about her interracial marriage, she ultimately ended up filing for divorce just one day after Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder, also requesting to change her last name.

00:24:01.000 Now let's discuss the other side of the coin, the alleged victim, George Floyd.

00:24:05.000 George Floyd was born on October 14, 1973, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to George Perry and Larsonia Sissy Jones Floyd.

00:24:11.000 When Floyd was two years old, his mom moved with Floyd and his four siblings to Houston, Texas, after his parents separated.

00:24:16.000 The family settled in the historically black neighborhood of Houston's Third Ward in the CUNY Homes Public Housing Complex.

00:24:22.000 To understand George Floyd's background, you really need to understand the reality of CUNY Homes, the public housing complex where Floyd spent his formative years.

00:24:29.000 This wasn't some idyllic community with a few challenges.

00:24:31.000 This was Houston's oldest public housing development, a crime-ridden environment that residents themselves describe as horrible and like a hellhole.

00:24:38.000 The statistics are staggering.

00:24:40.000 Eight homicides in just the last 12 months, a four-year homicide rate of nearly 62 per 100,000 residents, and approximately 25 homicides in the vicinity over just four years.

00:24:49.000 Gang activity is so prevalent, residents report being approached by gang members warning them to go inside because they're about to start shooting.

00:24:55.000 Residents live in what they describe as rat-infested apartments, with one resident explaining she's too afraid to report the violence, fearing retaliation.

00:25:01.000 This is the kind of environment that shaped George Floyd's early life.

00:25:04.000 A place so troubled, it recently received a $50 million federal grant just to demolish and rebuild it entirely.

00:25:10.000 Floyd was known as Perry as a child, later Big Floyd due to his height.

00:25:13.000 At the time of his death, he was 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 223 pounds.

00:25:18.000 He showed athletic promise in high school.

00:25:19.000 He played basketball and football.

00:25:21.000 His football team even advanced to the Texas State Championships in 1992. He graduated from Yates High School in 1993, and he received a basketball scholarship to South Florida Community College, making him the first of his siblings to pursue higher education.

00:25:32.000 Later on, he would transfer to Texas A&M's University Kingsville campus in 1995. Eventually, he dropped out.

00:25:39.000 He worked as a truck driver, a security guard for the Salvation Army shelter in Minneapolis, and as a bouncer at a bar.

00:25:44.000 At the time of his death, he had five children with different women, ranging from 22 to six years old.

00:25:49.000 As he entered adulthood, Floyd's life took a really troubled turn.

00:25:52.000 By the time of the incident with Derek Chauvin, Floyd had accumulated a really lengthy criminal record.

00:25:57.000 He had been incarcerated multiple times.

00:25:59.000 Ten months in 1998 for theft with a firearm.

00:26:01.000 Eight months in 2002 for cocaine possession.

00:26:03.000 Ten months in 2004 for cocaine again.

00:26:05.000 from 2009 to 2013 for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

00:26:09.000 That last conviction stemmed from a home invasion in which Floyd pressed a gun to a woman's abdomen while his accomplices ransacked her home.

00:26:15.000 Floyd had been arrested a total of nine times.

00:26:17.000 Let's examine each of those arrests and incarcerations chronologically.

00:26:21.000 This is not about demonizing George Floyd.

00:26:23.000 It's about understanding the full context of who he was, something the media has actively worked to prevent.

00:26:28.000 Floyd's documented criminal history begins August 1997 with his first drug arrest in Houston.

00:26:33.000 He was charged with delivery of a controlled substance, specifically less than a gram of cocaine, that's still a felony in Texas.

00:26:39.000 This wasn't just possession, it was distribution.

00:26:40.000 He was released on a $4,000 bail bond.

00:26:43.000 On October 20th, 1997, Floyd pled guilty to this charge.

00:26:46.000 He received a sentence of 180 days, six months, in Harris County Jail.

00:26:50.000 Records show he received 29 days of time-served credit.

00:26:52.000 He still spent approximately five months behind bars for this first documented offense.

00:26:56.000 So, let's pause here to note, by age 24, Floyd was selling cocaine.

00:27:00.000 This wasn't some youthful indiscretion or minor mistake.

00:27:02.000 It was a serious felony.

00:27:04.000 It involved distribution of narcotics.

00:27:05.000 Just one year later, Floyd was arrested again.

00:27:07.000 This time, he was arrested for aggravated robbery with a firearm.

00:27:10.000 It's a pretty serious violent felony.

00:27:12.000 This was released on a $30,000 bond, a substantial amount reflecting the seriousness of the charge.

00:27:17.000 Floyd ultimately pled guilty to theft rather than armed robbery, likely as part of a plea bargain.

00:27:21.000 On February 11, 1999, he was sentenced to 10 months in state jail.

00:27:24.000 Records show he received credit for 70 days of time served.

00:27:27.000 On October 22, 1998, while presumably still out on bond, Floyd was arrested yet again, this time for theft, classified as a Class B misdemeanor in Texas.

00:27:35.000 He pled guilty to that charge on December 14, 1998. He was sentenced to 10 days in Harris County Jail.

00:27:40.000 Records indicated he served two days of that sentence.

00:27:42.000 On August 29, 2001, Floyd had another brush with the law when he was arrested for failing to identify himself to a police officer that's a Class B misdemeanor in Texas who was released on $3,000 bond.

00:27:52.000 Two days after his arrest, on August 31, 2001, Floyd pled guilty and was sentenced to 15 days in Harris County Jail.

00:27:58.000 Records show he served only three days of that sentence.

00:28:01.000 On April 23, 2002, Floyd was arrested for criminal trespassing and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

00:28:06.000 On October 29, 2002, he was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, again, less than a gram of cocaine.

00:28:12.000 He was initially released on $5,000 bond that was later increased to $15,000, probably due to the violations of his release conditions.

00:28:19.000 Floyd was formally indicted December 10, 2002. He pled guilty March 3, 2003. He was sentenced to eight months in state jail.

00:28:26.000 Records show he received credit for 92 days of time served.

00:28:29.000 It's noted he waived his right to appeal.

00:28:31.000 The mention that no permission to appeal granted suggests there may have been some attempt to challenge aspects of the case.

00:28:36.000 Floyd ultimately pled guilty.

00:28:37.000 He received a 10-month state jail sentence.

00:28:39.000 Floyd was then arrested again in December 2005, charged with possessing less than one gram of cocaine.

00:28:43.000 According to court records, prosecutors later increased the charge to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, alleging that Floyd actually had more than four grams of cocaine.

00:28:51.000 It's a much more serious offense.

00:28:53.000 The charge was eventually reverted back to simple possession of less than a gram.

00:28:56.000 Despite that reduction in charges, Floyd received a 10-month sentence in state jail that marked his fourth drug conviction in less than a decade.

00:29:02.000 Now we come to the most serious crime in Floyd's record, which the media has been particularly reluctant to discuss in detail.

00:29:07.000 In 2007, Floyd participated in a home invasion robbery that can only be described as terrifying for the victim involved.

00:29:14.000 According to the court documents, Floyd was part of a group of six men who targeted a home for drugs and money.

00:29:19.000 One of the men posed as a water department employee wearing a blue uniform to trick the female resident into opening the door.

00:29:24.000 When she realized the deception and tried to close the door, a struggle ensued. 0.97

00:29:27.000 At that point, A Ford Explorer pulled up.

00:29:29.000 Five other men, including Floyd, exited the vehicle and approached the house.

00:29:32.000 Floyd, who was identified as the largest member of the group, forced his way inside the residence and forced her into the living room.

00:29:37.000 The court report says that while Floyd held the gun on the victim, another armed suspect struck her in the head and sides with his pistol as she screamed for help.

00:29:43.000 The group searched the home for drugs and money.

00:29:45.000 When they didn't find what they were looking for, they took the woman's jewelry and cell phone before fleeing.

00:29:49.000 Police later tracked down the vehicle based on a license plate number provided by a neighbor who witnessed the robbery.

00:29:53.000 They found Floyd behind the wheel.

00:29:54.000 The victim later positively identified Floyd as the large suspect who had held the gun to her abdomen.

00:29:59.000 Floyd was charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, a first-degree felony in Texas.

00:30:03.000 He pled guilty in 2009. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

00:30:06.000 He served his time.

00:30:07.000 He was paroled in 2013. In total, Floyd was arrested at least nine times.

00:30:11.000 He was convicted of at least seven separate criminal offenses, including four drug crimes and a violent home invasion robbery where he held the gun to a woman's abdomen.

00:30:18.000 This was obviously a persistent pattern of serious criminal behavior spanning for more than a decade.

00:30:23.000 Floyd spent significant time incarcerated.

00:30:25.000 By this calculation, he served approximately 10 years in various jails and prisons.

00:30:29.000 Between 1997 and 2013, Floyd actually spent more time incarcerated than he did as a free man.

00:30:34.000 The media have engaged in a deliberate attempt to sanitize Floyd's background to present him as something other than what his record shows.

00:30:41.000 They painted a picture of a gentle giant whose only crime was passing a counterfeit $20 bill.

00:30:44.000 That portrayal is demonstrably false based on the extensive criminal record that we've just detailed The police officers who encountered him on that last day were not dealing with a citizen who just made a minor mistake one day They were dealing with somebody who had a long history of criminal behavior Unfortunately, including violence and resistance to police We've covered a lot of ground today in this first episode of our five-part series on the case for pardoning Derek Chauvin We've examined the backgrounds of both Derek Chauvin and George Floyd Not the filtered versions you've been fed by the legacy media, but the actual facts about who these men really were.

00:31:13.000 We've looked at the serious problems with the narrative surrounding Chauvin's complaint record.

00:31:17.000 We've looked at George Floyd's criminal record.

00:31:18.000 In episode two...

00:31:20.000 We're going to dive deep into the powder keg that was Minneapolis in May 2020. We'll examine the radical progressive politics that had taken hold of the city, the defund the police movement that was already gaining steam, the specific tensions in the third precinct where this fateful encounter occurred.

00:31:33.000 Then we'll go moment by moment through the actual footage, not the selectively edited clips you saw on CNN, the complete unedited video that shows what really happened that day.

00:31:42.000 You'll see for yourself.

00:31:43.000 How Floyd was saying he could not breathe while he was still in the police car before he was even removed and put on the ground.

00:31:49.000 How he actively resisted being placed in the vehicle.

00:31:51.000 How Chauvin was following MPD-approved restraint techniques throughout the encounter.

00:31:55.000 In episode three, we'll analyze the autopsy findings and medical evidence in excruciating detail.

00:32:00.000 In episode four, we'll relitigate the jury and trial.

00:32:02.000 And in our final episode, we'll bring you up to date on Derek's case.

00:32:05.000 And I'll continue to beat this drum.

00:32:07.000 This is about more than just Derek Chauvin.

00:32:09.000 This is about whether we're going to be a nation of laws or a nation President Trump has begun the critical work of reversing the evils inflicted on our country over the past several years.

00:32:18.000 DEI is being dismantled.

00:32:20.000 Merit is being restored.

00:32:21.000 American values are returning to our institutions.

00:32:23.000 But this work can't be complete until we address the original catalyst that sent our country spiraling into woke madness in the first place, the railroading of Derek Chauvin.

00:32:31.000 Stand up for the rule of law.

00:32:32.000 Go to PardonDerek.com today.

00:32:34.000 Sign our petition.

00:32:34.000 We'll also put up the website to donate to Derek Chauvin's Legal Defense Fund in the description.

00:32:38.000 Join us right here on The Ben Shapiro Show on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next few weeks for future episodes in this series.

00:32:44.000 Okay, meanwhile, a lot happening in the news.

00:32:46.000 The big controversy of the day is all about the Trump administration deporting members of Tren de Aragua over to El Salvador to be kept in a prison over there.

00:32:55.000 And this apparently is the end of the republic.

00:32:57.000 Now, I understand that the Trump administration is certainly attempting to drive a narrative here.

00:33:02.000 And Democrats are falling right into it.

00:33:04.000 The narrative the Democrats are trying to suggest is that President Trump is willy-nilly ignoring the law, that he's running roughshod over the lower court judges, and that he's going to just destroy the judiciary and all of this sort of thing.

00:33:17.000 Well, the problem is, of course, that the precedent has already been set for ignoring the judiciary, considering the Biden administration did it with a high level of regularity with regard to, for example, student loans.

00:33:26.000 And not just lower court judges, but actually, like, the Supreme Court of the United States.

00:33:30.000 Every time the Supreme Court would say, you are not allowed to simply alleviate student loans, the Biden administration would say, but we are.

00:33:36.000 And then they'd try to find a different way around the Supreme Court.

00:33:38.000 They did the same thing with, for example, affirmative action.

00:33:41.000 And so the precedent has been set there.

00:33:43.000 But this particular case is the one that the left is focusing in on because they say it's all about the willingness to ignore law, President Trump's tyrannical demagogue, and all the rest of this.

00:33:53.000 The argument by the Trump administration is we're not ignoring the law.

00:33:56.000 We are actually fulfilling the law.

00:33:58.000 We are doing what we are supposed to do.

00:34:00.000 And no district court judge is going to orally tell us that we have to turn around an airplane in the middle of its flight and have it come back to the United States while it's over international waters.

00:34:09.000 That's not how airplanes work.

00:34:10.000 It's possible they didn't have the fuel to turn around and get back to the United States.

00:34:13.000 The planes that were already on the ground, by the way, never left the United States.

00:34:16.000 So the idea that the Trump administration is sort of wholesale, defying federal courts.

00:34:21.000 That is not particularly true.

00:34:23.000 The narrative that the right is attempting to drive, and it's a narrative that I think is going to have some teeth, is why are you guys defending so strongly Trenda Aragua members not being deported?

00:34:32.000 These are members of a Venezuelan murderous gang. 1.00

00:34:34.000 Do you want them in the United States?

00:34:36.000 You guys seem to want an awful lot of bad people in the United States.

00:34:38.000 You want Hamas supporters like Mahmoud Khalil in the United States?

00:34:41.000 It now turns out that the left wants fans of Hezbollah in the United States.

00:34:45.000 There's a big controversy that broke out yesterday because there was a Brown University professor.

00:34:50.000 Who was deported.

00:34:51.000 And the left claimed that this was yet another horrifying violation of First Amendment rights.

00:34:56.000 The problem is that the reason this person was deported, her name is Rasha Alawiyah.

00:35:01.000 The reason is because she had pictures on her phone from a visit to Lebanon where she went to the funeral of Hassan Nezralah, the head of Hezbollah.

00:35:12.000 If you go to the funeral of a terrorist, pretty sure we don't need you in our country.

00:35:18.000 The left tried to jump to the defense of this person.

00:35:21.000 The suggestion was that she had done nothing wrong and that she followed his teachings, quote, from a religious perspective but not a political one.

00:35:29.000 He was the leader of a massive terrorist group responsible for murders of Americans and others.

00:35:35.000 So, yeah, you should go.

00:35:38.000 But the Democrats seem to be totally unable to dissociate from the worst kinds of immigrants to the country. 1.00

00:35:43.000 So they're totally underscoring what President Trump has been arguing.

00:35:46.000 All along, which is they don't just want an open border.

00:35:48.000 They want the worst people in the world coming to the United States, apparently. 0.90

00:35:53.000 So we'll get to the legal theory in a moment, but you can see the narrative fight that is building up.

00:35:56.000 So Caroline Lovett has just been clubbing people about the ears with this narrative. 1.00

00:36:01.000 She's very skilled at this. 0.96

00:36:03.000 Here she was at the White House yesterday saying, you know why we are deporting members of Tren d'Aragua?

00:36:06.000 In order to save people's lives.

00:36:09.000 Trend de Aragua is now a designated foreign terrorist organization.

00:36:14.000 And as I said, there were nearly 200 Trend de Aragua members who were sent to El Salvador this weekend.

00:36:20.000 Countless lives will be saved because of this action.

00:36:23.000 And if you talk to the families, the Angel families, as I mentioned, Blake and Riley and Jocelyn Nungere, they understand the grave cost of life at the hands of these illegal terrorists.

00:36:35.000 And the president is proud to deliver on that promise for them.

00:36:40.000 As for the implication that there are going to be mass deportations and everybody's going to get deported, Caroline Levitt said, well, you know, I have another suggestion, which is if you're here illegally, maybe you should self-deport.

00:36:50.000 To your second question about the CBP Home app, I would have to check in with the Department of Homeland Security, but it's a great question, and we're very proud to repurpose this app, which the Biden administration abused, to facilitate the mass illegal entry of illegal immigrants into our country.

00:37:06.000 It was like a fast pass at Disneyland.

00:37:08.000 That's not happening under this administration.

00:37:10.000 We are encouraging illegal immigrants to actively self-deport, to maybe save themselves from being in one of these fun videos. 1.00

00:37:22.000 She, of course, was referencing the fact that yesterday the White House put out a video showing many of these Trenderagua members being taken off the plane in Venezuela and basically celebrating that fact.

00:37:32.000 Okay, so the French, there's a French MP, and count on the French to be as obnoxious as humanly possible. 1.00

00:37:38.000 A French member of Parliament suggested that the Statue of Liberty should be disassembled and taken back given the United States' lack of warmth toward illegal immigrants who are members of gangs as well as terror supporters.

00:37:49.000 And she had some words for the French.

00:37:51.000 And listen, I'm always here for dunking on the French. 1.00

00:37:53.000 The French always deserve it. 1.00

00:37:55.000 There's never a situation which the French do not deserve to be dunked upon. 1.00

00:37:59.000 Absolutely not.

00:38:01.000 And my advice to that unnamed, low-level French politician would be to remind them that it's only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.

00:38:13.000 So they should be very grateful to our great country.

00:38:18.000 Fact check.

00:38:19.000 True.

00:38:20.000 Absolutely.

00:38:21.000 By the way, twice.

00:38:24.000 So, again, very enjoyable.

00:38:26.000 This whole narrative.

00:38:28.000 The Democrats seem, again, they keep to just stumble.

00:38:30.000 They're stumbling headlong into it.

00:38:32.000 Is the idea that they want the worst people in the world staying in the United States.

00:38:36.000 And many of the angles that are being used in order to attack what the Trump administration is doing here are really stupid political angles.

00:38:43.000 So, for example, Tom Homan, who, I love Tom Homan, he's the border czar.

00:38:48.000 On a personal level, I find him just amusing and charming.

00:38:51.000 He's wonderful.

00:38:52.000 The president has invoked, in order to deport Trenda Aragua members, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. And so many people are saying, well, that's a really, really old act.

00:39:00.000 You're calling it an invasion.

00:39:02.000 Venezuela isn't really invading.

00:39:03.000 How can you invoke an act this old?

00:39:05.000 And Tom Homan's like, well, actually, we use old laws all the time.

00:39:09.000 What do you say to those who claim you're using a 200-year-old law to circumvent due process?

00:39:15.000 An old law?

00:39:17.000 Not as old as the Constitution.

00:39:18.000 We still pay attention to that, don't we?

00:39:19.000 But some would say this.

00:39:23.000 I think the thing I love the most about Tom Homan is he's absolutely out of central casting.

00:39:26.000 He does not give any bleeps at all about how the media think of him.

00:39:31.000 And so he just walks in right off the set of a 1957 Western and just starts applying the law.

00:39:36.000 It's really funny.

00:39:37.000 Homan was asked about these flights that are being sent from the United States to other countries containing illegal immigrants.

00:39:44.000 And he's asked what his plans are, and his answer is pretty great.

00:39:48.000 You got 30 guys on the stack going on different busts every single day.

00:39:52.000 You're gonna run out of money.

00:39:54.000 It doesn't look like you're getting support from the Democrats on this.

00:39:57.000 You're going against the judges now.

00:39:59.000 What's next?

00:40:01.000 Another flight.

00:40:03.000 Another flight every day.

00:40:04.000 The teams are going to be out there every day.

00:40:07.000 Every day, the men and women of ICE are going to be in the neighborhoods of this nation arresting criminal, illegal, alien, public state threats, and national security threats.

00:40:15.000 Lawrence, you're not going to stop us.

00:40:17.000 We made a promise to the American people.

00:40:19.000 President Trump has made a promise to the American people.

00:40:22.000 We're going to make this country safe again.

00:40:26.000 Now, meanwhile...

00:40:27.000 Stephen Miller, who's the architect of much of his immigration policy, and Stephen's a super smart guy, he's a deputy in terms of policy for the president, he's senior advisor to President Trump, he's on CNN with Casey Hunt, and Stephen Miller goes on cable shows and beats up hosts and chews gum, chews bubble gum, and he's all out of bubble gum today.

00:40:46.000 So he was on CNN with Casey Hunt, and she was asking him about the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, and here was Stephen Miller taking her to school.

00:40:55.000 The statute says that a president has the ability to repel an invasion or predatory incursion that is directed by a foreign government.

00:41:03.000 By a state or a government, right?

00:41:04.000 Are they a state or a government?

00:41:06.000 Yes, it is documented that TDA was sent by the Venezuelan government in the proclamation.

00:41:12.000 And here's an even more important point.

00:41:14.000 Under the Constitution, who makes that determination?

00:41:16.000 A district court judge elected by no one or the commander-in-chief of the army and navy?

00:41:21.000 The president and the president alone makes a decision of what triggers that determination in the statute.

00:41:26.000 So do you then think we are actually at war with Venezuela, the nation state of Venezuela?

00:41:30.000 You're not hearing me, and you're not understanding me.

00:41:35.000 And he's right.

00:41:36.000 What he is suggesting there is, if there's an invasion by a foreign nation, and if Trinidad Agua is being sent by the Venezuelan government, and he suggests there's documents that show this, to the United States, in order to create havoc, in order to export them from Venezuela here, Then that constitutes an invasion by definition of the president.

00:41:52.000 This is the other point he's making.

00:41:53.000 He's saying that authority for interpretation rests with the president, now with the district judge.

00:41:57.000 Now, if it gets to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court interprets it differently, then maybe that changes the rules.

00:42:02.000 That is the argument that is being made by the Trump administration.

00:42:04.000 A lot of bother is being disseminated about the sort of angle here by the Trump administration with regard to all of this.

00:42:17.000 Andy McCarthy has a breakdown of this over at National Review.

00:42:21.000 According to Andy McCarthy, he points out that the president ordered the deportation with no court process purportedly pursuant to that Alien Enemy Act, which is a late 18th century statute.

00:42:31.000 It's been invoked three times in American history, 1812, World War I, World War II. He says that there may, in fact, be some legal problems with what the Trump administration is doing.

00:42:41.000 He said it's near certain the administration knowingly defined an order issued Saturday evening by Chief Judge James Bosberg to suspend the initiative to deport the Venezuelans, which included an admonition to turn around any deportation flights that had already departed and returned detainees to the United States.

00:42:55.000 While a prosecutor temporized about whether he had information necessary to answer Judge Bosberg's questions about whether those deportation flights had taken off, the flights were already underway and continued on their path to El Salvador, it turned out.

00:43:05.000 The Justice Department then tried to end-run further proceedings before Boesburg by filing an immediate appeal to the D.C. Circuit.

00:43:11.000 That circuit issued an order on Sunday directing at the filing of a brief tomorrow by the ACLU and other lawyers for the Venezuelans.

00:43:17.000 The Justice Department has been directed to respond the following day.

00:43:20.000 Meanwhile, Boesburg ordered the administration to appear at a hearing he planned to hold at 5 p.m.

00:43:24.000 on Monday in order to probe whether those Trump officials knowingly defied his order on Saturday.

00:43:30.000 And apparently, the Justice Department has asked Bosberg to cancel the hearing because, quote, the government is not prepared to disclose any further national security or operational security details about the deportation flights to plaintiffs or the public.

00:43:42.000 So, you know, they could theoretically say that they don't need to deal with Bosberg.

00:43:46.000 They could deal with the upper court, the appellate court.

00:43:48.000 They already appealed it.

00:43:50.000 Instead, the DOJ is basically saying that they are not going to tell this judge anything.

00:43:55.000 We'll see how that works out for them on a legal level.

00:43:58.000 And again, It's a bit of a complicated legal case because it's unclear exactly the interpretation of the Aliens Enemy Act.

00:44:05.000 It is not clear exactly what level of jurisdiction is applied here to a district judge who's talking about, for example, national policy.

00:44:12.000 Whether that district court judge has the ability to halt a flight that is already in mid-progress over the Atlantic Ocean or anything like that.

00:44:23.000 Bottom line is the left is losing their mind over all of this.

00:44:25.000 And again, I'm just not willing to hear it from people.

00:44:28.000 Who spent all day, every day defending the various illegalities of the Biden administration.

00:44:33.000 It seems strange to me that many of the same people who are willing to defend every legal access to the Biden administration are now black-letter law when it comes to the Alien Enemies Act.

00:44:44.000 You found a weird hook to hang your hat on.

00:44:48.000 Here, for example, is ex-prosecutor Andrew Weissman, who you'll remember from his non-stellar work in the intel community, clashing with the Trump administration.

00:44:59.000 I'm more concerned by the statements coming from the, that you did the clip of, of the press secretary saying no judge can do this.

00:45:08.000 I'm sorry, who on God's green earth is she to say that?

00:45:11.000 That's what the courts are for. 0.99

00:45:15.000 Okay, well, I mean, she can say whatever she wants.

00:45:17.000 She does have a right to free speech. 1.00

00:45:19.000 Who is she to say that?

00:45:20.000 The same kind of person that you are to say anything.

00:45:22.000 I mean, that would be the actual answer.

00:45:24.000 By the way, Weissman.

00:45:25.000 Was the person who was second in command in the Mueller report, in the Mueller investigation.

00:45:29.000 So stellar job there, sir.

00:45:31.000 Meanwhile, CNN's Elliott Williams is also flabbergasted by the Trump DOJ. I have never seen an argument like that made.

00:45:39.000 If a judge says you're guilty...

00:45:41.000 If it's a bench trial, you're guilty right then, regardless of whether the judge memorializes it in writing.

00:45:45.000 If the judge says, I hold you in contempt of court, if the judge says, I sentence you to 10 years in prison, all of those things have weight on the judge's words.

00:45:53.000 Now, of course, a written ruling has, you know, it explains things and so on, but I've never seen, appeared in front of dozens of judges, clerked for two of them.

00:46:01.000 When they say something, it has the weight of a ruling in court, full stop.

00:46:06.000 So I'm curious to see what happens with this hearing and where they go at that point.

00:46:11.000 Okay, so one of the questions here is that the judge apparently issued an oral ruling before the flights took off for Venezuela, but the written ruling didn't come until after the flights had taken off for Venezuela.

00:46:22.000 Bozberg says that the oral order should count as much as a written one.

00:46:26.000 A Justice Department lawyer told Bozberg no flights took off after the written order and said he couldn't share information in open court.

00:46:32.000 He said, I'm not at liberty to provide any information about the flights.

00:46:36.000 The bottom line here is that there is the politics and the law.

00:46:39.000 The law will be decided, presumably by the Supreme Court here, as to whether the Alien Enemies Act applies.

00:46:44.000 The Supreme Court is going to have to speak at some point about what jurisdiction district court judges have to provide temporary injunctions over national policy.

00:46:53.000 This is becoming more and more of an issue because more and more district court judges are signing into chat to basically bar action by the Trump administration.

00:47:00.000 They never would have barred under the Biden administration.

00:47:02.000 And being able to issue these temporary restraining orders sort of willy-nilly, is going to hold up the business of government unless the Supreme Court rules that they actually have the ability to do so.

00:47:11.000 The Supreme Court deferred action on that just a couple of weeks ago.

00:47:14.000 So they need to reverse themselves.

00:47:16.000 They actually need to start talking about this pretty openly.

00:47:19.000 Meanwhile, President Trump has been upping his language with regard to Iran.

00:47:25.000 President Trump said on Monday that he would hold Iran specifically responsible for any future attacks by the Houthis in Yemen.

00:47:30.000 He posted to social media, quote, every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon from this point forward as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of Iran.

00:47:37.000 Iran will be held responsible and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire. 0.99

00:47:41.000 This, by the way, is the correct approach.

00:47:43.000 The Houthis are, in fact, a proxy terror group for Iran, and Iran has been hiding behind those proxy terror groups for literally decades, doing untold harm, chaos, chaos, damage, carnage, to Americans, by the way.

00:47:56.000 And so threatening the Iranians directly, you better cut this out. 1.00

00:47:59.000 Or your nuclear facilities are not going to exist tomorrow morning.

00:48:02.000 That makes perfect sense.

00:48:04.000 Again, I'm going to say it for the thousandth time here.

00:48:06.000 No one is looking for a boots-on-the-ground war with Iran.

00:48:09.000 Good news.

00:48:09.000 That's not what it takes in order to actually damage Iran both economically and militarily.

00:48:13.000 Iran's skies are completely open right now.

00:48:16.000 All it would take is one single B2 sortie over Iran to finish its nuclear facilities. 0.70

00:48:21.000 Finish them.

00:48:22.000 Like, into the ground finish them.

00:48:23.000 That does not spur a broader regional war because Iran doesn't have the resources to pursue that war right now.

00:48:29.000 It certainly does not pursue a war with the United States in which the Mullahs are all dead in the first 24 hours of the war.

00:48:35.000 That is not a thing that is going to happen.

00:48:37.000 And people who are telling you otherwise are lying to you full stop.

00:48:39.000 That is not a thing the Trump administration wants.

00:48:41.000 It's not anything anybody wants.

00:48:42.000 A full-scale war with Iran.

00:48:43.000 Certainly not something the Iranians want at this point.

00:48:47.000 Meanwhile, senior Houthi politician Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, in a public rally on Monday, decried the U.S. strikes as terrorism.

00:48:54.000 You see, it's not terrorism when you fire drones at random shipping.

00:48:59.000 It is terrorism when you kill the people who are firing drones at the ships that carry cargo.

00:49:05.000 He said to Trump, we say, you have failed and you do not scare us.

00:49:07.000 Do as you wish.

00:49:08.000 We fear no one but God.

00:49:09.000 Well, hopefully he can be united with God as soon as humanly possible.

00:49:13.000 That seems like that would be a useful thing.

00:49:16.000 Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Gaza is officially over.

00:49:19.000 It is over because Hamas continued to walk away from all efforts to extend the ceasefire.

00:49:24.000 Hamas basically insisted that As a condition of the release of the remaining hostages that it is holding, including an American, Edan Alexander, that in exchange for that, Israel would have to end the war and leave Hamas in control of Gaza.

00:49:34.000 And Israel said no, and the United States also said no.

00:49:37.000 And then Hamas continued to maintain that, and they were dragging out the process so they could rearm. 0.54

00:49:41.000 Late yesterday, there was news that broke that Hamas was planning, apparently, some sort of ground incursion into Israel again.

00:49:47.000 They're going to try and break through the border between Gaza and Israel.

00:49:50.000 And Israel responded with heavy fire in Gaza, specifically targeting terror leaders.

00:49:55.000 These were highly targeted strikes.

00:49:58.000 Immediately, Hamas released their usual false bevy of statistics.

00:50:01.000 300 people killed.

00:50:02.000 We have no evidence of how many people actually were killed.

00:50:05.000 That is unclear at this point.

00:50:07.000 The IDF took out some of the top leaders of Hamas.

00:50:11.000 They took out some of the top leaders of Islamic Jihad as well.

00:50:13.000 And they put out a statement saying that these will intensify.

00:50:17.000 The strikes will intensify until you are back at the table talking about the release of these hostages.

00:50:22.000 The IDF had issued evacuation orders for some areas of Gaza.

00:50:27.000 Naturally, the Europeans condemned all this because the Europeans have a very easy time condemning the Israelis for defending themselves and going after terrorists, and they have a very difficult time condemning actual terrorists.

00:50:36.000 They are too busy standing for them.

00:50:38.000 The spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad was killed in the IDF strikes, apparently.

00:50:43.000 So, too, was one of the top leaders of Hamas in those strikes.

00:50:48.000 And, of course, it was going to have to go this way because Hamas was never going to give up the hostages. 0.59

00:50:52.000 Short of some unpalatable deal in which they remain in control of Gaza, and Israel is never going to allow that.

00:50:57.000 As I said all along when it came to these hostage negotiations brokered by the United States under President Trump, all along there was never going to be phase two.

00:51:04.000 Phase two was not a possibility.

00:51:06.000 Phase one was the release of certain hostages for a certain amount of time.

00:51:09.000 At a certain point that was going to hit the end of the road, and Israel is going to have to go back in and finish off Hamas. 0.81

00:51:13.000 And that appears to be what is happening right now, short of Hamas making some sort of major concessions by releasing more of the hostages.

00:51:22.000 The media, by the way, are trash and continue to simply report whatever false numbers are put out by Hamas as soon as humanly possible.

00:51:30.000 Well done to our legacy media who've been eating up the propaganda like the latter end of the human centipede for decades now in this particular conflict.

00:51:40.000 All right, coming up, we're going to jump into the vaunted Ben Shapiro Show mailbag.

00:51:43.000 First, you have to become a member.

00:51:45.000 We have so much great stuff.

00:51:46.000 Pendragon is coming.

00:51:47.000 And man, I've seen some of the cuts.

00:51:49.000 Unbelievable.

00:51:50.000 So good.

00:51:51.000 Really, like, amazing, amazing stuff.

00:51:53.000 We've got everything.

00:51:54.000 We've got Backstage Live.

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00:51:58.000 All of our other run, hide, fight.

00:51:59.000 We've got all access with people like me.

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The Ben Shapiro Show - March 18, 2025

The Case For Derek Chauvin | Episode 1: The Background

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