Could Trump Pardon Cops Convicted Of Killing Black People? Yes And No

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

79% : But a presidential pardon from Trump would mean their immediate freedom, just like it did for the Jan. 6 defendants released on the same day Trump was inaugurated.
44% : Presidential pardons have especially been topics of discussion since early last month when then-President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter following federal convictions for failing to pay federal income tax and illegally possessing a weapon.
41% : But the D.C. Police Union also said it was working with Trump to pardon two Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers convicted for causing the death of Karon Hylton-Brown.
38% : So when it comes to Chauvin's state conviction for violating Floyd's civil rights, Trump could issue a pardon and immediately eliminate the current 21-year sentence being served.
37% : But in the case of Amber Guyger - the former Dallas police officer convicted of murder under Texas law for shooting and killing 26-year-old Botham Jean in his own home after mistaking the Black man for an intruder in her neighboring apartment - Trump cannot affect the duration of her sentence.
30% : But, if Trump did pardon Chauvin, eliminating the federal sentence would nearly guarantee he'd be released from prison early under Minnesota state guidelines depending on his behavior.
29% : That said, Trump is not able to affect his state sentence of 22.5 years, which is running concurrently with the federal sentence.
28% : Just because Trump can pardon Sutton and Zabavsky doesn't mean he can do so for every police officer he perceives as being wrongly convicted of killing a Black person or people.
27% : "A pardon also will rightly be seen as racially motivated." (For the record, Trump has not had any kind words publicly for Chauvin.
27% : A presidential pardon of Chauvin could also be interpreted as one final swipe at the BLM protests and protesters, which stand in stark contrast to the violent Jan. 6 rioters Trump pardoned.)
21% : Considering the massive number of pardons already issued by Trump, chances are he's not done looking to free people whose convictions he believes were wrong, possibly including federally indicted Black folks like his friends New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Sean "Diddy" Combs, both of whom face credible and evidence-laden accusations of wrongdoing.
14% : Demand Diversity Roundtable: Civil Rights Leaders Meet As Trump Dismantles DEI Programs Surviving Trump: The Tough Conversations Black America Need To Have Trucker Attacked By Police Dog
13% : Considering Trump ran a campaign based in part on vengeance - a campaign in which he vowed to give police immunity from prosecution - and his history of racist views involving Black people and law enforcement, the new report begs the question: Could Trump move to pardon cops convicted of killing Black people?

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.