Convicted Officers Could Be Cleared Under Trump and GOP Plan

President Trump’s initiative to pardon convicted police officers marks a significant shift in law enforcement policy, revealing a dramatic pendulum swing from the post-George Floyd era of heightened police scrutiny.

Key Insights

President Trump and Republican governors have begun a coordinated effort to pardon or commute sentences of police officers convicted in high-profile cases, including potential consideration for Derek Chauvin.
This represents a dramatic reversal from the post-George Floyd era when police accountability was a national priority.
Republican leaders cite “politically motivated prosecutions” and “unprecedented” legal standards applied to law enforcement as justification for these pardons.
Conservative commentators and police organizations have rallied behind these efforts, claiming media bias influenced public perception and legal outcomes.
Democratic lawmakers have criticized these actions as hypocritical, particularly in light of Trump’s pardons of January 6 participants accused of attacking police.

A New Era of Police Pardons

The Trump administration and Republican governors across the country have launched a coordinated effort to clear the records of police officers convicted in line-of-duty deaths. This initiative signals a dramatic shift in the political landscape surrounding law enforcement accountability, just years after nationwide protests demanded greater police oversight following George Floyd’s death. President Trump has already pardoned two D.C. police officers, Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky, who were convicted in a 2020 incident that resulted in a motorcyclist’s death. President Trump said in a statement on Friday that he was not contemplating a pardon for Derek Chauvin.

Republican governors have joined this movement, with Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin commuting the sentence of officer Wesley Shifflett, convicted in a 2023 shooting, and Missouri’s governor pardoning Eric DeValkenaere for a 2021 fatal shooting. These actions represent a coordinated approach to what Republican officials describe as correcting politically-driven prosecutions that unfairly targeted law enforcement personnel. The political momentum has been building since Trump’s election, with the president emphasizing police support in his recent address to Congress, where he proposed mandatory death penalties for those who kill police officers.

Questioning the Prosecutions

Supporters of these pardons argue that many of the convictions resulted from unprecedented legal standards and politically motivated prosecutions. Jason Johnson of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund has been vocal about what he describes as a biased approach to police prosecutions. “If you just look at the unfairness of these prosecutions, they were all in their own ways unprecedented,” Johnson stated, suggesting that officers faced legal standards never before applied to law enforcement personnel. Conservative media figures have rallied behind this perspective, with influencers like Ben Shapiro publicly questioning the evidence in high-profile cases.

“I am convinced that the court’s sentence of incarceration is unjust and violates the cornerstone of our justice system — that similarly situated individuals receive proportionate sentences,” said Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Police leadership has also spoken out in support of these pardons. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith defended the pardoned D.C. officers, stating that they were criminally charged merely for “engaging in a core function of their job.” Many law enforcement advocates point to district attorneys backed by progressive donors as the driving force behind what they view as politically-motivated prosecutions. The National Fraternal Order of Police has reported a decrease in police shootings in early 2025 compared to 2024, which some attribute to improved morale following these pardons.

Political Backlash

Democratic lawmakers have strongly criticized the pardons, particularly in light of Trump’s earlier pardons of individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol events. Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn has been especially vocal, accusing Trump of hypocrisy for claiming to support police while pardoning those who attacked officers. During Trump’s recent congressional address, Dunn publicly displayed a sign reading “YOU PARDONED OUR ATTACKERS” in protest of what he described as a contradiction between Trump’s rhetoric and actions regarding law enforcement support.

JUST IN: The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the U.S. that endorsed Trump in the last election, has issued a statement condemning his pardon of the violent January 6 rioters.

“Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public… pic.twitter.com/Ox9bSUm5Ka

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 22, 2025

“The evidence demonstrates that Derek Chauvin did not, in fact, murder George Floyd,” said Ben Shapiro.

Representative Sylvia Garcia echoed these criticisms, stating that “Trump talks a big game about standing with… the blue, yet on the first day of his administration he pardoned hundreds of cop-beaters who tried to steal an election on January 6, 2021.” Other Democratic representatives, including Judy Chu and Lois Frankel, have voiced concerns about the administration’s reduction of FBI and DOJ personnel, suggesting these cuts undermine public safety despite rhetoric supporting law enforcement. The contrasting perspectives highlight the deeply polarized nature of police accountability discussions in America today.