EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsWASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned former NFL players Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon on Thursday.The pardons were announced by White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson."As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation," Johnson wrote on social media as she thanked Trump for his "continued commitment to second chances."Johnson said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones "personally" shared the news with Newton, who won three Super Bowls with the team.The White House did not return a request for comment Thursday night on why Trump pardoned the players.Klecko, a former star for the New York Jets, pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 after lying to a federal grand jury that was investigating insurance fraud. A defensive lineman, Klecko was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023. He was a two-time Associated Press All-Pro and a four-time Pro Bowler.Newton, an offensive lineman, pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge in 2002 after authorities discovered $10,000 in his pickup truck as well as 175 pounds of marijuana in an accompanying car driven by another man. Newton was a two-time All-Pro and a six-time Pro Bowler.Lewis, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns, pleaded guilty in a drug case in which he used a cellphone to try to set up a drug deal not long after he was the fifth pick in the 2000 NFL draft. The running back was named an All-Pro once, Pro Bowler once and the 2003 AP Offensive Player of the Year.Henry pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine in 2009 for financing a drug ring that moved the drug between Colorado and Montana. He was a running back for three teams and made the Pro Bowl once.And Cannon, who played with the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, admitted to counterfeiting in the mid-1980s after a series of bad investments and debts left him broke.Cannon was a two-time All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowler. He also won the 1959 Heisman Trophy while starring for LSU. He died in 2018.An avid sports fan, Trump pardoned former New York Mets great Darryl Strawberry of tax evasion and drug charges in November.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
