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President Donald Trump pardoned five former NFL players for crimes in which they had already served their time.
Pardons for Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, and the late Billy Cannon were announced by Trump’s pardon czar, Alice Marie Johnson, on Thursday night.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” Johnson wrote on Twitter/X, in part.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Trump has not posted about the pardons on his Truth Social feed.
As reported by USA Today, Klecko, who was a defensive lineman for the Jets, was accused of lying to a grand jury about a car insurance fraud scam and sentenced to three months in prison in 1993. Klecko was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Newton, the former Cowboys offensive lineman, was arrested with 175 pounds of marijuana in his car outside Dallas and sentenced to 30 months in 2002.
Henry, the former Bills running back, was accused of supplying money for a multistate drug ring and sentenced to three years in 2009. Lewis, who played running back for the Browns and Ravens, was accused of setting up a drug deal. He was sentenced to four months in 2004 after pleading guilty.
Cannon, the former running back and tight end for the Oilers, Raiders, and Chiefs, was accused of being involved in a counterfeit money-printing operation. He was sentenced to five years in 1983. Cannon died in 2018 at 80 years old.
In her tweet about the pardons, Johnson said that Newton was informed of his pardon by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
A presidential pardon for a federal crime restores certain rights of the convicted person, including the right to vote.
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