Alice Marie Johnson, the White House’s “pardon czar,” announced that Trump pardoned five former NFL players.
DALLAS — President Donald Trump has pardoned former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton, who was convicted on drug trafficking charges in the early 2000s.
And Cowboys owner Jerry Jones personally delivered the news, officials said.
Alice Marie Johnson, the White House’s “pardon czar,” announced that Trump pardoned five former NFL players: Newton, Joe Klecko, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon.
Johnson shared the news by posting a photo of Newton’s pardon, saying Jones shared the news with Newton.
Today, the President granted pardons to five former NFL players—Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, and the late great Dr. Billy Cannon.
As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation.
Special thanks… pic.twitter.com/Y4FC5lQwGE
— Alice Marie Johnson (@AliceMarieFree) February 13, 2026
Newton was a cornerstone of the Cowboys dynasty in the 1990s as a six-time Pro Bowler. In 2001, Newton was pulled over in Louisiana with 213 pounds of marijuana in a van, according to the Associated Press. Then, six weeks later, he was arrested again while out on bond after he was found with 175 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car.
Newton later said he was getting up to $75,000 per drug deal. He was sentenced to federal prison and served about two and a half years.
After prison, Newton turned his life around, and he also pulled off an incredible feat, with the help of his doctors: Losing nearly half his body weight.
Newton weighed more than 400 pounds in the 2000s before he undergoing bariatric surgery, as WFAA covered back in 2010. The surgery and weight loss got Newton down to 220 pounds.