{"id":468124,"date":"2026-02-14T11:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468124\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:31:12","slug":"trump-pardons-5-ex-nfl-players-including-jets-legend-joe-klecko-for-crimes-ranging-from-perjury-to-drug-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468124\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump pardons 5 ex-NFL players \u2014 including Jets legend Joe Klecko \u2014 for crimes ranging from perjury to drug trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump issued pardons Thursday to five former football stars \u2014 including Jets Hall of Famer Joe Klecko \u2014 who were convicted of federal drug crimes, perjury, and counterfeiting offenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,\u201d\u00a0White House pardon czar\u00a0Alice Marie Johnson wrote on X<\/a>\u00a0in announcing the clemencies.<\/p>\n

Defensive tackle Klecko, 72, who spent 11 of his 12 pro seasons with the Jets, was pardoned for perjury in an insurance fraud case, for which he was sentenced to three months in prison in 1993.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump pardoned five former professional football players on Thursday. Will Oliver \u2013 Pool via CNP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\"Jets<\/p>\n

Jets legend Joe Klecko was convicted of federal drug crimes, perjury, and counterfeiting offenses. US PRESSWIRE<\/p>\n

Offensive guard Nate Newton, 64, best known for his 13 years with the Dallas Cowboys, received clemency for his drug trafficking conviction after he was busted with nearly 400 pounds of marijuana in two separate traffic stops in 2001.<\/p>\n

Johnson said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones \u201cpersonally\u201d shared the news with Newton, who won three Super Bowls with America\u2019s Team in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Another Super Bowl champion, former Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, was pardoned after pleading guilty in 2004 to using a cell phone to facilitate a cocaine deal.<\/p>\n

Travis Henry, 47, formerly of the Buffalo\u00a0Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos, was pardoned of his cocaine-trafficking conviction, while the late Billy Cannon \u2014 a Heisman Trophy winner at LSU who went on to play for the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders, and Kansas City Chiefs \u2014 received posthumous clemency after serving two-and-a-half years in jail for printing\u00a0$6 million in phony $100 bills in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\"Offensive<\/p>\n

Offensive guard Nate Newton, 64, best known for his 13 years with the Dallas Cowboys, received clemency for his drug trafficking conviction after he was busted with nearly 400 pounds of marijuana in 2001. AP<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis was pardoned after pleading guilty in 2004 to using a cell phone to facilitate a cocaine deal. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"Travis<\/p>\n

Travis Henry, 47, formerly of the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos, was pardoned of his cocaine-trafficking conviction. UPI<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The late Billy Cannon \u2014 a Heisman Trophy winner at LSU who went on to play for the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders, and Kansas City Chiefs \u2014 received posthumous clemency after serving two-and-a-half years in jail for printing $6 million in phony $100 bills in the 1980s. Bettmann Archive<\/p>\n

Johnson, who Trump freed from prison during his first term and then pardoned of drug\u00a0charges at the recommendation of Kim Kardashian, thanked Trump for his \u201ccontinued commitment to second chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson is paid $145,000 as a White House employee to find Trump cases of apparent injustice \u2014 bypassing the historically slow pardon process through the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

Trump last year installed hard-charging loyalist Ed Martin as his pardon attorney to supplement Johnson as he makes unconventional use of his clemency powers during his second term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump issued pardons Thursday to five former football stars \u2014 including Jets Hall of Famer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[8849,216784,1807,1816,7820,16759,217631,217632,19650,216785,1236,217630,349,182093,36597,51278,968,99,8853,13317,216786,3123],"class_list":{"0":"post-468124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-baltimore-ravens","9":"tag-billy-cannon","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-dallas-cowboys","12":"tag-denver-broncos","13":"tag-drug-trafficking","14":"tag-federal-drug-crimes","15":"tag-jamal-lewis","16":"tag-jets","17":"tag-joe-klecko","18":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","19":"tag-marie-johnson","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-oakland-raiders","22":"tag-pardons","23":"tag-perjury","24":"tag-president-trump","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-tennessee-titans","27":"tag-the-jets","28":"tag-travis-henry","29":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}