XPost: rec.sport.football.pro, alt.politics.trump, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: dumb@trump.org   
      
   Trump is kissing Roger Goodell's ass?   
      
   Washington — President Trump pardoned five former professional football   
   players Thursday - one posthumously - for various crimes ranging from   
   perjury to drug trafficking.   
      
   The pardons were announced by White House pardon czar Alice Marie   
   Johnson. Ex-NFL players Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis   
   Henry and the late Billy Cannon were granted the clemency.   
      
   "As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the   
   courage to rise again. So is our nation," Johnson wrote on the social   
   media site X, as she thanked Mr. Trump for his "continued commitment to   
   second chances."   
      
   "Mercy changes lives," she added.   
      
   Johnson said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones "personally" shared the   
   news with Newton, who won three Super Bowls with the team.   
      
   The White House didn't return a request for comment Thursday night on   
   why Mr. Trump, an avid sports fan, pardoned the players.   
      
   Klecko, a former star for the New York Jets, pleaded guilty to perjury   
   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 player   
   and a four-time Pro Bowler.   
      
   Newton, an offensive lineman, pleaded guilty to a federal drug   
   trafficking charge 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 player and 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 a top pick in the 2000 NFL draft.   
   Lewis, a running back, was named an All-Pro once and was a one-time Pro   
   Bowler. He was named the 2003 AP Offensive Player of the Year.   
      
   Henry, who played for the Denver Broncos, pleaded guilty to conspiracy   
   to traffic cocaine for financing a drug ring that moved the drug between   
   Colorado and Montana. He was a running back for three teams and a   
   one-time Pro Bowler.   
      
   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 player and a two-time Pro Bowler. Cannon   
   also won the 1959 Heisman Trophy while starring for Louisiana State   
   University, where he had one of the most memorable plays in college   
   football history: an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown against Ole   
   Miss. He died in 2018.   
      
   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pardons-5-ex-nfl-players-crimes-includ   
   ing-drug-trafficking-joe-klecko-nate-newton-billy-cannon/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)