Former Dallas Cowboys standout offensive lineman Nate Newton received a pardon from President Donald Trump on Thursday for a federal drug trafficking charge from 2002.
Newton, 64, was one of five former NFL players to receive pardons, announced by White Houston “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson.
“Special thanks to [Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones for personally sharing the news with Nate Newton,” Johnson said on X. “I’m holding Nate’s pardon in my hands today — what a blessed day.”
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.
Joe Klecko, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon also received pardons. All had already long been released from prison.
Newton, a two-time All Pro, six-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time Super Bowl champions with the Cowboys in the 1990s, was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2002 as part of a plea deal.
“I know I’ve done wrong, and I know there’s a price to be paid,’’ Newton said after the plea deal, according to the Associated Press. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get back into the community.’’
After his release, Newton has been a fixture around the team, appearing on Cowboys-related media and podcasts.
According to reports at the time, Newton was arrested in Ellis County after being found with $10,000 while an accompanying vehicle had 175 pounds of marijuana in the trunk worth an estimated $700,000.
That arrest came while Newton was already facing a pending case in Louisiana when police said he was driving a van loaded with 213 pounds of marijuana.
Jim Barnes is the Star-Telegram’s sports editor. A Fort Worth native and graduate of Castleberry High School, he returned to Texas after 13 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He previously was sports editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald and a freelance high school sports reporter for The Dallas Morning News.
A rioter involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, who President Donald Trump pardoned earlier this year, faces criminal charges again — this time for allegedly threatening to kill House Minority Leader US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), New York State Police announced Tuesday.
Police charged Christopher Moynihan, 34, of Clinton, on Oct. 18 for making a terroristic threat, a Class D felony. Moynihan was arraigned before the Town of Clinton Court, remanded to the Dutchess County Justice and Transition Center, and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
The State Police worked with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation at Poughkeepsie and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate the case and make the arrest.
According to court documents obtained by CBS News, Moynihan allegedly wrote in text messages that he planned to “eliminate” Jeffries at an event on Monday; the minority leader gave an address to the Economic Club of New York.
“Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan allegedly wrote, according to court documents obtained by CBS.
According to court documents obtained by CBS News, Moynihan allegedly wrote in text messages that he planned to “eliminate” Jeffries at an event on Monday; the minority leader gave an address to the Economic Club of New York.REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Moynihan was one of 1,500 previously convicted Capitol rioters whom Trump pardoned on his first day back in office, Jan. 20, 2025. Moynihan had been sentenced in February 2023 on a felony charge: obstruction of an official proceeding. He served 21 months in federal prison.
During the attack on the Capitol, Moynihan was “among rioters who broke through the security perimeter on the east side of the Capitol Building” and invaded the chamber of the US Senate.
“While in the Senate Chamber, Moynihan paged through a notebook on top of a Senator’s desk, taking out papers, and taking pictures with his cellphone,” a 2023 news release on his sentencing reads.
In a Tuesday statement, Jeffries expressed his gratitude to state and federal law enforcement for “their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”
“The person arrested, along with thousands of violent felons who stormed the US Capitol during the January 6th attack, was pardoned by Donald Trump on the President’s very first day in office,” Jeffries said in the statement. “Since the blanket pardon that occurred earlier this year, many of the criminals released have committed additional crimes throughout the country.”
At least 10 pardoned Capitol rioters have been arrested and charged with various crimes since Trump took office in January, according to the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Moynihan, however, is the first to be rearrested for threats against a member of Congress.
“Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries said in the statement.
The Jan. 6, 2023, attack on the U.S. Capitol sought to disrupt the election certification process, confirming then-President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. For weeks leading up to the riot, Trump had peddled lies that the election had been stolen from him. Immediately prior to the riot, he addressed people gathered at a so-called “Stop the Steal” rally, where he told the crowd, “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Moments later, the mob besieged the Capitol — injuring over 140 police officers in the process. Some of the rioters even called for the murders of then-Vice President Mike Pence and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
