Trump pardons ex-San Francisco 49ers owner DeBartolo Jr.
By Aamer Madhani, Kevin Freking and Jill Colvin
WASHINGTON (AP) » President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former San Francisco 49ers owner convicted in a gambling fraud scandal who built one of the most successful NFL teams in the game’s history.
DeBartolo, who owned the San Francisco 49ers during their 1980s-1990s dynasty, was involved in one of the biggest owners’ scandals in the sport’s history. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to failing to report a felony when he paid $400,000 to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards in exchange for a riverboat gambling license.
The White House announced the surprise decision to reporters on Tuesday, with NFL greats Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Ronnie Lott and Charles Haley in attendance.
“You know what, we all make mistakes and today the president cleared that mistake from him,” said Haley, an NFL Hall of Fame defensive end who played on two of DeBartolo’s Super Bowl winning teams.
DeBartolo, whose San Francisco 49ers won five Super Bowls under his leadership, stepped down as owner in 1997 after two Louisiana newspapers reported he would be indicted for gambling fraud.
The move by Trump comes as he’s stepped up efforts to use sports as a vehicle to reach out to American voters ahead of the November elections. The president and his campaign advisers have high hopes of expanding his base by pulling new voters to the polls who typically avoid politics.
On Sunday, Trump headed to the Daytona 500, becoming just the second sitting president to attend the NASCAR event. In recent months, the president has also made highprofile visits to the World Series and the college football championship game. Trump was greeted with cheers by football and NASCAR fans, and a chorus of boos at Game 5 of the World Series hosted by the Washington Nationals.
Ohio Pastor Darrell Scott, an early supporter and longtime ally of the president, said that he submitted the package advocating DeBartolo’s case more than a year ago, and said a long list of “NFL greats” had submitted character references on his behalf. Scott had also encouraged Trump to intervene on behalf of the New York rapper A$AP Rocky after he was detained in Stockholm in last summer after getting involved in a street fight in the Swedish capital.
“It’s something DeBartolo... he’s been wanting that stain removed from his legacy for a long time,” said Scott, who attend Tuesday’s announcement.
Scott said that he submitted the package advocating DeBartolo’s case more than a year ago, and said a long list of “NFL greats” had submitted character references on his behalf.
“He thought about it, he considered it,” Scott said of Trump. “I think it’s long overdue.”
Trump has used the power of pardon several times throughout his presidency to clear high-profile Americans convicted of crimes.
Others pardoned by Trump include former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio,, who faced jail time after a conviction stemming from his use of immigration patrols that focused on Latinos; conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who received five years of probation after pleading guilty to campaign finance fraud; and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney who was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak of the covert identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.