Two members of Congress called for the NFL to “immediately” turn over all information into the league’s investigation into the Washington Football Team’s workplace misconduct after a report emerged that owner Dan Snyder actively interfered with investigator Beth Wilkinson’s work.
House Democrats Carolyn B. Maloney of New York and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois released a statement Tuesday that urged the league to produce “all evidence” that Snyder obstructed the investigation.
The statement comes following a Washington Post report that alleged Snyder used private investigators to track those who participated with the league’s review and also tried to block a woman who received a $1.6 million settlement from the team from speaking with Wilkinson.
Their request also comes weeks after the lawmakers, as part of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, called on the NFL to turn over all documents related to the league’s investigation. The league only partially cooperated, claiming some documents were part of privileged information.
But the Post report spurred renewed calls from the lawmakers for the league to fully cooperate.
“It has become clear that Dan Snyder’s words and actions regarding the investigation into the Washington Football Team do not align,” Maloney said. “While Mr. Snyder publicly stated that he wanted independent investigators to ferret out the truth, today’s reporting suggests that he was privately trying to obstruct the efforts of the very investigator he hired in an effort to conceal damaging information.
“These disturbing revelations have only strengthened the Committee’s commitment to uncovering the truth in this matter. The NFL must honor Commissioner Goodell’s promise to cooperate with Congress and fully comply with the Committee’s request for documents.”
The lawmakers first requested the information on Oct. 21 in wake of former Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s resignation over leaked emails unearthed during the league’s investigation into Washington. The committee, which sent the league a letter, gave the NFL until Nov. 5 to comply.
When that deadline passed, the members released a statement that called for the NFL and Washington to release all individuals from non-disclosure agreements that prevented them from speaking about Snyder.
On Nov. 21, the Wall Street Journal reported the committee and the league were going back and forth over the request to comply — with a committee spokesperson saying the league had “no valid basis” to withhold the information.
The NFL did not release a full report of Wilkinson’s review, instead only summarizing the findings. As part of that, the league fined the team $10 million and said Snyder would take a step back from day-to-day operations for several months.
“Today’s news confirms our worst fears: Dan Snyder actively fought to undermine NFL’s investigation into WFT’s hostile workplace culture,” Krishnamoorthi said. “According to this reporting, not only did he try to prevent a key fact witness—a woman he paid $1.6 million in a sexual misconduct settlement—from speaking with investigators, he went as far as to send private investigator to witnesses’ homes. Snyder will stop at nothing. To get to the bottom of this story, NFL must immediately turn over all evidence of Snyder’s interference and the other documents we requested over a month ago.”
