Washington owner Daniel Snyder on the sidelines prior to a video game versus the Chicago Bears at FedEx Field in 2019.
Jonathan Newton|The Washington Post|Getty Images
The NFL and the Washington Commanders misguided the general public about an examination into decades-long misbehavior in the group’s office, according to a report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee launched Thursday after a yearlong probe.
The panel likewise stated the NFL and Commanders owner Daniel Snyder restrained its examination into the matter. The legislators implicated Snyder of providing “misleading testimony,” also.
Snyder, who is amongst those implicated of sexual misbehavior, has actually been pursuing the possible sale of the group because last month. Snyder has actually pressed back on claims versus him and the group.
In a declaration, lawyers for the Commanders stated that Snyder sat for 11 hours of questioning as part of the examination, which the committee was “only interested in chasing headlines by pursuing one side of the story.” It stated the report was a “predictable culmination of that one-sided approach.”
An agent for the NFL stated the league is examining the report, together with a House Minority personnel report that was launched previously.
The Commanders had actually worked with legal representative Beth Wilkinson to examine claims of unwanted sexual advances within the group’s company that were released by The Washington Post in2020 The NFL informed her to “complete a written report of its findings” surrounding the Commanders’ workplace culture.
But then the league declined to launch the composed report, rather providing their findings orally in order to “better preserve” witness privacy and privacy.
The panel welcomed Snyder to affirm at a public hearing, however he declined to do so. Instead, he sat for a personal deposition, according to the committee.
“Over the course of the deposition, he claimed more than 100 times that he could not recall the answers to the Committee’s questions, including basic inquiries about his role as Team owner and multiple allegations of misconduct,” the report states. “Mr. Snyder also gave misleading testimony about his efforts to interfere with the Wilkinson Investigation.”
The panel discovered that the NFL’s thinking to secure privacy was deceiving to the general public because the league had actually formerly complied in supplying composed reports for likewise delicate examinations. In 2014, the NFL launched a 144- page composed report associated to an examination into the Miami Dolphins’ supposed culture of harassment and bullying. In that case, it secured privacy by editing witness names and leaving out particular information.
In a declaration, lawyers representing more than 40 previous staff members of the Commanders stated Congress was obliged to act since “neither the team nor the NFL was willing to reveal the extent of what occurred or hold accountable those responsible, and instead tried to obstruct any efforts to do so.”
The Commanders likewise deal with a suit from D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine over a supposed secret handle the NFL offer to trick its fans.
