Goodell testified before members of Congress on Wednesday at a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. At some point near the end of more than two hours of deposition, Goodell was questioned by spokesman Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), who asked if Goodell and the league were “willing to do more” to punish Snyder. After initially asking if he would recommend Snyder’s removal as owner of the Commanders, Tlaib went on to ask Goodell, “Will you remove him?” “I do not have the power to remove him, Member of Parliament,” Goodell replied. An NFL owner can only be removed by a three-quarters (therefore 24 out of 32) majority of fellow owners, although Goodell has the option of formally proposing such a vote. Snyder was asked to testify, but declined, citing business commitments abroad and concerns about a fair trial. Committee chair Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) announced during the hearing that she planned to issue a summons to force him to testify. “The NFL is reluctant or unable to hold Mr Snyder accountable,” Maloney said. “That is why I am now announcing my intention to issue a summons for Mr Snyder to testify next week. The committee will not be discouraged in its inquiry into the Washington Governors.”
Goodell told the committee that the group’s culture had changed as a result of an investigation led by lawyer Beth Wilkinson and that Snyder was “accountable”. After Wilkinson presented its findings to Goodell last year, the NFL fined the team $ 10 million and Snyder withdrew from its day-to-day operations. However, the league did not publish a written report on Wilkinson’s findings, a decision Goodell said was intended to protect the privacy of former employees who spoke to investigators. Following Wednesday’s hearing, Governors sent a letter to the team’s staff – a copy of which was received by ESPN – stating in part, “We believe the statements made by the media criticizing our organization do not reflect exactly the positive transformation and the current reality of the Washington Governors organization that exists today. “ The commission released its eight-month investigation before Wednesday’s hearing, accusing Snyder of conducting his own “shadow investigation” that sought to discredit former officials, hire private investigators to intimidate witnesses and use an outside witness. as a pretext to obtain telephone records and emails. The 29-page note alleges that Snyder tried to discredit the people who accused him and other members of the team of misconduct and also tried to influence a team investigation into the NFL conducted by Wilkinson’s company. Snyder’s lawyers presented to the NFL a PowerPoint presentation of 100 slides that included “private text messages, emails, phone logs and call transfers and social media posts from nearly 50 people whom Mr Snyder apparently believed were involved in a conspiracy to to devalue him “. said the committee. Asked about the alleged “shadow” investigation, Goodell said: “Any action that would discourage people from showing up would be inappropriate.” In a statement, a Snyder spokesman described the report and the hearing as “a politically charged spectacular trial” and said Congress should not investigate “an issue that a football team faced years ago”. Attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, representing more than 40 former members of the group, again called on Goodell to release a report from Wilkinson’s investigation, calling it “surprising and frustrating” to hear Snyder accountable. “Today, the commission released a convicting report proving that Snyder and his attorneys also monitored and investigated the complainants, lawyers, witnesses and journalists that Goodell knew about and did nothing to address,” they said. Banks and Katz in a statement. Maloney has introduced legislation to restrict the use of non-disclosure agreements in the workplace and to provide protection to employees whose professional images are misused. Among the accusations against the Commanders is that the employees of the group produced a video with obscene outbursts from a photo shoot in which the group of cheerleaders participated. Republicans on the committee accused Democrats of pursuing an NFL team to divert attention from more pressing issues and go beyond the committee’s mission. “The main responsibility of this committee is to oversee the executive branch, but the entire Congress, the Democrats, have turned a blind eye to the Biden administration,” said James Gomer’s Kentucky GOP spokesman James Commer. “Instead, the supervisory committee is investigating a private body for misconduct in the workplace that occurred years ago.” ESPN’s Tisha Thompson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
