More than a year later launch an investigation into the work culture of commanders and how the NFL treats it, the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee released a 79-page final report of its findings. Concluding that team owner Daniel Snyder “authorized and participated” in the “troubling conduct” that has since resulted in fines, lawsuits and other league disciplinary action, the report also features testimony from Snyder and former Washington President Bruce Allen who alleges COs were behind the leaked emails that led to the resignation of former Raiders coach Jon Gruden.
The Oversight Committee, the House’s main investigative arm, began investigating Washington’s conduct in the wake of the Gruden email scandal. Leaving his position in 2021 after The New York Times released emails in which Gruden repeatedly used profane and misogynistic language, the coach often corresponded with Allen, who worked in Washington’s front office from 2010 to 2019. In his testimony to the Committee, Allen testified that a senior NFL official told him that COs leaked said emails, apparently to blame him — not Snyder, the owner — for their own franchise’s hostile work environment.
Allen testified that Snyder indirectly warned him not to expose Snyder for his own wrongdoings, both in direct communications and by sending private investigators to his home in early 2021. Snyder also came up with the idea to ‘Use Private Investigators to Gather Information on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell,’ Allen Told the Oversight Committee. This echoes ESPN’s reports this fall, which suggested that Snyder, fearing further punishment, privately claimed to have “dirt” on his colleagues.
Snyder, meanwhile, also testified before the Committee, providing sworn deposition for more than 10 hours, but only after declining invitations to join Goodell at a public hearing in June. His eventual testimony was “often evasive or misleading,” according to the report, defending Washington’s Reform culture and downplaying his role in allegations of workplace wrongdoing, including sexual harassment.
The commanders refuted the report’s claims in a statement to CBS Sports on Thursday:
These congressional investigators demonstrated, almost immediately, that they were not interested in the truth and were only interested in making headlines by pursuing one side of the story. Today’s report is the predictable outcome of this one-sided approach. … As is typical of the Committee, they refused, despite our repeated requests, to release the full transcript of Mr. Snyder’s testimony. … And, ironically for an “investigative” agency supposedly engaged in an “investigation,” investigators actually blame the team and Mr. Snyder for providing evidence to the Committee – as emails sent by former team employees from their workplace accounts – which reveal the real causes of the team’s once dysfunctional work environment.
Today’s report in no way advances knowledge of the workplace of Washington commanders. The team is proud of the progress it has made over the past few years in establishing a welcoming and inclusive workplace, and looks forward to future success, both on and off the field.
The NFL also released a response to the report.
“The NFL is committed to ensuring that all NFL and 32 club employees work in a professional and supportive environment, free from discrimination, harassment or other forms of unlawful or unprofessional conduct,” the door said. -NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. “The NFL and all 32 clubs have substantial and effective programs in place to advance this commitment at all of our facilities.
“The COs workplace investigation that was conducted by Beth Wilkinson’s company was independent and thorough. No one wishing to speak to the Wilkinson company was prevented from doing so by non-disclosure agreements. And many of the more than 150 witnesses who participated in the Wilkinson investigation did so on the condition that their identities remain confidential.Far from hampering the investigation, the mutual interest agreement allowed the NFL to effectively oversee the case and avoid the possibility of significant delays and inconvenience to witnesses.
“Following the completion of Ms. Wilkinson’s investigation, the NFL issued a public statement and imposed a record fine on the club and its owners. The club also implemented a series of recommendations from the Wilkinson Company and a company independently monitored the implementation of these recommendations through regular workplace reviews of commanders. All of these reviews, which were shared with the Committee, concluded that commanders have made significant improvements to the culture and workplace policies.
“Over the past 13 months, the NFL has cooperated extensively with the Committee’s investigation, producing nearly half a million pages of documents, responding to dozens of written requests and voluntarily participating in a two-hour public hearing. and a half during which Commissioner Goodell answered 128 questions.”
Snyder and his wife, Tanya, the commanders’ day-to-day technical CEO, have previously denied the allegations and characterizations made by the committee’s lead investigators, who are House Democrats. Republicans on the committee, meanwhile, have generally dismissed the Washington inquiry as a wasteful undertaking, and did so again on Thursday following the final report, arguing that Democrats have “chosen to weaponize the power of the Congress against a single private workplace”. They added, for The Washington Postthat the Committee only conducted the investigation to force a sale of the team, potentially to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who happens to own the Job.
The Snyders announced in November, through a team statement, that they are indeed explore a possible sale of the franchise, although they did not say whether they would sell some or all of the team’s stake. The commanders are still facing a second NFL investigation into their conduct, this time led by attorney Mary Jo White.
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