WASHINGTON – Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, called on the National Football League to immediately produce to the Committee all evidence of Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder’s interference in the NFL’s investigation into the WFT’s hostile workplace culture. This statement follows new reporting about Snyder’s efforts to obstruct an internal investigation by attorney Beth Wilkinson into allegations of wrongdoing within the Washington Football Team.
“It has become clear that Dan Snyder’s words and actions regarding the investigation into the Washington Football Team do not align,” Chairwoman 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.”
“Today’s news confirms our worst fears: Dan Snyder actively fought to undermine NFL’s investigation into WFT’s hostile workplace culture,” Chairman 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.”
On October 21, 2021, the Chairs sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and launched an investigation into the WFT’s workplace culture and how the NFL responded when it uncovered issues of harassment and discrimination within the organization.
The letter followed the NFL’s July 1 announcement on the outcome of the WFT investigation conducted by an outside law firm. The announcement described vague and conclusory findings, including that “the workplace environment… particularly for women, was highly unprofessional,” that “[b]ullying and intimidation frequently took place,” and that “senior executives engaged in inappropriate conduct themselves.” Unlike past investigations into potential misconduct, the NFL did not disclose the full results of the investigation.
On November 5, 2021, the Chairs released a statement calling on NFL and WFT to release all individuals from non-disclosure agreements preventing them from speaking out about Dan Snyder and the WFT’s toxic work environment.
