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N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell stood by the league’s investigation into allegations of office misconduct on the Washington Commanders group at a congressional listening to on Wednesday, regardless of being challenged by Home members concerning the N.F.L.’s resolution to not compel a written report of the findings or to come back down extra harshly on the Commanders’ proprietor, Daniel Snyder.
Hours after the Home Committee on Oversight and Reform launched a memo that stated Snyder had interfered within the investigation, Goodell testified that he believed Snyder had been held accountable via the league’s evaluation of a $10 million superb on the crew and having Snyder step away from the crew’s day-to-day operations for the previous 12 months.
Whereas Goodell lauded the Commanders for reworking their group’s tradition within the wake of the investigation, together with an overhaul of their human-resources practices, he additionally stated he had not seen one other office within the N.F.L. “wherever close to” what former workers alleged they skilled with the Commanders over a interval that ran from 2006 via 2019.
Snyder didn’t seem at Wednesday’s listening to. Consultant Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the committee, stated she would subpoena Snyder to seem for a deposition subsequent week.
Goodell testified below oath for greater than two hours in entrance of the committee, which performed an eight-month inquiry into how the Commanders and the N.F.L. dealt with claims of rampant sexual harassment of the crew’s feminine workers. In a memo launched on Wednesday morning, Maloney detailed the committee’s findings, together with that Snyder sought to intervene with the league’s investigation of his group by directing intimidation of witnesses and launching a “shadow investigation” that yielded a 100-page file on those that had shared claims of harassment in opposition to the Commanders.
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Goodell stated the league would discover unacceptable and “not allow” any motion that will discourage folks with information of violations from coming ahead. He added that, in August 2020, because the N.F.L. took over the investigation which had begun below the Commanders’ oversight, the league informed the crew to not conduct its personal investigation.
All through his testimony, Goodell reiterated his protection of the league’s strategy, even within the face of Congress members’ questions that burrowed into the N.F.L.’s dealing with of significant claims of office violations, significantly his resolution to maintain the investigation’s findings confidential.
Consultant Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, pushed again on Goodell’s assertion {that a} written report couldn’t be ready and launched for this investigation out of concern for the confidentiality of a few of the folks interviewed. Raskin referred to the N.F.L.’s 148-page report launched in 2014 relating to the Miami Dolphins’ bullying scandal through which names and figuring out info of taking part witnesses had been redacted, and requested the commissioner why the identical was not performed with the league’s report led by the lawyer Beth Wilkinson.
“Redaction doesn’t at all times work in my world,” Goodell stated.
Later, Consultant Jackie Speier, Democrat of California, learn from a September 2020 engagement letter through which the N.F.L. appeared to decide to Wilkinson producing a written report of the investigation’s findings. Goodell stated the league determined a month later that the report could be delivered solely orally, an strategy that has been criticized by lots of the folks interviewed for the league-run investigation.
Goodell didn’t exit of his solution to defend Snyder, who declined two requests to seem at Wednesday’s listening to, citing a longstanding “Commanders-related enterprise battle.” The commissioner asserted that, because the crew proprietor, Snyder is answerable for his membership’s office atmosphere and stated he didn’t imagine Snyder contemporaneously informed the league workplace {that a} crew worker had accused Snyder of sexually harassing and assaulting her in 2009 earlier than reaching a $1.6 million confidential settlement, as reported by the Washington Publish.
At one level, when Consultant Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, pressed Goodell on if he would take away Snyder as a crew proprietor, he at first demurred however then replied when she repeated her query: “I don’t have the authority to take away him,” Goodell stated.
Whereas Goodell can’t unilaterally take away Snyder, he may suggest that the remainder of the league’s homeowners achieve this. Such a measure would require a vote by no less than 24 of the league’s 32 member golf equipment, and it’s anticipated that Snyder would vigorously struggle in opposition to any such effort.
However two high-ranking officers at different groups stated that Snyder’s fellow homeowners and different high executives had grown impatient with answering a continuing barrage of unflattering information concerning the Commanders. The officers spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the problems are nonetheless being investigated. One of many crew officers stated the N.F.L. crew homeowners deliberate to debate the second league inquiry — which is trying into a brand new allegation of sexual harassment in opposition to Snyder in addition to claims of economic malfeasance by the group — as soon as it’s accomplished.
A number of Republican members of Congress disagreed with the committee’s resolution to give attention to the office tradition of an N.F.L. crew. Maloney replied {that a} driving function in holding the listening to was to strengthen office protections for all workers and proposed two new items of laws, one which might prohibit using nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, to hide office misconduct and require employers conducting investigations to share the end result with victims.
Goodell stated the N.F.L. would work with lawmakers on such laws, although the league has not instructed groups to not use such agreements, however relatively has stated that NDAs can’t be used to forestall workers from taking part in a league investigation.
Ken Belson contributed reporting.
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