Jamie Raskin urges NFL to release Mary Jo White report on Commanders
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The ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability urged the NFL to abide by its pledge to release the findings of attorney Mary Jo White’s investigation of the Washington Commanders and their owner, Daniel Snyder, and to impose any appropriate discipline. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a two-page letter sent Friday that he is “heartened by” the league’s “stated commitment to full transparency” and expects it to follow through. Democrats on the committee led an investigation of Snyder and the team’s workplace for nearly 14 months before losing control of the House and leadership of the committee in November’s elections.
“I write with regard to the National Football League’s (NFL) investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and financial malfeasance against Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder,” Raskin wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post. “More than a year has passed since your pledge to ‘share the results of that investigation,’ yet, to date, no part of the information has been released to the public. In light of the impending sale of the Commanders franchise, I urge you to honor your commitment to release the report in its entirety and ‘take additional disciplinary action if warranted.’ ”
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Goodell repeatedly has said the NFL will release the findings of White’s investigation, even if Snyder sells the Commanders. The NFL has scheduled a special league meeting for July 20 at which team owners are expected to vote to ratify Josh Harris’s $6.05 billion deal to purchase the Commanders from Snyder. The league’s eight-owner finance committee is poised to recommend approval of the deal, according to a person familiar with the deliberations.
The NFL has not said when White’s report will be completed. A person with knowledge of the NFL’s inner workings recently said the report could be released before the owners vote on the sale, and it could result in Goodell imposing a fine.
“As you have previously recognized, with one of the most prominent platforms in America, ‘the NFL is held to a higher standard, and properly so,’ ” Raskin wrote in Friday’s letter. “You now have an opportunity to show the American people — and, most importantly, the victims of the Commanders’ toxic workplace — that you will adhere to this higher standard by ensuring transparency and accountability, by releasing Ms. White’s full report, and by taking additional action consistent with the findings of the report.”
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Goodell reiterated the league’s intention to release the findings of White’s investigation when he spoke to reporters at the conclusion of an owners’ meeting last month in Eagan, Minn.
“Mary Jo White is an expert,” Goodell said then. “She’s being incredibly thorough. When she’s concluded the investigation, she’ll let me know. We have pledged to make sure we tell our ownership. And we’ve pledged to make sure that the findings are made public. So we will do that.”
The Post reported in February that Snyder was seeking for the NFL to keep confidential the findings of White’s investigation. ESPN reported in May that Snyder and his attorneys were lobbying the NFL to limit the release of White’s report. The Commanders denied the reports.
More recently, the owners have become increasingly optimistic that they will be able to resolve their remaining issues with Snyder in a manner that does not impede completion of the sale to Harris’s group, people with direct knowledge of the league’s inner workings and the owners’ views have said. The owners believe Snyder is eager to see the deal completed so he can leave the NFL and receive the financial benefits of the sale, those people have said.
One person with knowledge of the NFL’s inner workings said in late May that it did not appear deliberations over White’s investigation and report would halt the sale.
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White, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has led the NFL’s second investigation of Snyder and his franchise. Snyder has declined to be interviewed by White, three people with direct knowledge of the league’s inner workings said in March. White was expected to make at least one more attempt before completing her investigation, according to one of those people.
The NFL did not release the findings of a previous investigation of Snyder and his franchise conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson, citing promises of confidentiality made to witnesses. Following Wilkinson’s investigation, the NFL announced in July 2021 that the team had been fined $10 million and that Snyder’s wife, Tanya, the team’s co-CEO, would assume responsibilities for the franchise’s day-to-day operations for an unspecified period.
In a 79-page report released in December, the Oversight Committee said Snyder “obstructed” the committee’s investigation and failed to fulfill his attorney’s pledge that he would provide full and complete testimony. It also said the NFL failed “to address Mr. Snyder’s interferences” into Wilkinson’s investigation and played a role in concealing the team’s toxic work environment.
Snyder participated remotely in a sworn deposition for more than 10 hours last July after he and the committee agreed on the terms of the interview following weeks of negotiations. Snyder refused the committee’s invitation to take part in a June 2022 hearing on Capitol Hill at which Goodell testified remotely. Snyder’s attorney subsequently refused to accept electronic service of a subpoena.
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The Commanders and Republicans on the committee called the Democrats’ investigation flawed and partisan. Republicans declared the investigation over upon taking leadership of the committee.
In April 2022, the committee said in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission that the Commanders and Snyder “may have engaged in a troubling, long-running, and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct” that allegedly involved withholding as much as $5 million in refundable deposits from ticket holders and hiding money that was supposed to be shared among NFL owners.
The Commanders denied the allegations but subsequently reached financial settlements with the offices of the Maryland and D.C. attorneys general, without admitting wrongdoing, based on the allegations of withholding deposits from ticket holders.
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Source: The Washington Post
