NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he has no authority to remove Daniel Snyder as owner of the Washington Commanders amid continued scrutiny of the organization’s work culture and accusations of women employees of widespread sexual harassment by team executives.
Goodell testified before members of Congress on Wednesday in a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. At one point near the end of more than two hours of testimony, Goodell was questioned by Rep. 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 the removal of Snyder as commander-in-chief, Tlaib asked Goodell, “Will you remove him?”
“I have no authority to remove him, Congressman,” Goodell replied.
An NFL homeowner can only be removed by a three-quarters majority vote (hence 24 out of 32) from other homeowners, although Goodell has the ability to officially recommend that vote.
Snyder was asked to testify, but declined, citing overseas trade commitments and concerns about due process. Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) announced during the hearing that she plans to issue a subpoena to force him to testify.
“The NFL doesn’t want or can’t hold Mr. Snyder accountable,” Maloney said. “That’s why I’m now announcing my intention to issue a subpoena for Mr. Snyder for a statement next week. The committee will not be deterred in its investigation into Washington commanders.”
Goodell told the committee that the team’s culture had changed as a result of an investigation led by attorney Beth Wilkinson and that Snyder had “become responsible.”
After Wilkinson presented his findings to Goodell last year, the NFL fined the team $ 10 million last year and Snyder stepped away from his day-to-day operations. However, the league did not publish a written report on Wilkinson’s findings, a decision that Goodell said was aimed at protecting the privacy of former employees who spoke with investigators.
Following Wednesday’s hearing, commanders sent a letter to the team’s employees, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN, which said in part: “We believe the statements made in the media “Critical communication with our organization does not accurately reflect our organization. Positive transformation and the current reality of the Washington Commanders organization that exists today.”
The committee released the findings of its eight-month investigation ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, accusing Snyder of conducting his own “shadow investigation” that sought to discredit former employees, hire private investigators to intimidate witnesses and use an overseas lawsuit 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 executives of the misconduct team and also tried to influence a team investigation by Wilkinson’s company. for the NFL.
Snyder’s lawyers presented a 100-slide PowerPoint presentation to the NFL that included “private text messages, emails, phone logs and call transcripts, and social media posts of about 50 people who apparently Mr Snyder believed they were involved in a conspiracy to belittle him. ” said the committee.
When asked about the alleged “shadow” investigation, Goodell said, “Any action that would deter people from appearing would be inappropriate.”
In a statement, a Snyder spokesman described the report and the hearing as “a politically charged show trial” and said Congress should not investigate “an issue that a football team addressed years ago.”
Attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, who represent more than 40 former employees of the team, again asked Goodell to publish a report on the Wilkinson investigation, calling it “impressive and discouraging” to hear him say. that Snyder has been responsible.
“Today, the committee released a condemned report showing that Snyder and his lawyers also monitored and investigated the complainants, their lawyers, witnesses and journalists, which Goodell knew and did nothing to address,” Banks said. and Katz in a statement.
Maloney has introduced legislation to curb the use of confidentiality agreements in the workplace and to offer protections to employees whose professional images are misused. Among the allegations against the commanders are that the employees of the team produced a video of lewd outings of a photo shoot with the cheerleading team.
Committee Republicans accused Democrats of going after an NFL team to distract themselves from more pressing issues and exceed the scope of the committee’s mission.
“A basic responsibility of this committee is to oversee the executive branch, but throughout Congress, Democrats have turned a blind eye to the Biden administration,” said Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, a member of the committee’s class. . “Instead, the Oversight Committee is investigating a single private organization for workplace misconduct that occurred years ago.”
ESPN’s Tisha Thompson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.