More than a year after beginning an investigation into commanders’ work culture and the NFL’s own handling of it, the House Oversight Committee has released a final 79-page report containing its findings. The report concludes that team owner Daniel Snyder “allowed and participated in” the “troubling behavior” that has led to fines, lawsuits and other disciplinary action since leaked emails leading to ex-Raiders coach’s resignation Jon Gruden led.
The Oversight Committee, the top investigative arm of the House of Representatives, began investigating Washington’s conduct in the wake of the Gruden email scandal. The coach left his post in 2021 after The New York Times published emails in which Gruden repeatedly used profane, misogynistic language and had frequent correspondence with Allen, who worked in Washington’s front office from 2010 to 2019. In testimony before the committee, Allen testified that a senior NFL official told him the Commanders leaked said emails, apparently to blame him – and not Snyder, the owner – for the hostile work environment of their own franchise.
Allen testified that Snyder indirectly warned him not to expose Snyder about his own wrongdoing, both in direct communication and by sending private investigators to his home in early 2021. Snyder also came up with the idea of using private investigators to seek information about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Allen told the oversight committee. This echoes ESPN coverage from this fall, which suggests Snyder has privately claimed to have “dirt” on his colleague for fear of further punishment.
Snyder, meanwhile, also testified before the committee, providing affidavit for more than 10 hours, but only after declining invitations to join Goodell at a public hearing this June. His eventual testimony was “often evasive or misleading,” according to the report, championed Washington’s reformed culture and downplayed his role in alleged workplace misconduct, including sexual harassment.
The Commanders refuted the report’s claims in a statement to CBS Sports on Thursday:
These congressional investigators showed almost immediately that they were not interested in the truth and were only interested in making headlines by following one side of history. Today’s report is the predictable culmination of this one-sided approach. … As is typical of the committee, despite our repeated requests, they have refused to release the full transcript of Mr. Snyder’s testimony. …And ironically, for an “investigative” entity allegedly involved in an “investigation,” the investigators criticize the team and Mr. Snyder for providing evidence to the committee — such as B. Emails sent by ex-team members from their workplace accounts — exposing the root causes of the team’s formerly dysfunctional work environment.
Today’s report in no way contributes to public knowledge of the Washington Commanders’ workplace. The team is proud of the progress they have made in creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace over the past few years and look forward to future success, both on and off the pitch.
The NFL also issued 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 illegal or unprofessional conduct,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. “The NFL and 32 clubs have implemented extensive and effective programs to drive this commitment across all of our facilities.
“The investigation of the commanders’ workplace conducted by Beth Wilkinson’s company was independent and thorough. No person who wished to speak to the Wilkinson company was prevented by non-disclosure agreements from participating in the Wilkinson investigation, did so on the condition that their identities be kept confidential. Far from hampering the investigation, the joint interest agreement allowed the NFL to efficiently assume oversight of the matter and avoided the potential for significant delay and inconvenience to witnesses.
“Following the completion of Ms. Wilkinson’s investigation, the NFL issued a release and imposed a record-breaking fine on the club and its property. The club has also implemented a number of recommendations made by the Wilkinson firm, and an independent firm has monitored the implementation of these recommendations through regular reviews of the commanders’ workplace. All of these reviews, shared with the committee, concluded that the commanders were experiencing significant Made improvements in work culture and 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 inquiries and voluntarily participating in a two-and-a-half hour public hearing. Commissioner Goodell answered 128 questions.”
Snyder and his wife Tanya, the commanders’ day technical manager, have previously denied claims and characterizations by the committee’s lead investigators that they are House Democrats. Committee Republicans, meanwhile, have generally dismissed Washington’s probe as a pointless endeavor, and did so again Thursday after the final report, arguing that Democrats had “chosen to arm the power of Congress against a single private workplace.” They added, according to The Washington Post, that the committee only conducted the investigation to force a sale of the team, possibly to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who happens to own the Post.
The Snyders announced through a team statement in November that they were indeed looking into a possible sale of the franchise, though they didn’t make it clear whether they would be selling some or all of the team’s stake. The commanders remain the subject of a second NFL investigation into their conduct, this time by attorney Mary Jo White.