Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington Commanders, has notified the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that he would not be attending or appearing at next week’s hearing on hostile workplace and sexual harassment charges against him and his NFL team.
A Snyder spokesperson said Snyder will be out of the country on June 22, and that he is concerned about the extent of the questioning and the Committee’s failure to release more material beforehand.
Snyder will not be able to attend the hearing, according to a source close to him, because of the Committee’s blatant contempt for due process. Snyder’s attorneys state in their letter to Congress that he “remains willing to cooperate with the Committee.”
Despite Snyder’s decision, the Committee intends to hold the hearing at 10 a.m. on June 22 on Capitol Hill.
The Committee also invited NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to speak regarding the league’s inquiry into the charges against the Commanders, but it’s uncertain whether he’ll show up.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (Democrat, Illinois), who chairs the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, and Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (Democrat, New York), have accused the league of being evasive on the issue.
According to a 2020 Washington Post investigation, sexual harassment complaints against team staffers ranged from unwanted comments to the fabrication of a vulgar behind-the-scenes video from a cheerleading calendar shoot in 2008.
Former team staffer Tiffani Johnston added to those charges during a February appearance before the committee, alleging that Snyder touched her thigh at a team dinner. Snyder allegedly tried to force her into a limousine until his lawyer intervened, warning the owner ‘this is a bad idea,’ according to Johnston.
Although an emergency request filed in a Virginia federal court in 2020 disclosed the existence of a 2009 payment for’misconduct,’ Snyder has refuted these charges. Snyder’s legal attempts have kept the specifics of the arrangement under wraps.
Following an NFL investigation into sexual harassment claims that resulted in a $10 million fine for Snyder but no written report or public accountability, Congress began looking into the team’s workplace culture in October.
The committee wants to use the hearing on June 22 to look into the NFL’s handling of the ostensibly independent investigation, which was conducted by Beth Wilkinson’s firm in Washington, DC.
Snyder’s lawyer, Karen Seymour of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York, mentions a “longstanding Commanders-related commercial issue” in her letter to Congress, but focuses on the committee’s unwillingness to address her client’s concerns about the hearing.
Seymour claims she was denied ‘further information’ regarding the proceedings and expressed concerns about the nature of the questions her client would be asked.
‘Specifically, despite the Committee’s assertion that the hearing would be ‘focused on’ historical workplace culture issues, I was informed that the Committee would not provide any assurance that the questions directed to Mr. Snyder would be limited to those issues, given the wide latitude granted to members to ask questions beyond the Committee’s identified topics,’ Seymour wrote.
The letter also touts the team’s “diverse and inclusive administrative team,” which includes Jason Wright, the NFL’s first African-American team president, and Ron Rivera, one of the league’s only five minority head coaches.
Goodell has been questioned by committee members and others about his failure to reveal the investigation’s conclusions, which the league has justified by citing privacy concerns and the lack of a formal report.
According to Virginia sports radio station 106.7 The Fan and Pro Football Talk, Wilkinson would have urged that Snyder be forced to sell the franchise by the league. Rather than articulating that judgment, Wilkinson’s firm accepted millions from the league in exchange for a promise to keep quiet about the investigation’s results.
The committee had previously wanted proof that both Snyder and the league meddled in the ostensibly independent investigation.
Wilkinson, a well-known attorney, was engaged by the Washington Football Team (WFT) in 2020 to look into the club’s hostile workplace allegations. Soon after, the NFL took responsibility of the inquiry, and Wilkinson began reporting to Goodell’s office until the investigation was completed in July 2021.
The team was fined $10 million as a result of the probe, and Snyder temporarily relinquished day-to-day leadership of the franchise to his wife, Tanya.
In addition to Johnston’s testimony, Melanie Coburn, a former employee, stated that she was at Snyder’s home in Aspen when he hosted a party for male employees with prostitutes. Prior to the February hearing, other former Commanders employees told HBO that Snyder seen male employees sexually harassing – and even grabbing – female colleagues.
Former employees, including five women and one guy, told the Committee in February that they were concerned about Snyder’s retaliation.
The Commanders recruited an outside investigator to check into Johnston’s claim in reaction to those claims, but the league immediately intervened and took control of that inquiry as well.
In April, the committee heard testimony from a former employee who claimed the club had committed financial malpractice. The squad was accused of withholding ticket money from visiting teams and refundable deposits from fans in an illegal manner.
The Virginia attorney general’s office is also looking into the allegations, which the team refutes.