NFL and Washington Commanders misled public about misconduct probe, House panel says

The NFL and the Washington Commanders misled the nationalist astir an probe into decades-long misconduct successful the team's workplace, according to a study from the House Oversight and Reform Committee released Thursday aft a yearlong probe.

The sheet besides said the NFL and Commanders proprietor Daniel Snyder impeded its probe into the matter. The lawmakers accused Snyder of giving "misleading testimony," arsenic well.

Snyder, who is among those accused of intersexual misconduct, has been pursuing the imaginable merchantability of the squad since past month. Snyder has pushed backmost connected allegations against him and the team.

In a statement, attorneys for the Commanders said that Snyder sat for 11 hours of questioning arsenic portion of the investigation, and that the committee was "only funny successful chasing headlines by pursuing 1 broadside of the story." It said the study was a "predictable culmination of that one-sided approach."

A typical for the NFL said the league is reviewing the report, on with a House Minority unit study that was released earlier.

The Commanders had hired lawyer Beth Wilkinson to analyse claims of intersexual harassment wrong the team's enactment that were published by The Washington Post successful 2020. The NFL told her to "complete a written study of its findings" surrounding the Commanders' workplace culture.

But past the league refused to merchandise the written report, alternatively presenting their findings orally successful bid to "better preserve" witnesser anonymity and confidentiality.

The sheet invited Snyder to attest astatine a nationalist hearing, but helium refused to bash so. Instead, helium sat for a backstage deposition, according to the committee.

"Over the people of the deposition, helium claimed much than 100 times that helium could not callback the answers to the Committee's questions, including basal inquiries astir his relation arsenic Team proprietor and aggregate allegations of misconduct," the study says. "Mr. Snyder besides gave misleading grounds astir his efforts to interfere with the Wilkinson Investigation."

The sheet recovered that the NFL's reasoning to support confidentiality was misleading to the nationalist since the league had antecedently cooperated successful providing written reports for likewise delicate investigations. In 2014, the NFL released a 144-page written study related to an probe into the Miami Dolphins' alleged civilization of harassment and bullying. In that case, it protected anonymity by redacting witnesser names and omitting definite details.

In a statement, attorneys representing much than 40 erstwhile employees of the Commanders said Congress was compelled to instrumentality enactment due to the fact that "neither the squad nor the NFL was consenting to uncover the grade of what occurred oregon clasp accountable those responsible, and alternatively tried to obstruct immoderate efforts to bash so."

The Commanders besides look a suit from D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine over an alleged concealed woody with the NFL deal to deceive its fans.