House Oversight Committee demands answers from NFL about Washington football investigation
A Congressional committee has sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell demanding the league make public the results of its investigation into the Washington Commanders' toxic workplace culture.
According to a news release Friday from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the discovery of an agreement between the team and the NFL that pledged to pursue a "joint legal strategy" raises "newfound concerns over the independence of that investigation."
Under the agreement, neither the NFL nor the team were allowed to release information about the probe without the other's consent.
The NFL acknowledged Friday that it received the committee's letter and pledged to continue to cooperate to the extent it can. “The Committee has requested many documents which are clearly protected by the attorney-client privilege or are attorney-work product," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement to Paste BN Sports. "The League, and not the team, has and will determine which information it is in a position to produce.”
At a congressional roundtable on Thursday, six former franchise employees discussed incidents of sexual assault and harassment they experienced, including new allegations against team owner Daniel Snyder.
Through a team spokesperson, Snyder denied the new allegations, calling them "outright lies."
The committee is calling for the NFL to produce all of the documents in the investigation conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson, which resulted in the team paying a $10 million fine and Snyder turning over control of day-to-day operations to his wife, Tanya.
Also on Friday, the committee revealed it has uncovered an engagement letter between Wilkinson's law firm and the team that promised a “complete a written report of its findings and make recommendations regarding any remedial measures.”
However, the final report was instead presented orally to the NFL, which issued a four-page press release.
"You have claimed that the NFL did not release Ms. Wilkinson’s findings in order to protect the ‘security, privacy and anonymity’ of the more than 150 witnesses who courageously spoke to Ms. Wilkinson and her team," committee chairs Carolyn Maloney and Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote. "The Committee’s investigation and the NFL’s own legal documents raise serious doubts about this justification.”
The committee has given the NFL a February 14 deadline to produce Wilkinson's findings and all documents related to the investigation.