JULY 13: Another effort from Snyder to avoid questioning from the House Oversight Committee may be in progress. Responding to the committee’s latest salvo, Seymour said her client would only testify voluntarily (and not under oath).
“Under the circumstances, there is no valid basis to issue a subpoena for Mr. Snyder’s testimony,” Seymour said, via the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala (Twitter links). “We intend that he will testify voluntarily on July 28. We are confident that Mr. Snyder will able to provide full and complete testimony during his voluntary appearance – a view the Committee apparently shared…since the Committee invited him to testify voluntarily at a hearing held just three weeks ago.”
This figures to put the ball back in the committee’s court, continuing what has become a lengthy back-and-forth. The Congressional panel approving Snyder’s request to testify voluntarily would open the door to the Commanders owner ending his silence in this investigation but punting on certain questions. Seymour said Snyder would not answer questions on matters covered by nondisclosure agreements.
“Mr. Snyder has a troubling history of using NDAs to cover up workplace misconduct — behavior that is central to our investigation — and it would be highly inappropriate for him to employ the same tactic to withhold information from the Committee,” Oversight Committee chairperson Carolyn Maloney said Tuesday, via Mark Maske of the Washington Post. “Other former Commanders employees have participated in Committee depositions under subpoena, and Mr. Snyder should not be treated any differently.”
JULY 12: Dan Snyder has both avoided a House Oversight Committee request to testify in its months-long investigation into the Commanders’ workplace misconduct and has been evasive since he was hit with a subpoena to appear before the committee. But the committee is willing to accept one of Snyder’s stipulations in an effort to ensure he testifies.
Last week, Snyder attorney Karen Patton Seymour said her client would be available to be questioned by the committee on July 28 or July 29, via videoconference, but not June 30 — the date initially associated with the committee’s subpoena. The longtime Washington owner remains out of the country. The committee will now accept Snyder’s videoconference testimony, with John Keim of ESPN.com relaying (via Twitter) Snyder’s subpoena has been adjusted to allow for this session to take place July 28.
“The Committee accepts your offer for Mr. Snyder to testify on the subjects under investigation by the Committee on July 28,” the committee said in a statement to Seymour. “[We] will proceed with a subpoena in place to ensure that Mr. Snyder’s testimony will be full and complete.”
This process may encounter more Snyder resistance. The committee’s Tuesday decision pertains to Snyder testifying under its terms — via the subpoena — whereas Snyder’s offer was to testify voluntarily, according to Keim and the Washington Post’s Liz Clarke (Twitter links). Under the committee’s terms, Snyder must testify under oath and cannot choose the questions he does and does not answer. Snyder must decide his next move by 11am CT Wednesday, per Clarke.
Snyder cited a work conflict as the reason he could not testify alongside Roger Goodell at the June 22 hearing. The commissioner appeared virtually and answered the committee’s questions regarding the conduct of Snyder and his franchise. The committee then issued a subpoena to bring forth Snyder testimony.
The next chapter would be Snyder testifying later this month. It will be interesting to see if the embattled Commanders owner does so, or if another move to avoid questioning transpires.
Swindler Snyder trying to weasel his way out of his own mess. What a scumbag.
So you think these tax wasting, grandstanding clowns in congress never try to weasel out of the messes they make? Time to stop drinking the kool-aid.
Unfortunately we’re the ones paying both congress and the NFL.
What kool aid? The 435 members of Congress aren’t always accountable, so Dan Snyder shouldn’t ever have to answer to anyone?
I’m going to borrow from Woody Allen and suggest that this tax wasting oversight committee is a travesty of a mockery of a sham. It’s obvious these clowns have already passed judgement on Snyder and are just trying to score some political capital for themselves. I’m not saying Snyder has many virtues but it’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black here.
Refusing to even offer your side of the story under oath ain’t a great way of looking like you didn’t do anything wrong. There’s lots of evidence of wrongdoing and no one else is going to hold him accountable.
@Oooof / Dare I suggest that some congressmen are just as tolerant of workplace violations as Snyder. Nobody is demanding they appear before a committee providing testimony under oath. They’re actually less likely to be held accountable than an NFL owner.
That’s simply not true and it’s beside the point. There’s basically no one to hold NFL owners accountable but each other if Congress doesn’t step in. They own the league.
Irsay got suspended. Guys like Snyder, Jones and Kraft, a suspension would really bother them. A fair punishment
@ Oooof / If the NFL wasn’t accountable to anyone why would they spend enormous amounts of time and money on PR and care so much about their image? If your in business you are always accountable to those that allow you to be profitable.
Being accountable to your bottom line isn’t the same as being accountable for your behavior or labor practices.
No offense, but it sounds like you want to live in a Utopian world. We could list hundreds of companies such as Walmart, Nike, Merck, etc. that have been cited for poor business behavior and labor practices. Are we going to boycott every company and organization that doesn’t measure up to our self righteous standards?
I never called for a boycott. I called for basic accountability and enforcement of labor laws, even when someone is extremely rich. This is closer to the bare minimum than utopian.
So why hasn’t he faced any punishment from the NFL? He definitely has violated the Code of Conduct. You don’t seem as bothered by the way he treats women. Why is that? That question goes out to anyone who wants Watson gone but nothing for the rich white owners?
You can just imagine a few years from now and Snyder is sitting in a prison cell.
Then what is the point? Have Stephen King testify for him, his fiction would be much more interesting than anything this crooked assclown could come up with.
Well, maybe Jon Gruden should sue this clown personally and get him to sing
The NFL fired Jon Gruden for less. The Commissioner was probably pushing for Snyder not to testify under oath. There seems to be a lot to hide when it comes to the dealings within the NFL.
The NFL can’t fire an owner like a team can a coach. All Goodell can do, to my knowledge, is call for a vote. Said vote requires 2/3 or 3/4 support.
Snyder is a scumbag, but goodluck getting 20+ of his 31 peers to vote to remove a fellow owner.
Owners have been nudged out and sold or stepped down, but as stubborn & greasy as Snyder is I imagine he’d make them vote him out. To my knowledge that hasn’t happened rver.
So you do nothing?
Don’t recall saying that. It’s just a poor comparison.
For what it’s worth I hope he is ousted. If not he needs to be suspended at the very least.
Well, you said they needed a vote. Goodell doesn’t need a vote to suspend him. Kinda hard to do it now after he’s let other owners get away with stuff without anything done. I still can’t believe that Kraft didn’t get a fine or a suspension for breaking the Code of Conduct. I’m a Browns fan and I even admit that Watson should receive a suspension.
I was replying specifically to the “they should fire him” and explaining its not that simple, and that there isn’t clear precedent for the path to that result (vote out).
Suspension should absolutely be in play. Kraft not getting at least a small one was a joke. Agreed there.
I guess I didn’t think the guy meant to fire Snyder. He just said they fired Gruden for less. Technically, Gruden resigned. The NFL I don’t believe, can fire anyone. They can suspend.
Stick him in the same cell with Bannon.
Daniel Snyder must be emulating “Tony Ducks” Corallo, the late boss of the Lucchese family who got his monicker from ducking subpoenas.
There are dozens of companies that this so called workplace committee could be looking into – but none of them would open up an NFL team for Bezos to purchase.
Abuse the clown for a couple hours and then go on your next recess you worthless dirt bags.
Name one workplace abuse issue as glaring and public in an equivalent sized company in an industry as big as the NFL with as little oversight. The NFL is an extremely public trillion dollar business effectively owned by 32 private parties.