Tag: Mary Jo White Investigation

Roger Goodell quite succinct Wednesday when asked about the Commanders

Goodell was brief and direct regarding the Commanders.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the Washington Commanders a couple of times Wednesday during his Super Bowl week press conference.

Goodell was asked about the potential sale of the Commanders by longtime majority owner Daniel Snyder. Goodell was quite concise and succinct regarding the Commanders and Snyder today. In both questions, he replied in a “just the facts, ma’am” manner and moved right along.

Regarding the Mary Jo White investigation into the toxic workplace environment of the then-Washington Redskins, Goodell replied,

“Mary Jo White, as I have said many times to you, there is no timeline given to Mary Jo White,” he said. “She is authorized to work independently. There is no timeline for her to come to any conclusions. When she does that, she will let me know, and we will let the public know at that point in time.

“As far as the process, the Commanders are under a process that is their process; ultimately, if they (the Snyders) reach a conclusion and have someone join the ownership group or buy the team entirely, that’s something the ownership will look at.”

The prevailing theory amongst skeptics (of the NFL) is that the Mary Jo White investigation will not actually be brought to the light of the public eye. The thinking is that Snyder was told by fellow owners his time is done, the damage is done, and he must go.

Snyder suddenly did not come to Commanders games, did not attend the Sonny Jurgensen day, is said to be moving to the UK, has put his Potomac, Md. home up for sale for a mere $49 million, and is entertaining offers for the franchise.

Thus, it could be that once he sells the team, the Mary Jo White investigation will quietly fade away into the night, and thus the contents of the report will be kept from the public.

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Daniel Snyder’s attorney: Tiffani Johnston’s allegations are false

Snyder’s attorney was a guest on Pro Football Talk.

Daniel Snyder’s attorney proclaims that Tiffani Johnston’s allegations are false.

Commanders owner Daniel Snyder’s legal representative John Brownlee explained his perspective as a guest Thursday on Pro Football Talk hosted by Mike Florio.

Citing that Johnston has shifted her timeline, results in questioning the integrity of her allegations. He also stated at first she did not say where this had transpired and later that it was a restaurant in DC. He also questioned her honesty in stating she had not told anyone about it, yet Brownlee claims they have her declaring in a Facebook post a year earlier, other employees had also been guilty of sexual harassment towards her.

Brownlee of (Holland and Knight) explained he has been hired to assess former employee and cheerleader Tiffani Johnston’s allegations of Snyder’s inappropriate behavior towards her personally.

Secondly, Brownlee conveyed he is also investigating allegations made by former employee Jason Friedman.  He believes he has found discrepancies in Friedman’s testimony as well.

“We feel pretty good about where we are,” regarding the evidences related to these allegations against Snyder.

Brownlee also confirmed Mary Jo White hired by the NFL to investigate, has not yet interviewed Snyder. He also reminded Florio that Snyder’s deposition before Congress lasted 11 hours and that Snyder answered every question.

Regarding the ESPN story from two weeks ago against Snyder, Brownlee responded, the sources were anonymous, allegations false, and two weeks later, there has been no corroborating evidence presented.

Concerning allegations Snyder has hired investigators to dig up dirt on other NFL owners, Brownlee said he has yet to see the slightest evidence of this being true.

Florio pointed to Snyder’s letter to fellow NFL owners last week, citing Snyder’s use of “malice,” suggesting it may indicate future litigation by Snyder against ESPN because of that story.

Brownlee pointed out that Snyder prevailed against allegations he had been associated with Jeffrey Epstein, had been paying off NFL officials, and doing drugs. Washington fans may recall as a result, Dwight Schar was banned from future NFL ownership.

Florio questioned that if all of this is a big smear campaign against Snyder, then who is behind this effort? Brownlee pointed to Congress wanting Snyder to sell the team when the NFL is not within their jurisdiction and the Katz and Banks law firm that has represented some of the cheerleaders and employees of the team in the past.

Brownlee did concede that the Washington workplace was a toxic environment a few years ago, the investigation revealing such. He also clarified that Snyder was not officially suspended, agreeing to remove himself from the day-to-day operations until November 1. Thus Tanya Snyder has been the primary representative and voice of the team during the interim.

Florio inquired regarding the emails given to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Brownlee stated he had in fact viewed those emails between Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen, calling them “shocking, quite disappointing.”

He also adamantly denied Daniel Snyder had sent those emails. “I have zero evidence that anyone connected with the team did this, zero.” Brownlee also cited that after the NFL’s Beth Wilkinson investigation and decision; it would have been against the team’s interest for anyone with the team to go back and leak those emails.

Johnston alleges Snyder at a dinner, inappropriately placed his hand on her leg and that following the dinner also attempted to pull her into an automobile with him.

Kevin Sheehan: ‘Snyder has to go!’

Sheehan gives reasons why he believes that Snyder must go.

“This can’t be about the Mary Jo White investigation.”

Kevin Sheehan has had enough of the Daniel Snyder drama and investigations.

Voicing his displeasure with Snyder and the NFL process, Sheehan on his Wednesday podcast was a great listen.

Sheehan declared Mary Jo White is investigating matters that are “purely he-said, she-said” and that Jason Friedman, former franchise business employee, “has lied under oath,” and that “it is possible that Mary Jo White may conclude nothing.”

The lifelong Washington (teams) sports fan then lit into why the NFL should rid themselves of Snyder. Here are some excerpts.

“Nothing that she finds is going to take away from the FACTS that it was a very toxic workplace culture as Beth Wilkinson concluded and Roger Goodell stated when they fined the team $10M and gave Snyder a quasi-suspension.”

“The importance of all of this, and the emphasis on this should be why a once-profitable, passionate, incredible NFL market of fans is now gone! And it is not coming back until he leaves, whether her investigation produces something or not.”

“The big picture is this market is gone, as an NFL market! It doesn’t exist anymore in terms of anything remotely resembling what it was. The league knows that. That is why they want him out. Every owner knows it; that’s why they want him out. A lot of the owners don’t like him personally, and there is a personal animus involved in this as well. Which by the way, you should separate.”

“Bottom line is, they can’t get this market back until he leaves. A new stadium is not going to do it. Mary Jo White’s investigation is not going to do it. Winning isn’t going to do it.”

“The name change was basically the death knell for a lot of people whether Snyder is here or not. I do understand a lot of people are never coming back. That was the final nail in the coffin.”

“If the league wants any part of resuscitating any part of this market, turning it (back) into a revenue generator, and having it be a market they can be proud of in the nation’s capital, he has to go.”

“He is a bad owner and incompetent owner. One of the worst in the history of professional sports. He has ruined what was once something very sacred and special to a major city, the nation’s capital.”

“It is an embarrassment to the league. It is an under-performer. But so were the New York Knicks for many years, and so were the Cardinals for years. It is very hard to run someone who wants to be here (NFL) for being incompetent… So I am still skeptical that this is going to lead to his ouster.”

“They need to convince him to sell. He can sell the team, and the owners need to pass the hat around and come up with an extra half billion dollars, and get him out…’Here, this is what we will do if you will leave.’ I don’t think he is going to. I think his heels are dug in.”

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