Committee urges Dan Snyder to reconsider not testifying on June 22 originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform sent a letter to Dan Snyder’s attorney on Friday urging Snyder to “reconsider his decision to decline public testimony” in the upcoming June 22 hearing centered around the Commanders’ alleged toxic workplace culture.
Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney wrote to Karen Patton Seymour that Snyder’s choice to not testify means he is “refusing to accept accountability for his actions and the culture he has fostered within his team.”
NEW: Today, @OversightDems Chair @RepMaloney sent a letter responding to @Commanders owner Daniel Snyder’s refusal to testify voluntarily before the Committee next week. https://t.co/phqr3U9pXz pic.twitter.com/WYarmMqbhV
— Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) June 17, 2022
On Wednesday, Washington’s owner, via a letter by Seymour, informed the Committee that he wouldn’t appear at the hearing due to a scheduling conflict and concerns over due process. Snyder is expected to be in France next week.
In her letter, Maloney stated the committee has offered to accommodate Snyder’s conflict by permitting him to appear remotely.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, meanwhile, will participate in the hearing virtually, NBC Sports Washington confirmed on Thursday.
Maloney said that there have been attempts to “accommodate Mr. Snyder’s plans” and that “any suggestion that the Committee has treated Mr. Snyder unfairly is unfounded, especially given that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has agreed to testify voluntarily at the same hearing.”
On Wednesday, Seymour requested additional information regarding the hearing to “better understand the potential overlap” between these investigations and the Committee’s request for Snyder to testify. Maloney stated that if Snyder commits, in writing, to appear on June 22, the Committee is willing to provide copies of any of the team documents produced by the NFL that the Committee expects to use during the hearing.
The Committee has been investigating the Commanders’ workplace for eight months, and Wednesday’s session is meant to further those efforts as well as examine the league’s response to the matter.
Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, attorneys who represent more than 40 former employees of the franchise, called on the Oversight Committee to subpoena Snyder on Wednesday, two days before Maloney pushed Snyder to change his mind.
“We, along with our clients, are disappointed but not surprised that Dan Snyder does not have the courage to appear voluntarily,” Banks and Katz said in a statement. “We fully expect the Committee will issue a subpoena to compel Mr. Snyder to appear. It is time that Mr. Snyder learns that he is not above the law.”
The congressional investigation started four months following attorney Beth Wilkinson concluded her own 10-month investigation into Washington football’s ‘toxic’ workplace culture at the NFL’s request. Wilkinson’s findings were given verbally to Goodell, but never put in written form or released to the public.
Maloney set a Monday, 9 a.m. deadline for Snyder to respond to her notice.
