Commanders owner Dan Snyder, House committee at odds

WASHINGTON — Dan Snyder’s attorney told the Committee on Oversight and Reform the Washington Commanders’ owner is willing to testify by video conference regarding the investigation into the team’s workplace culture following accusations of pervasive sexual harassment by club executives of women employees. Snyder conducted a “shadow investigation” that sought to discredit former employees making accusations of workplace sexual harassment, hired private investigators to intimidate witnesses, and used an overseas lawsuit as a pretext to obtain phone records and emails, according to a document released by the committee before that hearing. Snyder’s attorneys presented the NFL with a 100-slide PowerPoint presentation including “private text messages, emails, phone logs and call transcripts, and social media posts from nearly 50 individuals who Mr. Snyder apparently believed were involved in a conspiracy to disparage him,” the committee said. In a statement, a spokesman for Snyder characterized the report and the hearing as “a politically charged show trial” and said Congress should not be investigating “an issue a football team addressed years ago.” The NFL fined the team $10 million last year and Snyder stepped away from its day-to-day operations after Wilkinson presented her findings to Goodell.