Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) wrote in an eight-page letter Wednesday to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, that the Justice Department should investigate Snyder for lying under oath and obstructing the committeeâs investigation.
The ranking Democrat on the congressional committee that investigated the Washington Commanders and their former owner, Daniel Snyder, is urging the committeeâs Republican chairman to refer Snyderâs case to the Justice Department for investigation and possible prosecution.
âMaking false statements to Congress and obstructing Congressional investigations are serious crimes,â Raskin wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post. âThis Committee cannot conduct effective oversight if witnesses misrepresent and obscure the truth. I therefore urge you to hold Mr. Snyder accountable by referring him to the Department of Justice for investigation and, if warranted, prosecution, for lying under oath and obstructing this Committeeâs investigation.â
Comer is unlikely to grant Raskinâs requests. Republicans on the committee repeatedly criticized the Democratic-led investigation of Snyder and the Commanders as a misuse of the committeeâs time and resources, then immediately declared the investigation over when the results of Novemberâs midterm elections ensured they would take majority leadership of the committee in January.
âRanking Member Raskin is obsessed with an investigation that has no connection whatsoever to the federal government,â an Oversight Committee spokesperson said in a statement issued Wednesday in response to a request for comment from Comer or the committeeâs Republican leadership. âIt is very clear what their priorities are â Democrats are more concerned with using Committee resources to target a private sports workplace than investigating the corruption of the sitting President of the United States. The Oversight Committee is going to continue to prioritize the American people by ensuring our federal government is efficient, accountable, and transparent.â
A spokesperson for Snyder did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Democrats on the Oversight Committee defended their investigation of Snyder and the Commanders in a statement from a spokeswoman issued following the Republican response to Raskinâs letter.
âCommittee Democratsâ investigation into the practices of the NFL, one of the countryâs most prominent workplaces, and the Commanders informed meaningful legislative reforms and demonstrated Committee Democratsâ commitment to creating real change in workplaces around the country by ensuring people can go to work free from pervasive sexual harassment and misconduct,â the spokeswoman said. âRather than join Committee Democrats in this effort, Committee Republicans have repeatedly sought to protect Daniel Snyder despite overwhelming evidence that he condoned and participated in a toxic workplace culture of pervasive sexual harassment, including by issuing a memo that sought to whitewash Mr. Snyderâs misconduct.
âTheir refusal to hold Mr. Snyder accountable for his efforts to obstruct the Committeeâs investigation, including by making false statements under oath, is yet further proof that Committee Republicans are intent on using the Committee to advance false narratives rather than gathering facts and evidence to inform legislation for the benefit of the American people.â
Raskinâs letter cited discrepancies between Snyderâs testimony to the committee and the findings of an NFL investigation, conducted by attorney Mary Jo White, announced last month.
The NFL announced at a special meeting July 20 that Snyder would pay the league $60 million as part of the closing of the sale of his franchise after Whiteâs investigation concluded that the team withheld revenue it should have shared with other franchises and that Snyder sexually harassed a former team employee, Tiffani Johnston.
Johnstonâs allegations first became public at a congressional roundtable in February 2022, leading the NFL to launch Whiteâs investigation. The financial allegations against the team, made by former Commanders ticketing and sales executive Jason Friedman, were detailed by the committee in an April 2022 letter to the Federal Trade Commission.
âMr. Snyderâs statements under oath to this Committee, claiming Ms. Johnstonâs allegations âdidnât happenâ and were ânot true,â as well as his assertion that âthe whole claim is not trueâ are inconsistent with the findings of Ms. Whiteâs investigation,â Raskin wrote Wednesday. âMr. Snyderâs testimony to the Committee suggests a deliberate effort to provide false testimony in an effort to obstruct a Congressional investigation. These false statements are particularly troubling given that they appear to be part of a pattern of obstruction and misrepresentation that included Mr. Snyderâs efforts to smear Mr. Friedman and his characterization of Ms. Johnstonâs account as âoutright lies,â as well as his efforts to interfere with a prior investigation conducted by Beth Wilkinson.â
The committee, then called the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, conducted a nearly 14-month investigation beginning in October 2021. In December, it issued a 79-page final report, titled âConduct Detrimental: How the NFL and the Washington Commanders Covered Up Decades of Sexual Misconduct.â In the report, the committee wrote that Snyder evaded questions by saying more than 100 times that he did not know or could not recall information and gave âmisleadingâ answers when he testified remotely last year as part of the investigation.
According to the report, Snyder âobstructedâ the committeeâs investigation and failed to fulfill his attorneyâs pledge that he would provide full and complete testimony. The report also said Snyder âengaged in a series of attempts to interfere with the Committeeâs investigationâ and that he âpublicly assailed witnesses, refused to release former employees from their confidentiality obligations, and blocked the Committeeâs access to tens of thousands of documents collected duringâ a previous NFL investigation conducted by Wilkinson.
Snyder participated remotely in a sworn deposition for more than 10 hours in July 2022 after he and the committee agreed on the terms of the interview following weeks of negotiations. Snyder refused the committeeâs invitation to take part in a June 2022 hearing on Capitol Hill at which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell testified remotely. Snyderâs attorney subsequently refused to accept electronic service of a subpoena.
John Brownlee and Stuart Nash, attorneys for the Commanders, wrote in a statement when the report was issued: âThese Congressional investigators demonstrated, almost immediately, that they were not interested in the truth, and were only interested in chasing headlines by pursuing one side of the story. Todayâs report is the predictable culmination of that one-sided approach.â
Republican staffers wrote to Republican committee members in a December memo that committee Democrats had âchosen to weaponize the power of Congress against a single private workplace,â adding that the investigationâs goal had been to force Snyder âto give up the Team.â
You could read more of this Washington Post Article here.