WASHINGTON — Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder has yet to talk to Mary Jo White in the NFL's investigation team legal counsel John Brownlee tells WUSA9.
In February, the NFL hired Mary Jo White to investigate former Commanders employee Tiffani Johnston's allegations of misconduct against Snyder and financial impropriety.
Snyder has owned the team since 1999. He and the organization are currently the subjects of ongoing investigations by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, as well as the White report. Last month, league executive Jeff Miller said there was no timeline for the completion of White's investigation.
Commanders owner Dan Snyder voluntarily testified for nearly 11 hours at a deposition before the House Committee on Oversight & Reform on July 28. Due to the closed-door nature of the testimony, what was said has not been released.
A vote on removing Dan Snyder from the National Football League is looking like more of a reality than ever before after a fellow owner broke his silence on the Commanders owner at the league's annual owners meeting. Colts owner Jim Irsay told reporters Tuesday that he believes enough NFL owners are leaning towards removing Snyder as owner of the team.
Irsay became the first NFL owner to speak publicly about Snyder's future with the league when he said he believes there is "merit to remove" Snyder amid several ongoing investigations into workplace harassment allegations. Forcing Snyder to sell the team would be unprecedented and require 24 votes from the league's 32 owners.
Commanders owner Dan Snyder made headlines once again, this time in the form of a lengthy ESPN report released on game-day morning, painting an ugly picture of Snyder's attempts to blackmail his way into ensuring he remains an owner by hiring private investigators to dig up dirt on his fellow owners. The report, citing numerous anonymous sources, goes on to claim he recently told an associate he had gathered enough secrets to "blow up" several other owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell, adding "they can't f with me."
The report got dragged into Thursday's game broadcast when play-by-play announcer Al Michaels said: “Just my feeling, I think what the league would love is for Snyder to sell the team. Not have to go to a vote, but just sell the team. Because it’s become a major problem around the league, obviously. And we’ll see what happens. I think it’s got a long way to go, and Dan, very well known for digging his heels into the ground.”
The Commanders have categorically denied all claims made in the ESPN report, releasing detailed responses to 12 questions from ESPN's article.
“It’s hard to imagine a piece that is more categorically untrue, and is clearly part of a well-funded, two-year misinformation campaign to coerce the sale of the team, which will continue to be unsuccessful," a team spokesperson said in response to questions about the veracity of ESPN's reporting.
WUSA9 spoke with one of Snyder's attorneys, John Brown, Thursday to address one of the claims in the report that Snyder had instructed his legal team to track the movements of other NFL owners by hiring PIs.
"We've represented them about 18 months," Brown said. "Never in that time period, have we been asked to retain a private investigator to do anything if for any reason, and we never have."
Brown also gave an emphatic "no" answer when asked if Snyder has ever considered selling the team and living a private life.