WASHINGTON — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday that the league will conduct their own independent investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Washington Commanders' owner Dan Snyder, instead of the previous plan of the team hiring an investigator to lead the probe.
The team initially announced Monday morning that they hired their own independent firm to investigate the claims.
"I don't see how a team can do a self-investigation of itself. We need to understand what truly happened and treat that in the most serious way," Goodell said.
The firm is meant to investigate allegations made by former Washington Commanders employee Tiffani Johnston during a roundtable discussion with Congress on Capitol Hill last week. During that roundtable discussion, six former employees leveled accusations of misconduct.
At a two-hour roundtable discussion with the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Reform committee last week, Johnston shared her story for the first time.
She claimed Snyder put his hand on her thigh during a dinner engagement and then later aggressively pushed her toward his limousine.
Snyder released a statement later calling the accusations "outright lies" but committee chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) read from a letter sent in from former team Vice President Jason Friedman that corroborated Johnston's allegations.
"He says, 'I witnessed Dan Snyder grab the arm of my coworker Tiffani Johnston and attempt to pull her into his limousine,'" Rep. Maloney read aloud. "This took place over a dinner in D.C. I was shocked. Thankfully, Tiffani was able to quickly pull away.'"
On Wednesday, WUSA9's Darren Haynes sat down with former Washington Commander employees who expressed that they aren't moved by the NFL's efforts. He spoke with former Washington broadcast employee Megan Imbert along with former Coordinator of Business Development & Client Service, Account Executive Ana Nunez.
Watch their comments in the video below.