AP sources: No plan to vote on Commanders owner Dan Snyder
Three people with knowledge of the agenda tell The Associated Press there is no plan to vote on Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder’s status at next week’s NFL owners meetings in New York
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Your support makes all the difference.There is no plan to vote on Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder’s status at next week’s owners meetings in New York, according to three people with knowledge of the agenda.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the discussions are private.
Snyder’s ownership of the team has been widely debated for years amid several scandals and investigations into workplace conduct in Washington. It became a hotter topic Thursday amid an ESPN report detailing Snyder’s efforts to influence other owners and the league office to maintain control of the team.
ESPN reported, citing anonymous sources, Snyder has hired private investigators and told people he has enough information to expose fellow owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The Commanders are denying the contents of the report. In a statement sent to the AP, a team spokesperson called it “categorically untrue” and “clearly part of a well-funded, two-year campaign to coerce the sale of the team, which will continue to be unsuccessful.”
Holland & Knight, one of the law firms representing Snyder, did not immediately respond to a message seeking a response to the report.
Snyder has owned the team since 1999. He and the organization are currently the subject of ongoing investigations by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform and former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, who is conducting a new review on behalf of the NFL.
They come on the heels of the league's initial independent investigation by attorney Beth Wilkinson's firm, which found Washington's workplace culture to be toxic. Snyder and the team were fined $10 million, and the league said he turned day-to-day operations over to wife Tanya, but no written report of the findings was released.
The lack of a written report prompted Congress to investigate, and officials invited Snyder and Goodell to testify. Goodell appeared at a public hearing in June. Snyder testified in a private deposition for more than 10 hours in July, the transcript of which has still yet to be released.
A spokesperson for the committee did not immediately respond to a message seeking an update on the investigation.
The day before Goodell testified, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform released a 29-page memo about its investigation, saying Snyder tried to discredit those accusing him and other club executives of misconduct and tried to influence Wilkinson's investigation.
“The Committee’s investigation also sheds light on the extent of Mr. Snyder’s role in creating and fostering the Commanders’ toxic workplace,” the memo said. “This new evidence suggests that Mr. Snyder’s efforts to influence the Wilkinson Investigation may have been intended to conceal or distract from his own role in this troubling conduct.”
According to the congressional memo, Snyder “endeavored to dissuade his accusers from cooperating with the Wilkinson investigation by sending private investigators to their homes or offering them hush money.”
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AP National Writer Howard Fendrich and AP Pro Football Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed.
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