House Oversight Committee To Subpoena Commanders Owner Dan Snyder

Although the House Oversight Committee requested testimony from Dan Snyder and Roger Goodell, only the commissioner showed up for the Wednesday hearing. Snyder, via a representative indicating he was scheduled to be out of the country, refused the request.

But the committee plans to go a step further during its investigation into the Commanders. Chairperson Carolyn Maloney said she would issue a subpoena to Snyder for a deposition next week.

“Mr. Snyder has not been held accountable,” Maloney said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post (on Twitter). “His refusal to testify sends a clear message that he is more concerned about protecting himself than coming clean with the American people. If the NFL is unwilling or unable to hold Mr. Snyder accountable, then I am prepared to do so.”

This marks one of a few issues the embattled Washington owner faces. The committee accused Snyder of conducting a “shadow investigation” aimed at discrediting former team employees and journalists amid the NFL’s inquiry into allegations of workplace misconduct, according to the Washington Post’s Mark Maske, Liz Clarke and Jhabvala. The league’s investigation wrapped last year, but after the league failed to issue a written report, Congress launched its own investigation into Snyder and the Commanders.

The alleged Snyder-driven counterstrike effort attempted to accuse former team president Bruce Allen of being primarily responsible for the workplace issues that came under scrutiny. Snyder fired Allen after the 2019 season.

Goodell attributed the lack of a written report in Beth Wilkinson’s Washington investigation to select former Washington employees seeking anonymity, but the committee’s findings during its probe revealed the NFL had planned for Wilkinson to issue a report instead of an oral summary. The committee uncovered a document indicating a September 2020 agreement between the NFL and Wilkinson’s firm that a written report — outlining the…