Congress writes the NFL as they seek document to investigate Washington football team.
The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has received a letter from the Two-House Democrats on Thursday demanding the league provide the Congress with the results of the investigation into the Washington Football Team’s workplace culture.
The letter was written after a leaked emails led to the resignation of Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden.
His emails over a seven-year span, sent to then-WFT president Bruce Allen, included racist, anti-gay and misogynistic language.
It also led to renewed calls for the NFL to release the findings of an independent investigation, led by attorney Beth Wilkinson, into Washington’s workplace.
There was no written report after the nearly year-long investigation, and the league has not released all the findings. According to an NFL spokesman, the league is not going to re-open the investigation or release the 650,000 emails it collected.
The letter, sent by the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-New York), and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) have asked the league to show a number of documents and give answers to numerous questions involving the investigation by Nov. 4.
They want the NFL to produce “all documents and communications obtained in connection with the investigation into the WFT, its management, its owners, and any other matter relating to or resulting from the WFT investigation.”
The two Democrats wrote, “We have serious concerns about what appears to be widespread abusive workplace conduct at the WFT and about the NFL’s handling of this matter. Communications between league management and WFT leadership also raises questions about the leagues asserted impartiality in these investigations.”
The letter states, “The NFL’s lack of transparency about the problems it recently uncovered raise questions about the seriousness with which it has addressed bigotry, racism, sexism, and homophobia — setting troubling precedent for other workplaces.”
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said via email, “We have received the Chairwoman’s letter and share her concern that all workplaces should be free from any form of harassment and discrimination. We look forward to speaking to her office soon.”
