NFL will investigate harassment claim against Commanders owner Daniel Snyder

The NFL moved quickly Wednesday to take over an investigation into alleged sexual harassment by Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder, saying the league, not the team, will hire an investigator to lead the probe.

The Commanders announced Wednesday morning that the team had hired an outside investigator to look into former team employee Tiffani Johnston’s claims that Snyder groped her thigh at a team dinner more than a decade ago and and pushed her toward his limousine with his hand on her lower back.

Hours later, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the team would not control the probe.

“Last week, the league stated that we will review and consider Ms. Johnston’s allegations as we would any others regarding workplace conduct at the Washington Commanders. The league, not the team, will conduct an independent investigation and will be retaining an investigator to determine the facts shortly,” McCarthy said.

The developments follow a familiar pattern. When former employees of Washington’s NFL team first complained in 2020 about rampant sexual harassment by team executives, the team hired attorney Beth Wilkinson’s firm to investigate. The league took over that probe and Wilkinson reported her findings to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The NFL fined Snyder $10 million and he temporarily ceded day-to-day operations of the franchise to his wife, Tanya. Wilkinson’s report has not been released publicly.

Although many former team employees accused Snyder of presiding over a culture that was toxic to women, he had not been personally accused of sexual harassment until last week, when Johnston detailed her allegations against him to Congress. Johnston had declined to participate in Wilkinson’s investigation.

Snyder has denied the allegations, calling them “outright lies.”

The team’s announcement that it had hired outside investigators was quickly denounced by attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, who represent more than 40 former team employees, including Johnston. The lawyers called the investigation a “sham” and said Johnston would not participate.

“The idea that Dan Snyder has hired a team to investigate his own actions is utterly absurd. This is a desperate public relations stunt, clearly designed to absolve him of wrongdoing,” Banks and Katz said in a statement.

The team said it had hired consulting firm Pallas Global Group LLC to oversee the probe, and that the company had retained Debra Wong Yang, a former U.S. attorney and California state judge, to lead it. It was unclear whether the league would hire the same investigators.

“The team is committed to a thorough and independent investigation of Ms. Johnston’s allegations, and pledges full cooperation with the investigation,” the Commanders said when they announced the probe.

The team said the findings of its investigation would be released to the public.

Johnston worked for the team, then known as the Redskins, in the 2000s as a cheerleader and marketing manager. The team dropped its name, which had long been criticized as offensive to Native Americans, in 2020 amid protests of systemic racism that followed the killing of George Floyd. It was known as the Washington Football Team the past two seasons. Snyder announced the new team name last week.