NFL intervenes after Dan Snyder hired team to investigate latest allegations

No matter how hard you try to outrun your past, it always seems to catch up.

The Washington Commanders, whose rebrand is barely two weeks old, have been reminded of this the hard way over the last several days after six former team employees levied new allegations against owner Dan Snyder at a Congressional roundtable on Feb. 3, just one day after the rebrand.

Much to the chagrin of fans, Snyder responded by denying the allegations in statements released by both him and his attorney Jordan Siev.

On Wednesday, the longtime Washington owner took things a step further by hiring an independent investigative team to look into the allegations made by Tiffani Johnston, who worked for the team for eight years until 2008.

In light of Snyder’s maneuver, the NFL announced it’ll be handling the investigation instead. At his annual Super Bowl press conference, commissioner Roger Goodell said, “I do not see a way that a team can do an investigation of itself.”

The NFL intervened after Commanders owner Dan Snyder hired a team to look into the allegations made by Tiffani Johnston.

"“Last week, the league stated that we will review and consider (Tiffani) Johnston’s allegations as we would any others regarding workplace conduct at the Washington Commanders,” the NFL said in a statement on Wednesday. “The league, not the team, will conduct an independent investigation and will be retaining an investigator to determine the facts shortly.”"

At last Thursday’s Congressional hearing, Johnston alleged that Snyder, without consent, had his hand on her thigh under the table during a networking event about 13 years ago. After the dinner concluded, Snyder allegedly led Johnston, who was 24 at the time, to his limo and asked her to ride with him.

According to Johnston, the only reason Snyder stopped guiding her towards the limo is because his attorney intervened. Washington’s former marketing and events coordinator added that she was instructed to keep the story behind closed doors.

"“The next day, I learned when I told a senior co-worker about Dan Snyder’s sexual advance that I should ‘not repeat the story to anyone outside this office door,'” Johnston testified. “That was when I also learned there was no one to go to about Dan Snyder’s advance, no path to report the incident.”"

In a letter that was presented to Congress at the roundtable, former Washington vice president of sales and customer service, Jason Friedman, corroborated Johnston’s claims, stating he witnessed Snyder trying to lure Johnston into the limo.

This marks the second independent investigation of Washington’s workplace conduct since July of 2020. Time will tell if anything comes of this probe, but it’s at least encouraging to know Snyder’s stooges won’t be running point.