Commanders owner Daniel Snyder declines to comply with Oversight Committee's subpoena

The Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder has reportedly refused an invitation to testify at the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The invitation was made after the committee is investigating allegations of sexual harassment and work misconduct in both the NFL and the Commanders' internal affairs.

On behalf of Snyder, his attorney Karen Patton Seymour refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena sent last Friday. Snyder's spokesperson argued that the committee only provided a single date for Mr. Snyder and he has yet to respond.

However, the recent updates were from the committee’s initial invitation to question both Snyder and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in a hearing last Wednesday, which Snyder declined to attend due to his overseas commitment. Both Snyder’s side and the committee are still discussing a potential subpoena delivery.

Snyder’s response regarding Commanders, NFL allegations

Via a statement released, the committee confirmed that, while they have and will always be open to considering reasonable accommodations made by the witnesses, attempts made to evade the delivery of the subpoena will not be tolerated and are committed to acquiring Snyder’s testimony regarding the allegations

“Mr. Snyder has so far refused to accept service of the committee's subpoena. While the committee has been and remains willing to consider reasonable accommodations requested by the witnesses, we will not tolerate attempts to evade service of a duly authorized subpoena or seek special treatment not afforded to other witnesses who testified in this matter,” the committee in a statement.

The statement released was referring to Snyder refusing to attend hearing invitations on Wednesday, June 22. Initially, at that time, both Snyder and Goodell were to be questioned about the allegations, but the owner declined to attend following overseas commitment as his primary justification for being away from the hearing.

Apparently, committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said that a subpoena was to be issued to have the owner attend the hearing alongside Goodell. This eventually led to Friday’s unsuccessful attempt to send a subpoena via Seymour, which was declined on behalf of her client.

“The committee will not be deterred from obtaining Mr. Snyder's testimony, and we remain committed to ensuring transparency about the toxic workplace culture at the Washington Commanders and the NFL's inadequate response," the statement continued.

On the other hand, a spokesperson revealed that the reason was due to the attorney’s unavailability to attend on the one given date, June 30.

"The Committee offered only one date – June 30 – and Mr. Snyder’s attorney is out of the country and unavailable on that date," the spokesperson said.

According to a source close to the owner, the committee has not been lenient as they only provided one date for future deposition. Additionally, the committee was also not accommodating other scenarios.

The Athletic holds that a committee spokesperson refrained to provide comments about the one-date proposal.

Recap on Commanders’ allegations

In July last year, Snyder was fined $10 million by the NFL after an investigation launched following The Washington Post’s report back in July 2020 that holds 15 former female workers accusing sexual harassment by the Commanders staffers.

The league ended up taking over Snyder’s own investigation surrounding the working culture after the owner was struck by claims of being an overseer in an organization where women were “marginalized, discriminated against and exploited.”

The case keeps on rolling this year as new allegations were made against the owner and the NFL decided to conduct yet another investigation shortly after appointing an attorney.