EXCLUSIVE — Recent reporting from ESPN that Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder has amassed blackmail to “blow up” multiple NFL owners is “just a fabrication with a bunch of anonymous sources,” according to a lawyer for the team.
The report cited over 30 anonymous figures and alleged that Snyder has crowed to confidants that top brass within the league can’t touch him because of the dirt he stockpiled on commissioner Roger Goodell and others. But attorney John Brownlee argued that the bombshell report lacked evidence and offered a point-by-point rebuttal of the story.
COMMANDERS OWNER DAN SNYDER BELIEVES ‘DIRT’ ON NFL TOP BRASS CAN PROTECT HIM: REPORT
“It could be all just rumor and innuendo and hearsay because you just don’t know. And that’s the dangerousness of the ESPN article,” Brownlee told the Washington Examiner. “Now, we’re about 36 hours after it’s released, and they still haven’t provided any corroborating evidence of anything.”
Brownlee contended that if dozens of sources believed that Snyder had engaged in the behavior described in the ESPN report or were fearful of reprisal, some corroborating evidence such as a text message, email, or recording would emerge.
A lawsuit against ESPN over the report is “under consideration,” Brownlee added.
“We stand by our reporting,” an ESPN spokesperson told the Washington Examiner in response to Brownlee’s rebuttal.
Among the flurry of accusations lodged against Snyder in the report were assertions from anonymous sources that they believed Snyder tapped his law firms to hire private investigators to dig up dirt on Goodell and other owners. Snyder was described as “paranoid” and “behaving like a mad dog cornered,” among other characterizations.
Brownlee countered that claims that Snyder hired or authorized an investigator to look into Goodell or other NFL owners were “categorically false.” Notably, the allegation echoed sentiments from a House Oversight Committee memo over the summer that he conducted a “shadow investigation” on people who accused him of bad behavior and compiled a dossier of “dirt” on them.
The only instance Brownlee could recall in which Snyder hired a private investigator was to combat allegations from Indian media company Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide that had been tying him to Jeffrey Epstein and levying other assertions Brownlee dubbed “horrible false allegations.”
Brownlee also took aim at the oversight committee memo that detailed an alleged “shadow investigation.” He argued that the “only evidence” the panel relied on to buttress its assertions was a PowerPoint from an investigation into the India matter. When asked for a comment about Brownlee’s contention in the committee’s memo, a spokesperson issued a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Although the Commanders’ owner has recently claimed to have turned over a new leaf, this latest effort to attack and intimidate former employees who have come forward casts doubt on this assertion—as does the team’s continued efforts to block the production of documents to the Committee,” the statement said.
When asked about the motivation behind allegations of Jones’s behavior, Brownlee speculated that money could be a factor. He also claimed that the article was part of a “well-funded, two-year misinformation campaign to coerce the sale of the team.”
“I think the motivation obviously is money. And I think who [is behind it] is a good question,” he said.
Aside from Goodell, perhaps the other biggest name-drop in the ESPN report was about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The report cited a source that said, “Snyder’s already lost Jerry” and claimed that Snyder had “badmouthed” him. Jones has since shrugged off the report.
“Anything in that was news to me,’’ Jones said during a Dallas radio appearance. “I don’t have those kinds of problems … I’ve got a long relationship with Dan … It’s certainly a competitive one on the field and one that is a part of the NFL.’”
Another gripe Brownlee had was reporting that Snyder was accused of sexually harassing a former employee in 2009, including by trying to take off her clothes, groping her, and demanding sex, according to the Washington Post. Court documents indicated the Commanders reached a $1.6 million settlement with her, but Brownlee denied the underlying accusation.
“This matter was investigated through the Beth Wilkinson investigation. I think she interviewed Dan twice, and [Wilkinson] also interviewed the complaining witness in that manner,” he said. “But there were no allegations that I’m aware of that were brought against Dan Schneider himself.”
Brownlee noted that there was a nondisclosure agreement signed in that case, so he was limited in the details he could discuss. Wilkinson was an independent counsel who investigated allegations of a toxic work environment on the team and fined it $10 million. Her investigation has been a focal point for the Oversight Committee.
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The Oversight Committee is investigating Snyder.
Earlier this month, Brownlee’s law partner wrote a letter to the committee raising concerns about the Snyder investigation and received a response from the Katz Banks Kumin law firm, which was involved with the Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault allegation uproar.
“I just found that odd that we got a letter from them and not from the Congress,” he said. “It’s one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen.”
