ICYMI, check out Parts One and Two of The Snyder Files, our deep dive into the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of sexual harassment within the Washington Football Team. Now onto Part Three…
The Daniel Snyder deposition is pretty tiresome to read. It seems like it was tiresome for those directly involved, also — his testimony lasted over nine hours, and by the time it was over it was after one in the morning in Israel, where Snyder was testifying from. Reading it is annoying because it’s full of Zoom interference, repetitive questions from both sides,* and Snyder insisting he doesn’t recall things he must obviously recall. At one point, someone says a question has been asked “ad nauseam” and the other side hears it as “have nausea” and starts making jokes about it. It just goes in circles, and after nearly 300 pages, not much is really revealed…
*The Majority counsel, which was led by the Democrats on the committee, spends most of its time trying to “nail” Snyder in pretty ham-handed ways. It’s pretty clear what narrative they’re going for, and all he has to do is say “I don’t recall” 50 or 100 times and nothing really is accomplished. On the other hand, the Minority counsel’s line of questioning is kind of funny. Since the Republicans seem more intent on embarrassing Democrats on the committee, they spend most of their time asking versions of, “Your organization seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?” Which is pretty ridiculous, given that they’re talking to DANIEL SNYDER, probably the most reviled owner in American professional sports, even before this whole scandal broke out.
But one of the most interesting, if very annoying, things about Snyder’s testimony is how he moves back and forth from “I” to “we” when discussing the team. Let’s look at some examples.
First, here’s Snyder talking about hiring Beth Wilkinson to do an investigation of the allegations published in the Washington Post, with the first person pronouns in bold:
A: We started – we wanted to look into our culture. So we started in 2020, July of 2020, looking into it.
Q: And this investigation is the one that was led by Beth Wilkinson; correct?
A: Yes.
[...]
Q: Did you provide any instructions to your team about the Wilkinson investigation and how to cooperate?
A: Yes. We sent out multiple times emails to all members of the organization, feel free to speak to her. Jason Wright, I believe, also sent out as well.
Q: So the message you gave to the organization is to fully cooperate with Beth Wilkinson's investigation?
A: Yes.
And now here he is talking about the conclusion of that same investigation:
Q: Do you believe that she should have drafted a report in connection with an investigation that you supported and you wanted to be thorough and you suggested that the NFL take over in order to make sure that the public had confidence in the investigation, did you believe that that should have culminated in a written report?
A: I wasn’t involved. We weren’t involved in the investigation, so I didn’t have an opinion. We just went through -- I did two interviews, answering all the questions.
Q: Sitting here today, do you think she should have written a report after she concluded her investigation?
A: I don’t have an opinion.
So “we” started an investigation and fully participated in it, but also “I” wasn’t involved in that investigation and have no opinion about how it should have gone…
OK, let’s do another. Here’s Snyder talking about the need to change the team’s culture:
A: We just thought we had some work to do on the culture, and what we needed as a head coach was a mature culture-setting coach. We started there. As I mentioned, we hired Coach Rivera the beginning of 2020. And as I also said earlier, we got to the business side – and would have gotten there earlier too had it not been for COVID.
And here he is responding to testimony that former president Brian Lafemina brought those culture problems to his attention in 2018:
Q: Mr. Snyder, you talked at length about how important the people in your organization are, how important it is to have a respectful workplace. And yet, it’s your testimony now that the president of the team brings to your attention harassment by one of your most senior executives and tells you about the urgent need for training and an assessment of the HR function, that you have no recollection of that?
A: I don’t recollect this conversation you’re referring to. I don't have any recollection.
Q: Isn’t the president of your team raising a big red flag about sexual harassment in 2018 and the absence of a proper HR function, one that might not be in compliance with law, isn’t that a big red flag that you would remember?
A: I’m just telling you what I – I don’t remember this document and I don’t recall that conversation you’re referring to.
OK, so “we” were very concerned about the culture and thought there was work to do to change it, but also “I” have no memory of being told that the culture needed to change…
Alright, let’s do one more. Here he is talking about his defamation lawsuit against an Indian website, which the committee contends was merely a legal tactic to catch whoever had been the sources for the Washington Post story:
Q: Mr. Snyder, was it the purpose of this investigation and these subpoenas to determine who the sources of The Washington Post stories were?
A: No. We wanted to find out who else was involved. This – in this India defamation, I mentioned Jeffrey Epstein as sort of the main headline, but there was so much else in India, such as paying millions of dollars to referees, to sex and Gruden – Jay Gruden, et cetera. And our findings and facts were all transparent and given to former Attorney General Lynch and the National Football League, and that's it.
And here he is talking about how those finding and facts were uncovered:
Q: Did you send private investigators to the home of Brad Baker’s ex-wife? Or did someone on your behalf, Reed Smith specifically, send private investigators to Brad Baker's ex-wife’s home?
A: I’m not sure. You know, I gave it to the attorneys, and the attorneys followed whatever leads they were looking into. It was all regarding India. It was all regarding the defamation, and they were just looking – searching for the facts.
Q: So is it your testimony today that you did not have any conversations with your lawyers at Reed Smith about Brad Baker and private investigators?
A: I don’t remember Brad Baker. I don’t know Brad Baker.
Q: Did the NFL ever tell to you stand down from sending private investigators or using private investigators to approach people in their homes or other places of business?
A: Our attorneys spoke with their attorneys, I think, from time to time.
Q: Is that a “yes”?
A: I wasn’t on those calls.
So “we” really wanted to find out who was involved and present “our” findings to the NFL but also “I” don’t remember anything about who was involved or how those findings were found…
This happens over and over again throughout the deposition. There is some kind of magical transubstantiation whereby Daniel Snyder is able to speak for the Commanders — to even express feelings and opinions as if the team itself had thoughts and emotions — while simultaneously not being personally responsible or even aware of anything going on inside the team. WE did this and were really concerned about that, but I had no involvement in this and have no recollection of that…
Really, this move is the essence of capitalism: the privatization of collective gains. WE do the work and I get the profits. On some level, there is nothing remarkable about what Snyder is saying. The Washington Football Team is a big organization. It has a football side and a business side, with hundreds of employees and multiple locations. Obviously no single person can know everything that goes on inside a place like that. It is a collective.
And yet, because Snyder is the owner, he stands in a position of singular power over that collective, speaking for that collective, and reaping the profits generated by that collective. At various times throughout the deposition, Snyder says things like, “I owned the team so I was responsible” and “I take full responsibility” except he never actually takes personal responsibility. He personally never knows anything, has never seen that document, doesn’t remember that conversation, can’t comment on that allegation, wasn’t there when that happened, didn’t personally witness anything to that effect, was not involved in the day-to-day, never met that person, or let the lawyers handle that.
On some level, this is obviously just legalistic weaseling. Nobody paying attention to Washington football since 1999 really believes that Snyder is an absentee owner who doesn’t know what’s going on inside his own team. He has obviously had a profound impact on the team, and these denials are just an attempt to deflect criticism and legal responsibility.
But this is also a reminder that Snyder’s impact on the team has been entirely negative. That’s in part because Snyder seems like a terrible person, but it’s also because the owner’s role is purely extractive. If we take everything Snyder says at face value, if we assume he did nothing at all to contribute to any harmful culture inside the franchise and that his influence was totally benign, then his entire role was to siphon money off a profitable enterprise while a toxic work culture festered for over a decade.
And if we are more honest, we realize that Snyder likely caused or at least contributed to this toxic culture because A) he profited from it, as the owner, and B) he was never punished for it, since owners face no accountability. It is not just Snyder’s personal moral failings — although he seems to have more than most people, based on this investigation — but his position AS THE OWNER that encourages this behavior and these abuses.
The problem, as always, is capitalism. It is a system where costs are socialized, but gains are privatized. When it comes time to count the money or accept the trophy, the owner is an “I” — but when you’re in front of Congress facing the fallout for decades of harassment, suddenly we’re a “we.” WE should probably fix that, and I have some ideas…