The Most Heated Moments From Roger Goodell’s Testimony on Wednesday

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s testimony took place on Wednesday in front of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform, which is currently investigating the Commanders’ workplace culture and owner Dan Snyder’s leadership. Snyder declined to attend today’s hearing earlier this month.

The committee members went all out in their questioning to Goodell, who appeared in court remotely. Wednesday’s hearing provided some pretty wild moments.

To start off the hearing, committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D., N.Y.), made sure to point out the reason why Snyder was absent at the hearing: He is in France on a private yacht. They even left the owner a seat.

Congress plans to subpoena Snyder for a deposition.

The members brought up various different topics apart from the subject matter at hand, mostly involving other political issues in the country at the moment. At some points, it got out of hand.

For example, Goodell was asked about the infant formula shortage, the tampon shortage and even about gas prices. Rep. Byron Donalds (R., Fla.) continued to go off about these topics even when Rep. Maloney was banging the gavel for him to stop so the committee could focus back on the topic of the Commanders.

Some of the members continued to ask Goodell irrelevant questions to the NFL case because they argued that the other issues were bigger than this Commanders workplace case. Goodell said how he was only prepared to answer questions about the latter.

James Comer (R., Ky.) also used his opening remarks to talk about the state of the country instead of focusing on the specific hearing and case, as shown in the video above.

Tom Brady was even brought up in the hearing, as Pat Fallon (R., Texas) compared the Patriots’ infamous “Deflategate” scandal to Watergate. Fallon referred to Brady as various names, including “The Real Slim Brady.”

During his testimony, Goodell mentioned that he will not be releasing the NFL’s investigation findings in a written report on the case as he wants to keep the participants’ anonymity, despite the fact that multiple people who spoke to the league have called for a full release and full transparency from the NFL. 

On top of this, the commissioner noted that he does not have the authority to remove Snyder as the Commanders owner, though others have noted that he does have the ability to recommend removal to the league’s Executive Committee and begin the process.

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