Dan Snyder says ESPN made a “patently false” allegation in their report about him.
One of the reporters is denying they ever made such a claim.
The embattled Washington Commanders owner is back in the spotlight again, with ESPN’s Don Van Natta, Tisha Thompson and Seth Wickersham publishing a bombshell report on Snyder last week. Arguably the biggest storyline to come out of it was reports that Snyder is collecting dirt on other owners and commissioner Roger Goodell, presumably to deter them from trying to oust him from his role.
Snyder sent a letter to other owners on Tuesday, and in it he takes particular issue with one specific part.
“There is one allegation in the ESPN article that I feel it is important to address immediately,” Snyder wrote. “The article cites unnamed sources who said: ‘they’ve been told that Snyder instructed his law firms to hire private investigators to look into other owners’ and Commissioner Goodell. That is patently false and intended to erode the trust and goodwill between owners that I take quite seriously. I have never instructed or authorized my lawyers to hire any private investigator on my behalf for any such purpose. And I never would.”
Appearing on “Shan and RJ”, Van Natta pointed out that their story didn’t actually say he hired them.
“First of all, remember that we spoke to lots of owners for that story, all on background," Van Natta said. "Some of the owners are sources for the fact that Dan Snyder says he has dirt on some of his fellow owners, on people in the league office and on commissioner Roger Goodell.
"I want to be really clear about what our story said. We report that Dan Snyder has told people he has this information. We never in the story say he has hired them. So in the letter yesterday to his fellow owners, Dan Snyder very, I think carefully, with advice from lawyers, denied something our story never accused him of. We never accused him of hiring investigators through his law firm in New York. We said he says that.
“And by the way guys, this is something that's gotten lost. One of our sources is an owner who heard it directly from Dan Snyder. Dan Snyder told an owner that he has dirt on Jerry Jones, and he also bad-mouthed Jerry Jones in that conversation. So, Snyder is denying something that we didn’t report, but some of the owners know it themselves right out of Dan Snyder’s mouth.
“So he’s writing a letter to them denying something we didn’t say, and it’ll be interesting to see how they react to that because some of the owners were sources of ours for the story we did last Thursday.”
The Commanders in a statement in the ESPN story denied that Snyder “hired or authorized private investigators to track another team's owner and league office executives, including Goodell.”
And as Van Natta said, the mention in the story about Snyder instructing his law first to hire investigators came from sources saying that’s what they were told.
“Multiple owners and league and team sources say they've been told that Snyder instructed his law firms to hire private investigators to look into other owners -- and Goodell," the article reads. “League sources say the NFL is aware that Snyder has claimed to be tracking owners. But none of the owners or sources would reveal how they learned of Snyder's alleged effort to use private investigators.”
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay spoke out against Snyder on Tuesday night, and that could set off even further discussion about Snyder's ability to continue as owner of the Commanders.
And regardless of whether he ends up filing a lawsuit against ESPN, Snyder is going to remain under intense scrutiny.
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