NFL Owners say Ray Rice investigation will be independent
NEW YORK – The two NFL owners overseeing the investigation into how the league pursued and handled evidence in the Ray Rice domestic violence case pledged Thursday to make the findings of the probe public, and said their goal was “to get the truth.”
New York Giants co-owner John Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney, both close confidants of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, said they would not be conducting or directing the investigation. They said it would have no timeline, and that former FBI director Robert Mueller was set to begin work immediately.
They said the inquiry’s focus will be on what efforts were made to obtain video evidence of the three-time Pro Bowl running back striking his fiancee; if the video arrived at the league office; and what happened to it after it was delivered.
The probe – which the league has called independent – was announced Wednesday hours after The Associated Press reported that a law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, sent a video to an NFL executive in April of Rice striking Janay Palmer at an Atlantic City casino.
Goodell has claimed repeatedly the NFL didn’t see a full account of the fight until Monday, when TMZ posted it. The law enforcement official said he wasn’t authorized to release the video, but wanted the NFL to have it as it decided on the Rice case. He played a voicemail confirming receipt of the video. A female voice expresses thanks and says: “You’re right. It’s terrible.”
As Mueller begins to examine the case, he will likely start with Goodell’s top administrators, who help him run America’s most popular and profitable sport. Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti could also be under the lens.
Mueller, who led the FBI for 12 years, is a partner at WilmerHale, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm with deep ties to the NFL and sports world. Familiar with the NFL, the firm has sent several members on to jobs with teams.
Partner David Donovan spent 20 years at the law firm before joining the Washington Redskins, where he was general counsel and chief operating officer. From 1997 to 2004, current Cleveland Browns President Alec Scheiner was at WilmerHale, where he advised on various sports transactions, worked for current Baltimore Ravens President Dick Cass and did work for the Dallas Cowboys.
The league has turned a critical lens on itself before. In two high-profile investigations under Goodell’s administration, the league found the Patriots guilty of spying on the New York Jets’ defensive signals, and the Saints were found to have run a three-year bounty system for hits by defensive players.
The National Organization for Women said Goodell should resign and an independent committee should be appointed to suggest lasting reforms, calling the Mueller investigation “just window dressing.”