U
ucrenegade
Guest
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...-report-ray-rice-vide-roger-goodell/21450561/
Former FBI director Robert Mueller's investigation into the NFL's pursuit and handling of evidence in the Ray Rice domestic violence case found no proof anyone at the league office received or viewed a video of Rice punching out his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City casino elevator until the tape became public.
The 96-page report, posted online Thursday, concluded with a series of recommendations for the league based on findings that "demonstrate the weaknesses inherent in the League's longstanding practice of deferring to the criminal justice system with respect to the investigation of facts and the imposition of discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy."
But the allegation that prompted the NFL to tab Mueller on Sept. 10 to lead an "independent" investigation — a law enforcement official telling the Associated Press that he mailed a copy of the tape to the league's head of security five months before it was published on TMZ.com and had a voicemail from a female employee confirming its receipt — was not substantiated, the report said.
PDF: Mueller report
PDF: Executive summary
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, senior vice president of security Jeffrey Miller and other league officials "emphatically and unequivocally denied having seen the video before its public release on September 8, or having heard any fact, rumor, or gossip that the video had been received by the League prior to its release," the report said.
USA TODAY
Brennan: NFL cleared on Rice video, but owners see lessons
Interviews with more than 200 league employees yielded the same answers, the report said. That included interviews with "every female employee, contractor, vendor, or intern whose electronic badge recorded that she was in the League's main office on April 9, the date the alleged call was made" — 188 total, all of whom denied making the call "or even hearing a rumor that an in-elevator video of the Rice incident had been received."
Investigators also "collected, searched, and analyzed millions of documents, emails, and text messages from the League's network." But they "uncovered no forensic evidence that, prior to September 8, the in-elevator video was received, downloaded, inserted into, or viewed on: (i) any League computer, mobile phone, or tablet used by senior League officials or someone reporting to them; (ii) any network file share used by those League officials; or (iii) any of the other 404 devices connected to the League's network that we searched."
The Associated Press declined to cooperate in the investigation, the report said.
USA TODAY
NFL owners express full confidence in Roger Goodell in wake of Mueller report
"We are grateful to Director Mueller for conducting an extremely thorough and detailed investigation, and we accept his findings and recommendations," Goodell said in a statement Thursday. "I want to express my appreciation to John Mara and Art Rooney for their leadership. Director Mueller made a series of very constructive observations and recommendations regarding our prior investigatory procedures. We have already addressed many of these points in the revisions to the Personal Conduct Policy that were announced last month.
"While this investigation has now concluded, our focus on the underlying issues and our commitment to positive change remain as strong as ever. We have all learned a great deal in the past months and expect to be judged by how we lead going forward on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault."
New York Giants co-owner John Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II, who were selected to oversee Mueller's investigation, released a joint statement shortly after the report's release, acknowledging the case "has tarnished the reputation of the NFL due to our failure to hand out proper punishments" and calling it a wake-up call.
But the statement from Mara and Rooney ended with support for the person who has taken the brunt of the blame: "It is clear to us that Commissioner Goodell was forthright in the statements he made to the owners about this matter, and we have every confidence that Roger Goodell is the right person to lead the league as we move forward."
Despite Mueller's findings, a women's rights group said Thursday the report further backed their claim that Goodell "must go."
"Under Goodell's tenure, more than 55 cases of domestic abuse went unanswered. The NFL has a clear domestic abuse problem and it simply doesn't have the leadership to fix it," UltraViolet co-founder Nita Chaudhary said in a statement. "It's clear from this report that Goodell's NFL took no initiative to uncover the facts in this case – a continuation of Goodell's long record of ignoring this issue."
The NFL initially suspended Rice just two games for the incident, which occurred Feb. 15, despite an earlier video showing the then-Baltimore Ravens running back dragging an unconscious Janay Palmer — now his wife — out of the elevator.
That led to substantial backlash and a promise from Goodell to toughen up the NFL's domestic violence policy. But it wasn't until the second video surfaced that the league suspended Rice indefinitely and the Ravens released him. An arbitrator later overturned Rice's indefinite ban, but he remains a free agent.
USA TODAY
How Robert Mueller conducted his NFL investigation
The report described the NFL's attempt to independently investigate the Rice incident as "limited" with "largely unsuccessful" attempts to obtain information from the Atlantic City Police Department and obtaining other legal documents either through the Ravens or waiting to get a copy of Rice's indictment until after Rice had entered a pretrial intervention program.
Mueller found that Goodell made his decision in July to suspend Rice for only two games based on "basic information supplemented by public media reports," the report said, adding that though the league's investigation was limited, the league had "substantial information" about what occurred inside the elevator that warranted additional investigation.
The report said investigators analyzed 51 computers, 42 tablet and mobile devices and two external storage devices, including those of Goodell, Miller, NFL general counsel Jeff Pash and senior vice president of law and labor policy Adolpho Birch. The investigation "imaged" the devices to determine whether the original file of the in-elevator video ever reached the league offices before it was publicly released, but found no evidence of that.
Additionally, the investigation analyzed each of the 1,583 phone calls made from the NFL offices April 9, the date on which the AP said there was a time-stamped voicemail acknowledging receipt of the video.
USA TODAY
Mueller report: 188 women interviewed denied receiving Ray Rice video
When the Mueller investigation found no evidence of phone calls made from the league office, it also interviewed every female employee or contractor that was in the league office on April 9, and established an anonymous tip line on which employees could call with any pertinent information about the AP source or the video.
The report states no calls were received.
Former FBI director Robert Mueller's investigation into the NFL's pursuit and handling of evidence in the Ray Rice domestic violence case found no proof anyone at the league office received or viewed a video of Rice punching out his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City casino elevator until the tape became public.
The 96-page report, posted online Thursday, concluded with a series of recommendations for the league based on findings that "demonstrate the weaknesses inherent in the League's longstanding practice of deferring to the criminal justice system with respect to the investigation of facts and the imposition of discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy."
But the allegation that prompted the NFL to tab Mueller on Sept. 10 to lead an "independent" investigation — a law enforcement official telling the Associated Press that he mailed a copy of the tape to the league's head of security five months before it was published on TMZ.com and had a voicemail from a female employee confirming its receipt — was not substantiated, the report said.
PDF: Mueller report
PDF: Executive summary
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, senior vice president of security Jeffrey Miller and other league officials "emphatically and unequivocally denied having seen the video before its public release on September 8, or having heard any fact, rumor, or gossip that the video had been received by the League prior to its release," the report said.
USA TODAY
Brennan: NFL cleared on Rice video, but owners see lessons
Interviews with more than 200 league employees yielded the same answers, the report said. That included interviews with "every female employee, contractor, vendor, or intern whose electronic badge recorded that she was in the League's main office on April 9, the date the alleged call was made" — 188 total, all of whom denied making the call "or even hearing a rumor that an in-elevator video of the Rice incident had been received."
Investigators also "collected, searched, and analyzed millions of documents, emails, and text messages from the League's network." But they "uncovered no forensic evidence that, prior to September 8, the in-elevator video was received, downloaded, inserted into, or viewed on: (i) any League computer, mobile phone, or tablet used by senior League officials or someone reporting to them; (ii) any network file share used by those League officials; or (iii) any of the other 404 devices connected to the League's network that we searched."
The Associated Press declined to cooperate in the investigation, the report said.
USA TODAY
NFL owners express full confidence in Roger Goodell in wake of Mueller report
"We are grateful to Director Mueller for conducting an extremely thorough and detailed investigation, and we accept his findings and recommendations," Goodell said in a statement Thursday. "I want to express my appreciation to John Mara and Art Rooney for their leadership. Director Mueller made a series of very constructive observations and recommendations regarding our prior investigatory procedures. We have already addressed many of these points in the revisions to the Personal Conduct Policy that were announced last month.
"While this investigation has now concluded, our focus on the underlying issues and our commitment to positive change remain as strong as ever. We have all learned a great deal in the past months and expect to be judged by how we lead going forward on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault."
New York Giants co-owner John Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II, who were selected to oversee Mueller's investigation, released a joint statement shortly after the report's release, acknowledging the case "has tarnished the reputation of the NFL due to our failure to hand out proper punishments" and calling it a wake-up call.
But the statement from Mara and Rooney ended with support for the person who has taken the brunt of the blame: "It is clear to us that Commissioner Goodell was forthright in the statements he made to the owners about this matter, and we have every confidence that Roger Goodell is the right person to lead the league as we move forward."
Despite Mueller's findings, a women's rights group said Thursday the report further backed their claim that Goodell "must go."
"Under Goodell's tenure, more than 55 cases of domestic abuse went unanswered. The NFL has a clear domestic abuse problem and it simply doesn't have the leadership to fix it," UltraViolet co-founder Nita Chaudhary said in a statement. "It's clear from this report that Goodell's NFL took no initiative to uncover the facts in this case – a continuation of Goodell's long record of ignoring this issue."
The NFL initially suspended Rice just two games for the incident, which occurred Feb. 15, despite an earlier video showing the then-Baltimore Ravens running back dragging an unconscious Janay Palmer — now his wife — out of the elevator.
That led to substantial backlash and a promise from Goodell to toughen up the NFL's domestic violence policy. But it wasn't until the second video surfaced that the league suspended Rice indefinitely and the Ravens released him. An arbitrator later overturned Rice's indefinite ban, but he remains a free agent.
USA TODAY
How Robert Mueller conducted his NFL investigation
The report described the NFL's attempt to independently investigate the Rice incident as "limited" with "largely unsuccessful" attempts to obtain information from the Atlantic City Police Department and obtaining other legal documents either through the Ravens or waiting to get a copy of Rice's indictment until after Rice had entered a pretrial intervention program.
Mueller found that Goodell made his decision in July to suspend Rice for only two games based on "basic information supplemented by public media reports," the report said, adding that though the league's investigation was limited, the league had "substantial information" about what occurred inside the elevator that warranted additional investigation.
The report said investigators analyzed 51 computers, 42 tablet and mobile devices and two external storage devices, including those of Goodell, Miller, NFL general counsel Jeff Pash and senior vice president of law and labor policy Adolpho Birch. The investigation "imaged" the devices to determine whether the original file of the in-elevator video ever reached the league offices before it was publicly released, but found no evidence of that.
Additionally, the investigation analyzed each of the 1,583 phone calls made from the NFL offices April 9, the date on which the AP said there was a time-stamped voicemail acknowledging receipt of the video.
USA TODAY
Mueller report: 188 women interviewed denied receiving Ray Rice video
When the Mueller investigation found no evidence of phone calls made from the league office, it also interviewed every female employee or contractor that was in the league office on April 9, and established an anonymous tip line on which employees could call with any pertinent information about the AP source or the video.
The report states no calls were received.
