The NFL would like you to believe that it never acquired the surveillance video of Ray Rice punching his now-wife Janay Palmer from law enforcement officials. Pinky swear.
At least that's what commissioner Roger Goodell told CBS News This Morning host Norah O'Donnell today as he tried to salvage what little face he had left in the wake of the scandal surrounding the former Baltimore Ravens running back.
In fact, Goodell goes so far to say that police flat out denied the league access to any footage stating:
We were told that was not something we would have access to. On multiple occasions, we asked for it. And on multiple occasions we were told no. I understand that there may be legal restrictions on them sharing that with us. And we've heard that from attorneys general and former attorneys general.
Now, the Associated Press reports that law enforcement did in fact send NFL executives a full copy of surveillance footage from the incident back in April citing evidence of a 12-second voicemail from an NFL staff member confirming that the video had indeed arrived on April 9.
Goodell originally suspended Rice for two games in July for the domestic violence incident—a decision that was widely panned by pundits and fans. After TMZ released the full tapes on Monday, the Ravens terminated Rice's contract and the league suspended him indefinitely.
The latest revelations further suspicion that Goodell and other top execs had seen the tape and are covering up knowledge of the incident. Calls for Goodell to step down are growing—and some in the press are even floating former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's name as Goodell's replacement.
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