Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on Sunday said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would need to resign if he did lie about what the league knew about Ray Rice’s domestic assault and the video of him hitting his fiancee.
“Initially I wanted him lead the reform to actually create and enforce a zero-tolerance policy,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” but said she could change her mind.
“If he lied to the American people, he has to step down. Because he won’t have the forceful authority to change how they address these issues,” she said.
According to reports, the NFL may have seen the full video of Rice hitting his then-fiancee Janay Palmer. The league had said that it did not obtain a copy of he full video.
Gillibrand said there’s an institutional problem in the NFL, as well as in the military and on college campuses, with how they treat women.
“The institution gathers and surrounds their star player, their golden boy, whomever it may be, without any regard for the victim and survivors, without any regard for women,” she said. “Are women being valued? Are they being valued by these institutions?”
