Former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III was hired by the NFL late Wednesday night to investigate how league executives handled the investigation and evidence in the Ray Rice domestic violence case.
Earlier on Wednesday,
The Associated Press reported that a police official sent an NFL executive the elevator footage of Rice hitting his then-fiancee in April, five months before it was leaked to the public by TMZ.
The official, who wished to remain anonymous because of the ongoing police investigation, played a 12-second voicemail from the executive's office dated April 9 for an AP reporter. In it, a female office employee confirmed that they'd received the video, and commented, "You're right. It's terrible."
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has long maintained that league executives hadn't seen the footage before it was leaked to the public on Monday. After the AP report was published, league spokesman Greg Aiello reiterated that the league was "not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public."
Upon the appointment of Mueller shortly thereafter, Goodell pledged full cooperation with his independent investigation. Mueller will work with New York Giants owner John Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney in overseeing the investigation.
According to USA Today, the league sent a memo to the NFL's 32 teams on Wednesday, saying it asked law enforcement for the video footage, but not the Atlantic City casino where it took place.
"On multiple occasions, we asked the proper law enforcement authorities to share with us all relevant information, including any video of the incident," read part of the letter.
"Those requests were made to different law enforcement entities, including the New Jersey State Police, the Atlantic City Police Department, the Atlantic County Police Department, and the Atlantic County Solicitor's Office. The requests were first made in February following the incident, and were again made following Mr. Rice's entry into the pre-trial diversion program. None of the law enforcement entities we approached was permitted to provide any video or other investigatory material to us."
Mueller served as director of the FBI from 2001 to 2013.
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