Ray Rice: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NY Giants Owner John Mara & Steelers Chief Art Rooney Cleared Of Wrong Doing

It's okay people. We can all relax. Apparently the NFL didn't purposefully mislead us! Former FBI director Robert Mueller today announced that an indecent investigation into the NFL's handling of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case found "no evidence" that the league or any associated league executive "saw or was in possession" of a video that displayed in-elevator footage of Rice hitting and nocking out his then fiancee Janay. Extremely well compensated NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and his buddies, New York Giants owner John Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers chief Art Rooney are all in the clear and apparently didn't lie when punishing Rice, y'know, twice for the same offense. Nothin' to see here folks.

According to a story on NFL.com written by Around The NFL writer Conor Orr, former FBI honcho Mueller's team "searched the computer and mobile phones of Commissioner Roger Goodell as well as other top league staffers," which also included "more than 400 computers" part of the league's network.

Robert Mueller "found no evidence that anymore at the NFL had or saw the in-elevator video before it was publicly shown,'' his report finds.

— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) January 8, 2015

And, following an Associated Press report that said a female at the league office had received an in-elevator tape from the casino where the incident took place (that AP stand by), in addition to logging 1,583 phone calls made to the league office on that day, every single female staffer "whose electronic badge recorded that she was at the league's main office that day" was grilled to find out if they were the one who confirmed the existence of the mysteriously vanished DVD.

Still, even so, as Orr reports, Mueller still "concluded that the league was given more than enough information to hand down an appropriate punishment to Rice the first time."

Mueller's report criticized the league for not taking "additional investigative steps," which "may have obtained more information about what occurred inside the elevator, including possibly securing the in-elevator video." In fact, "they found that League investigators did not contact any of the police officers involved in responding to or investigating the incident for information about the incident."

Ooh. Thorough job, NFL. Anyway. The full report can be found here.

Roger Goodell: I "accept the findings" of the Mueller Report https://t.co/e9ebIwoO6P

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 8, 2015

In a statement on NFL.com, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that he was "grateful" for Mueller's "extremely thorough and detailed investigation," adding that the league "accept his findings and recommendations."

He added his thanks to NFL owners John Mara (of the New York Giants) and Art Rooney (Pittsburgh Steelers) "for their leadership," and talked up "the league's new Conduct Committee chaired by Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill," saying that he looks forward to, um, dealing with them from now on.

He finished saying "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."

Rooney and Mara (not to be confused with Rooney Mara) added that "As owners, we are the first to agree that the NFL did not have a sufficient policy in place to deal with players or other personnel accused of domestic violence," but they're super happy that the league now has "tough and appropriate" measures in place to deal with any further domestic violence.

Most importantly/predictably, they added that Goodell - whose track record of dealing with anything of this nature isn't great - has their full support as league commissioner, saying: "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."

Case closed then. Right?

Roger Goodell failed, so now he's more powerful than ever: https://t.co/S5Ffe7NQyl

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) January 8, 2015