Why did Wells refuse another interview with McNally?

Wells asked to interview McNally, for the 2nd/5th time depending on what is counted. McNally/the Patriots agreed to the interview by telephone, but declined it in person. Why did Wells not do a phone interview?

I'm curious to know how many times McNally was actually interviewed. I assume Kraft wouldn't lie about it while we've already seen Wells lie multiple times.

Fencer said:

Wells asked to interview McNally, for the 2nd/5th time depending on what is counted. McNally/the Patriots agreed to the interview by telephone, but declined it in person. Why did Wells not do a phone interview?

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What is the source of the statement that the Patriots agreed to a phone interview?
Wells said the Patriots 'refused, he said he would drive to NH, morning, day or night, and the Patriots said they wouldn't even tell McNally that Wells wanted to talk".

Also curious in that Kelly Naqi posted McNallys address and Wells had his phone number, so he could have done it without asking the Patriots for permission.
This is another part of the 'set up' in my opinion.
They put the Patriots in a position where they required them to approve every step, so as soon as they disagreed they were not complying.
Under what rule did the Patriots need to approve them contacting McNally?

it is not McNally's fault it takes Wells that many times to ask the right question

Froob said:

I'm curious to know how many times McNally was actually interviewed. I assume Kraft wouldn't lie about it while we've already seen Wells lie multiple times.

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It sounds like NFL security interviewed McNally three times, he's quoted in the report on multiple dates but some of them were conducted by NFL security. Wells interviewed McNally once.

According to Wells they uncovered some text messages after his initial interview and wanted to speak with him again. From there things get a bit cloudy and it depends on who you believe. Wells contends that he was willing to fly to NH to speak with McNally but was granted no additional access. The Patriots contend that he would have been available for a phone interview but nothing else and Wells declined.

Regardless, what's the point of a follow-up if Wells has already contended in the report that he doesn't believe McNally and thus interpreted his texts and his actions the way he wants to? Seriously, what would a follow-up have revealed other than 'I still don't believe McNally so these texts will be spun the way I want them to be spun'?

To give Wells the pretense to say "the Patriots didn't cooperate".

/Capt.Obvious.Mode

AndyJohnson said:

Also curious in that Kelly Naqi posted McNallys address and Wells had his phone number, so he could have done it without asking the Patriots for permission.

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I don't disagree with other points you've made but this isn't true; Wells couldn't contact McNally directly, he's granted council and Wells has to go through the proper channels for any contact to be made. Contacting him directly is a serious offense from what I've read, disbarment-type serious.

Peachhead said:

To give Wells the pretense to say "the Patriots didn't cooperate".

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Exactly. If he wanted questions answered there is no reason a phone call wouldn't have accomplished that.

If contacting him directly is a serious offense, then I don't see how the Patriots interfered -- it was McNally's lawyer (also maybe the Patriots laywer) that interfered.

I think a logical explanation is McNally calling up the Patriots and saying "This Wells guy wants to interview me again. I've already done 4 interviews, do I really need to do another". And then the Patriots saying "how about if its just a phone call". And McNally agreeing.

Now just because McNally doesnt want to do an in-person interview, why did Wells decide not to do the phone interview? Wells has no reason not to do the phone interview except that he's able to place blame -- and hence in his and the NFL's mind -- that blame provides fake proof that McNally was hiding something

hambone1818 said:

I don't disagree with other points you've made but this isn't true; Wells couldn't contact McNally directly, he's granted council and Wells has to go through the proper channels for any contact to be made. Contacting him directly is a serious offense from what I've read, disbarment-type serious.

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I find it hard to believe that he was not allowed to request interviews directly with people of interest to his investigation.

Ivan said:

Exactly. If he wanted questions answered there is no reason a phone call wouldn't have accomplished that.

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Wells wanted to confront McNally with texts and other info he didn't have for the first interview. He wanted to put him on the spot with other lawyers and try to make him crack. That is much harder to do over the phone, especially if there is a coach present. Wells figured labeling the Pats as uncooperative would provide more ammo than a phone call with a coached McNally.

I suspect the Patriots had the PSI numbers and not the text exchange. Patriots believe case is closed and any further investigation is a witch hunt by the slimeball Wells in attempt to bill more hours. Considering he is a part time employee, they decided decline the interview.

Dougkdp said:

I suspect the Patriots had the PSI numbers and not the text exchange. Patriots believe case is closed and any further investigation is a witch hunt by the slimeball Wells in attempt to bill more hours. Considering he is a part time employee, they decided decline the interview.

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Except that the Patriots didn't outright decline the access to McNally for the 5th interview as Wells claimed. They said that McNally could be interviewed by phone. And this was to accommodate McNally's full-time job.

This is just one of the many lies that Wells has made..

I'd be interested in seeing the timeline for the NFL Security interviews. What did they learn in those 3 interviews and what changed, if anything, after the second interview that they decided they needed a third? And when did these happen in relation to Wells becoming involved in the investigation? By comparison, how many interviews did Jastremski go through?

I'd also be interested in knowing when the Patriots turned over all the electronic information. I know they announced pretty early on that they were cooperating fully and would turn all that information over, but when did it happen and how long did it take the investigators to review the information on the phones?

What I'm wondering is, if Wells had all the information from McNally's 1st three interviews, was he waiting on the text information when he did the 4th interview? If he didn't have the text information, what could he hope to learn beyond meeting McNally in person and rehashing what McNally had said in previous interviews? Why not wait until he had all the text information and then proceed? It's not like he was under a deadline to complete the investigation.

From @Fencer

Wells asked to interview McNally, for the 2nd/5th time depending on what is counted. McNally/the Patriots agreed to the interview by telephone, but declined it in person. Why did Wells not do a phone interview?

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"Gotcha" moments are a lot more difficult to pull off via telephone. Wells wanted to try pressuring McNally with the "Deflator" and "ESPN" texts, but that would have been much less impactful via telephone.

From @Froob

I'm curious to know how many times McNally was actually interviewed. I assume Kraft wouldn't lie about it while we've already seen Wells lie multiple times.

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According to reports, there were 3 meetings between McNally and the league, as well as 1 meeting between McNally and Wells.

Where is the information that the Patriots offered a phone interview coming from? Is it corrobrated? I've heard it many times but don't know the source.

AndyJohnson said:

Is it corrobrated? I've heard it many times but don't know the source.

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And that's a relevant standard of evidence in this case -- why?

Deus Irae said:

From @Fencer

"Gotcha" moments are a lot more difficult to pull off via telephone. Wells wanted to try pressuring McNally with the "Deflator" and "ESPN" texts, but that would have been much less impactful via telephone.

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A fair point.

On the other hand, if he had an open mind to the possibility of an innocent explanation, or if Goodell was being remotely truthful when he said that the report was also meant to honestly assess the NFL's own actions, he would have been interested in the answer even so.

Wells was trying to make the strongest possible case for punishment. Period. And then he submitted a report that was reasonably honest about the strengths and (mainly) weaknesses of the case he'd succeeded in making, and -- given that he was expected to find Patriots to punish -- exactly which Patriots would be least-terrible targets for the punishment Goodell's bosses wanted him to find a way to hand down.

AndyJohnson said:

What is the source of the statement that the Patriots agreed to a phone interview?

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http://nesn.com/2015/05/report-jim-mcnally-was-willing-to-be-questioned-over-phone-nfl-declined/

Report: Jim McNally Was Willing To Be Questioned Over Phone; NFL Declined


McNally, the Patriots’ officials locker room attendant, agreed to be interviewed over the phone, but the NFL declined his offer, a league source told ProFootballTalk.

He didn’t want to participate in another in-person interview at least partially because he had been “ambushed at his home by ESPN’s Kelly Naqi based on a perceived leak from her husband, a former league-office employee who now works for the Jaguars"

here's the PFT article this one refers to:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...me-made-it-easier-for-nfl-to-hammer-patriots/

Fencer said:

And that's a relevant standard of evidence in this case -- why?

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No, I'm curious whether it is fact or rumor. Apparently source is an NFL source to PFT.