Ok… how about looking at it from a different angle. SafeSport essentially called McDonald a liar in the OC Register article. Seriously. They did. They essentially said he’s lying about multiple aspects of this matter.
It seems possible to easily prove who is lying… McDonald or SafeSport. Soooo… why doesn’t he go after them for libel/defamation? CLEARLY if SafeSport is full of BS on this whole case, they have caused material harm to McDonald’s reputation.
I went back to the OC Register article, and copied a specific portion of it to make my point:
*** Start of quoted content ****
“I don’t know why you’re digging into something that has already been dropped,” McDonald said during a brief telephone interview this week, referring to the allegations
“All of it is not true.”
McDonald, in fact, was not cleared by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a SafeSport spokesman said this week.
SafeSport officials decided to issue an “administrative closure” because of the reluctance of the two alleged victims to participate in the arbitration process. The victims each had concerns about how the center had conducted its initial investigation, according to four people familiar with the case and SafeSport documents.
SafeSport has the option of reopening the case, the spokesman said.
McDonald alleges SafeSport dropped the case after he provided the center additional information prior to an arbitration hearing triggered by his appeal of the lifetime ban.
SafeSport, however, in especially strong terms for the center, said both of McDonald’s assertions that the allegations against him were “proven false,” and that the case had been dropped because of new information, were “not true.”
“Absolutely not,” Dan Hill, a spokesman for SafeSport, said this week.
“The center is aware of his statement and it is not accurate as far as the center’s position,” Hill said.
Any additional information McDonald might have provided SafeSport, Hill said, had “absolutely nothing to do with the center’s” decision regarding arbitration.
McDonald denied knowing K.D. during the telephone interview. He was then informed that K.D. had provided SCNG photos of McDonald riding “Charlie” a horse she said she owned, a photo of Debbie McDonald riding the same horse, of Bob McDonald water skiing, McDonald driving a boat on the Colorado River, and of a ski boat K.D. said McDonald owned. The name of the boat was “Hot to Trott,” she said.
“I don’t know that person,” McDonald responded.
He also denied knowing the second alleged victim in the phone interview.
“I don’t know her,” he said.
A day after McDonald’s denial, his attorney said “He did not deny knowing (the second alleged victim.)”
When asked what additional information he had provided SafeSport prior to arbitration, McDonald referred the question and further questions to his attorney.
“You appear to be quoting from the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s Notice of Decision or Investigative Report, both of which are confidential documents under the SafeSport Code,” Howard Jacobs, McDonald’s attorney, said in a statement to SCNG. “I am sure that you are aware that whoever provided this to you, which I presume to be one or more of the claimants, violated the SafeSport Code by sharing that document or documents with you.
“In any event, SafeSport’s Notice of Decision and Investigative Report represent SafeSport’s belief, and none of the allegations have been heard by a neutral fact-finder. Bob McDonald was prepared to present his defense to these false allegations to a neutral arbitrator, and an arbitration date had been selected, when the U.S. Center for SafeSport suddenly closed the case. In notifying Mr. McDonald that it was closing the case, the U.S. Center for SafeSport specifically advised that the Notice of Decision (which I believe is the very document you have quoted to me) had been withdrawn and that all sanction(s) imposed therein were lifted. Under those circumstances, we disagree that SafeSport could re-open the case; but in any event, there has been no indication that it intends to do so.”
Jacobs added: “Mr. McDonald does not recall (K.D.).”
SafeSport documents contradict McDonald’s assertion that he was not given a chance by the center to defend himself during the investigation.
“Unfortunately, the system in place does not allow for individuals to be given the opportunity to effectively defend any of the allegations prior to a ban,” McDonald said in a statement at the time of his banishment.
In fact, the SafeSport report cites McDonald’s “refusal to participate” with the investigation.
McDonald on Jan. 30, 2020, his birthday, received from SafeSport “a written copy of the Notice of Allegations,” according to the center’s report. McDonald, the report said, “denied several repeated, written requests” over a four-month period “to participate meaningfully in an interview with the Center Investigator.”
“I will not produce myself for interviews with the U.S. Center for SafeSport due to the Center’s use of the single investigator model and the lack of substantive and procedural process and lack of substantive and procedural process rights of provided by the Center’s code,” McDonald said in a May 14 sworn affidavit he provided SafeSport.
McDonald also threatened to sue SafeSport in U.S. District Court.
*** End of Quoted Content ***
Okay. So let’s think about this. McDonald’s defense all along has been that these are allegations from a long time ago, the whole case was built on nothing but an allegation from an individual, and he was never provided a fair chance to defend himself and his reputation during the investigative process. And then in August, after SafeSport backed off with respect to his scheduled arbitration challenge… he took it a step further. He actually made quotes to Nancy Jaffer alleging that they backed off because of evidence he provided one week before his hearing, and said he was then “cleared” of the allegations against him… here is quoted content from an August 21, 2020 report Jaffer released about this
*** Start of Quoted Content ***
McDonald was suspended in June, pending an appeal. While arbitration was pending, he provided more information to SafeSport on August 21. Then, a week later, he was notified that all sanctions had been lifted.
He and his wife, U.S. Dressage Technical Advisor Debbie McDonald, were relieved that after more than two emotionally and financially draining months, their nightmare is over.
“The accusations were false, they were always false and were proven to be false. It’s simple enough,” said McDonald, who is semi-retired.
SafeSport is the “exclusive authority” investigating and prosecuting allegations of sexual abuse within Olympic and Paralympic sport.
While a spokesman for the organization could not comment on the specifics of the case, he stated, “SafeSport’s mission is to make athlete well-being the centerpiece of sport culture.
“It fulfills its critical purpose through policies, resources and tools aimed at preventing abuse as well as those that allow the Center to hold individuals accountable. Every matter is unique which is why the Center is equipped with tools, policies and procedures to account for the many variables inherent in this important and highly sensitive work. One such tool allows SafeSport to return to a matter when and if additional information is made available, including the participation of key witnesses. Such a decision is not taken lightly and is only made in the interest of fulfilling the Center’s mission.”
When contacted, the USEF said in a statement, “We do not have any details on the decision made by the U.S. Center for SafeSport. All information with regard to the case remains confidential in accordance with the policies of the Center. Mr. McDonald has been fully reinstated as a USEF member.”
McDonald noted that when the case against him was made public, supporters stood behind him.
“They said they know me, and they know that this isn’t me. That’s what kept me going the whole time,” noted McDonald, 73, whose career also included time as a horse show judge.
“I got letters from people I taught 50 and 45 years ago, saying I had changed their lives and they wanted me to know they were the better for it. That let me know in 50 years of doing this, some good came from it.”
As his wife commented, “It was amazing to see how many names I’d forgotten who came forward and said (of the accusation) `There’s no way. If you need anything, let us know.’
While thanking those who supported her husband and herself, she stated, “We are relieved and grateful to hear that the lifetime ban against my husband, Bob, has been lifted and that the case is closed, but we are by no means considering this a celebration.
“He has never wavered his position on the accusations being false and we are both appreciative of all of our family, friends and supporters who have encouraged us and supported us during this time. From the beginning we cooperated and allowed the process to take place with SafeSport. Bob understood the seriousness of the accusations and that is why we were committed to clearing his name. We do not take any type of abuse lightly. There is nothing worse than having your character, or the character of a loved one questioned.”
While the ban was in effect, Bob McDonald was prohibited from participating in any activities or competitions licensed, endorsed or sponsored by the USEF, and was not allowed to attend shows.
At the time the accusation was made, McDonald said, “It is beyond heartbreaking to see the reputation that I have painstakingly built throughout my career be tarnished by an allegation of misconduct from 47 years ago.”
*** End of Quoted Content ***
So here’s my point. Read both reports I quoted. Both sides of this story can not be true. Either Bob and Debbie were carefully deceptive in their representations to the entire community last August about how the SafeSport investigation was conducted, whether or not they cooperated with the investigation, whether or not he ever had a chance to meaningfully defend himself against the charges that were made against him, whether or not he submitted evidence to SafeSport a week before his arbitration date that clears him of these allegations, and… oh yeah…
Whether or not SafeSport dropped out of the arbitration BECAUSE he had provided evidence clearing himself of these charges…
OR
SafeSport representative Dan Hill defamed and libeled Bob McDonald when providing commentary to the OC Register for their Feb. 5, 2021 article pushing back on Bob abs Debbie’s position.
It really seems like a total either/or to me.
From where I’m sitting, it looks like Bob McDonald lied last August, and thought he would get away with it because he thought the whole report would remain secret. And then the claimant decided to come forward to the media. And yea… that is problematic because it was all supposed to remain confidential. But now we have a fair amount of info to look at. And it looks like McDonald has been deceptive about multiple aspects of this mess. In fact, it seems like he was deceptive when speaking to this reporter, Scott Reid, it seems like he was questioned, and then a day later, a new lawyer for McDonald got back with the reporter, abs tried to clean up the mess.
Anyway… that’s my take on it. But feel free to disagree. But it seems pretty clear that McDonald has lied about aspects of this investigation to the public. And he comes off as self serving and narcissistic.
And the specific portion where he claims to Scott Reid of the OC Register to not even know who both of these claimants were (his lawyer later changed it to not remembering them)…
Yeah. That part in particular is disturbing to me. Clearly they remember him. According to K.D., when she looks back at what she remembers happening between her and McDonald:
“I don’t know how to explain it other than to say that being raped was like someone stealing your soul,” she said. “You’re just gone afterwards. It’s almost like you’re not even there.”
Really awful sad stuff.
