NFL Executives Definitely Got the Ray Rice Elevator Tape Months Ago

The entire crux of the NFL’s pathetic justification for not throwing woman-puncher Ray Rice on his ass earlier this year was executives’ dubious claim that no NFL officials had seen elevator surveillance footage showing just how brutal the attack was until TMZ released it Monday. Well. Turns out, at least one of them had.

According to the AP, a law enforcement official has proof that not only did he send the tape to NFL execs, he has a voicemail from the NFL offices confirming that the tape was “terrible.” The kicker? The voicemail was left by a woman.

The law enforcement official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says he had no further communication with any NFL employee and can’t confirm anyone watched the video. The person said they were unauthorized to release the video but shared it unsolicited, because they wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice’s punishment.

The NFL has repeatedly said it asked for but could not obtain the video of Rice hitting Janay Palmer — who is now his wife — at an Atlantic City casino in February.

The league says it has no record of the video, and no one in the league office had seen it until TMZ released it. When asked about the voicemail Wednesday, NFL officials repeated their assertion that no league official had seen the video before Monday.