“Let’s discuss with ethics”: Jets owner, as ambassador, fielded requests from wealthy businessmen, records show

When the New York Jets arrive in London for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings — one of three NFL matchups this year being played across the pond — it’ll be a homecoming of sorts for the team’s owner.

Robert Wood Johnson IV, known as “Woody,” was ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration. But if Johnson thought he was leaving football behind when he secured the post of top diplomat to a crucial ally, records show his status as a former (and future) NFL executive followed him. He and his staff repeatedly looped in State Department ethics personnel as wealthy people from both sides of the Atlantic sought favors.

For instance, on April 9, 2018, Johnson received a request from Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, according to documents obtained from the State Department through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“Mr. Khan is going to be in Paris in May for a CEO conference. He would like to bring a group of the CEOs and their spouses to the Embassy in Paris for a tour,” wrote a staffer for Johnson seeking guidance. “With that said, the Ambassador has asked us to check with [redacted] to see if this is something that he can help with.”

The names of many of the senders and recipients of emails obtained by CBS News were redacted by the State Department, citing privacy guidelines. The agency also redacted much of the advice given to Johnson and his staff, citing deliberative privilege.

Khan’s request was “a bit out of the norm for what a (sic) Embassy would do,” wrote one staffer in an email.

Johnson’s requests for guidance came on both personal and professional matters. He asked for advice when Ukrainian-born oligarch Len Blavatnik, a British and American citizen, invited him to an Arsenal soccer “match in his private box.” The advice in response is redacted.

“Let’s discuss with ethics,” Johnson wrote in an email after being asked to sit for an interview with a person writing a biography of Dan Snyder, then the owner of the team that is now the Washington Commanders.

And Johnson’s ties to the Jets occasionally surfaced in requests, as when a man named Robert Lloyd Griffith — then a representative of an organization called the Cardiff Business Club — said in a letter to Johnson that he’d be in New York the day “that the Jets would be playing the Giants and how it would be special for he and his friends to attend the game.”

Ambassadors are appointed by presidents and confirmed by the Senate. While most are career diplomats, many are political appointees awarded the prestigious jobs for their support of the president, according to former Ambassador Dennis Jett, a Penn State University professor. Johnson donated more than $1 million to Trump’s first campaign, inaugural committee and a joint fundraising committee bridging the Republican National Committee and Trump’s first reelection campaign.

Jett in 2016 published research that found a correlation between donations and “the quality of diplomatic posting granted by the candidate,” showing countries with strong economies and popular tourism destinations were often rewarded to high-end donors.

But once those donors become ambassadors, they often face requests that career diplomats in lower-profile posts might not field, Jett said.

“It’s probably a good thing that he sent these to an ethics person, though I don’t know what the ethics person would say. It’s not something that involves his official duties,” said Jett, a critic of Johnson who noted a 2020 State Department inspector general report that alleged Johnson made “inappropriate or insensitive comments on topics … such as religion, sex, or color” to employees.

Johnson denied doing so, and said in response to the report, “if I have unintentionally offended anyone in the execution of my duties, I deeply regret that.” In January 2021, the State Department’s Office of Civil Rights concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated.

A spokesperson for the Jets declined comment after CBS News sent questions for Johnson.

Citing the allegations, Jett said he was “surprised that Johnson has ethical standards high enough” to have sought regular ethics advice.

Johnson even did so when planning his own personal travels. In August 2019, he sought permission to watch a Jets pre-season game in-person, while on personal leave.

“Ambasador – Good news! You can attend the Jets pre-season game. Per the instructions from the State Department Ethics Lawyer, don’t invite anyone with a UK connection to attend the game with you, and no tweets about it. But otherwise, good to go,” wrote then-Deputy Chief of Mission Yael Lempert, a career diplomat.