Senator tells NFL commissioner to "seriously" consider resigning

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should "seriously" consider resigning his position over the way the league handled a domestic violence incident involving Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota, come under fire over the NFL's initial two-game suspension of Rice after security footage showed him dragging his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, out of an elevator. In an exclusive interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell Tuesday, Goodell said that the NFL requested to view the video from inside the elevator - the one that surfaced this week, showing Rice punching Palmer - but was never allowed to see it.

"We were told that was not something we would have access to. On multiple occasions, we asked for it. And on multiple occasions we were told no. I understand that there may be legal restrictions on them sharing that with us," he told O'Donnell.

In a letter to Goodell Wednesday, 12 Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee said the NFL should offer more information about their request to view the video, how law enforcement responded, where else they tried to seek a copy of the video.

"Given the important role the NFL and the other major professional sports leagues can play in shaping public perceptions concerning domestic violence, it would appear to be in the public interest to have the highest level of transparency associated with reviews of potential misconduct," read the letter, which was signed by the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, and 11 of his colleagues.

Heitkamp appears to be the only senator who has called on the league commissioner to step down, but others have criticized the punishment Rice originally received.

Sen. John McCain, R.-Arizona, told TMZ Goodell now has "credibility issues," but stopped short of calling for the commissioner's resignation.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, said that Rice should have been fired "right there and then" when the NFL saw the original footage.

"They handled it so poorly," she said on MSNBC Wednesday. "I'm so furious about this because there were no facts at issue -- he admitted to beating his wife. We saw the video of him dragging her out of an elevator. There was nothing left to be discussed. He should've been fired right there and then."

On Monday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, issued a statement saying the video "emphasizes how egregiously weak and wrong the initial penalty against Ray Rice was - as the Commissioner has acknowledged - and it constitutes new, powerful evidence that requires the Commissioner to reconsider and reach a stronger punishment."

The same day as Blumenthal released his statement, the Ravens cut Rice from the roster and the NFL announced it had indefinitely suspended him.

And on Tuesday, Blumenthal suggested on CNN that Congress might consider "tax incentives for stronger penalties" from the NFL for domestic violence, or reevaluate the communication privileges receives under federal law. But, he said, he would prefer to see the issue handled voluntarily by the league.

"Congress can't change the culture of the NFL, which is really reflective of the rules," he said.

Blumenthal, along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, and Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, sent a letter to Goodell and the Ravens in July asking that they develop procedures for handling domestic violence incidents and give Rice a harsher penalty.

"The decision to suspend Mr. Rice for a mere two games sends the inescapable message that the NFL does not take domestic or intimate-partner violence with the seriousness they deserve," they wrote at the time. "As has been widely pointed out, the NFL has imposed longer suspensions for offenses such as non-violent breaches of banned-substances policies and breaking NCAA rules by selling memorabilia."

They called Rice's suspension at the time "disturbingly lenient."

Blumenthal has declined to weigh in on whether Condoleezza Rice, who has previously expressed interest in becoming NFL commissioner, should take over for Goodell.

"The focus here really ought to be not whose running the NFL, but what is she or he doing, and Roger Goodell can do the right thing here by stiffening the penalties and changing the culture," he said on CNN Tuesday.