October 12, 2015

CEASE AND DESIST FROM VIOLATING 2 U.S.C. 1416

Russell Gore
Mark Stewart Hayes
Office of House Employment Counsel
U.S. House of Representatives
4300 ONeill Federal Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Re:

Bradley F. Podliska v. House Select Committee on Benghazi

Dear Mr. Gore and Mr. Hayes,

Your clients, Chairman Trey Gowdy and the Select Committee on Benghazis majority staff,
must immediately cease and desist from violating the Congressional Accountability Acts
prohibition on the disclosure of the content of mediation. See 2 U.S.C. 1416(a)-(b).
Today, both Politico and the Washington Post reported that Chairman Gowdy and the Benghazi
Committees majority staff disclosed materials and information from the mediation. They also
quoted Chairman Gowdy allegedly describing private settlement discussions between the parties
that must be treated as confidential under the Congressional Accountability Act, and surely
Chairman Gowdy, as a lawyer, knows that he is not permitted to publicly disclose private
settlement discussions.
Aside from the deliberate falsity of those characterizations, both you and your clients know that
the public disclosures made by Chairman Gowdy and the Benghazi Committee clearly violate
both the Congressional Accountability Act and the Mediation and Confidentiality Agreement that
you both signed.
Please confirm that your clients will immediately stop violating the Congressional
Accountability Act and the Mediation and Confidentiality Agreement.
Sincerely,

/s/ Thomas J. Jarrard

Thomas J. Jarrard

!
Joseph A. Napiltonia
Peter Romer-Friedman
Counsel to Major Bradley Podliska