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 O’Neill 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 Benghazi’s majority staff, must immediately cease and desist from violating the Congressional Accountability Act’s 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 Committee’s 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,

! Thomas J. Jarrard Joseph A. Napiltonia Peter Romer-Friedman

Counsel to Major Bradley Podliska

/s/ Thomas J. Jarrard