Former Commanders employees demand removal of 'sexualized' photos of cheerleaders

WASHINGTON - Lawyers representing more than 40 former Washington Commanders employees are demanding that House Republicans remove "sexualized and salacious photographs" of former team cheerleaders from any congressional records.

The images were included in a Republican Oversight Committee memorandum about House Democrats’ investigation of the team. They were originally sent by former Team President Bruce Allen, and in the memo, the women’s faces and some body parts are blacked out.

"It was not necessary," former team employee Megan Imbert said Tuesday. "They could have made their point by talking about what it was or what the attachments were, but they in essence shared these, which is exactly what we haven’t wanted to have happen."

The lawyers, Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, wrote that the pictures were "apparently disseminated to advance team owner Dan Snyder’s persistent but discredited narrative that Bruce Allen, and not Mr. Snyder, was responsible for the sexually hostile and misogynistic team culture."

Banks and Katz also said, "Our clients are both humiliated and incensed by the GOP’s reckless dissemination of these photographs in an official Congressional document.  They also feel retaliated against by Republican Committee members who have apparently chosen to embarrass them publicly for coming forward."

Republicans on the Oversight Committee see things differently. An aide released a statement to FOX 5 Tuesday, writing in part, "From the start, Democrats cherry-picked facts to support their fabricated narrative rather than conduct a fulsome investigation. Republicans issued an internal memo that included information showing that there is more evidence to be considered. Prior to circulating the internal memo, Committee staff took steps to ensure all sensitive images involving cheerleaders were redacted and their identities kept confidential."

Still, former cheerleader Melanie Coburn said the notion that people don’t know who these women are is wrong.

"Maybe they don’t know," explained Coburn, "but I know, and anybody in the program knows, and most of the fans can probably figure it out based on the calendars and the other website photos that are out there circulating for public view."