WWE issued the following statement responding to to Congressman Lee Terry’s comments where he commended Committee Chairman Bobby Rush for calling out Vince McMahon.
Any suggestion made today by Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that I or my organization, WWE, have been uncooperative or that I have in any way âflipped [my] fingerâ at the Committee by not accepting its invitation to testify today is inaccurate and unfair. The WWE has provided over 3,000 pages of documents and cooperated with all requests from the Committee, as we have with similar requests from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The first and only response to our cooperation from the Committee on Energy and Commerce was an invitation to testify at todayâs hearing sent to me by Congressman Rush on January 23, 2008. In that letter, he clearly states that I have the right, according to House rules, to be accompanied by my own counsel. I responded to the invitation to testify by declining for that very reason. My attorney of 20 years, Jerry McDevitt, is unavailable because he is currently representing another client on trial in Pittsburgh, PA (U.S. vs. Cyril Wecht). Since I sent my letter of declination 30 days ago, there had been no response from the Committee until todayâs unfair and inaccurate comments made by members of the Committee. Despite this, as I pledged in my January 28, 2008 letter to the Committee, I remain willing to cooperate fully with the Committee’s inquiry.
WWE also provided two attachments with the statement; A Letter of Declination to Chairman Rush and Chairman Rushâs Invitation to Vince McMahon to Testify.
