Following a six-week private investigation into “serious allegations” of “improper behavior” by Rep. Danny Williams, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert is referring the matter to the House Rules Committee for review and consideration of potential expulsion proceedings.
Since June, Williams (R-Seminole) has been suspended from committees, relieved of his legislative assistant privilege and moved from the speaker’s fourth-floor hallway to a smaller fifth-floor office. For weeks, the situation has created curiosity at the Oklahoma State Capitol, with few details available to inquiring minds beyond assurances from the speaker’s office that the allegations were serious and that the investigation was being conducted appropriately.
On Thursday, Hilbert (R-Bristow) emailed all Oklahoma House members to declare House Rules Committee Chairman Mike Osburn as the point of contact for anyone with questions about the situation. Hilbert said he “became aware of a complaint” against Williams “earlier this summer” and that he initially directed Jason Sutton, chief of operations and administration for the House, to “speak to a witness of the alleged incident.”
“After this interview was conducted, it became clear that a thorough review of the situation and other allegations that arose during the interview was necessary,” Hilbert wrote. “Immediately, Speaker Pro Tem (Anthony) Moore (R-Clinton) and I requested and then held a meeting in my office with Representative Williams where we informed him of the House hiring an external firm to conduct a thorough investigation, that he was indefinitely suspended from his committee chairmanships, and removed from his physical office space on the fourth floor pending this investigation.”
Williams answered a phone call earlier Thursday but declined to discuss the situation.
“I’m not sure what all you’re talking about, and I’ve been told to not speak about it publicly,” Williams said.
Asked what he has been told by House leaders, Williams replied: “I’ve been told not to talk about it.”
“I’ve not had a real chance to respond to it, so I don’t want to make any comment,” Williams said. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but I can’t say anything right now because I really don’t have anything to say.”
Asked about Hilbert referring the matter to his House Rules Committee, Osburn (R-Edmond) said in a statement that he will work “to schedule a meeting as soon as schedules allow.”
“I spoke to Speaker Hilbert today and stand ready to review both the internal and external investigation results in a fair and balanced way, as is afforded any duly-elected member of the Legislature,” Osburn said. “This is not the first time the House Rules Committee has served this role, and I know my committee members will join me in these efforts as we determine the best next steps for Rep. Williams and the House of Representatives.”
A spokesperson for Hilbert confirmed last week that Williams was being investigated for allegations of “inappropriate behavior,” but she declined to discuss the accusations against Williams — or who was leading the inquiry — owing to concern for the delicate dynamics faced by state employees who reported problematic experiences with an elected official.
Asked about his email to House members, Hilbert released a short statement Thursday.
“From the moment these allegations were brought to my attention, I took immediate action to ensure they were handled seriously,” Hilbert said. “I have referred the matter to the House Rules Committee in line with precedent set in January of 2017. My responsibility is to ensure allegations are investigated thoroughly and the institution responds to serious allegations made by House employees appropriately.”
In Hilbert’s email Thursday, he revealed that the law firm of Fuller Tubb Bickford Warmington & Panach had been retained to conduct the investigation and that statements from “eight current or former employees of the House” and “supporting documentation” had been reviewed.
“Our House HR division and the external firm focused their fact finding on alleged improper behavior towards House staff,” Hilbert wrote. “However, during the investigation additional concerns of potential misuse of state resources emerged. The matter of use of state resources is likewise being reviewed to determine if it should also be referred to the House Rules Committee and/or the Ethics Commission upon completion of the investigation.”
Williams, 76, is set to face Democrat Blake Cummings in the Nov. 3 general election for House District 28, which Williams has represented as a Republican since the 2020 election.
The founder of a telecom firm called Strategic Communications, Williams previously represented the Seminole County area’s House district as a Democrat from 1988 to 1994, when he ran for governor instead of reelection and finished third in a four-way primary.
Because State Question 632 implemented 12-year term limits for legislators starting with the 1992 election cycle, Williams remains eligible to serve two more two-year terms in the House.
Thursday proved to be a busy day for Williams politically. The group Public Servants Prayer tagged Williams and two of his House Republican colleagues in a Facebook post saying the organization was “praying” for them. Hours later — but before Hilbert emailed House members — Mike Mazzei posted on Facebook to announce that Williams had endorsed his bid for governor.
“I’m proud to have the endorsement of State Representative Danny Williams,” Mazzei posted. “Danny has spent his career fighting for Oklahoma’s kids and families, and I’m grateful to have him standing with our campaign.”
The Mazzei post included a quote from Williams.
“I’ve spent my career fighting for Oklahoma’s kids and families, and that’s why Mike Mazzei’s plan matters to me,” Williams said. “His commitment to childhood literacy means more of our children learn to read and get a real shot at the future they deserve, and his tax relief lets working families and seniors keep more of what they earn. Mike has a plan built around the people I represent, and he has my proud endorsement.”
On June 9, Williams’ wife made a Facebook post that she subsequently deleted. In it, she suggested that Satan was working “to destroy that whom God has appointed to do good.”
“Satan is alive and well on Capitol Hill!” Joyce Garrison Northrup posted. “Trusted friends and colleagues will turn on a dime and seek to destroy that whom God has appointed to do good. Good old politics and devious people join forces to take out anyone who doesn’t toe the line and follow like a sheep to slaughter. Please pray more than ever, that God will prevail and what was meant for evil will end in victory over the dark forces. Betrayal is a hard pill to swallow, but it will all come around some day and hopefully convict, and yes, destroy, satanic influences.”
Williams said Thursday he was unaware of the now-deleted post.
“I haven’t seen anything she’s posted, so I don’t know about that,” he said.
Williams investigated in shadow of Waldron issue
The move to hire an external attorney to investigate sitting members of the Oklahoma House has precedent. In 2019, the House hired an attorney to review allegations made against two members, with the hired investigator “unable to substantiate” the claims.
As Hilbert noted Thursday, so does his decision to assign the matter to a House committee for a public review process.
In early 2017, the House established a special investigative committee to review allegations against then-Rep. Dan Kirby (R-Tulsa) and then-Rep. Will Fourkiller (D-Stilwell), each of whom was accused of sexual misconduct at the Capitol. The committee recommended expulsion for Kirby, who subsequently resigned, and censure for Fourkiller, who chose not to seek reelection. House Democrats declined to participate in the committee’s review, suggesting it did not constitute an impartial process.
By the time allegations surfaced against Kirby — who was accused of harassing his legislative assistant — and Fourkiller — who was accused of making sexualized statements to teenage House pages — how the House handles allegations against members had already been of some controversy. The Oklahoman’s editorial board wrote in 2017 that concerns about the Kirby and Fourkiller investigative committee should revive discussions about formalizing “a standard procedure to deal with future incidents.”
“Five years ago, after one of its members had gotten into hot water, the state House of Representatives considered establishing a standard procedure to evaluate ethics-related issues,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote in January 2017. “Members ultimately rejected the proposal in a vote that current House occupants might wish had gone the other way.”
How allegations against House members are or are not investigated drew much discussion earlier this session when NonDoc revealed that Rep. John Waldron (D-Tulsa) had resigned as chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party in late 2025 after meeting with a potential candidate for office, taking a selfie with the woman and then texting her a sexualized AI-generated image of them kissing.
Waldron admitted to and apologized for creating the image and sending it to the woman, who has not been identified publicly.
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson (D-OKC) claimed in April that she “took swift action” after the woman who received the AI-generated image contacted her. Munson said the woman wanted Waldron to resign as Democratic Party chairman — but not as House District 77’s representative — and Munson said that “protecting the privacy of the victim has always been my priority.”
Munson and Waldron confirmed that he was temporarily suspended from the House Democratic Caucus in February and was set to be reinstated to the caucus Monday, April 13, before NonDoc published a story on the situation April 10. Asked about Waldron’s caucus suspension, Munson did not specify what review or inquiry was conducted into Waldron by her office and staff.
Hilbert, meanwhile, emphasized that he only learned of Waldron’s actions from the April 10 article, and he encouraged Munson to provide him whatever information she had gathered.
“If there was an investigation by the minority caucus, I have not seen it. I have not seen the findings of it. They have not spoken to me about any findings,” Hilbert said April 16. “If there is anything else going on, certainly I would want to know any other allegations or anything along those lines and take that through a process of vetting any of those [allegations].”
Munson said April 23 that she did not provide Hilbert information about Waldron.
“There is nothing to provide to the speaker,” Munson said.
Waldron was defeated in the June 16 Democratic primary by Kristina Gabriel, who received 82.7 percent support. Gabriel will be sworn into office in November as other candidate filed for the HD 77 seat.
Asked about Munson’s decision not to report Waldron’s actions to his office or reveal them publicly, Hilbert said April 30 that it was “interesting how they kept it covered up and didn’t say anything about it until after the (candidate) filing deadline” April 3.
“I don’t think that’s a good way to handle things,” Hilbert said. “[House Democratic leaders] are the ones with all the evidence, and based on their own testimony and comments and public interviews, they knew about this for several months, kept it covered up and didn’t say a word about it until past the filing deadline. That was a decision they made and certainly not how I would have handled it if I were in their shoes.”
With Williams facing an opponent in November, the findings of the House inquiry will likely be of significant interest to House District 28 residents.
“As speaker of the House, we hold our members to a high standard, because we are the representatives of people,” Hilbert said April 16 when asked about the Waldron situation.
If the House Rules Committee determines Williams’ conduct warrants his removal from office, a two-thirds vote of his colleagues may expel him from the Legislature. No member of the Oklahoma Legislature has ever been expelled, according to the Oklahoma Almanac. Most members facing scandal opt to resign before an expulsion vote.
While no legislator has been expelled, two have been “suspended” following a felony conviction: former House Speaker Dan Draper and Majority Floor Leader Joe Fitzgibbon. Both men were convicted for their involvement in an absentee ballot scheme in 1983, triggering their suspension from office under the Oklahoma Constitution.
Last week, an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesman said the agency had not been requested to investigate any matter related to Williams.
Read Hilbert’s full email to House members
Members
Earlier this summer I became aware of a complaint against Representative Williams alleging improper conduct towards one of our House employees. Upon receiving this complaint, I directed Jason Sutton, our Chief of Operations and Administration, to speak to a witness of the alleged incident. After this interview was conducted, it became clear that a thorough review of the situation and other allegations that arose during the interview was necessary.
Immediately, Speaker Pro Tem (Anthony) Moore and I requested and then held a meeting in my office with Representative Williams where we informed him of the House hiring an external firm to conduct a thorough investigation, that he was indefinitely suspended from his committee chairmanships, and removed from his physical office space on the fourth floor pending this investigation.
This week, the external investigating firm, Fuller Tubb Bickford Warmington & Panach, PLLC, completed their fact finding review of eight current or former employees of the House and supporting documentation.
Based upon the findings of two separate investigations, one by our internal Human Resources Division and the other by the external firm, effective immediately, I have referred this matter to the House Rules Committee.
Our House HR Division and the external firm focused their fact finding on alleged improper behavior towards House staff. However, during the investigation additional concerns of potential misuse of state resources emerged. The matter of use of state resources is likewise being reviewed to determine if it should also be referred to the House Rules Committee and/or the Ethics Commission upon completion of the investigation.
The House Rules Committee is handling these matters in accordance with House precedent, following the example of January-February 2017.
Please refer any questions related to these matters to House Rules Committee Chairman, Mike Osburn.
Thank you
– Kyle
