Mencken-Roy Scandal

by Hierodule

Summary:

The Mencken-Roy Scandal was a sex scandal involving Jeryd Mencken, the 46th President of the United States, and Roman Roy, a freelance digital strategist and the youngest son of late media mogul Logan Roy. Their sexual relationship is speculated to have begun in 2020, although the majority of evidence and testimony comes from around late 2022. The scandal is notable as the personal and professional connections of Roy acting as complicating factors in the investigation of the Madison Election Fire controversy^[1]

Chapter 1: Wikipedia

Mencken-Roy Scandal

---

The Mencken-Roy Scandal was a sex scandal involving Jeryd Mencken, the 46th President of the United States, and Roman Roy, a freelance digital strategist and the youngest son of late media mogul Logan Roy. Their sexual relationship is speculated to have begun in 2020, although the majority of evidence and testimony comes from around late 2022. The scandal is notable as the personal and professional connections of Roy acting as complicating factors in the investigation of the Madison Election Fire controversy^[1]. 

 

Neither President Mencken nor Roman Roy has publicly admitted to the affair despite several key witness accounts, supporting text correspondence from White House staffers, and records showing Roy visiting the Residence at an atypically high frequency for an advisor^[2].

 

The correspondence was requested by special counsel Larry Cade, who was already investigating Mencken on other matters, including possible interference in the 2020 election and ties to white nationalist groups. Several preliminary interviews and statements were collected in preparation for a possible presentment or indictment by a grand jury. However, the special counsel's office found both public and political support waning as the investigation had dragged on for several years, and pursuing impeachment seemed futile given Mencken had already lost reelection. The Cade Report, while an unflattering portrait of the adminstration, ultimatly could not find enough evidence for further legal action. ^[3]

 

This scandal has sometimes been referred to as "Roygate ^[1]" and "Closetgate^[4]"  following the "-gate" moniker for scandals that has been popular since Watergate.

---

Background and Revelation of the Affair

Roman Roy was working as COO for Waystar Royco when he attended a Republican networking event in May 2020, along with other members of the Roy family and Waystar staff^[5]. Most witness accounts place their first meeting at the bar on the first night of the event, and Mencken was later pictured with several Roy family members on the final day for a photo op[6]. The family’s conservative news and political commentary television channel, ATN, has been described as providing biased reporting in favor of Mencken’s leadership bid, and was the first network to declare a Mencken victory during the contested election night vote^[7].

Shortly after losing reelection, Byron Webber, a White House press staff member, leaked a large cache of internal emails, messages, and memos to various press outlets. The correspondence revealed that White House Press Secretary Mark Ravenhead was aware of an affair and experiencing anger and anxiety over a possible exposure^[2]. The scandal first broke on November 19th, 2024, by the Federal Inquirer, which reported that several prominent media outlets, including the formerly Roy-owned ATN, were sitting on the leaked correspondence^[8].

 

Mencken with Roy in June 2020

Roy at Agrestes, 2019

The Leaked Messages

The texts contained correspondence between five senior members of white house staff:

• Mark Ravenhead, Assistant to the President and Press Secretary
• Byron Webber, Assistant Press Secretary
• Edward Curtis, Personal Aide to the President
• Geoff Vega, Director of Scheduling and Advance
• Dylan McCall, Principal Deputy Communications Director

The correspondence revealed several crucial conversations where the participants discussing the affair, as first witnessed by Mark Ravenhead, and discussions on how best to deal with the situation. Proposed solutions ranged from finding ways to bar Roy from the White House to attempts to cover up evidence of the President's improper liaisons. The messages allude to several other staff members, such as the President's Oval Office secretary, Marine Medlock, Chief of Staff to the First Lady Katie Hyde, and references to members of the Secret Service, Chief of Staff Kenton Petkus, and Oval Office staff being aware the relationship was more than professional in nature. In one message, aide Edward Curtis states that the First Lady, Carol Mencken, was aware of the situation ^[2]. Her testimony to the special counsel and her own essay for Vanity Fair would later confirm that Carol Mencken had been at the White House during some of Roy's visits, as noted in the texts  ^[9].

Cade Investigation

In August 2020, Larry Cade was appointed to investigate a possible connection between the Mencken campaign and an Elections Office fire in Madison, Wisconsin. As part of the case, the special counsel had been looking into allegations that ATN's projection team had called the race prematurely given the thin margin between Mencken and Democrat Rick Salgado^[10]. Critics pointed out the media outlet's conservative bias, and power struggles within the Roy family as possible conflicts of interest. The special counsel's office used this connection to expand the purview of the investigation to include the new allegations of impropriety between Roy and Mencken ^[11].

Despite subpoenaing Roman Roy, Carol Mencken, Tom Wombsgans (Roy's brother-in-law, Waystar CEO, and previous chairman at ATN), and the staffers involved in the group chat to give depositions, the primary evidence remained Mark Ravenhead's eyewitness testimony ^[12]. The investigation ended with no prosecution due to a lack of evidence linking Mencken to criminal conduct. There was a consensus among media outlets that the Cade investigation, already expensive and drawn, and a desire for a clean slate for the Eavis presidency led to the investigation release to an underwhelming report on the matter in September 2025. Similarly, several attempts by the House of Representatives to censure Mencken before the end of his term ultimately failed ^[2].

Aftermath

Before the scandal, pundits had speculated that despite losing the election, Mencken's influence with libertarians and evangelicals might be significant enough to run again in 2028. However, polling afterwards showed that the alleged homosexual affair significantly eroded the support within his base ^[13].

Some allies, media figures, and Republicans accused Byron Webber of fabricating the group chats to discredit and defame the President, including allegations that he had been colluding with the Democrats or the Eavis campaign. These conspiracy theories lost traction quickly as Mark Ravenhead and others named in the leaked documents confirmed their veracity under questioning, and by Mencken and Roy's continued association afterward ^[11].

Most of the group chat members were subject to widespread media coverage, and McCall and Vega complained on social media about difficulties finding employment after the incident ^[13]. Mark Ravenhead has returned to his hometown in Maine and has teased starting a podcast ^[14]. Byron Webber received considerable social media attention, and Politico reported that as of March 2025, he had 600,000 followers ^[15] across several social media platforms and has more recently been associated with the controversial far-right activist group Project Verity^[16].
.
Jeryd and Carol Mencken officially announced separation in June 2025, although they were rumoured to be living apart since the January, with Carol Mencken publishing a detailed essay on her experience in Vanity Fair the week the divorce was finalized ^[9]. White House residence staff had noted that the couple never had a particularly warm demeanor towards each other, and there was public speculation that the relationship might haved functioned more as a lavender marriage or business arrangement ^[17]. Response to Carol Mencken's handling of the matter varied, from sympathy as a victim of her husband's indiscretion, to being an enabler of his transgressions and disregard for the office. Her essay was generally well received by the public, though some media outlets cynically noted that it did function as a way of maintaining her public influence ^[18].
Jeryd Mencken and Roman Roy have been photographed in various European countries, but have primarily maintained a low profile. All attempts to obtain an interview with the pair have been denied, as have attempts to seek comments from the Roy family.

Refrences

1. _{Sotelo, Luciana. "One year later. . .What have we learned from RoyGate?". The Washington Post, November 20, 2024.}

2. _{Kosanova, Paula. 2025. Autocrats and Authoritarians: Power, Politics, and the Affair That Shocked a Nation . Edited by Kirsty Lightcap. New York: Conrad}

3. _{Herrara, Phillip M. "A Lackluster End to the Era of the Cade Report". New York Times, July 6, 2025.}

4. _{Brown, Davis. "US Presidency ROCKED by Gay BOMBSHELL". The Daily Mail, November 20, 2024.}

5. _{Oxley, Mariam. "Right Wing Hopefuls and Donors Convene in DC This Weekend ahead of Convention". POLITICO". May 9. 2020}

6. _{Wright, Jackson. "Mencken His Way into the Spotlight!" New York Globe, May 13, 2020.}

7. _{Perry, Darwin. "BREAKING: Jeryd Mencken Projected to Be the next President of the United States". ATN News, November 5, 2020.}

8. _{Black, Oskar. "BLOCKBUSTER REPORT: LOGAN ROY’S SON, FORMER WAYSTAR COO, SEX RELATIONSHIP with PRESIDENT". The Federal Inquirer, November 19, 2024.}

9. _{Salib, Hibah. "ATN-Ticipating Results: Why No One Should Be Surprised to Find the Network at the Center of a Contested Election". The Daily Beast, November 9, 2024}

10. _{Mencken, Carol. "A Helper Fit for Him: Untangling Myself from the Political and Person Web My Husband Spun" Interview by Dina DeRose. Vanity Fair}.

11. _{Zhang, Peter."Cade Report to Expand Its Investigation in Light of Roygate". POLITICO, December 9, 2024.}

12. _{Cumberland, Colleen. 2025. Review of "Ravenhead Addresses the Special Counsel’s Allegations ahead of Deposition". ATN News, January 14, 2025.}

13. _{Mariam, Oxley. 2025. Review of "Polls for Early January: Mencken Unfavorables High as Move out Day Draws Near. Eavis Gets Post Election Bump from Scandal". POLITICO, January 10, 2025.}

14. _{Ravenhead, Mark (@RealMarkRavenhead). "There aren't many platforms left that allow free speech. That's why I am building a new, fresh news site that reflects traditional American values in the 21st century. Keep an eye on this space for my new podcast" Twitter, August 10th, 2025}

15. _{Wright, Jackson. 2025. Review of "BIG ON THE WEB! Former Aide’s Influence at an All Time Online after RoyGate". New York Globe, June 1, 2025.}

16. _{AP Archive. "Byron Spotted at Rally with Controversal Project Verity Founder", September 10, 2025.}
17. _{Wright, Jackson. "The Staff Speak Out!". New York Globe, March 11, 2025.}
18. _{Levy, Primo. "Landing on Her Feet: The Former Mrs Mencken Sweeping Media Tour". The Daily Beast, July 30, 2025.}

 

Notes:

I got the idea back in JANUARY when I saw a faux Wikipedia AO3 fic for Gorbachev. I had never done anything with HTML more complicated than italicizing or bolding text, so some of these work skins really put me thought it. Spent a LOT of time on the wiki page for the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton scandal. I really wanted to post the whole thing at once, but I have been really slogging my way through final drafts and then rendering them in the work skin, and I cannot bear to annoy my succ pals annoy with my neurotic complaining.

So my plan is to post 2-3 chapters each weekend. It will probably be 8 chapters +1 meta where i listed the work skins used, some of the info I had in my head that didn't fit in the format and credit my friends where they helped :D