NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Hours after internal emails revealed a seemingly intentional effort to misconstrue COVID-19 numbers on Broadway, Tennessee politicians are demanding answers from Nashville Mayor John Cooper.

“Tennesseans deserve transparency. They deserve to know the truth,” wrote Congressman Mark Green in an official letter to Cooper.

The 1-page directive asks three specific questions:

1) Who made the call to conceal these statistics?
2) What did you know about these statistics, and when?
3) What was the reasoning behind concealing these statistics?

The letter came about an hour after Governor Bill Lee held a press conference where he implied Nashville’s reopening plan was not consistent with the state’s mode of action.

“My approach has been to lift restrictions on businesses as soon as possible,” explained Lee. “It’s been to utilize best practices from a health standpoint to protect the lives of Tennesseans and mitigate the spread of the virus.”

While Governor Lee does not have authority over Nashville’s governing, he did make this statement:

“I think we need to get Nashville’s economy moving forward,” said Lee, “We need to be less restrictive on businesses. Particularly businesses that we haven’t seen a correlation to COVID 19 cases and rises. We need Nashville to open up. We need conventions to be here. We need to operate safely, but we need to get our economy moving forward.”

A lawsuit has been filed against the city by Broadway business owners. The suit accuses the Mayor’s office of keeping specific COVID-19 information quiet.