Thread by @jenvanlaar

🧵Today LA County Judge Yolanda Orozco ordered Katie Hill to pay approx $84,000 in atty fees I incurred when she frivolously sued me for truthfully reporting abt her unethical sexual relationship w/an employee and illegal drug use.
Unfortunately, my legal fees were about $35,000

...more than Judge Orozco awarded me – b/c my entire career at stake, I retained the best attys I could find. I'm now on the hook for that balance, and Hill will be playing the victim again.

Despite Hill's claims, the publication of the photos included in my story and in the Daily Mail’s story weren’t “revenge porn” but were matters of public concern and covered by #1A, as Orozco ruled when dismissing Hill’s case. Many legal scholars on both sides of the aisle agree

...that was always the likely outcome, yet Hill still sued RedState, Daily Mail, and me individually - out of spite, as she admitted in a podcast earlier this year. In losing the case she’s playing the victim in the media yet again, making the same untrue claims abt me and abt...

...the case she’s always made and threatening bankruptcy if she’s forced to pay legal fees.

Hill said she was “forced to resign” b/c nude pictures of her were published, and b/c of a consensual relationship. 1st, she wasn’t FORCED to resign. She chose to, and even Nancy Pelosi..

...said she should. 2nd, there are many who don’t believe a sexual relationship btwn a politically powerful boss and their direct report, who’s a decade younger, can be consensual. And Hill forced the woman to apply sunscreen to her during a work event mos after they broke up...

That’s sexual harassment.

The pics of Hill and the woman were proof of an intimate relationship words couldn’t describe. Would Hill have admitted the relationship w/o that proof? The Daily Mail pic also showed her smoking pot, which is still against federal law even if CA legal.

In the same time frame that bong pic was taken Hill had multiple firearms in her home. If she was a medical marijuana user, she's prohibited from using or possessing a firearm under federal law...

My articles also contained text msgs showing those close to Hill were concerned about excessive drinking causing her to miss flights to and from her district, and that the “throuple” relationship was “toxic.”
Hill says that she made a mistake having a relationship w/an employee..

...but had unintentionally blurred the lines, intimating this had never happened before. But as was reported by Daily Mail, she hired her lover once before, when working as Exec Dir of PATH, a homeless non-profit in LA.

So, no, Hill wasn’t “forced to resign” because nude photos of her were published. She’s not the victim of an abusive ex (at least as far as this is concerned) or a political hit. She has a pattern of bad behavior with her employees and paid a price for it.

And now, it seems I’m supposed to pay the price for doing the job a journalist is supposed to do and factually reporting that info. Is that how this should work? Become a journo, break a huge story, get death threats, have your fam harassed at work+school, have a former ...

Congresswoman file a frivolous suit against you individually out of spite, AND be on the hook for $35k in legal fees even when you win. And will she appeal? She says she will. So that's much more in legal fees. I hate to ask for help, but I am. I will have a link tomorrow, and...

...if you're able to help me in this fight for the First Amendment and for truly independent journalism, I would be extremely grateful. Like most Americans - especially single moms with one kid at home still, I don't have $35k laying around. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.