George Papadopoulos has been accused of contributing to the demise of former Rep. Katie Hill in order to run for her seat in Congress.
Hill, 32, resigned from her seat on Sunday after leaked nude photographs confirmed she was having an affair with members of her staff, prompting Papadopoulos, 32, to file to run for her now-vacant congressional seat on Tuesday.
Papadopoulos, however, has been accused of knowing that Hill’s seat was vulnerable before any photographs surfaced.
At 8:41 p.m. on Oct. 17, Papadopoulos tweeted that Hill’s seat may be up for grabs in 2020.
[Related: Katie Hill becomes the first female member of Congress to quit over sex scandal]
California’s 25th congressional district looks like it’s for the taking ??
— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) October 18, 2019
This tweet has left some wondering if Papadopoulos was involved in leaking the photographs to members of the press because the RedState article that first included pictures of Hill didn’t publish until Oct. 18 at 5:04 p.m.
Several people have taken this to mean that Papadopoulos was somehow involved in the decision to leak Hill’s photographs.
Evidence is coming to light u may have had advance knowledge and planned exposing Katie’s personal life, consensual btw, yet you a felon who worked worked foreign govs to manipulate our elections in 2016 are attempting it again. @FBI is there any cause for concern
— JJ Dancing Shoes ??☮✊??❄? (@JJTurnUpdaMusic) October 30, 2019
Conspiring to facilitate revenge porn is punishable in CA by up to 6 months in prison.
— MRW (@marcyrw) October 30, 2019
He knew about the revenge porn
— Daniel M. J. (@DanielMJ83) October 30, 2019
Criminal recidivism in action.
— Dan Martineau (@dandandanitup) October 30, 2019
Reports including photograph of Hill drew the most national attention, but there were accusations of an affair between the congresswoman and her legislative aide that were published by RedState before Papadopoulos’ tweet on Oct. 17.
On Oct. 10, RedState reported that Hill had an affair with her legislative director Graham Kelly. Hill denied the relationship with Kelly, although she admitted to having an affair with another campaign staffer. The relationship with Kelly would have been against House ethics and later sparked an investigation by the committee.
Papadopoulos was convicted and served 12 days after lying to the FBI about his relationship with people linked to Russia while serving as a campaign adviser to President Trump’s 2016 campaign.
