(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Republican Rep. Nancy Mace’s former chief-of-staff has filed a lawsuit against a local political site in response to an article suggesting that she and Mace had an affair.
The former chief-of-staff, Lorie Khatod, filed her lawsuit on August 11 against South Carolina news site FITSNews and its founder, William Folks, in response to an April 21 article they published entitled: “Debate Deflect? Nancy Mace Once Again Hit with Affair Allegations.”
The article reported on a tweet by former Rep. George Santos, who tweeted on April 19 that Mace was “rumored to have an affair with her female chief of staff.” Santos later tweeted that he heard a “nasty political rumor” about Mace and someone named Lori.
Santos didn’t publish the full name of Lori Khatod, but FITSNews did—matching her biography to Santos’s description. However, FITSNews didn’t reach out to Khatod for comment before publishing, and now she’s suing over what she describes as “libelous statements.”
Attention folks!!!
This is DC in a NUTSHELL:
While I was involved with politics and in Congress these are some of the whispers that ran rampant in DC:
Rep. Max Miller of OH remains accused by more than one woman of hitting them.
Rep. Nancy Mace was rumored to have an affair…
— George Santos (@Georgesantos) April 19, 2026
“The statements in the April 21, [2026] article that mentions Plaintiff falsely suggested that she was a lesbian and that she had an inappropriate sexual relationship with her direct supervisor, both of which were and are untrue,” says Khatod’s lawsuit, which was first published by CourtWatch.
“The sole source for the false allegations cited by Defendants in the article was George Santos, who was expelled from Congress on December 1, 2023 by a vote of 311-114,” the lawsuit adds—explaining that Santos pleded guilty to identity theft and wire fraud in August 2024 and was given an 87 month sentence, which was later commuted by President Donald Trump.
“A journalist’s reliance on, or re-posting, anything that Mr. Santos says about anything without substantial corroboration is, in and of itself, reckless disregard for the truth.”
Khatod seeks compensatory and other damages from FITSNews, which has not retracted the article. FITSNews has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
