An Orange County judge on Tuesday barred the ex-boyfriend of U.S. Attorney Katie Porter from contacting her or her children for the next five years and said he abused her domestically by sending a congressman hundreds of threatening and abusive text messages.
Superior Court Judge Elia Naqvi said her restraining order would prevent Julian Willis, 55, from contacting Porter or his family. The order would also bar Willis from interviewing Porter and nine of his current and former colleagues, including staff in his congressional office.
Porter, an Irvine Democrat who is leaving Congress next month, obtained a temporary restraining order against Willis last month.
She said in court that Willis, her ex-boyfriend of 10 years, began bombarding her and her loved ones with text messages alleging “constant abuse and harassment” after she asked him to move out of her Irvine home in August.
Porter said Willis sent more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before he blocked her number. The messages were so frequent that Porter said she feared for her safety and emotional well-being.
Porter said Willis has been hospitalized twice since late 2022 for mental illness and has a history of abusing painkillers and other drugs.
On Tuesday, Porter waited in an Orange courthouse for nearly three hours as a judge worked through a docket of more than a dozen domestic violence charges.
When Porter's trial was called, the courtroom was empty except for two reporters. Porter sat next to his lawyer with his hands folded in his lap, speaking only when the judge asked him a direct question.
Porter said she and Willis had been dating for ten years and that he had never physically abused her.
Porter also said Willis repeatedly violated the November restraining order by continuing to email him and his co-workers.
Porter's attorney, Gerald Singleton, read part of an email he received from Willis that said: “Please inform the court that I have violated the terms of your limited, out-of-state restraining order.”
Singleton said it was “very troubling” that Willis told Porter and law enforcement in New Jersey, where he lives, that the restraining order did not apply to him.
Restraining orders can last up to five years in California. Naqvi said the five-year order was appropriate because the couple had been together for a decade and because it was “deeply troubling” that Willis had repeatedly breached the court order.
Porter declined to comment after the hearing.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing the California Senate Primary in March. He has been discussed as a frontrunner in the 2026 gubernatorial race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom was forced out due to term limits, but he has not said if he will run.
Willis did not appear in court Tuesday and has not formally responded to Porter's allegations. He did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
He previously told the Times that he did not have an attorney and that “the universe will provide me with the right attorney when the time is right.”
Porter's court filing included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications between Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis.
The filing also included text messages between Porter's siblings and Willis when they discussed trying to help him during his mental illness and while he was living in a sober living facility.
In another email Willis sent to Singleton in late November, Willis said he visited Porter's oldest son at college out of state and told him he was “going to bring the hammer down on Katie and shatter her and her life into a million pieces.”
He told Porter's lawyer: “That's what I'm doing – and now you're next on my list, you piece of shit.”
In another email in the filing, Willis told Singleton that she would file a medical complaint against Porter, who has a 12-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight broke out at a Porter town hall meeting in a park in Irvine.
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