Matt Schlapp announced the defamation lawsuit against him had been dropped, saying that the ordeal ended without him or the American Conservative Union—the right-wing organization he runs—paying his accuser a single dollar. That's not how it works, though: ACU's insurance company wrote the check. Via the Daily Beast: But what Schlapp didn’t disclose was that the Republican operative who sued him was, in fact, paid to drop the lawsuit, according to two people with knowledge of the payout.