Not even a day after Rep. Katie Hill announced she would resign from Congress, the California Democrat released a video vowing that she will “take up a new fight” against the thing that drove her out of it: revenge porn.
“I have to take my personal fight outside the halls of Congress,” Hill said, at times choking back tears, in the nearly four-minute video. “I will also take up a new fight: I will fight to ensure that no one else has to live through what I just experienced.”
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“Some people call this electronic assault, digital exploitation. Others call it revenge porn,” she continued. “As a victim of it, I call it one of the worst things we can do to our sisters and our daughters.”
When she announced her resignation Sunday evening, Hill cited fear that a revenge porn scheme, allegedly perpetrated by her soon-to-be-ex husband, would cast a shadow over her Congressional duties.
A wave of graphic and sexual images of Hill, 32, were published in conservative outlets earlier this month, along with allegations that she had a sexual relationship with both a member of her campaign staff and her current legislative director, Graham Kelly.
Hill admitted to engaging in a sexual relationship with the campaign staffer, who is not affiliated with her Congressional office, but she denies any improper behavior with Kelly. Last week, the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into the allegations involving Kelly; the relationship would violate House ethics rules if proven true.
Throughout the ordeal, Hill has heavily implied that her husband, who she is in the process of divorcing, leaked the photos.
“I know that as long as I’m in Congress, we’ll live fearful of what might come next and how much it will hurt,” Hill said Sunday in a letter explaining her decision to resign.
“This is what needs to happen so that the good people who supported me will no longer be subjected to the pain inflicted by my abusive husband and the brutality of hateful political operatives who seem to happily provide a platform to a monster who is driving a smear campaign built around cyber exploitation,” Hill continued in her letter.
Hill’s legal team swiftly condemned the Daily Mail’s article, and suggested in a cease and desist letter submitted to the outlet last week that it violated California’s revenge porn laws by publishing the photos.
“Having private photos of personal moments weaponized against me has been an appalling invasion of my privacy,” Hill said in the letter. “It’s also illegal, and we are currently pursuing all of our available legal options.”
“I am not a perfect person and never pretended to be,” she continued. “It’s one of the things that made my race so special.”
It’s a stunning downfall for Hill, who just weeks ago was considered one of the party’s most valuable new members. Hill won her seat during the so-called “blue wave” of voting in the 2018 midterm elections, flipping her solidly red Southern California district that year.
She saw her star rise when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped her to serve as the vice chair of the House Oversight Committee, which has led much of the body’s work in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
In a statement released Sunday, Pelosi acknowledged the “great contribution” Hill made to the slate of freshmen elected to Congress last year, but accepted her resignation.
“She has acknowledged errors in judgment that made her continued service as a member untenable,” Pelosi said, alluding to Hill’s relationship with the campaign staffer. “We must ensure a climate of integrity and dignity in the Congress, and in all workplaces.”
Cover: Katie Hill on stage at day 2 of TheWrap’s Power Women’s Summit at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, California on November 2, 2018. Credit: Faye Sadou/MediaPunch /IPX
