Outgoing Representative Katie Hill, whose nude photos with a female lover were leaked to the media amid reports about affairs with campaign and congressional staffers, has pledged to fight so-called revenge porn after leaving Congress.
“I will fight to ensure that no one else has to live through what I just experienced. Some people call this electronic assault, digital exploitation, others call it revenge porn. As the victim of it, I call it one of the worst things we can do to our sister and our daughters”, she said in a video address posted on YouTube without elaborating on how she is going to counter these problems.
In the video, which came hot on the heels of Hill announcing her resignation, she lambasted what she described as a “smear campaign”, blaming her “abusive husband” and “hateful political operatives”.
“This coordinated campaign carried out by the right-wing media and Republican opponents, enabling and perpetuating my husband’s abuse by providing him a platform is disgusting and unforgivable”, Hill claimed in her address.
Hill announced that she is resigning on Sunday amid a House ethics probe into allegations that she had a sexual relationship with a staffer from her congressional office, which is prohibited under House rules.
It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I believe it is the best thing for my constituents, my community, and our country.
— Rep. Katie Hill (@RepKatieHill) October 27, 2019
See my official statement below. pic.twitter.com/nG97RQIwvO
She denied any improper involvement with the man in question - her Legislative Director Graham Kelly - admitting only that she had an "inappropriate" affair with a female campaign staffer.
The scandal broke out two weeks ago, after Red State reported that Hill, who is openly bisexual, had developed a "long-term sexual relationship" with a staffer on her congressional campaign. The latter ultimately entered into a "throuple" with Hill's husband, Kenny Heslep, whom she is now trying to divorce. The conservative blog offered screenshots of several alleged text messages between Hill and the staffer, as well as intimate pictures, including a nude photo of the congresswoman.
The outlet also indicated that the congresswoman had been having an affair with Graham Kelly, her legislative director and former campaign finance director, for at least a year.
Later, The Daily Mail posted what is understood to be nude photos of Hill smoking marijuana in 2017, before the drug was legalised and named her lover, Morgan Desjardins. The outgoing representative threatened to file a lawsuit against the tabloid for posting private pictures without her consent.
The allegations came out as Hill, who defeated Republican Representative Steve Knight in 2018 in her district, was facing several GOP rivals in her 2020 congressional campaign.
