Democratic Rep. Katie Hill announced her resignation from Congress on Sunday amid affair allegations.
“It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress,” Hill wrote in a letter on Twitter. “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.”
Hill was under investigation for allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship with a male congressional staffer. Last weekend, the conservative blog RedState.org published the affair rumors alongside nude photos of Hill. The site also claimed that she and her husband were in a polyamorous relationship with a female staffer.
Hill attributes the scandal to her abusive husband, who she is in the process of divorcing. She claims that he’s orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her.
Hill has consistently denied the affair claims. But earlier this week, she admitted to a completely separate “inappropriate” affair with a female campaign staffer prior to her election to Congress.
“During the final tumultuous years of my abusive marriage, I became involved in a relationship with someone on my campaign,” she wrote on Wednesday. “I know that even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate, but I still allowed it to happen despite my better judgment. For that I apologize.”
She called the leaked photos an “appalling invasion of my privacy.”
“It is also illegal, and we are currently pursuing all of our available legal options,” she wrote in her resignation letter.
“However, I know that as long as I am in Congress, we’ll live fearful of what might come next and how much it will hurt.”
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.
See my official statement below. pic.twitter.com/nG97RQIwvO
— Rep. Katie Hill (@RepKatieHill) October 27, 2019
She said her resignation “needs to happen so that the good people who supported me will bo 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.”
“I can no longer allow my community, family, friends, staff, supporters, and especially the children who look up to me as a role model, to suffer this unprecedented brand of cruelty,” Hill wrote.
Hill became California’s first openly bisexual person to be elected to Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. She has no prior political experience.
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