Katie Hill Blames Trump, Kavanaugh, Business Executives and 'Right-Wing Media' in Her Final House Speech
Rep. Katie Hill gave her final speech in the House of Representatives before her resignation, appearing to blame President Donald Trump, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the right-wing media for putting her, and other women like her, in an inferior position and pushing her out of office.
“I am leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality, and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse,” the California Democrat said.
“I’m leaving but we have men who have been credibly accused of intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in board rooms, on the Supreme Court, in this very body and worst of all, in the Oval Office,” she said, making apparent jabs at Trump and Kavanaugh, among others.
Hill’s last day in office will be Friday and in her Thursday speech, she said that her final act was voting in favor of the formal rules in Trump’s impeachment inquiry.
“I’m leaving because there is only one investigation that deserves the attention of this country and that’s the one we voted on today,” she said.
“Today, as my final act, I voted to move forward with the impeachment of Donald Trump on behalf of the women of the United States of America.”
Hill said that her colleagues would have to continue the fight for change without her.
“We have an entire culture that has to change and we see it in stark clarity today,” she said. “The forces of revenge by a bitter, jealous man, cyber exploitation and sexual shaming that target our gender and a large segment of society that fears and hates powerful women have combined to push a young woman out of power and say that she doesn’t belong here.
“Yet a man who brags about his sexual predation, who’s had dozens of women come forward to accuse him of sexual assault, who pushes policies that are uniquely harmful to women and who has filled the courts with judges who proudly rule to deprive women of the most fundamental right to control their own bodies sits in the highest office of the land.”
This message of fighting for women was echoed in a video Hill posted on Monday.
“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 sisters and our daughters,” she said in the video.
“I will not allow my experience to scare off other young women or girls from running for office. For the sake of all of us, we cannot let that happen,” she said.
Hill also pointed a finger at conservative media in her Thursday speech and Monday video. A conservative website, RedState, was the first to publish allegations about Hill’s private life.
On Thursday, Hill said that she “didn’t want to be peddled by papers and blogs and websites, used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics that I’ve ever seen, and the right-wing media to drive clicks and expand their audience by distributing intimate photos of me taken without my knowledge, let alone my consent, for the sexual entertainment of millions.”
In her video, she added, “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, and they will be held accountable.”
Hill announced on Sunday that she was resigning amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into an alleged improper relationship with Graham Kelly, her legislative director.
Such relationships are banned under ethics rules. Hill, who is openly bisexual, has also admitted to an affair with a former campaign aide who has been identified as 24-year-old Morgan Desjardins, according to the Washington Examiner.
Provocative images of Hill were also published online, including some in the Daily Mail, which defied a cease-and-desist order from Hill’s attorneys to take down the images. The images included one in which Hill was combing the hair of Desjardins while nude. Other images purported to show Hill with a bong.
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