Katie Hill released a video Monday explaining her reasoning for resigning from Congress after DailyMail.com revealed she was involved in a ‘throuple’ with her husband and a campaign consultant.
The now former Democratic congresswoman for California’s 25th district, just north of Los Angeles, blamed her actions on her ‘abusive husband’ and claimed the ‘right-wing media’ helped provide him a stage to enable his abuse of her.
‘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,’ she said in the video.
‘I will not allow my experience to scare off other young women or girls for running for office. For the sake of all of us we cannot let that happen,’ Hill seemed to say through choked back tears.
‘I’m hurt. I’m angry. The path I saw so clearly for myself is no longer there,’ she continued in a video posted online Monday afternoon. ‘I never claimed to be perfect, but I never thought my imperfections would be weaponized and used to try and destroy me and the community I have loved for my entire life. For that, I am so incredibly sorry.’
Katie Hill released a video Monday, where she appears to be choking back tears, explaining her reasoning behind resigning – insisting her actions and inappropriate relationship with staffers were the result of her abusive husband
Hill posted this message to Twitter along with the nearly four-minute straight-to-camera video
The Democratic congresswoman (left) was in a throuple relationship with campaign worker Morgan Desjardins (center) and her husband Kenny Heslep (right), which fizzled last month
The 32-year-old California representative is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly having an affair with her 31-year-old campaign finance director. Here she is pictured with that staffer Graham Kelly (left), and 24-year-old Morgan Desjardins. Hill denies the relationship with Kelly
Hill quit Sunday, days after DailyMail.com revealed the 32-year-old representative was part of a ‘throuple’ with her husband and a campaign worker and an ethics probe was launched into her alleged affair with another aide.
She announced her resignation in Twitter over fears of ‘what might come next’ following revelations of her inappropriate relationship with a junior staffer and DailyMail.com exclusively publishing last week nude photos of her.
‘It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress,’ she wrote.
‘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.’
She attached a long statement to her tweet, in which she explained: ‘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.’
She repeated parts of her statement in the Monday video that expanded on her resignation.
Hill said in her video Monday that she would be focusing her efforts outside Congress on fighting revenge porn, which she claims she is a victim of following DailyMail.com exclusively revealing nude images of the congresswoman
The married congresswoman also said she would focus her efforts on something new: fighting revenge porn.
‘I will also take up a new fight,’ she vowed. ‘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 a victim of it, I call it one of the worst things we can do to our sisters and our daughters.’
Hill under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly having an affair with her campaign finance director Graham Kelly, which she has vehemently denied.
She’s also was involved in a throuple affair with her husband Kenny Heslep and 24-year-old female campaign worker Morgan Desjardins, which fizzled out just last month.
News of Hill’s relationship with Desjardins, from Santa Clarita, California, and shocking photos, including one of her posing naked while smoking a bong, were revealed by DailyMail.com.
Another photo shows her naked brushing Desjardins’ hair.
‘Congresswoman Katie Hill came to Congress with a powerful commitment to her community and a bright vision for the future, and has made a great contribution as a leader of the Freshman Class,’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Sunday.
‘She has acknowledged errors in judgment that made her continued service as a Member untenable. We must ensure a climate of integrity and dignity in the Congress, and in all workplaces,’ she continued.
Her resignation follows news earlier Sunday that she gave Kelly a hefty $5,000 bonus, which was also the highest handout given to her campaign aides.
Kelly, 31, received a $5,100 bonus on April 27 as a ‘2018 election bonus’ while he served as the legislative director in Kelly’s DC office, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Kelly was one of only four campaign workers who received bonuses, but received the highest. The other received bonuses starting at $2,700, according to the New York Post.
Kelly helped raise more than $8million for Hill’s 2018 campaigns. He was first hired in May 2017 and went on to work on the general-election campaign.
Hill, 32, (left) gave her campaign finance director Graham Kelly, 31 (right), a $5,100 bonus on April 27, which was the highest bonus given out to her staffers
Hill announced her resignation on Twitter, writing: ‘It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress’
Hill has denied having an affair with Kelly. Hill’s estranged husband Kenny Heslep alleged they were romantically involved in a social media post shared last summer when he filed for divorce in LA Superior Court.
In Heslep’s description of Hill’s affair with Graham, he said she had been ‘sleeping with her [male] finance director for the past year at least.’
Hill was embroiled in scandal last week when her affairs were revealed. She admitted on Wednesday to the throuple affair with Morgan Desjardins, calling it ‘inappropriate’ and issuing an apology to her constituents.
In that apology she said that she became involved with the female staffer ‘during the final tumultuous years of my abusive marriage’.
‘I know that even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate, but I still allowed it to happen despite my better judgement. For that I apologize.’
Hill paid Desjardins more than $14,000 as a campaign consultant since April. That sum was in addition to more than $50,000 Desjardins earned after she started working for Hill in 2017, according to federal records.
Desjardins began a relationship with Hill and Hill’s husband Kenny Heslep shortly after she started working for Hill in 2017, before the three-way affair broke down this summer when Hill told both her husband and her lover that she wanted to focus on her work.
Hill said her estranged husband was slandering her by coming forward with the affair allegations saying: ‘The fact is I am going through a divorce from an abusive husband who seems determined to try to humiliate me.’
Katie Hill has been seen in a series of shocking photographs obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com. One of the most scandalous photographs, shows a naked Hill holding a giant bong, taken on September 11, 2017. On her bikini line is a tattoo of a Nazi-era Iron Cross
Desjardins began a relationship with Hill and Heslep shortly after she started working for Hill in 2017, before the three-way affair broke down this summer. Hill is seen here naked brushing Desjardins’ hair. The picture was taken during a holiday to Fairbanks, Alaska the three took together, according to a source close to the throuple
Hill has vehemently denied having an affair with Kelly. Hill’s estranged husband Kenny Heslep alleged they were romantically involved in a social media post shared last summer when he filed for divorce in LA Superior Court. Hill and Kelly pictured together above in November 2018