The sudden resignation last week of California Democrat Representative Katie Hill over her sex scandal means that she will not have to answer questions from the House Ethics Committee about allegations that she had a sexual relationship with a male congressional staffer.
In resigning, “Hill did manage to escape a full investigation from the House Ethics Committee, which generally shuts down any probes once a lawmaker leaves office because the panel no longer has jurisdiction,” The Washington Post reported. “Hill will never have to answer detailed questions about when her relationship started with her campaign staffer and whether it continued after she took office in January.”
The Post added, “She, and her aides, will not have to undergo inquiries into her ex-husband’s allegation on social media that Hill also had a relationship with a senior aide in her congressional office — something that became expressly forbidden when the House updated its rules in early 2018.”
The scandal involving Hill erupted last month when RedState published photographs of Hill involved in relations with a female campaign staffer — something that Hill admitted to.
“During the final tumultuous years of my abusive marriage, I became involved in a relationship with someone on my campaign,” Hill wrote in a letter. “I know that even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate, but I still allowed it to happen against my better judgement. For that I apologize.”
However, Hill adamantly denied that she was involved in a relationship with a congressional staffer, Graham Kelly.
“This smear campaign will not get in the way of the work I am doing every day to move our district and our country forward,” Hill said in a public statement. “Allegations that I have been involved in a relationship with Mr. Kelly are absolutely false.”
The scandal involving Hill also included lewd photographs that were leaked to RedState and The Daily Mail, with the photographs leaked to The Daily Mail being the more embarrassing of the two.
“Hill’s wild lifestyle has been laid bare in a cache of texts and intimate photographs obtained by DailyMail.com, as sources revealed Hill and Helsep also posted her naked photos online under a thread called ‘WouldYouF**kMyWife’,” The Daily Mail reported. “The picture also shows an iron cross tattoo on Hill’s pubic area, similar to the symbols formerly used by white supremacists referencing a World War II Nazi medal.”
The Anti-Defamation League reports that the Iron Cross is “a famous German military medal dating back to the 19th century. During the 1930s, the Nazi regime in Germany superimposed a swastika on the traditional medal, turning it into a Nazi symbol. After World War II, the medal was discontinued but neo-Nazis and other white supremacists subsequently adopted it as a hate symbol and it has been a commonly-used hate symbol ever since.”
Hill’s attorney’s sent a cease and desist letter to The Daily Mail demanding that they remove the photos from their report — which showed Hill posing nude while smoking a bong — and that they change their description of her tattoo, calling it defamation to suggest that she had a “Nazi” tattoo.