Former Rep. Katie Hill on Mistakes That Led to Resignation: ‘I Allowed Myself to Get Too Close to My Staff’ (Video)
Former Rep. Katie Hill, reflecting on the events that led to her resignation from office last year, acknowledged on Monday that she got “too close” to her staff and didn’t draw “clear boundaries.”
On Monday’s episode of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” host Mika Brzezinski asked Hill — who was on the show to promote her upcoming book, “She Will Rise” — if she regretted anything or if she would’ve done things differently now with hindsight.
“Of course there’s things I wouldn’t have done. Writing the book and being quarantined and having these last 8 months, there’s been nothing but self-reflection — probably the longest period of my life to have done that,” Hill said. “Some of the mistakes are obvious, and I think when it comes down to it, the simplest way of describing it is that I allowed myself to get too close to my staff and to not draw the clear boundaries that you should have, and I think that was a trap I fell into for a number of reasons that I discuss in the book, including the relationship that I had with my husband. But the biggest guilt that I feel around it is the way that this whole thing has impacted my staff, and I hope that I can gain trust and forgiveness moving forward.”
Hill resigned from Congress as the representative of California’s 25th district last October after facing accusations of having a sexual relationship with a male congressional staffer, which she has denied, and apologizing for what she described as an “inappropriate” relationship with a female campaign staffer. At that time, Hill was also the victim of revenge porn that she said was instigated by her estranged husband after nude photos of her were circulated on conservative news outlets.
In her “Morning Joe” interview, Hill said she believed the “double standard” facing women also contributed to her decision to resign from office.
“I think that the salaciousness of what happened with me and the fact that I was a woman, a young woman, all contributed to me feeling like I needed to step down,” Hill said.
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