Katie Hill tells women to make sure a 'sexual predator no longer occupies the White House'

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Katie Hill gives final Congress speech after announcing resignation Katie Hill, a Democrat from California's 25th district, resigned following allegations she had an inappropriate sexual relationship with staffers.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Katie Hill, the California Democrat who resigned last week amid allegations of a sexual relationship with a staffer, posted a social media plea on Sunday night for women to turn out and vote in 2020.

"A year from now, we have a chance to show women and girls that we matter. Hopefully, we’ll elect a woman as President – if not, let’s work to make sure a serial sexual predator no longer occupies the White House," she said in a tweet clearly referring to President Donald Trump. "What are we as a nation going to do?"

"Ladies, show up," she implored.

Hill's tweet about a "sexual predator" being in the White House seems to be a response to more than a dozen women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct, including columnist E. Jean Carroll, who said he raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Trump’s own boasts of giving women unsolicited kisses and grabbing their genitalia nearly cost him the 2016 election after audio of the 2005 comments surfaced in the closing weeks of the campaign.

The freshman lawmaker had become the subject of a House ethics inquiry after allegations surfaced that she had a sexual relationship with her legislative director. Hill had said the allegations were "absolutely false" but admitted to having an affair with another unnamed staffer.

More: Katie Hill's resignation is about much more than an alleged affair and explicit photos

A year from now, we have a chance to show women and girls that we matter. Hopefully, we’ll elect a woman as President — if not, let’s work to make sure a serial sexual predator no longer occupies the White House.



What are we as a nation going to do?



Ladies, show up. — Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) November 4, 2019

The allegations first became public on conservative news sites, which also posted what appeared to be naked photographs of the congresswoman. In her resignation letter, Hill said her "abusive" husband, with whom she is going through a messy divorce, had "weaponized" the private photos against her as part of a "smear campaign built on cyber exploitation."

She delivered her final remarks from the House floor on Thursday after voting to approve the resolution establishing how the House will proceed with the impeachment inquiry into Trump. She officially left office on Friday.

"To those who felt like I gave them hope in one of the darkest times in our nation's history, I’m sorry," Hill said, apologizing to her constituents.

But she added that she felt she had to step down "because of a double standard."

"I’m leaving, but we have men who have been credibly accused of intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in board rooms, in the Supreme Court, in this very body and worst of all in the Oval Office," she said.

“I’m leaving because there is only one investigation that deserves the attention of this country, and that’s the one that we voted on today," Hill said of the vote to move forward with impeachment.

Contributing: Jordan Culver and Jeanine Santucci

Now what?: It's been two years since the #MeToo movement exploded