The former California congresswoman Katie Hill, who resigned in October after the publication of nude photographs and allegations of an affair with a member of her congressional staff, said on Sunday rightwing media outlets attacked women because “they’re easier targets” for bullying.

In an interview on CNN’s Reliable Sources, the Democrat said bullying affects women across the US, whether they are teen girls or power-players such as the former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and ex-national security council official Fiona Hill.

Yovanovitch and Hill, both naturalized US citizens, testified in the congressional impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. As with other witnesses, Trump supporters in the media questioned their loyalty to the US.

“As a public figure,” Katie Hill said, “you’re used to attacks, right? But when it gets to the level of these threats and feeling like you’re not seen as a person any more … the dehumanization is something that I think people can’t really understand unless you have been there.

“And that’s exactly what the rightwing media does and that they’re doing to these witnesses. And look what they’re doing to Fiona Hill and what they did to Ambassador Yovanovitch.

“And I think that you see it in particular with women, because … that is what the right likes to do, right? They’re easier targets. And there are true threats to safety.”

Hill has accused her ex-husband of leaking the photographs which contributed to her downfall, in what some have described as a “revenge porn” scandal.

Conservative media outlets released the images and a House ethics committee investigation was launched. Hill admitted an affair with a campaign worker, but denied claims of an intimate relationship with a member of her congressional staff.

Hill told CNN she wanted to remain in the public sphere, saying: “I think what the rightwing media and those who attacked me wanted was for me to be silenced.

“And I think something that we see on attacks against women, not just high-profile women but women across the board, is that these kinds of attacks are meant to silence you, demean you and show that you do not have power.

“So, for me, it was really important to show that that’s not going to work. And I have to own up to my responsibility in this, but I think coming forward and saying I’m going to continue to be a voice for people who believed in me and what this whole fight is about is something that I believe in.”

Of Trump, she added: “Right now, we have a criminal in the White House. We have Republicans on Capitol Hill who are doing everything that they can to defend him …even when it means that they’re sacrificing their own integrity and are lying to the American people non-stop.