Rep. Katie Hill had strong final words about the scandal surrounding her resignation after the House voted on ground rules for its impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
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00:00The forces of revenge by a bitter, jealous man,
00:03cyber exploitation, and sexual shaming that target our gender,
00:07and a large segment of society that fears and hates powerful women,
00:11have combined to push a young woman out of power and say that she doesn't belong here.
00:17Yet a man who brags about his sexual predation,
00:20who's had dozens of women come forward to accuse him of sexual assault,
00:25who pushes policies that are uniquely harmful to women,
00:28and who has filled the courts with judges who proudly rule to deprive women
00:32of the most fundamental right to control their own bodies,
00:35sits in the highest office of the land.
00:38I will never shirk my responsibility for this sudden ending to my time here.
00:55But I have to say more because this is bigger than me.
00:59I am leaving now because of a double standard.
01:02I'm leaving because I no longer want to be used as a bargaining chip.
01:06I'm leaving because I didn't want to be peddled by papers and blogs and websites,
01:11used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics that I've ever seen,
01:15and the right-wing media to drive clicks and expand their audience by distributing
01:20intimate photos of me taken without my knowledge,
01:23let alone my consent for the sexual entertainment of millions.
01:27I'm leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures,
01:33capitalized on my sexuality,
01:35and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse,
01:38this time with the entire country watching.
01:40I am leaving because of the thousands of vile threatening emails, calls,
01:45and texts that made me fear for my life and the lives of the people that I care about.
01:50Today is the first time I've left my apartment since the photos,
01:54taken without my consent,
01:56were released and I'm scared.
01:58I'm leaving because for the sake of my community,
02:01my staff, my family,
02:03and myself, I can't allow this to continue.
02:07Because I've been told that people were angry when I stood
02:10strong after the first article was posted,
02:12and that they had hundreds more photos and text messages that they would release
02:16bit by bit until they broke me down to nothing.
02:19Well, they used my faults and my past to distract from the things that matter most.
02:25I'm leaving because there is only one investigation
02:28that deserves the attention of this country,
02:30and that's the one that we voted on today.
02:33Today, I ask you all to stand with me and commit to creating
02:37a future where this no longer happens to women and girls.
02:41Yes, I'm stepping down,
02:43but I refuse to let this experience scare off other women who dare to take risks,
02:48who dare to step into this light,
02:50who dare to be powerful.
02:52It might feel like they won in the short-term,
02:54but they can't in the long-term.
02:56We cannot let them.
02:58The way to overcome this setback is for women to keep showing up,
03:01to keep running for office,
03:03to keep stepping up as leaders,
03:05because the more we show up,
03:07the less power they have.
03:09I'm leaving, but we have men who have been credibly accused of
03:14intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in boardrooms,
03:19on the Supreme Court,
03:20in this very body,
03:22and worst of all, in the Oval Office.