The political career of Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., called “the most powerful freshman in Congress” by the Los Angeles Times, is in jeopardy after conservative news site RedState’s discovered photos of her threesome affair with her now-estranged husband, Kenny Heslep, and one of her anonymous campaign staffer.
And the story just took an ugly turn.
The female staffer involved in the alleged affair now claims to been abused by Hill, RedState’s Jennifer Van Laar wrote.
Uncovered text messages in June 2019 between the female staffer and Heslep detail Hill’s abuse, Van Laar wrote.
According to the pictures, Heslep texted the female staffer: “I mean it, though, man. It has been weighing very, very heavily on me lately. Part of my mind keeps trying to justify it because of Katies abuse. That she created the ‘s**t rolls downhill’ situation. But that is no excuse whatsoever for what I did. So again, I’m sorry.”
The female staffer allegedly wrote back, “It was a dark time and you treated me really poorly but I also stayed which I have to own.”
To which Heslep responded, “Don’t take full responsibility for staying with people that are abusing you. That is basically victim blaming, and none of it was your fault. I’m sorry for how bad it got.”
Photos of those messages, provided by RedState, can be viewed below (graphic language):
It doesn’t stop there.
The female staffer considered the relationship to be “toxic.”
“Think of how toxic our relationship was?” she wrote to Heslep. “And I was still ready to put together something real. To build a future on that absolutely abysmal foundation.”
In fact, the female staffer said she was scared of Hill… because how she saw Hill treat Heslep, her estranged husband.
She was “terrified of pushing back.”
More messages obtained by RedState detail an incident between the female staffer and Hill, in which the former was made to rub sunscreen on Hill in front of a group of people.
Needless to say, the female staffer said she was humiliated.
“I would really appreciate it if you didn’t ask me to do things like put sunscreen on you,” she wrote to Hill.
Hill has denied being an abuser.
In fact, Hill says she’s the victim. She also denied having an extramarital affair with another of her campaign aides, Graham Kelly.
“I am disgusted that my opponents would seek to exploit such a private matter for political gain,” Hill said in a statement to Fox News. “This coordinated effort to try to destroy me and people close to me is despicable and will not succeed. I, like many women who have faced attacks like this before, am stronger than those who want me to be afraid.”
“Allegations that I have been involved in a relationship with Mr. Kelly are absolutely false.”
“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,” she said. “I am truly grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from colleagues and constituents alike, and I know we will get through this together.”
Since the original accusation, critics say the mainstream media has defended Hill by refusing to cover the story.
“The press typically loves politicians embroiled in sex scandals,” a Republican source told The Daily Wire. “But the perpetrator is a Democrat in a swing district, so the press will pretend like there’s nothing to see here.”
The Horn editorial team