of the belarusian capital, minsk, to call for the resignation of president lukashenko. two weeks ago he won what the protesters are calling a rigged election, but the president has responded with a show of defiance. tropical storm laura has battered the dominican republic and haiti with torrential rain and strong winds, causing some of the worst flooding in years. the storm will pass over cuba on monday and is set to strengthen to a hurricane as it hits the us gulf coast. president trump has confirmed blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients can be used as a treatment against covid—19 in america. the technique uses antibody—rich blood plasma from people who've recovered from the disease. he said the treatment could reduce the number of deaths by 35% — a claim disputed by scientists. now on bbc news —

it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. politics is a tough business. it puts you in the limelight, but sometimes for the wrong reasons. my guest is katie hill. she was seen as a rising star for the us democrats, but she resigned last year as a congresswoman, barely 12 months in office. she claims she was the victim of sexual double standards after she admitted an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staff member and after nude photos of her were published in the media. what does her case tell us about american politics in the metoo era?

katie hill in washington, welcome to hardtalk. you made headlines in november 2018 when you flipped a seat in california from the republicans to the democrats. young woman, early 30s, rising star and all the rest of it. a year later, you resign. what went wrong? well, the basics of what went wrong is that i had a relationship preceding my swearing in as a congressional member. and after i left my husband, which was about in the middle of my time in congress, those photos... there were photos that were leaked that i didn't even know had been taken. they were nude photos. they were ones that were compromising, and it led to a series of articles, and the photos were published in the daily mail and in another publication called redstate, and they were all over the internet, and it ultimately led to my resignation.

and, you know, everything went south very quickly. some democrats urged you to just slug it out. so, you basically resigned because of embarrassment? i think that it was more than that. i didn't want to be a liability to my colleagues. the amount of, uh... ..pressure and stress that it was putting me and my family and my staff through, the... you know, it was... it's hard to describe what you're going through with public shaming. it's something that i think when, you know, when you haven't experienced it yet, you don't... you don't know how dark and how deep that can go. the feeling of being completely overwhelmed, knowing that millions of people have seen your naked pictures. that's a completely different experience than anything else, and, in fact, what happened to me is called revenge porn or cyber exploitation, and half of the people who have been victims of that describe having suicidal... seriously contemplating suicide or attempting suicide.

did you? did you contemplate suicide? it was a very bleak time in your life. your younger brother died of a drugs overdose. how deep was your depression? idid. i contemplated it right in the period of my resignation, and that's, i think, part of what led me to it, was knowing that, you know, i wasn't going to be able to serve in the best capacity possible because of, you know, what i was going through. i was in the middle of this divorce that had suddenly entered the national spotlight — the international spotlight — and it was something that i was... that was not going to be able to allow my constituents to move on. i knew that it was going to be a distraction while we were in the middle of impeaching donald trump, and i didn't feel like it was in the best interest of so many people around me as well as myself. so, how did you feel, by the way, when your seat, after you resigned, flipped back to the republicans? that was one of the worst feelings that i had. it was very shortly after my

brother had passed away, and it was probably the moment that i regre... that i truly felt regret for resigning and wondered if i had made the right call. because when i did resign, i felt very confident that the seat was going to remain in democratic hands. we flipped it by nine points, and so i didn't think that i needed to worry about that part. i thought that we were safe, so now i really... i do believe that in the presidential election in november we're going to be able to flip it back, but it was... that was pretty devastating. after the metoo campaign, the american congress introduced new rules prohibiting sexual relations between congressional members and members of their staff, so the house ethics committee in october last year launches an investigation into allegations of an affair between you and a congressional legislative director — both of you married. both of you deny that.

however, you had also admitted to what you describe — in your new book she will rise — to an inappropriate relationship with a young female campaign member while you were running for office, which made it fall outside of the scope of that congressional investigation. so... correct. ..you regret that relationship that you had with the young female staffer? i know that it wasn't. .. it's not something that iwould repeat, right. it's something that started even before, you know, harvey weinstein and the metoo movement took full steam in november of 2017. it was something that i fell into when the campaign was very small. it was, you know, it was literally three people on the campaign team, and it was not something that, you know, was intentional. i think it had a lot to do with my troubled relationship.

it had a lot to do with close proximity and the fact that we were so close—knit. and so, you know, it happened, right, and i don't want to dismiss it. it was a real relationship. it was something that mattered to me. but, of course, in hindsight... well, even at the time, i knew that it wasn't something that, you know, should have been happening, right, but i also know that, you know, it was not... it was not something that would have fallen under the house ethics rules. it was something that was with a campaign member and not with a member of my official staff and... in your book she will rise, you describe it as a grey area in your account of the relationship with the young woman because you are openly bisexual and you say it can't be explained in the zero tolerance terms of the metoo movement. but, katie hill, that sounds like you're looking for an excuse, really. you're just saying, "look, this happened before

i was elected to congress. "therefore, it falls out of the scope of any investigation." you have to accept what you did categorically was very inappropriate and wrong. yes, i... i have definitely accepted that it was inappropriate and, in terms of the morality of it, i think that that's where the grey area happens, right? i don't... i don't think that i... you know, it was not a coercion of any kind, right. it wasn't something... there's a power imbalance that i didn't even recognise at the time because i did not feel like a superior, right. i never acknowledged that because that's not what the campaign was like. this was when i was such a long—shot candidate. i didn't even, you know, i didn't even see myself as somebody who was over the people who worked on my campaign team. and in fact, it felt like we were peers. it was... you know, i'd been the supervisor in charge of a huge organisation for so long, and it never even would have occurred to me to cross that boundary. i want to press you just one more time on this, because nancy pelosi, the democratic speaker of the house of

representatives, said you had made, and i quote, "some errors in judgment that made your continued service "as a member untenable." i put it to you again that you've brought this upon yourself. you had a relationship with somebody who was on your payroll, and that could arguably be interpreted as an abuse of power, not withstanding what you've just said. fair point? yeah, that's an absolutely fair point, and i think that reconciling that was something that, you know, ultimately factored into my resignation. it was not wanting to shy away from that responsibility, not wanting to be hypocritical, not wanting to say that, you know, in my case, something like this is ok but in another case it's not. so, let's just give the background to your case. the conservative news website redstate published nude photographs of you, and some of those were also with the young woman with whom you had an affair.

what is it like to see nude photographs of yourself circulated on social media like that? oh, it's a feeling of utter despair. your heart sinks, your stomach sinks. you can't sleep. you know, you can't eat. you can't. .. you don't want to talk to anybody. you don't know how to respond. this is... these are your deepest, most personal moments, and something that you deserve to have some privacy around, which is your body, and that it has been taken away from you, notjust for the moment, but forever, and i have had to come to terms with now the fact that that's never going to go away, that, you know, people who i meet, people who recognise me, have likely seen those photos or have seen some version of them, and it takes you to these dark, dark places that you have to pull yourself out of, and thankfully i've had the support to be able to do that. do you know how they were released into the public domain? i know that it was my ex—husband and he denies it, but i am confident in it, and we're going to be pursuing action against that.

so, the investigation is still ongoing, and i have to just repeat that he categorically denies that he released those photographs. he says his computer was hacked and he also denies any allegations of abuse that you made. but look, there are two state laws in california that expressly, and i quote, "prohibit any person to intentionally distribute "an intimate image of a person when that image has been agreed "or understood by the parties to be private." are such laws not sufficient to tackle what's often described as revenge porn? they're not, because it... well, for example, in my case, when you talk about both parties understanding it, i didn't even know most of those photos were being taken. so it's not something that you can have an agreement on when one party is unaware of it happening.

also, the penalties around it, the consequences for a perpetrator, are unclear. they‘ re, in many cases, not a felony. they're not a sex offence. and there's no federal law around it. so, there's not a consistency across the states. the uk actually has much stronger and better laws protecting victims around this. how far does your case represent a generational issue? because i'lljust tell you what the republican congressman matt gaetz says. he says, "a lot of baby boomers with whom i serve..." — and that's people in their 50s and 60s now, i guess — he says, "..they don't understand that millennials, "by virtue of having smartphones, "have shared stupid and regrettable moments "for a substantial portion of their lives." is it very much a generational matter too? i think it is absolutely a generational matter, and i think we're going to have to see a reconciliation of this as more and more young people enter the public eye. these kinds of things and mine, i recognise, is a complicated case. it's not as straightforward

as just these nude photos that, you know, any regular nude photo that had been leaked without my consent. so i want to acknowledge that and say that, you know, there are other situations in which it would be more black and white, right, but it is, you know, we know that about 80% of people with smartphones have shared some form of sexually explicit photo or text message and that's something that we're going to see more and more of, and when you talk about young people who have notjust shared photos individually, but who have shared... who've grown up online, who have done stupid things in college and in high school and have that kind of history that we... you know, everyone has made mistakes and has done stupid things when they're younger, but those haven't been documented until recently, so we're going to have to reconcile that over time, and i think that my case really brought it to light that this is something that's going to keep happening, and hopefully we see the impact of this being one that is an example of how we should not react any more, because, in the aftermath of mine, we saw people try to blame me for having taken

those photos, right. you can blame me for other aspects of this, but taking the photos, and especially because mine were not even photos that i had taken, they were ones that were taken of me, that was not the part that was at fault. but when the speaker of the house of representatives, nancy pelosi, says we should say to young candidates and to kids in kindergarten, really be careful when transmitting photos, isn't there also an onus on the individual to be careful? is that a realistic comment that she's making? is it possible? i think that it's not a realistic comment, and i actually reached out to her office afterwards because i think portraying it that way is a form of victim blaming, and, again, blame me for the parts that i did wrong. don't blame me for the parts that were not.

and she kind of course corrected after that. and a big part of it is that, especially when you're younger, we're talking about kids that are, like, 13 years old who start sharing these kinds of photos, are pressured into it, and there's a social element of it that as people are growing up and kind of discovering their sexuality, they start doing these kinds of things, and if you're talking about a 13—year—old who begins to share these kinds of images, you know, not that they should, and of course we should have these conversations and protect our kids and tell them that these can be exploited, but it's going to happen, and we should never blame the victim, because it's something... it's a very different thing when you intentionally share something that is meant to be private, and when it becomes public it is completely exploitative. you said in your last speech, your resignation speech, when you left congress last year, you said that there was a double standard and misogynistic culture that resulted in your decision to step down. why do you believe there was a double standard? i mean, you've admitted freely that you were wrong to have had the relationship with the young campaign staff member. why? why did you say that there

was a double standard? well, again, that's... there's this expectation of women and how we behave and the morality that's around it that is absolutely different. we've seen men who will apologise or not even apologise in many cases and who stay in office and who don't even think twice about it. and who are... we almost expect a certain kind of behaviour from men as though they're going to make these kinds of mistakes. what, even post—metoo era? even post—metoo, harvey weinstein behind bars and all the rest of it? i think that's what... i think that that's what we're figuring out, and, again, that was a big part of the reason that i chose to step down, because i don't want to say and i didn't want to set up the whole argument of saying that, "oh, well, this shouldn't apply to me." this should apply uniformly, so i feel like i set something

up so that if it happens in any other case then, you know, we know the expectation. we know what we want to... we want to ensure that people are held to account for. but can i... so, can ijust check, then, with you? i mean, you know, there's been a lot made of metoo, and hollywood has become infused with this idea now, and so on. are you saying that american politics is yet to experience the full impact of the metoo movement? i think that that's accurate, but i think that it's starting to. it's... you know, it's new. it happened in 2017. the end of 2017 is when it really started to kind of make a big, you know, a big impact on our society, and though... you know, we've seen how challenging it can be to apply what we want from metoo, what the expectations are and also what we want from people who have been accused. what is the apology? what is the change in behaviour that we want to see? the change in behaviour is obvious, but do we want to see, you know, how do

people seek redemption? how do they say that they are going to change and that they regret their actions and that they are, you know, that they're trying to move forward? or is it a simple...? is it ousting from whatever position forever, right? so, we... you know, we saw that withjoe biden and the tara reade allegations, right. we don't know quite how to handle these kinds of things because we say, on one hand, "believe women," but you're never... you're going to come up against this time and time again where it is... it is — like we've seen — one person saying one thing and another person saying another, and there's no other witness. there's not going to be another witness. butjust going back to your case — do you think you would have had to have resigned if you'd been a man? i can't... i really can't say in the time that... you know, i think that if i were a republican man, honestly, that there's a much better chance that i would have... i would have not cared or i would have stood strong and just said that, "look, this happened before my time in congress, and yes,

"it was a mistake, but i am... i'm going to leave it to the "voters to determine whether they want me to continue." yeah, but i mean, ijust put it to you that perhaps affairs that breach house rules now are not tolerated. early last year, joe barton, the longest—serving congress memberfor texas for the republicans, resigned because of nude photos and explicit text messages to a constituent that appeared on social media. he felt he couldn't continue. so... yeah. i put it to you... he didn't... ..that perhaps american politics is changing. no, i think it is changing, and i think that's why i say that i don't... you know, i can't really say in a hypothetical of whether i would have or not, but i do know that the nude photos certainly would not have circulated, and we can look atjoe barton as an example. his were certainly not shared in the same way that mine were. they were blocked off in a much more careful and intentional way, and also people don't want to see that — mine was sensationalised.

mine was... you know, it was... they were consumed and, again, exploited in a way that we just have not seen. do you think your...? sorry. do you think your bisexuality was relevant? because laura palumbo from the national sexual violence resource centre in the united states says it's important to note the consequences katie hill faces may be different because she is a woman, but also because she identifies as bisexual. i do think so. i think that this is a new concept for people. i'm only the second person ever who's openly bisexual to have served in either branch of congress, and i... even people coming out and being open about it is... it's just rare, so the dynamics of relationships, especially in the context of having of, you know, of marriage and of, you know, just our sexuality in general is... it's not really understood and it's not something that has been confronted and it is something that has

been fa ntasised about. you know, that's the way that people have thought about bisexuality among women, is usually in the context of a fantasy, and i think now that's hopefully starting to change, but you could see that reaction in how people responded to and circulated and still respond to based onjust what i'm continuing to see... yeah. what, you know, what happened with me. do you think that your case illustrates as an example of how women who may be gay, bisexual and women of colour or women from disadvantaged groups may be discouraged from starting a career in politics? yes, that's been my concern, right, and i've been hopeful and continue to be hopeful that we can show and that our culture can separate, you know, the mistake that i made, the responsibility that i need to take for my own actions and the part that is not that,

so i think that we really do have to come to terms with that, and i've told people... i've told, you know, many people who continue to come to me for advice about considering running for congress. you know, they ask, "well, what do you suggest?" "what do you say to someone who wants to?" and i say, "well, what happened with me "is the worst—case scenario, so think about that "and think about, you know, how you can get "ahead of it and how you might handle it if something "like this happened to you and know that we still need you. "we still need you to step forward, even knowing "that this kind of thing can happen." and i hope and i believe that people are going to rally more against or in support of someone who has this happen to them. you've launched an initiative called her time to encourage women to enter politics. do you think the fact that

senator kamala harris is now joe biden's running mate is going to help? i think that it's a huge deal that we have a woman as the vice—presidential nominee and little girls and women across the country are going to see that and see how possible it is for us to achieve the highest levels of power, but we were also very discouraged when hillary clinton lost to someone like trump, and yet it increased the number of women who are running for office across the country as a response to it. so i think we're going to continue to see that, but what her time does is, it recognises that women have a hard time early on, particularly in fundraising and building that early support, so our organisation is meant to go and get that support early and help people build a movement that is necessary to win. just over 27% of all congressional seats are held by women. do you want men to make way for women? i do. i say that, you know, this is a time that we really need to intentionally vote for women because they're women, because until we have equal representation,

until half of congress and every other body is filled by women, then we're not equal. we're not going to get the laws passed that reflect entirely our interests that are going to benefit and protect women, and that's just a fact. we just know that to be the case, so i'm asking men who mean to be allies, "instead of running "instead of feeling like you were the ultimate solution, "why don't you look around and see if there's a woman "that you can support instead?" finally, katie hill, doesn't sound like you're ready to quit politics at all. could you run again for office? definitely not in my near—term plans. i'm very excited about the work that we're doing with her time, and i think, you know, being on the outside, is an interesting... having developed a voice and developed a, you know, a following and having the connections that i still have is something i really want to pursue

as we advocate for these issues and mobilising women and supporting them, so, happy to be on the outside for now. i don't know if i'll ever re—enter the ring, but it's not impossible. i'm still only 33 years old. katie hill in washington, thank you very much indeed for coming on hardtalk. thank you. hello. we have a very changeable week ahead but the start of the week does not look too bad at all. this is the forecast. sunny spells and a few showers on monday, not a bad day on the whole. tuesday looks very different. an atlantic storm is developing around 1000 miles away from us.

it is heading in our direction and it will bring heavy rain and gales. in the short term it is not too bad, apart from a few showers in the morning across southern parts of wales and the south of england that should clear away. a couple of showers further north in the afternoon. on balance, a fine day for most of us. 20 in london, mid or high teens in the north. here is that spell of heavy weather approaching on monday night into tuesday. it is a developing low pressure, developing storm that is propelled by a powerful jetstream and as i said it will bring a spell of rain and gales, widespread gales across the uk. here it is approaching the uk early on tuesday morning and you can see the rain sweeping into western and northern parts of the country, the gale wrapping around this low pressure as well and it will sweep across the uk during tuesday. the heavy rain will be on the north end of the day and in the south it may brighten up but look at those

gusts of wind. inland could be in excess of 50 mile an hour, in excess of 60 around the coast and that may prove troublesome for some of us with disruption and branches lying around. not a pleasant day for many of us on tuesday. wednesday will still be very windy around the north sea coast, anywhere from newcastle to norwich as the low pressure pulls away. still some strong wind down the side of the country but further west it will be much, and by the afternoon the winds should die down and on wednesday it will probably be our best day of the week with dry weather, pleasantly warm, to 21 degrees in the south of the country and then on thursday we go back downhill with more rain sweeping in off the atlantic. not as windy on thursday. this is more of a rain type thing heading our way rather than gales. so this is the outlook for the week ahead and you can see the weather icons change from day to day quite a bit. temperatures in the south will be around the 20s, or high teens in the north. that's it from me, bye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm ben bland. despite another huge demonstration in belarus against the disputed election, president lukashenko remains defiant. tropical storm laura lashes haiti and the dominican republic on its way to the us gulf coast. the white supremacist who killed 51 muslim worshippers in christchurch appears in court for sentencing. and bayern munich win the champions league, beating paris saint germain in the first final ever held behind closed doors.