Criticism over congressional biopic starring Elisabeth Moss

The award winning actress says she is "honoured" to play the former lawmaker

Elisabeth Moss will star as former Congresswoman Katie Hill, who quit last year amid an ethics investigation, in an upcoming biopic about the ex-lawmaker.

The investigation was prompted by reports of a relationship between Ms Hill and a member of her congressional staff, which she denied.

The news was met with an apparent takeover of Ms Hill's government Twitter account, with anonymous posts accusing the Democrat of abuse.

"Katie Hill is not a hero for women," the post said, written by someone claiming to be her former staff.

Ms Hill has denied wrongdoing in relation to the post, and reported the "hacking" of her account.

Control of the Twitter account, previously reserved for Ms Hill's congressional work, was handed over to House officials upon her resignation, Ms Hill said. "God knows who hacked it from there."

The Democrat was seen as a rising star in her party

So what is the story behind the former California lawmaker?

Who is Katie Hill?

The 33-year-old Democrat was once seen as a rising star in the party. Elected in 2018 as part of a Democratic wave, Ms Hill beat a Republican incumbent in California's 25th Congressional district.

The freshman lawmaker joined a congressional class that boasted a record-breaking number of women. Ms Hill was also one of the first openly bisexual people to serve in Congress.

But her promising political career was cut short last year, when a convoluted ethics scandal prompted her resignation.

Allegations first emerged on the conservative blog RedState, which claimed Ms Hill and her then-husband, Kenny Heslep, had engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman in her twenties who had worked on Ms Hill's congressional campaign.

The story included explicit images of the Democrat and the young woman.

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In a letter to constituents, Ms Hill apologised for the affair, writing that "even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate".

"But the truth is, distributing intimate photos with the intent to publish is a crime," she said at the time, referring to Washington's 2014 "revenge porn" law, and directed the matter to Capitol Police.

Ms Hill levelled blame at Mr Heslep, who she described as "an abusive husband who seems determined to try to humiliate me".

He is reported to have denied the accusations and claimed his computer had been hacked.

Is that all?

Not quite.

The initial allegations were soon followed up by a second set of claims, also published in RedState, that Ms Hill was having an affair with her legislative director. The purported affair - denied by Ms Hill - would be a violation of House rules.

The site also published what it claimed were text messages between Mr Heslep and the female campaign aide.

Soon after, the House of Representatives Ethics Committee launched an inquiry. But just days later, before the committee could complete its probe, Ms Hill resigned.

In a fiery resignation speech, Ms Hill blamed her abrupt exit from Congress on "a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalised on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching".

Fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocastio-Cortez described the photo leak as "revenge porn" and pointed to a gendered double standard.

"This doesn't happen to men in the same way," she told Politico at the time. "I don't think we're really talking about how targeted and serious this is."

So what's the controversy now?

Late on Tuesday, it was announced that Elisabeth Moss had signed on to play Ms Hill in an adaptation of the former lawmaker's memoir, She Will Rise: Becoming a Warrior in the Battle for True Equality.

"I'm so honoured to have the opportunity to portray Katie and to help tell her story," Ms Moss said. "Her strength and work to amplify women's voices is incredibly inspiring to me."

Ms Hill resigned just days after an ethics probe was launched into her conduct

Within hours of the news, an anonymous poster took to Ms Hill's Congressional Twitter account - which had been previously mute since her resignation last year - to criticise the project.

In a 10-part thread, the poster - purporting to be from Ms Hill's former staff - described Ms Hill as both the "victim and perpetrator" of abuse.

"Katie Hill was never investigated by the House Ethics Committee, nor has she been held accountable by anyone other than herself," the post said, using the hashtag for the #MeToo movement.

"Katie took advantage of her subordinates. She caused immense harm to the people who worked for her, many of whom were young women."

The former congresswoman responded on her personal Twitter account, saying that regardless of the posts' author, she has addressed the issues raised by the "hacked tweets" in her book and in interviews.

"I look forward to continuing to have conversations around these issues and using my platform to support women in any way possible," she said.