Reactions in touching case called hysteria

INDIANAPOLIS — A lawyer for Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said Wednesday that calls for the Republican’s resignation over allegations that he drunkenly groped a state lawmaker and three legislative staffers are “pure hysteria” based on a flawed initial investigation.

Attorney Kevin Betz said “false and malicious” information about Hill was in a confidential memo prepared for legislative leaders about a party at an Indianapolis bar. The memo was leaked to the media, and three of the women later publicly confirmed that they reported being inappropriately touched by Hill during the March 15 party.

Betz didn’t say the women lied to investigators but echoed claims by Hill that the memo’s description of his alleged behavior differs from what two of the women described in their public statements.

Betz said the disparities could be grounds for a defamation lawsuit against yet-unnamed people, including whoever leaked the report, and calls into question the demands for Hill’s resignation from Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and GOP legislative leaders.

“If they want to be purely hysterical, they’re welcome to do that, but based on flawed, false information that disregards the truth. And the truth I’m talking about is by the admission of the women who have come forward,” Betz said during a news conference.

Holcomb’s spokeswoman declined to comment on Betz’s claims. A spokesman for Indiana House Democrats also declined to comment.

Hill, who is married, is a staunch social conservative who had been viewed as a rising star in the Republican Party since his 2016 election. Hill has denied the women’s allegations, rebuffed calls to resign and questioned the investigations’ integrity.