Politics

Kavanaugh Accuser Goes Public With Assault Allegations In WaPo Interview

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Will Racke Immigration and Foreign Policy Reporter
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The writer of a confidential letter alleging Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her at a high school party identified herself in an interview with The Washington Post published Sunday.

Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University in California, says Kavanaugh and a friend accosted her at a house party in Montgomery County, Maryland, one summer in the early 1980s.

While the friend watched, a “stumbling drunk” Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes and bathing suit, Ford told WaPo.

Ford further claimed she was able to escape when the friend in the room, Kavanaugh’s Georgetown Preparatory School classmate Mark Judge, jumped on top of them, sending all three tumbling off the bed. Ford escaped and locked herself in a bathroom for a brief period before fleeing the house, she said.

Ford’s public revelations come two days after The New Yorker reported the contents of the letter but did not name her as the accuser. Ford had previously sent the letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, through her congresswoman’s office in July. (RELATED: An Unnamed #MeToo Accuser Says Brett Kavanaugh Tried To Force Himself Onto Her)

Earlier that month, Ford contacted WaPo through a tip line when she saw that Kavanaugh was on the shortlist of possible nominees to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, according to the WaPo report. By August, Ford had decided not to go public with her allegations because of the intense public scrutiny it would invite, she said.

Ford said she changed her mind after the story leaked and reporters began closing in on her as the author of the letter. Ford also felt the need to correct misinformation about the allegations, she told WaPo.

“These are all the ills that I was trying to avoid,” she said. “Now I feel like my civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation.”

Ford claims she told no one of the alleged assault “in any detail” until 2012, when she and her husband were in couple’s therapy. The therapist’s notes, which Ford reportedly provided to WaPo, do not identify Kavanaugh by name.

However, the notes report that Ford said she was attacked by students “from an elitist boys’ school” who went on to become “highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington.”

The notes say four boys were involved in the alleged assault, a discrepancy Ford attributed to an error on the part of the therapist. There were four boys at the party but only two — Kavanaugh and Judge — in the room, she said.

In response to the WaPo story, the White House reiterated a statement that Kavanaugh issued Friday after details of Ford’s allegation became public.

“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh said in a statement. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”

Judge has also denied that the incident described in The New Yorker report occurred, telling The Weekly Standard on Friday that the allegations were “just absolutely nuts.” (RELATED: Kavanaugh Classmate Named In #MeToo Letter Denies Assault Allegation)

“I never saw Brett act that way,” Judge told TWS.

Feinstein, who has known of Ford’s allegations since July, did not raise the issue during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing earlier this month. Nor did the matter come up during a closed session where sensitive information was discussed, according to a Judiciary Committee spokesperson.

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, took issue with with Feinstein’s withholding of the allegations.

“It’s disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote after Democrats sat on them since July,” the Iowa Republican said, adding that “it raises a lot of questions about Democrats’ tactics and motives.”

Grassley said the committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination will proceed as scheduled on Thursday.

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