"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Christine Blasey Ford told The Washington Post.
ADVERTISEMENTThe woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during their teenage years has identified herself in a report from TheWashington Post and spoken about the allegations publicly for the first time. Her account of the situation was detailed in a confidential letter sent to Democratic lawmakers earlier this year.
On Sunday, the Post identified Kavanaugh's accuser as Christine Blasey Ford, 51, a research psychologist in northern California.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote Sunday, "I support Mrs. Ford's decision to share her story, and now that she has, it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee."
NBC News reached out to Ford but did not immediately receive a response.
Call to delay nomination
After the report was published Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to delay the confirmation vote "until, at a very minimum, these serious and credible allegations are thoroughly investigated," he wrote in a statement. Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., also called for the vote to be postponed.
Grassley dismissed the "uncorroborated allegations" and did not indicate that he intended to delay the vote.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations leveled against him by Ford. "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time," he said in a statement.
NBC News has reached out to Kavanaugh and the White House for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Ford's allegations initially came to light in a letter sent to two California Democrats, Feinstein and Rep. Anna Eshoo, and was initially reported in The New Yorker by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer. In The New Yorker's story, Ford asked not to be identified, but told The Post she wanted to be the one to tell her story.
Alleged assault at teenage party
Ford alleged during a summer in the early 1980s, when she was in her late teens, Kavanaugh and another person drunkenly "corralled her into a bedroom during a gathering of teenagers" in the suburbs of Maryland.
She said both she and Kavanaugh were teenagers at the time.
During the encounter, Ford alleges that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes while grinding his body against hers, according to the Post. She claims Kavanaugh tried to pull off her one-piece bathing suit, she added in the article.
She said when she tried to scream, Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth, the Post reported.
Ford told the Post the other person watched while this transpired.
"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Ford told the Post. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."
Ford escaped after a friend, Mark Judge, found them and pulled them apart, she told the newspaper. Ford said she locked herself in a bathroom before leaving the house.
Accusation 'absolutely nuts'
According to the Weekly Standard, Judge was named in the letter sent to Feinstein and Eshoo and denied that the incident occurred, telling the outlet, "It's just absolutely nuts. I never saw Brett act that way."
During a therapy session with her husband in 2012, Ford described the incident but did not mention Kavanaugh by name, according to therapist's notes reviewed by the Post. NBC News does not possess nor has it reviewed the notes.
ADVERTISEMENTPart of the notes say that Ford told the therapist four boys were involved in the alleged attack, according to the Post, but Ford said this was written in error. There were four boys at the party, she said, but only two were in the room.
The Post reported that Ford passed a polygraph test administered by a former FBI agent in early August. The test determined that Ford was being truthful when she said a statement summarizing her allegations, according to the Post.