The woman who wrote a letter accusing Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault is now coming forward, motivated by the publicizing of her original letter and by a "civic responsibility" to tell the story. Her account is harrowing.
While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” said Ford, now a 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”
Her account of the "rape attempt" is backed up by therapist's notes dating from 2012-2013; she also passed a polygraph test administered by a former FBI agent. While she strongly wished to retain her privacy, she reversed course after contacts with reporters and public reports of her letter led her to believe she would possibly be exposed anyway.
The woman, Christine Ford, directly identifies Kavanaugh classmate Mark Judge as a witness to the event–notable because Judge declared in an interview only days ago that "I never saw Brett act that way." Judge did not respond to the Washington Post's requests for comment. Kavanaugh himself “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegation last week; he will now be called upon to further explain himself.