Woman speaks out on alleged sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee
Alleged sexual assault victim of US Supreme Court nominee reveals her identity, wants to appear before Senate panel
WASHINGTON: A college professor went public for the first time on Sunday to accuse President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s, prompting calls to postpone the nomination vote.
And now, Ms Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, is willing to testify before a Senate panel set to vote this week on his nomination, her lawyer said yesterday.
She initially detailed the allegations about Mr Brett Kavanaugh in confidential letters to her local congresswoman and later to California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Prof Ford told The Washington Post she decided to waive her anonymity because she felt her "civic responsibility" was "outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation" after the basic outline of the story emerged in the media last week.
Mr Kavanaugh had previously released a statement on Friday denying the incident, saying: "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time."
Prof Ford, who is a registered Democrat herself, told the Post in an interview that one summer in the early 1980s, Mr Kavanaugh and a friend, both of whom were "stumbling drunk," cornered her in a bedroom at a teenagers' party in a house in Montgomery County, just outside Washington.
PINNED AND GROPED
Mr Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed while his friend watched, she said, then groped her while attempting to remove her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing on top of it.
When she attempted to scream for help, Mr Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth.
"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," said Prof Ford, who is now 51 years old and lives in northern California.
"He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."
She said she was finally able to escape when another of Mr Kavanaugh's classmates - Mr Mark Judge - at his prestigious private school, jumped on top of them, whereupon all three were sent tumbling and she was able to escape the room, first locking herself in a bathroom briefly before fleeing the house.
She added that she did not tell anyone about the attack until 2012, when she brought it up during couples counselling therapy with her husband.
A number of Judiciary Committee members urged holding off on a vote in light of Prof Ford's testimony - including Republican Jeff Flake, a critic of Mr Trump, who told the Post that she "must be heard". - AFP
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