A college professor has gone public for the first time to accuse President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s, prompting calls by the opposition to postpone the nomination vote.
Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, initially detailed the allegations about Brett Kavanaugh in confidential letters to her Congresswoman and later to California Senator Diane Feinstein, a senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Ford told the Washington Post in an interview published Sunday she had decided to come forward because she felt her "civic responsibility" was "outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation" after the basic outlines of the story emerged in US media last week.
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."
"He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."
The therapist's notes from the time, seen by the Post, do not mention Kavanaugh by name but otherwise echo the claim, describing an attack by students "from an elitist boys' school" who went on to become "highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington."
Notes from a subsequent therapy session a year later describe the attack as a "rape attempt."
Reacting to the story, on Sunday, Senator Feinstein said: "From the outset, I have believed these allegations were extremely serious and bear heavily on Judge Kavanaugh's character."
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