Katie Brennan was driving to a meeting Wednesday afternoon when her attorney called to say it was all over: the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office had decided the man she accused of rape — a former senior official who worked for Gov. Phil Murphy — would not face criminal charges.

“I went from numb to angry to crying — wildly crying — on my way to a meeting,” Brennan told NJ Advance Media on Thursday.

She immediately called her husband. “He cried,” Brennan said.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in late 2017 had reached the same conclusion, declining to arrest Albert J. Alvarez for allegedly sexually assaulting Brennan after he drove her home from a Murphy campaign event in April 2017. But in October, the case was transferred to Middlesex County and reopened after Brennan went public with her story and accused the Murphy administration of a cover-up after hiring Alvarez for a senior position.

“I had a glimmer of hope again,” Brennan said.

But her optimism faded when, like the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, Middlesex investigators did not interview her husband and her best friend whom she contacted right after the alleged attack. She said she offered to testify before the grand jury, but no one followed up.

“You know it’s a possibility but for it to happen is devastating again, and to feel like your trauma is denied again,” Brennan said.

In her first interview since the announcement Wednesday, Brennan revealed how she and her attorneys learned from media reports why the Middlesex prosecutor declined to prosecute, citing “a lack of credible evidence and corroboration that a crime was committed.”

Brennan was outraged at their findings. She said the prosecutor’s office has offered to discuss its decision; she said she would accept the invitation.

“I offered my witnesses to the Middlesex County Prosecutor and the Middlesex County Prosecutor did not talk to the witnesses. So when they talk about credibility and corroboration, I don’t know who they are corroborating my story with,” she said.

Katie Brennan speaks to NJ Advance Media in Trenton on Thursday. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Brennan, 31, chief of staff for the state Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, also expressed bitter disappointment that the Murphy administration has failed to take responsibility for hiring Alvarez, and for letting him keep his job months after they assured her they believed her account.

And Brennan pledged to continue pursuing justice for herself through a pending civil lawsuit, and through the ongoing legislative hearings into the matter that she hopes will produce better laws to protect survivors. She said every day, survivors contact her and tell her they believe her and tell her to keep fighting.

“It’s a lot to carry and it’s horrifying to know the scale that’s out there. But you know you are not alone,” Brennan said, tearing up.

“I have to believe even if every system fails the reforms that come from this will make it better for the next survivor," she added. “I absolutely have that hope.”

In a statement Thursday, Alvarez’s attorneys, Stacy Biancamano and John Hogan, said Alvarez has always maintained “the events of that night in April 2017 were consensual and the lack of credible evidence and corroboration of a crime has again cleared him of any wrongdoing."

“Although he has now been cleared by two independent investigations, his vindication seems conciliatory when compared with the damage that has already been caused,” according to the statement. “These unsubstantiated allegations led to Mr. Alvarez being unfairly forced to resign and have devastated his promising career, not to mention the emotional toll this process has taken upon him and his loved ones.”

Brennan told authorities Alvarez drove her home in Jersey City from a campaign party one night in April 2017 and asked to use the bathroom and get a drink of water. Brennan said Alvarez pushed her onto the couch, pulled off her pants and underwear, took off some of his clothes and forced himself on her. She said she kicked him off of her and locked herself in the bathroom.

Alvarez was chief of staff to the New Jersey Schools Development Authority until he resigned Oct. 2, the day he was contacted by the Wall Street Journal, which was preparing to publish a story about Brennan’s allegation and the administration’s failure to investigate or hold Alvarez accountable.

A campaign attorney, Jonathan Berkon, and Murphy’s former chief of staff, Pete Cammarano, testified to the legislative committee that Alvarez was told he must find a new job.

“The detective in Hudson (County) said she believed me," Brennan said, adding that an assistant prosecutor told her there was DNA evidence although “not enough" to proceed.

"Every single witness who have been called before the Legislature said they believe me and I am credible,” Brennan said.

The fact that the Murphy administration has taken such a public stand for women who have accused President Donald Trump, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and others of sexual abuse frustrates and angers her. Where is the follow-through on her behalf, she asked?

“Cowardice is not an excuse for injustice. If you are going to be infuriated by Trump, if you are going to be infuriated by Harvey Weinstein, if you are going to be infuriated by Kavanaugh, then you have to honestly ask yourself what you do when it comes to you," Brennan said.

“When it’s right in front of you, are you going to stick your neck out and do what’s right even when it is not personally advantageous?” she added.

“I am telling you I am not reliving my trauma every single day, going to the ends of the earth to try pursue justice, for any other reason than besides what is right," Brennan said.

"I have nothing to gain from this. It’s extremely emotionally trying every single day. It impacts every facet of my life and it is a convenient excuse for people if they can make themselves feel better by deciding ‘he said she said,’ and brush it off as rumor, because that means they don’t have to do anything.”

NJ Advance Media staff writers Brent Johnson, Craig McCarthy, and Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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