The woman who wrote a confidential letter to a Democratic senator — alleging that President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than 30 years ago — revealed her identity and spoke out publicly for the first time on Sunday in an interview with the Washington Post.

Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old research psychologist and professor at Palo Alto University, alleged that during a house party in Maryland in 1982, Kavanaugh — whom she described as "stumbling drunk" — pinned her to a bed, groped her, tried to remove her clothes, and put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming.

"I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Ford told the Post. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

Ford's allegations were contained in a secret letter that she sent to California Rep. Anna Eshoo, who then sent it to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein — the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee — in July. Ford expected the letter to remain confidential, but earlier this week the Intercept reported on the existence of the letter, and later, the New Yorker published details of the alleged sexual assault contained in the letter without identifying Ford.



Feinstein released a statement saying that she received the letter but that she had honored the individual's request for confidentiality and had referred the letter to the FBI.

The FBI added “information” on the letter as an addendum to Kavanaugh’s background file, a confidential physical document kept under lock and key that can only be viewed by senators and certain Senate and White House staff.



There is no criminal investigation into the letter, a source told BuzzFeed News.

Kavanaugh denied the allegations at the time, saying, "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time."



Before news of the letter broke, BuzzFeed News had attempted to contact the woman in person and she declined to comment. Ford's lawyer did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment on Sunday.



The White House on Sunday declined to address Ford's detailed allegations in the Post and provided BuzzFeed News with Kavanaugh's earlier statement denying the allegations.



Following the initial reports of Ford's secret letter, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley released a letter of support from 65 women who said they had known the nominee since his high school days, and claimed that "[f]or the entire time we have known Brett Kavanaugh, he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect."

In a statement on Sunday, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee again defended Kavanaugh's integrity, and said that it was "disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote after Democrats sat on them since July."



"Judge Kavanaugh’s background has been thoroughly vetted by the FBI on six different occasions throughout his decades of public service, and no such allegation ever surfaced," the statement said. "Furthermore Judge Kavanaugh and others alleged to have been involved have unequivocally denied these claims from their high school days."

But some Republicans indicated Sunday that they would like to hear from Ford.

In a statement, Sen. Lindsey Graham said that while he agreed with the committee's concerns "about the substance and process" regarding the allegations against Kavanaugh, he would "gladly listen" to Ford if she chose to speak to the committee.

In the event that Ford is willing to talk, Graham said, the Judiciary Committee should set up a meeting with her prior to Kavanaugh's scheduled confirmation vote Thursday



"If Ms. Ford wishes to provide information to the committee, I would gladly listen to what she has to say and compare that against all other information we have received about Judge Kavanaugh," he said. "If the committee is to hear from Ms. Ford it should be done immediately so the process can continue as scheduled."