Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted Democrats on Monday for "leaking" details of a sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, breaking his silence on the topic after it first surfaced in a magazine report Friday.

Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor, has alleged that a high school-aged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party in the early 1980s. She detailed the incident in a private letter this summer to her Democratic lawmaker, and it was then sent to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, according to the Washington Post.

“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” the 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California told the Washington Post, saying Kavanaugh was very drunk at the time. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

The latest:Kavanaugh accuser Christine Ford willing to testify before Senate committee, lawyer says

Ford was named publicly on Sunday in the Washington Post after reports about the allegation surfaced last week. In the article, her allegation was corroborated by copies of a therapist's notes and the results of Ford's polygraph test administered by a former FBI agent. Ford's lawyer told the Today Show on Monday that she is willing to testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh said in a statement released through the White House. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”

After the story of the allegations broke in the New Yorker on Friday, neither McConnell nor Sen. Rand Paul spoke publicly about the allegations until McConnell unloaded on the Democrats for purposefully leaking the allegations late in the nomination process.

A spokesperson for Paul did not return requests for comment left Sunday and Monday.

Both McConnell and Paul have been vocal supporters of Kavanaugh.

Related:Republican senators call for delay on Brett Kavanaugh vote until they can hear from accuser

Following Kavanaugh's public hearings — during which protesters and Democratic critics made headlines for their fierce opposition — McConnell quickly called out his opponents during a speech on the Senate floor on Sept. 12.

"Dishonest attacks and half-truths are all that’s left for our colleagues who made up their minds long ago they would oppose Judge Kavanaugh no matter what," McConnell tweeted.

Following Kavanaugh's nomination by President Donald Trump in July, McConnell said the judge was "an impressive nominee ... He has won the respect of his peers and is highly regarded throughout the legal community."

McConnell — who has made conservative control of the federal courts and the Supreme Court his top priority as senate majority leader — played a chief role in securing consistent 5-4 decisions in favor of the Republican agenda by blocking former President Barack Obama's nominee to the court in 2016. That allowed Trump to select Neil Gorsuch for the court following the 2016 election.

Since Kavanaugh's nomination, McConnell has been a fierce defender of the president's pick.

"Judge Kavanaugh demonstrated the intellectual brilliance and thoughtful temperament for which he is so widely known," McConnell tweeted on Sep. 12. "He showed exactly why he is universally acknowledged as a leading legal mind, and exactly why he will make a phenomenal Associate Justice of the Supreme Court."

Rand, Kentucky's junior Republican senator, initially rejected Kavanaugh's nomination due to the judge's previous statements on privacy issues.

He requested to meet with Kavanaugh one-on-one in July and eventually agreed to support the nominee.

"My conversation with Judge Kavanaugh reinforces my belief that he will evaluate cases before the Supreme Court from a textual and originalist point of view," Paul tweeted. "I believe he will carefully adhere to the Constitution and will take his job to protect individual liberty seriously."

With Paul's vote secured, it seemed like Kavanaugh's nomination was foregone. But Ford's allegations have now potentially jeopardized his chances.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican member on the Judiciary Committee, told Politico on Sunday that he would not support advancing the nomination to the Senate floor if fellow senators won't hear out Ford.

A "no" vote from Flake on the Judiciary Committee could bring a narrowly divided panel to bring a negative or no recommendation against Kavanaugh.

McConnell said on Sep. 11 in Louisville that he hoped to have Kavanaugh approved by the beginning of October.

"We need to hear from her," Flake told POLITICO Sunday, referring to Ford. "And I don't think I'm alone in this."

Thomas Novelly: tnovelly@courierjournal.com, 502-582-4465. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tomn.