Kavanaugh accuser speaks up

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was thrust into turmoil yesterday after the woman accusing him of high school-era sexual misconduct told her story publicly for the first time. Democrats immediately called for a delay in a key committee vote set for this later week and a Republican on the closely divided panel said he’s ‘‘not comfortable’’ voting on the nomination without first hearing from the accuser.

The woman, Christine Blasey Ford, told in her first interview that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party they attended in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.

‘‘I thought he might inadvertently kill me,’’ Ford said. ‘‘He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.’’

Ford, 51 and a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, says she was able to get away after a friend of Kavanaugh’s who was in the room jumped on top of them and everyone tumbled.

Kavanaugh, 53 and a federal appeals judge in Washington, yesterday repeated an earlier denial of Ford’s allegation.

‘‘I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,’’ Kavanaugh said through the White House.

The allegation first came to light late last week in the form of a letter that has been in the possession of Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, for some time.

The committee recently concluded four days of public hearings on the nomination and the panel’s Republican chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, scheduled a Thursday vote, local time, on whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm Kavanaugh for a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court.

Democrats, led by New York Senator Chuck Schumer, immediately called for it to be postponed, though Republicans gave no indication Sunday that they would accede to the calls.

A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee said yester

day that Grassley is trying to arrange separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford, but just for aides to Grassley and Feinstein, before Thursday’s scheduled vote.

But Senator Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a committee member, told and

that he’s ‘‘not comfortable’’ voting for Kavanaugh until he learns more about the allegation. Flake is one of 11 Republicans on the committee, whose 10 Democrats all oppose Kavanaugh. A potential ‘‘no’’ vote

‘‘I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.’’

Brett Kavanaugh

from Flake would complicate Kavanaugh’s prospects.

Another Republican member, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he’s willing to hear from Ford provided that it’s ‘‘done immediately’’ to keep the confirmation process on track. Critics have accused the GOP of fast-tracking the process to get Kavanaugh on the court by October 1. Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation.

‘‘I thought he (Kavanaugh) might inadvertently kill me. He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.’’ Christine Blasey Ford