Woman goes public with Kavanaugh assault claim

WASHINGTON — The woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were in high school has come forward, alleging in an interview that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and covered her mouth when she tried to scream.

“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Christine Blasey Ford told The Washington Post in her first interview. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

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

Kavanaugh, now 53 and a federal appeals judge in Washington, has denied the allegation. He repeated that denial again Sunday through the White House.

“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” Kavanaugh said.

“Prepare for the worst,” Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee Ka-chiu urged residents.

That warning came after Mangkhut’s devastating march through the northern Philippines, where the storm made landfall Saturday on Luzon island with sustained winds of 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour and gusts of 255 kph (158 mph).

Police Superintendent Pelita Tacio said 34 villagers had died and 36 remained missing in landslides in two villages in Itogon town in the northern Philippine mountain province of Benguet.