This is Christine Ford's entire letter about Brett Kavanaugh's alleged assault, read by CNN's Ana Cabrera

Ana Cabrera reads allegations against Brett Kavanaugh

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

published 17 September 2018

In late July, Christine Blasey Ford, a clinical psychologist and professor in California, sent a letter outlining an allegation of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the early 1980s, when both were teenagers at different private high schools in the Washington, D.C., area. On Sunday, Ford publicly identified herself in a Washington Post article, and CNN's Ana Cabrera then read Ford's entire letter to Feinstein, with certain names and places redacted. The letter has some details not included in the Washington Post account, like the reactions from Kavanaugh's friend during the alleged assault.

One of the Republican complaints about this last-minute broadside against Kavanaugh is that Feinstein knew about the allegations for more than a month before the nominee's confirmation hearing, and she said nothing to her colleagues in either party. Because Ford requested that her allegation not be shared, Feinstein only acknowledged that she had notified the FBI about the assault allegations after the letter's existence and its broad outlines leaked to the news media.

"The White House began hearing rumors of the new allegations last week, and White House Counsel Don McGahn received a redacted version of the letter Friday and sent it to Capitol Hill," Politico reports, citing a person familiar with the events. Kavanaugh denies that any assault took place. The White House says it plans to push ahead with its confirmation schedule. The Post saw the results of an August lie-detector test Ford passed affirming the accuracy of her allegations, and also notes from 2012 and 2013 therapy sessions that partly corroborated Ford's account.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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