Trump calls out Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser over account of sex attack

Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor, alleges that Kavanaugh drunkenly assaulted her at a party when he was 17, she was 15, and they were attending private schools outside Washington in the 1980s.

As a US woman who has accused a Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault negotiated the terms and timing of testifying before a Senate committee, President Donald Trump on Friday questioned her account, suggesting the incident might not have been as bad as claimed.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh leaves his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland on September. (AFP File Photo)

So far, Trump had kept a disciplined posture on the issue, agreeing that university professor Christine Blasey Ford be heard, even as he defended Brett Kavanaugh and questioned the timing of the airing of the allegation from 30 years ago.

But on Friday, he changed tone, tweeting, “I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”

Ford has sought an FBI inquiry into her allegation before she testifies, adding this condition to her initial offer to testify.

Ford has been receiving death threats since she went public with her allegations and has had to move with her family to a secure location. The alleged assault took place when Ford was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17; they were in high school then.

At a party, Kavanaugh and a friend, who she has alleged were both “stumbling drunk”, forced her into a room. And Kavanaugh had pinned her to the bed, lying on her, and groped her and had tried to undress her.

Ford has been sketchy on the details, the place and time, which has led some people to doubt her account. Others have argued, however, why would she seek an FBI probe if she is lying.