Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Denies Sexual Assault Allegation
The alleged assault took place in 2004 at the DNC Convention.
Virginia has another scandal on its hands after Governor Ralph Northam endorsed infanticide and faces calls to resign over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook.
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax would succeed Northam if he resigns, but sexual assault allegations from 2004 has surfaced again.
The Accuser
The alleged victim is Vanessa Tyson, a professor at Scripps College and a fellow at Stanford University. She claims the assault took place at the DNC Convention in 2004.
Big League Politics first reported the allegations. It’s the same website that first posted about Northam’s racist photo.
“This is Vanessa Tyson’s private post. She gave permission to share this screenshot of her post. She’s a professor…”
Looks like Lt. Gov. Fairfax is caught in a #MeToo scandal following his separation with Gov. #RalphNortham who has been under fire over past racist costumes. pic.twitter.com/BspWPauabj
— Culttture (@culttture) February 4, 2019
On the RVA Dirt Facebook page Vanessa Tyson replied in the comments affirming her consent for the post to be shared. ????????♀️ pic.twitter.com/pv5ndskd4L
— RVADirt (@RVAdirt) February 4, 2019
The Denial
Fairtfax denied the allegations in a tweet he sent out at 3AM:
— Justin Fairfax (@LGJustinFairfax) February 4, 2019
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax just spoke with reporters and denied allegations https://t.co/QI1q5i8lX1 pic.twitter.com/RG1FtavnrT
— Brendan Ponton (@brendanponton) February 4, 2019
MOMENTS AGO: Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax addresses sexual harassment allegations and Gov. Ralph Northam controversy https://t.co/7xyLbr0gfv pic.twitter.com/5fiJErwRBi
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 4, 2019
More from Politico:
In a news conference Monday in Richmond, Fairfax said he wasn’t sure why the accusations had resurfaced, but he said the timing was was suspect.
“Does anybody think it’s any coincidence that on the eve of potentially my being elevated that that’s when this uncorroborated smear comes out?” he asked. “Does anybody believe that’s a coincidence? I don’t think anybody believes that’s a coincidence, again, particularly with something — this is not the first time this was brought up.”
He asserted that the Post investigated the account for three months before it “dropped the story” because it was uncorroborated.
“It’s uncorroborated because it’s not true,” he said, adding that “you don’t have to be cynical, you don’t have to understand politics to understand when someone is trying to manipulate a process to harm someone’s character without any basis.”
The Story
It turns out that Tyson told The Washington Post and WUSA9 about the alleged assault, but neither outlet published anything about it because they could not corroborate her story.
WaPo explained what the newspaper knew and why it turned down the story:
The woman approached The Post after Fairfax won election in November 2017 and before he was inaugurated in January 2018 inauguration, saying she felt like she had an obligation to speak out.
The woman and Fairfax first met in Boston at the 2004 Democratic national convention.
During a conversation, the two realized they had a mutual friend. It was that commonality, she recalled, that put her at ease enough that on the afternoon Fairfax asked her to walk with him to his hotel room to pick up some papers, she thought nothing of joining him.
Fairfax and the woman told different versions of what happened in the hotel room with no one else present. The Washington Post could not find anyone who could corroborate either version. The Post did not find “significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegations,” as the Fairfax statement incorrectly said.
Fairfax (D), who was not married at the time, has denied her account through his attorneys and described the encounter as consensual.
The woman described a sexual encounter that began with consensual kissing and ended with a forced act that left her crying and shaken. She said Fairfax guided her to the bed, where they continued kissing, and then at one point she realized she could not move her neck. She said Fairfax used his strength to force her to perform oral sex.
The Washington Post, in phone calls to people who knew Fairfax from college, law school and through political circles, found no similar complaints of sexual misconduct against him. Without that, or the ability to corroborate the woman’s account — in part because she had not told anyone what happened — The Washington Post did not run a story.
She said she never told anyone about what happened at the time or in the years that followed until shortly before she approached The Post.
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Comments
Uh huh. I remember this exact same rationale with that Kavanaugh accuser. I was living in a parallel universe at the time and remember it distinctly because it was the same day there were 15 perfect games in MLB.
Uh…..Yes…..
American Patriots just want to know the un-barnished truth.
Thanks Mary for investigating and writing this up.
jennifer rubin at wapo screaming into her pillow now…..
Ah didn do nuffin’.
The way this is going, Virginia will effectively seceding from the union one governor at a time if they don’t call a special election and break the chain.
Fairly easy to explain. Obviously a White, racist Democrat, anti-Constitution, abortion worshiping Governor cannot ride this out. The next step up in the privilege ladder is a Black, racist Democrat, anti-Constitution, abortion worshiping LT. Governor who would succeed to the Governor’s position with the addition of sexual assault allegations. That last ALWAYS brings out Democrat females [and GOPe males], and the Leftist media to defend the perp.
If that does not work, they will try to find a Gay …. etc.
Subotai Bahadur
“…Tyson told The Washington Post and WUSA9 about the alleged assault, but neither outlet published anything about it because they could not corroborate her story.”
Apparently, the journalistic integrity bar only gets lowered when the victim spells her name ‘christine blasey ford.’
The accusation sounds kind of fishy. How in the world could someone force someone to open their mouth (oral sex requires an open mouth)?
This seems relevant, so.
@CBSEveningNews
VA Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax denies sexual assault claim, telling reporters in Richmond that he had “consensual encounter” with woman in hotel room in 2004 https://cbsn.ws/2DdR43A
3:19 PM – 4 Feb 2019
https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1092502960469364736
CBS: “MOMENTS AGO: Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax addresses sexual harassment allegations”
****
Isn’t that special, if a person belongs to a CBS “preferred group”, Rape becomes harassment.
I am waiting for Trump to troll the CBS Evening News with the tweet …
@CBSEveningNews There is evidence against Fairfax and none against Kavannaugh, yet, I believe both their denials.
Let’s go to the high school yearbooks….
Could it be that individual voters have to come forward and demand that the Democrat Party cleans house? The Repubs very reliably get rid of people who misbehave, but the Democrats protect their scoundrels. And, they STILL haven’t done anything like the soul-searching they need to do to pull their party out of its tailspin.
So, maybe it has to come to this.
I am sure the WaPo diligently looked into the accusations against Fairfax in the same way a mouse diligently looks for a hungry cat.
When did the party of Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Robert Byrd, suddenly because the party of zero tolerance for ANY past misbehavior?
You made your bed, Democrats… now you have to “believe all women”.
So, this is how our society is supposed to work.
Here we have two people who have differing recollections of the same incident, which occurred 15 years ago. No witnesses or physical evidence exists which would corroborate or refute either account. The accuser failed to confide in anyone, or make an official report, about what happened, at the time. She only revealed her version of the incident some 13 years after it happened. The accused has no history of similar behavior or even accusations of similar behavior.
So, we have to give both the benefit of the doubt. We can not say, with any certainty, that either one is lying, nor can we determine whether either is telling the truth. So, unfortunately, no action can be taken against either. This may not seem fair, but that is life.
I’m going with the man’s story in this case.
I would, if only he gave the same courtesy to other men in his situation. When someone posts his defense of Kavanaugh, or of the Duke Lacrosse players, or his condemnation of the 0bama DOE’s “Dear Colleague” letter, then I’ll come to his defense.
I had initially said the Northam blackface scandal was an inside job attempting to make Justin Fairfax governor. But maybe I was wrong and there really is a vast right wing conspiracy.
I think that the original ruckus was simply trying to exert black power and take a white scalp. IE, score political points.
I have not seen any hard evidence that it started to put the black in office, that said, there is clear evidence on black internet sites that it quickly morphed to do just that. It is perfectly possible that it was started by someone with the intent you suggested, just no clear evidence that is the case at this time.