Federal investigators are probing the origin of twin allegations against then-Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, according to five sources who’ve been interviewed by the FBI.
In February 2019, Fairfax was accused of sexual assault by two women the same week that the state’s governor, Ralph Northam, was in the press for a yearbook photo possibly showing him in blackface or in a Klan outfit. The allegations against Fairfax came at a crucial and chaotic moment, when Northam was being pressured to resign, and political power looked up for grabs. Ultimately, the series of events that unfolded cleared the way for Terry McAuliffe to run for Virginia governor in 2021, a race he lost to current Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Fairfax has vehemently disputed the allegations since the beginning, calling for a criminal investigation soon after they became public. In late 2019, he filed a defamation lawsuit against CBS News for their interviews with the two alleged victims, Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson. In it, Fairfax makes the case that the allegations against him have several inconsistencies and accuses his political rivals of trying to orchestrate the wide dissemination of the womens’ stories.
I’ve served both as a federal prosecutor & a defense attorney. I’ve passed two @FBI background checks & received a Top Secret security clearance.
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For @TerryMcAuliffe @LevarStoney @nancyerikasmith @DebraKatzKMB to orchestrate false criminal allegations against me is ridiculous.
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