Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D-VA) vehemently denied a woman’s claim he sexually assaulted her 15 years ago, suggesting embattled Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and his allies were attempting to take him down with them.
Northam is under attack over his alleged connection to a racist yearbook photograph and an admitted appearance in blackface at a talent show around the same time.
The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin reports:
“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?” Mr. Fairfax told reporters surrounding him in the rotunda of the state capitol about whether he believes Mr. Northam, a fellow Democrat, was behind the accusation coming to light. He offered no evidence tying the Northam camp to the allegation.
Just hours after the Washington Post published a story Monday outlining the woman’s allegation — that Mr. Fairfax assaulted her soon after they met in Boston at the Democratic National Convention — the lieutenant governor said that he and the woman had what he called “a 100 percent consensual” sexual encounter.
“We hit it off, she was very interested in me and so eventually, at one point, we ended up going to my hotel room,” said Mr. Fairfax, 39, recounting in a measured voice what he said happened in 2004.
Mr. Fairfax asserted that the woman subsequently called him and said she wanted him to meet her mother. He said he had no documentary evidence of any further conversations after their sexual encounter in 2004, when he was working as the personal aide to then-North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate that year. Asked if he had seen her since the time in his hotel room, he said: “I don’t believe so.” The Times has reached out to intermediaries for the woman who has made the allegation, but they did not immediately comment on Monday.
AAN Staff
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