Democrat Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott’s year-long knowledge of and inaction toward the sexual assault allegation levied against Democrat Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax is the latest development since Big League Politics broke the story on Sunday.
Aides for Scott admitted Wednesday to having knowledge of Fairfax’s sexual assault allegation since October 17, 2017, when the accuser Vanessa Tyson, a Stanford Fellow and Scripps University professor, made Scott’s team aware of the alleged incident. Tyson attempted to explain the allegation to Scott again in a text message sent in December of 2017.
In a Nov. 29 email, Tyson expressed her dislike for Fairfax and wrote that she would like to “talk about it,” with Congressman Scott.
Aides to Scott maintain that he was not made aware at that point about an alleged sexual assault in 2004 involving Fairfax.
In a text message exchange between Scott and Tyson in December 2017, she informed him that the now-Lieutenant Governor-Elect had a “MeToo allegation,” but at the time the congressman did not know that she was the accuser, according to aides.
In a statement to ABC News, Scott claimed on Wednesday that he has “known Professor Tyson for approximately a decade and she is a friend.”
This latest bombshell comes out only hours after the National Organization for Women (NOW) demanded Fairfax immediately resign to remove himself from the line of succession should besieged Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, who last week endorsed infanticide before Big League Politics uncovered wildly racist photos from his medical school yearbook, heed many Democrats’ and Republicans’ call for his resignation.
The National Organization for Women is calling for Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax to resign amid allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2004.
After Big League Politics broke the news of Fairfax’s sexual assault allegation, in which University Fellow and Professor Vanessa Tyson accused him of sexually assaulting her during the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Fairfax proceeded to smear her for her story and attack her character. This led the National Organization for Women (NOW) to demand his immediate resignation.
This revelation also comes as the third in the line of succession for the governorship, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring faces his own controversy over past racism, having admitted to wearing blackface to sing a rap song during a 1980 college party.
Herring resigned today from his position as co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association.