Lt. Gov. Fairfax’s attorney calls for criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations

An attorney for Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) called for a formal criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations against Fairfax, according to CBS News.

Fairfax’s attorney Barry Pollock has sent letters to prosecutors in North Carolina and Massachusetts requesting the investigations, according to the network. Fairfax, in April, made a similar request of the two jurisdictions.

{mosads}Vanessa Tyson has accused Fairfax of assaulting her in Boston in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention, while Meredith Watson has said he raped her while they were classmates at Duke University in 2000. Fairfax denies both allegations.

“If an investigation were to determine that the allegation is true, it should be criminally prosecuted,” the letter states.

“Conversely, if an investigation were to determine that the allegation is false, which Lt. Governor Fairfax is confident would be the conclusion, of any unbiased and professional investigation, the matter should be closed and the public informed,” Pollack added.

Fairfax at one point pushed back against calls for either a criminal investigation or an investigation by the state’s General Assembly.

“An objective and thorough investigation of that allegation should be conducted, and the results reported to the public,” Pollack wrote in a letter to Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum in Boston.

“Just as no serious crime should go unprosecuted; no innocent person should have his reputation tarnished by a false allegation,” he added.

In the letter, Pollack notes Fairfax’s claim that he passed a polygraph test regarding Tyson’s claims.

Attorneys for Tyson called Fairfax’s letter “another political stunt that shows his lack of respect for survivors of sexual violence.”

“As a former prosecutor, the Lieutenant Governor certainly knows that potential targets of criminal investigations do not get to direct prosecutorial decisions,” Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said in a statement. “Like the bogus demand he made in February 2019 for the FBI to investigate Dr. Vanessa Tyson’s sexual assault allegations against him, Lieutenant Government Fairfax knows full well that his demands that the District Attorney take action will go unanswered. Despite his protestations about the unfairness of litigating such serious allegations in the press, his letter’s distorted presentation of facts is intended to do just that.”

The allegations against Fairfax emerged amid a blackface scandal involving Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and Pollack suggests Tyson only came forward because of the possibility Fairfax would replace Northam as governor.

Watson and Tyson have both said they would prefer the matter be handled in the General Assembly and have said they would be willing to testify in a hearing as long as both Democrats and Republicans are represented.

–Rachel Frazin contributed to this report, which was updated at 1:13 p.m.