One of the two women accusing Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault said Monday she did not go public with her accusations for years because she was "humiliated."
Vanessa Tyson, who was the first to accuse Fairfax of sexual assault, appeared on "CBS This Morning," where she told co-anchor Gayle King she was assaulted in a Boston hotel room during the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
An interview with another accuser, Meredith Watson, will air Tuesday on the CBS program.
Tyson and Watson want a public hearing on their accusations and say they want to testify under oath to the Virginia General assembly, which meets Wednesday for the first time in more than a month.
Tyson told King that when she met Fairfax, she thought he was "very friendly, very charismatic . . . harmless even."
About 48 hours after, Tyson said, Fairfax told her he needed to pick up paperwork from his hotel room, and asked if she would like to go along to "get a bit of fresh air and sunshine."
Tyson told King that back at the hotel room, Fairfax kissed her, which was "completely consensual," but then she could not feel her neck and he forced her to perform oral sex.
Fairfax issued a statement to CBS denying the accusations and said he has passed polygraph tests.
"I have also called for a fair, full, and impartial investigation of the allegations and my denials," Fairfax said. "I am completely confident that such an investigation would exonerate me and clear my good name, which I have spent a lifetime building."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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