The woman who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault told Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott about the alleged incident more than a year ago and The Washington Post even interviewed Scott as a character witness while investigating the accusations, ABC News reported.
Scott and the alleged victim, Vanessa Tyson, have known one another for a decade. According to Scott aides who spoke to ABC, Tyson initially reached out to Scott expressing her disdain for Fairfax in October 2017 and sent him a text message in December of that year, claiming he had a “MeToo allegation” against him. Between late December and early January 2018, Scott reportedly became aware that the allegation against Fairfax involved Tyson.
Scott told ABC News on Wednesday that Tyson “deserves the opportunity to have her story heard.”
“Allegations of sexual assault need to be taken seriously,” he told ABC. “I have known Professor Tyson for approximately a decade and she is a friend. She deserves the opportunity to have her story heard.”
Fairfax has denied the allegations since they were first raised by a pro-Trump website earlier this week. After Tyson released a statement on Wednesday detailing the encounter — which she says began consensually and ended with Fairfax allegedly forcing her to perform a sex act — Fairfax again denied the accusation, but said he takes the situation “seriously.”
