Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax filed a defamation lawsuit against CBS on Thursday over the network’s interview of two women who accused him of sexual assault.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, Fairfax’s lawyers wrote that the two accusers, Meredith Watson and Vanessa Tyson, intentionally fabricated false and politically-motivated statements about him when they appeared on the network’s morning program.
Fairfax’s lawyers wrote that the lawsuit is an attempt to “restore his reputation and clear his name, ensure the truth prevails, stop the weaponization of false allegations of sexual assault against him, and vindicate his rights under civil law.”
Fairfax is asking for $400 million in damages.
Watson accused Fairfax of a “premeditated and aggressive” sexual assault in 2000 while both were undergraduate students at Duke University.
Tyson, a professor, accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex during an encounter in July 2004 at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
While vehemently denying the sexual assaults occurred, Fairfax has unsuccessfully requested criminal investigations into the two allegations, brought forth in February when it seemed as though Fairfax might ascend to the governor’s seat if Gov. Ralph Northam resigned in the wake of the blackface photo scandal.
Watson and Tyson shared their allegations on Gayle King’s “CBS This Morning” in April interviews that were heavily promoted, published on social media platforms and republished by other media outlets, according to the lawsuit.
Both women have also requested the Virginia General Assembly hold public hearings so they and Fairfax can testify and have called on Fairfax to resign. Democratic legislators have so far blocked any public hearings, saying independent investigations in Massachusetts and North Carolina must occur first.
In the 50-page lawsuit, Fairfax accuses King of failing to investigate leads and not “seriously” challenging the women’s stories. Fairfax has repeatedly said both sexual encounters were consensual.
Fairfax points to the television network’s own problems with sexual assault in the era of #MeToo — the network’s CEO, Leslie Moonves, was fired in December amid sexual harassment allegations, and anchor Charlie Rose was suspended in November 2017 after several women accused him of harassment and misconduct.
The lawsuit said CBS sought to align itself with alleged victims of sexual assault to improve its own public image in the wake of the network’s own #MeToo problems and “put these incidents in its rearview mirror.”
“CBS abandoned sound, standard journalistic practices that would have revealed fabrications, inconsistencies and provably false statements made by Watson and Tyson and undermined the credibility of their stories,” Fairfax’s lawyers wrote.
The lawsuit says in July, Fairfax sent CBS a letter demanding the network retract its story in light of Fairfax’s discovery of an eyewitness who he said was there during the encounter with Watson and claims her allegations are false.
In an emailed statement, Watson’s attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, said her firm looked forward to everyone testifying under oath in court.
Tyson’s lawyer, Debra Katz, said in a statement Thursday that Tyson stood by the account she gave King during the interview. Katz said the lawsuit’s claim that Tyson was part of conspiracy to keep Fairfax from becoming governor was “ludicrous.”
In the wake of the allegations, Fairfax resigned from the international law firm Morrison & Foerster and from his position as chairman of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association.
“His once-promising career — a lawyer at top firms, former federal prosecutor, lieutenant governor of Virginia, candidate for governor of Virginia in 2021 — has been severely damaged,” the lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims his wife and two children have suffered emotional trauma, public ridicule, threats to their safety and invasions of privacy.
CBS said in an emailed statement it stands by its reporting and will “vigorously defend” the lawsuit.
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Justin Fairfax defamation lawsuit against CBS (PDF)
Justin Fairfax defamation lawsuit against CBS (Text)
This is a developing story.
Marie Albiges, 757-247-4962, malbiges@dailypress.com