NEWPORT NEWS, Va. _ Saying he wants to "expedite the process" and prove his innocence, an attorney for Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is officially calling on prosecutors in Durham, N.C., and Boston to investigate allegations of sexual assault against him.
The letters, sent Wednesday and provided to the Newport News Daily Press by Fairfax's spokeswoman, come more than four months after two women accused the Democratic lieutenant governor of rape.
In a letter to the Durham district attorney, Fairfax's lawyer said one of the women, Meredith Watson, blackmailed him, threatening to go public with her rape allegation if he didn't resign within two hours.
Watson and Vanessa Tyson have said Fairfax raped them in Durham in 2000 and in Boston in 2004, respectively.
Fairfax has vehemently denied the allegations, repeatedly saying both encounters with the women were consensual.
Fairfax's attorney, Barry Pollack, wrote in one letter that he had left several messages with Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry and hadn't spoken with him or anyone else in the office yet. Pollack said he also previously contacted Ian Polumbaum, the Suffolk County assistant district attorney in Massachusetts.
Fairfax spokeswoman Lauren Burke said his attorneys tried contacting each district attorney's office at least five or six times.
The two prosecutors could not immediately be reached Wednesday evening. Neither could attorneys for Tyson or Watson.
An attorney for Watson said in a press release in February that Watson "may contact" North Carolina authorities about a possible criminal investigation. Tyson's attorney said in a statement Feb. 13 Tyson would meet with the Suffolk County prosecutor's office and law enforcement to "detail her allegations of sexual assault" and they were working to schedule a meeting.
Tyson and Watson went public with their allegations in February, shortly after Gov. Ralph Northam, also a Democrat, became ensnared in a scandal over a racist yearbook photo and it seemed as though Fairfax would be named governor if Northam ceded to calls for his resignation.
Neither scenario occurred, and the two women have since called for the General Assembly to hold a public hearing where they could testify and bring in witnesses.
Democrats in the legislature _ which is narrowly controlled by Republicans _ rejected that idea, saying they'd prefer a criminal investigation take place first.
Since then, Watson and Tyson have appeared on "CBS This Morning" with Gayle King, and Watson wrote a Washington Post op-ed calling for state lawmakers to let her testify. The King interview was aired two days before legislators and Fairfax reconvened to take final action on bills in April.
Tyson first went to the Washington Post with her allegations in January 2018 right before Fairfax was inaugurated. The Post investigated for several months and decided not to publish her story.
Pollack said an "objective and thorough investigation" into the allegations should be conducted, with the results reported to the public.
"Just as no serious crime should go unprosecuted, no innocent person should have his reputation tarnished by a false allegation," he wrote in both letters.
Pollack also sent prosecutors the results of a polygraph test Fairfax took in March that Pollack said "strongly corroborates (Fairfax's) firm denial that any non-consensual sexual activity occurred."
In both letters, the lawyer says Fairfax is prepared to help with the investigation, testify under oath and be interviewed. He added he hoped the two women would file a criminal complaint and "join me in asking for an investigation and will cooperate in your Office's investigation of that complaint."
"The alternative to a thorough and professional investigation by law enforcement is what Lt. Governor Fairfax has experienced to date: political posturing, seeking electoral advantage, engaging in politically-timed sensational media interviews, ignoring exculpatory evidence, and rushing to judgment," Pollack wrote.
Pollack said the Durham prosecutor's office contacted Watson on Feb. 15 and the Boston prosecutor's office contacted Tyson on Feb. 13 to let the women know they could help if either woman wanted to file a criminal complaint.
