Tyson also accused Fairfax of engaging in a "smear campaign" against her by his pointing reporters to a 2007 video in which she discussed being a victim of incest but did not mention an attack by Fairfax.

"In that video I did not talk about being assaulted by Mr. Fairfax. This, of course, is not proof that he did not assault me," Tyson said. "His reliance on this video to say the opposite is despicable and an offense to sexual assault survivors everywhere."

"Since October 2017 when I first began telling friends about the assault, I have never wavered in my account because I am telling the truth. I have no political motive. I am a proud Democrat," Tyson said.

"My only motive in speaking now is to refute Mr. Fairfax's falsehoods and aspersions of my character, and to provide what I believe is important information for Virginians to have as they make critical decisions that involve Mr. Fairfax."

Tyson's attorneys at the law firm of Katz, Marshall & Banks earlier represented Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who testified that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school get-together in the early 1980s in Washington, D.C. Kavanaugh has denied Ford's allegations, which were aired in a dramatic Senate confirmation hearing last year.

Fairfax has hired the law firm of Wilkinson Walsh & Eskovitz — the same firm that represented Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearings, attorney Rakesh Kilaru confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday. Kilaru said Fairfax had initially retained the firm in January 2018 — when The Washington Post was conducting an inquiry into Tyson's allegations — and has now retained the firm again.

Responding to Tyson's statement, Fairfax said in his own statement Wednesday:

I support the aims of the MeToo movement and I believe that people should always be heard and the truth should be sought. I wish Dr. Tyson the best as I do our Commonwealth.

Any review of the circumstances would support my account, because it is the truth. I take this situation very seriously and continue to believe Dr. Tyson should be treated with respect. But, I cannot agree to a description of events that simply is not true.

Also Wednesday, Democratic Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton of Virginia tweeted: "I believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson."

Tyson is currently on leave from Scripps College and is a visiting fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

Her biography page at Stanford says, "Tyson will use her fellowship year to research the politics and policies surrounding sexual violence against women and children in the United States."

"More specifically, she will explore political discourse surrounding sexual assault, corresponding policies, and the unique identities of sexual assault survivors," the page says.

Herring, the Virginia attorney general, revealed hours before on Wednesday that he and friends wore blackface at a college party in 1980 to dress up "like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song."

Herring, who had called for Northam's resignation, did not say whether he will resign.

Northam has denied being either the man in blackface or the man dressed like a Ku Klux Klan member in the photo on his yearbook page. But he has said he wore blackface to impersonate Michael Jackson in a dance contest in the 1980s.

If Northam, Fairfax and Herring — who are all Democrats — resign, the state's Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, Kirk Cox, would become governor.

Read Vanessa Tyson's statement in full below:

On the night of Friday, February 1, 2019, I read multiple news accounts indicating that Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax would likely be elevated to Governor as an immediate result of a scandal involving Governor Ralph Northam. This news flooded me with painful memories, bringing back feelings of grief, shame, and anger that stemmed from an incident with Mr. Fairfax that occurred in July 2004 during the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

I met Mr. Fairfax on July 26, 2004, when he and I were working at the Convention. We struck up a conversation on the first day of the Convention and soon realized we had a mutual friend. We crossed paths occasionally during the first two days and our interactions were cordial, but not flirtatious. We commiserated about our long work hours, and on the afternoon of the third day of the Convention, July 28, 2004, Mr. Fairfax suggested that I get some fresh air by accompanying him on a quick errand to retrieve documents from his room in a nearby hotel. Given our interactions up to that time, I had no reason to feel threatened and agreed to walk with him to his hotel. I stood in the entryway of the room and after he located the documents, he walked over and kissed me. Although surprised by his advance, it was not unwelcome and I kissed him back. He then took my hand and pulled me towards the bed. I was fully clothed in a pantsuit and had no intention of taking my clothes off or engaging in sexual activity. In the back of my mind, I also knew I needed to return to Convention headquarters.

What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault. Mr. Fairfax put his hand behind my neck and forcefully pushed my head towards his crotch. Only then did I realize that he had unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants, and taken out his penis. He then forced his penis into my mouth. Utterly shocked and terrified, I tried to move my head away, but could not because his hand was holding down my neck and he was much stronger than me. As I cried and gagged, Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him. I cannot believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual. To be very clear, I did not want to engage in oral sex with Mr. Fairfax and I never gave any form of consent. Quite the opposite. I consciously avoided Mr. Fairfax for the remainder of the Convention and I never spoke to him again.

After the assault, I suffered from both deep humiliation and shame. I did not speak about it for years, and I (like most survivors) suppressed those memories and emotions as a necessary means to continue my studies, and to pursue my goal of building a successful career as an academic. At the time, I found this horrific incident especially degrading given my regular volunteer work at a local rape crisis center. Over the next decade or so, I would go on to earn my PhD from the University of Chicago and become a tenured professor at Scripps College, a prestigious women's college in Claremont, California. Years later, in October of 2017, I saw a picture of Mr. Fairfax accompanying an article in The Root about his campaign for Lt. Governor in Virginia. The image hit me like a ton of bricks, triggering buried traumatic memories and the feelings of humiliation I'd felt so intensely back in 2004. Prior to reading the article, I had not followed Mr. Fairfax's career and did not know that he was seeking public office. Unsure of what to do, I felt it was crucial to tell close friends of mine in Virginia, who were voters, about the assault.

That October, as the #MeToo movement intensified, women throughout the world began forcefully speaking out about the sexual violence they had experienced and the impact of those experiences on their lives. The courage of so many women coming forward to confront powerful men and systems that allow such abuse to occur are part of what inspired me to action. I felt a responsibility to myself, the beloved students I teach, and the brave women I've tried to help overcome their own trauma. The passion and resolve of so many survivors, coupled with the job security that tenure afforded me, gave me the strength I simply did not have in 2004. By December 2017, I not only told many friends that Mr. Fairfax had sexually assaulted me but I also reached out to a personal friend at The Washington Post and spoke to his colleague about the assault.

After The Washington Post decided in March 2018 not to run my story, I felt powerless, frustrated, and completely drained. Again I tried to bury memories of this painful incident and focus on my work and my students.

On Friday, February 1, 2019, as stories appeared in the media suggesting that Governor Northam would have to resign and that Mr. Fairfax would be sworn in as Governor, I felt a jarring sense of both outrage and despair. That night I vented my frustration on Facebook in a message that I wrote as a private post. I did not identify' Lt. Governor Fairfax by name but stated that it seemed inevitable that the campaign staffer who assaulted me during the Democratic Convention in 2004 was about to get a big promotion. It was not my intention in that moment to inject myself into what has become a much larger political battle.

The following morning, I was inundated with messages of care and concern from friends— including many I had told about the sexual assault — and numerous inquiries from journalists who had become aware of my post. Over the weekend, I was undecided about whether to speak out publicly. I knew that if I did so, I would immediately face accusations about my motives and be branded a liar, as is routinely the case when women come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent men.

On Sunday night, before I had time to decide on a course of action, an online publication published a screenshot of my Facebook post, identified me by name, and posted pictures of me. In response, at 2:55 a.m. on February 4, 2019, Mr. Fairfax issued a statement further escalating this matter by calling me a liar and falsely characterizing the reasons The Washington Post decided not to run a story about my allegations. The Post was forced to repudiate Mr. Fairfax's statement that there were "significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegations" which led it to decide not to publish a story about my account. Rather, as is often the case in situations where sexual assault by an acquaintance occurs behind closed doors years earlier, it is difficult to corroborate either the victim's allegations or the accused's denials. .

Mr. Fairfax's suggestion that The Washington Post found me not to be credible was deceitful, offensive, and profoundly upsetting. He has continued a smear campaign by pointing reporters to a 2007 educational video in which I talked about being the victim of incest and molestation. In that video I did not talk about being assaulted by Mr. Fairfax. This, of course, is not proof that he did not assault me. His reliance on this video to say the opposite is despicable and an offense to sexual assault survivors everywhere.

Since October 2017 when I first began telling friends about the assault, I have never wavered in my account because I am telling the truth. I have no political motive. I am a proud Democrat. My only motive in speaking now is to refute Mr. Fairfax's falsehoods and aspersions of my character, and to provide what I believe is important information for Virginians to have as they make critical decisions that involve Mr. Fairfax.

With tremendous anguish, I am now sharing this information about my experience and setting the record straight. It has been extremely difficult to relive that traumatic experience from 2004. Mr. Fairfax has tried to brand me as a liar to a national audience, in service to his political ambitions, and has threatened litigation. Given his false assertions, I'm compelled to make clear what happened. I very much wish to resume my life as an academic and professor. I do not want to get further embroiled in this highly charged political environment. This is the only statement I and my legal team will be making.</s>Calls from Virginia Democrats for Justin Fairfax to resign

Virginia Democratic Reps. Don Beyer, Abigail Spanberger, Elaine Luria, Jennifer Wexton, and Gerry Connolly today issued the following statement on the status of Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax.

“The past seven days have been some of the most painful we can remember. It has been very difficult to marshal the thoughts, let alone the words, to react.

“The allegations raised by Dr. Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson raise two fundamental questions which Virginia’s leaders are called to answer: do we believe them, and, if so, do we believe that Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax should continue to serve?

“We believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson. We found her account compelling and highly credible. The central issue at the heart of her account is consent, and there can be no better authority to decide whether it was given than Dr. Tyson herself. Meredith Watson’s statement describes another extremely disturbing incident, which lends further credence to Dr. Tyson’s story.

“All survivors of sexual violence and harassment deserve to be supported and heard, and our commitment to that principle is more important than any political consideration.

“The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia presides over the Virginia Senate and must be prepared to fill the role of Governor. It is unacceptable that either of these weighty responsibilities be entrusted to someone who has engaged in the behavior described by Dr. Tyson and Meredith Watson, particularly in light of Gov. Northam’s situation, which we continue to believe requires his resignation.

“Lt. Governor Fairfax has also shown exceptionally poor judgment in his handling of these allegations. He repeatedly attacked his accuser, he reportedly used vile and degrading language to describe her, he mischaracterized an investigation into the encounter, and he sought to blame others for events in his own past. These actions do not meet the standard to which we hold Virginia’s highest elected officers.

“For these reasons we believe that Justin Fairfax cannot continue to serve at Lt. Governor Of Virginia, and should step aside.”</s>A second woman has accused Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Justin Fairfax of rape.

Meredith Watson came forward on Friday alleging Fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2000 when they were both attending Duke University.

According to her attorney, the two were friends in college but were never romantically involved.

Watson allegedly reported the incident after it happened to her friends and classmates in Facebook messages and emails, The Washington Post reported.

Her accusation comes just days after Vanessa Tyson came forward on Wednesday alleging Fairfax raped her during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Vanessa Tyson issued a stinging statement through her lawyers, saying: 'What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault. Mr. Fairfax put his hand behind my neck and forcefully pushed my head towards his crotch. Only then did I realize that he had unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants, and taken out his penis. He then forced his penis into my mouth.'

'Utterly shocked and terrified, I tried to move my head away, but could not because his hand was holding down my neck and he was much stronger than me. As I cried and gagged, Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him.

'I cannot believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual. To be very clear, I did not want to engage in oral sex with Mr. Fairfax and I never gave any form of consent.'

Democratic Rep; Jennifer Wexton became the first member of Virginia's congressional delegation to weigh in on the Fairfax scandal, tweeting Wednesday afternoon: 'I believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson.'

The 39-year-old Fairfax's political future seemed to unravel in slow-motion on Wednesday as sources told NBC News that he had snapped out of his normal mild manner to condemn Tyson during a private meeting with staff – shouting: 'F**k that b***h!'

Lawrence Roberts, Fairfax's chief of staff, insisted to a Washington Post reporter that the lieutenant governor never said those words: 'Absolutely not true. I was there.'

Virginians are in danger of losing all three of their top government officials, after both Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring admitted that they had worn blackface to imitate African-Americans decades ago.</s>It began as a surprise but not unwelcome kiss, but quickly turned into rape, Dr. Vanessa Tyson alleges.

Massachusetts law includes forced oral sex where there’s penetration, “unnatrual sexual intercourse,” in its definition of rape.

In a statement that comes days after Heavy reported that Tyson was the woman behind a sexual assault accusation against Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, Tyson now describes in explicit detail what she said occurred in Boston in 2004, when she and Fairfax were working at the Democratic National Convention.

Fairfax has vehemently denied he sexually assaulted Tyson, called her claim against him “false” and said she was not credible.

He claims it was a “consensual encounter.” But what she describes is the definition of rape. The She describes as violent rape. In Massachusetts, where the alleged assault took place, state law defines rape as penetration by force including “unnatural sexual intercourse,” meaning anal or oral. In Massachusetts, the statute of limitations for criminal cases of rape is 15 years. The statute on civil cases is 35 years. The incident accused in July of 2004.

Tyson writes that when she read Fairfax could become Virginia’s governor if Gov. Ralph Northam resigned following accusations of racism – something the governor has refused to do – the “news flooded me with painful memories, bringing back feelings of grief, shame, and anger that stemmed from an incident with Mr. Fairfax that occurred in July 2004 during the Democratic National Convention in Boston.”

Tyson says both she and Fairfax were working at the DNC convention, met, had a mutual friend and were “cordial, but not flirtatious.” She said the two went to his hotel so he could retrieve documents and as she followed him to his room, she said she “had no reason to feel threatened.” She recalled that she was standing in the doorway when Fairfax kissed her.

Then, she says Fairfax “took my hand and pulled me towards the bed. I was fully clothed in a pants suit and had no intention of taking my clothes off or engaging in sexual activity.”

Her account of what occurred next is graphic and explicit.

“He put his hand behind my neck and forcefully pushed my head towards his crotch. Only then did I realize that he had unbuckled his

 belt, unzipped his pants, and taken out his penis. He then forced his penis into my mouth. Utterly shocked and terrified, I tried to move my head away but could not because his hand was holding down my neck and he was much stronger than me. As I cried and gagged, Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him. I can not believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual.

 To be very clear, I did not want to engage in oral sex with Mr. Fairfax. I never gave any form of consent. Quite the opposite.”

Tyson said she was humiliated and ashamed and did not speak of the alleged assault. Many years later, she saw a news story about Fairfax, who was running for lieutenant governor. Seeing his picture “hit me like a ton of bricks, triggering buried traumatic memories and the feelings of humiliation I’d felt so intensely back in 2004.”

She brought her story to The Washington Post but the paper declined to run it: “After The Washington Post decided in March 2018 not to run my story, I felt powerless, frustrated, and completely drained.”

When she saw that Fairfax might be installed as governor, she hired the lawyer who represented Brett Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Debra Katz of the Washington, D.C.-area firm Katz, Marshall and Banks.

“On Friday, February 1, 2019, as stories appeared in the media suggesting that Governor Northam would have to resign and that Mr. Fairfax would be sworn in as Governor, I felt a jarring sense of both outrage and despair,” she said. “That night I vented my frustration on Facebook in a message that I wrote as a private post. I did not identify Lt. Governor Fairfax by name but stated that it seemed inevitable that the campaign staffer who assaulted me during the Democratic Convention in 2004 was about to get a big promotion. It was not my intention in that moment to inject myself into what has become a much larger political battle.”

She was hesitant, she says because she was aware she’d “immediately face accusations about my motives and be branded a liar, as is routinely the case when women come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent men.”

But after Fairfax said he was cleared given the Washington Post declined to do the story, “was deceitful, offensive, and profoundly upsetting. He has continued a smear campaign by pointing reporters to a 2007 educational video in which I talked about being the victim of incest and molestation. In that video, I did not talk about being assaulted by Mr. Fairfax. This, of course, is not proof that he did not assault me. His reliance on this video to say the opposite is despicable and an offense to sexual assault survivors everywhere.”

Tyson, a “proud Democrat,” says she has no political agenda.

“Given his false assertions, I’m compelled to make clear what happened. I very much wish to resume my life as an academic and professor. I do not want to get further embroiled in this highly charged political environment. This is the only statement I and my legal team will be making.”</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — A California woman went public with her sexual assault accusation against Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax on Wednesday, saying in a statement that she repressed the memory for years but came forward in part because of the possibility that the Democrat could succeed a scandal-mired governor .

Vanessa Tyson, a 42-year-old political science professor who studies the intersection of politics and the #MeToo movement, says Fairfax held her head down and forced her to perform oral sex on him in his hotel room at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.

“I cannot believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual,” Tyson said in a three-page statement issued by her attorney . “To be very clear, I did not want to engage in oral sex with Mr. Fairfax and I never gave any form of consent. Quite the opposite.”

The accusation comes amid calls from top Democrats for the resignation of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam over a racist photo that appeared on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. Fairfax, who would be in line to become governor if Northam resigned, said Wednesday his sexual encounter with Tyson was consensual and questioned why she waited so long to come forward.

At the time of the 2004 convention, Fairfax, now 39, was a law student serving as an aide to then-Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards.

While Tyson said in her statement that she never spoke to Fairfax again, Fairfax said Tyson made efforts to keep in contact with him after their encounter and even wanted him to meet her mother.

“At no time did she express to me any discomfort or concern about our interactions, neither during that encounter, nor during the months following it, when she stayed in touch with me, nor the past 15 years,” Fairfax said .

Tyson said Wednesday the incident left her feeling deeply humiliated and ashamed but she repressed the memory to focus on her career as an academic. She only began to tell friends about the alleged assault in October 2017, after seeing a photo of Fairfax with an article about his campaign. She said she was inspired in part by the #MeToo movement to contact The Washington Post, which investigated her accusation and decided not to publish a story because it could not corroborate it.

Tyson said she became embroiled in the issue most recently in a cryptic Facebook post she wrote after news stories suggested that the racist photo scandal surrounding Northam could elevate Fairfax to the governor’s job.

“I felt a jarring sense of both outrage and despair,” she said in the statement. “That night I vented my frustration on Facebook in a message that I wrote as a private post. I did not identify Lt. Governor Fairfax by name but stated that it seemed inevitable that the campaign staffer who assaulted me during the Democratic Convention in 2004 was about to get a big promotion.”

Fairfax, who has been married since 2006, has called Tyson’s accusation part of a political smear campaign. Tyson said that she has no political motive and is a “proud Democrat.”

“My only motive in speaking now is to refute Mr. Fairfax’s falsehoods and aspersions of my character, and to provide what I believe is important information for Virginians to have as they make critical decisions that involve Mr. Fairfax,” Tyson said.

The Associated Press typically does not identify those who say they were sexually assaulted, but Tyson issued the statement in her name.

Tyson said she met Fairfax while they were working at the convention and he suggested they get some fresh air by walking to his hotel room.

She said that “what began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault” and that Fairfax forced her head to his crotch, where he had unzipped his pants.

“Utterly shocked and terrified, I tried to move my head away, but could not because his hand was holding down my neck and he was much stronger than me,” she said.

Tyson, an associate professor in politics at Scripps College in California, is on a yearlong fellowship at Stanford University, where she’s studying the political discourse of sexual assault. She is slated to lead a symposium there next week titled: “Betrayal and Courage in the Age of #MeToo.”

In a 2007 YouTube video , Tyson talks about her work at a Boston rape crisis center, about being a victim of incest at age 8 and about the importance of sexual assault victims coming forward.

“People don’t want to hear the message — so we just have to get a little louder,” Tyson said. “Build the numbers, keep the message going — do what we have to do until they start seeing us.”

Since the #MeToo movement emerged, Tyson has been frequently quoted as an expert about the intersection of politics and sexual assault and harassment claims, including the allegations by multiple women that triggered the 2017 resignation of Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat.

Tyson this week hired the same Washington law firm that represented Christine Blasey Ford, the California psychology professor who accused then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her. He denied the accusation.

During the Kavanaugh hearings last fall, Tyson posted on Twitter: “Sending love to all the survivors out there whose rapists/assailants called it ‘consensual’ and whose society privileges an old boys club over all else.”

AP Washington Bureau Chief Julie Pace contributed to this report. Kunzelman reported from College Park, Maryland.</s>A hashtag, #IBelieveVanessa, is getting a growing number of contributors on Twitter from people who support the Scripps College professor who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault—which he has denied.

Educator and political commentator Melissa Harris-Perry is among those who have sided with Vanessa Tyson.

See Also: Northam Now Says It Wasn’t Him In The Racist Yearbook Photo

Tyson released a statement in which she officially identified herself as the accuser in the alleged July 2004 encounter, The Washington Post reported.

“I cannot believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual. To be very clear, I did not want to engage in oral sex with Mr. Fairfax and I never gave any form of consent. Quite the opposite. I consciously avoided Mr. Fairfax for the remainder of the Convention and I never spoke to him again,” Tyson’s statement said in part.

This statement adds to the growing turmoil for Virginia’s top elected Democrats. The state’s governor and attorney general have admitted recently to wearing blackface in the 1980s.

Tyson first approached The Post about her allegation in November 2017 after Fairfax won his election. But the newspaper said it declined to publish her story because it could not corroborate either her version or Fairfax’s recollection of exactly what happened.

Tyson’s allegation was resurfaced recently by Big League Politics, a fringe right-wing news website that also published the racist photographs from Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook.

“I know Vanessa. I taught Vanessa when she was a student #IBelieveVanessa,” tweeted Harris-Perry.

Here are tweets from more of Tyson’s supporters.

Fairfax and Tyson first met in Boston at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. She recalled Fairfax asking her to walk with him to his hotel room to retrieve some papers. Tyson said the sexual encounter began with consensual kissing. But she said Fairfax guided her to the bed and forced her to perform oral sex. Fairfax, who was not married at the time, has described the encounter as consensual.

On Monday, Fairfax threatened legal action against Big League Politics for its “false and unsubstantiated allegations” based on Tyson’s claim. The lieutenant governor said in his statement that The Post found “significant red flags and inconsistencies” in Tyson’s story.

However, the newspaper denied Fairfax’s claim about find red flags when it investigated Tyson’s allegations and underscored that it simply could not corroborate either version of the encounter.

Republican Kirk Cox Could Become Virginia Governor If Scandals Bring Down Democrats

Support Emerges For the College Professor Who Accused Justin Fairfax Of Sexual Assault was originally published on newsone.com</s>Ina statement Dr. Vanessa Tyson accuses Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of forcing her to perform a sex act during the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Fairfax calls the allegations “surprising and hurtful” but says he takes the situation “very seriously.” Read more of the story in the link below.

Also On The Light 103.9 FM:</s>Statement of Dr. Vanessa Tyson by on Scribd</s>WASHINGTON — Further roiling Richmond after a week of scandal, lawyers alleged Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax raped a classmate at Duke University in 2000.

The law firm representing the lieutenant governor's accuser sent a letter detailing the allegations to Virginia state lawmakers, further plunging the capital into chaos.

RELATED: Colleague vouches for professor who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault

"We serve as counsel for Meredith Watson, who was raped by Justin Fairfax in 2000," the letter begins. "Mr. Fairfax’s attack was premeditated and aggressive. The two were friends, but never dated or had any romantic relationship."

Fairfax vehemently denied the claim, and said he will not resign.

"I deny this latest unsubstantiated allegation," Fairfax said in a statement Friday. "It is demonstrably false. I have never forced myself on anyone ever."

"I demand a full investigation into these unsubstantiated and false allegations. Such an investigation will confirm my account because I am telling the truth. I will clear my good name and I have nothing to hide."

Fairfax ended his statement detailing how he passed two full FBI background checks, after running for Virginia attorney general and lieutenant governor.

He called Friday's stunning developments a "vicious and coordinated smear campaign" orchestrated against him.

This is the second woman to accuse Fairfax of sexual misconduct in a week of searing scandal. Stanford University fellow Dr. Vanessa Tyson publicly detailed allegations of sexual assault against Fairfax earlier in the week.

Tyson said in a statement that Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex while they were staffers at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Fairfax also denied the allegation, as lawmakers in Virginia and Washington called for a full investigation.

Lawyers for Fairfax's second accuser said she would not be make a public statement in the view of cameras, leaving the written statement as the only comment for the near future.

"At this time, Ms. Watson is reluctantly coming forward out of a strong sense of civic duty and her belief that those seeking or serving in public office should be of the highest character,” her attorneys said.

“She has no interest in becoming a media personality or reliving the trauma that has greatly affected her life. Similarly, she is not seeking any financial damages.”

The title of the letter makes Ms. Watson's views clear, headed in bold with the statement, "Request for Resignation of Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax."

Fairfax is Virginia's second-highest ranking elected official, and has resisted repeated calls to step down in the wake of gender and racial reckoning in Richmond.</s>Pressure is mounting on Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax to step down after Vanessa Tyson, a professor of politics at Scripps College in California and a Stanford University fellow, came forward with her allegation that Fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2004.

Several prominent politicians and others have expressed their public support for Tyson.

Toni Van Pelt, the president of the National Organization for Women, called on Fairfax to resign from his post on Wednesday evening.

"[Tyson's] story is horrifying, compelling and clear as day — and we believe her. We believe and support survivors. We always believe and support survivors," Van Pelt said in a statement. "This isn't about politics. It's about a woman who has experienced sexual assault — a serious crime — at the hands of a powerful man, who is now attacking her character. In order to tear down the systemic and toxic sexism in this country, we must speak out against it."

Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a freshman Virginia Democrat who previously served in the state senate, became the first major Democratic politician to side with Tyson in the matter.

Laura Moser, a Democrat who ran for a House seat in Texas, said Tyson is a personal friend of hers and expressed solidarity with her, calling her a "distinguished scholar" and a "kind person."

Read more: Vanessa Tyson, who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, detailed the incident in a statement that contradicts his account

"To not believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson, you have to believe that a lifelong Democrat with a history of working to elect Democrats would decide to torpedo the Democratic Party at the moment when it is the most vulnerable," Ian Millhiser, a columnist at the left-leaning news website ThinkProgress, tweeted on Wednesday. "I believe her. Her statement is utterly devastating."

Tyson detailed her disturbing allegations in a lengthy statement released by her attorneys on Wednesday.

"What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault," Tyson said of the incident, which she said occurred at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. "As I cried and gagged, Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him. I cannot believe, given my obvious distress, that Mr. Fairfax thought this forced sexual act was consensual."

Fairfax has repeatedly denied Tyson's claim. While he said the two had a sexual encounter in 2004, he said it was "100% consensual." He called the claim a "smear" and has threatened to sue Tyson and others "who continue to spread these false allegations."

Fairfax again denied Tyson's allegations after she released her statement on Wednesday.

"Reading Dr. Tyson's account is painful. I have never done anything like what she suggests," he said. "Any review of the circumstances would support my account, because it is the truth."

This is the latest development in an increasingly dire political crisis in Virginia, where both Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring are facing pressure to resign after they both admitted to dressing in blackface in the 1980s.

The Democratic Party of Virginia said on Tuesday afternoon that it is evaluating Tyson's allegation.

"All allegations of sexual assault deserve to be taken with profound gravity. We will continue to evaluate the situation regarding Lieutenant Governor Fairfax," the party said in a statement to New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel.
Californian professor Vanessa Tyson accuses Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Justin Fairfax of having sexually assaulted her in 2004.