Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) is asking for an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against him amid calls from his own party to resign.
Late Saturday, Fairfax released a statement calling for “all appropriate and impartial investigatory authorities, including the FBI, to investigate fully and thoroughly the allegations against me,” according to multiple reports.
“The one thing I want to make abundantly clear is that in both situations I knew at the time, and I know today, that the interactions were consensual,” he said.
“I am asking that no one rush to judgment and I am asking for there to be space in this moment for due process,” Fairfax added.
{mosads}Fairfax has been accused of sexual assault by two women.
Last week, Vanessa Tyson accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004, saying he “forced [her] to perform oral sex on him.”
“What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault,” Tyson, a college professor from California, said in a statement.
A second woman, Meredith Watson, came forward on Friday, saying through her lawyer that Fairfax raped her in 2000 when they were both students at Duke University.
Fairfax has denied the allegations, saying they were part of a “smear campaign” against him, and dismissed calls to resign from both state and national Democrats.
Both women came forward amid speculation that Fairfax could become governor, due to a blackface scandal surrounding Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Northam has also rejected calls to resign after a blackface photo on his medical school yearbook page surfaced. Northam says he does not believe he was in the photo, a reversal from his initial comments apologizing.
Northam said Saturday that he does not plan to resign, and would focus on racial “equity” for the remainder of his term.
And Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D), who would become governor if both Northam and Fairfax stepped down, admitted to wearing blackface once in college.