Dems Near Meltdown in Virginia

While Governor Northam continues with his modified limited hangout, we’d better not say that his erstwhile successor, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, is “twisting in the wind,” because that phrase would be racist, wouldn’t it? When rumors began circulating yesterday—perhaps from the Northam camp?—that Fairfax might have a “#MeToo” problem from a sexual encounter way back in 2004, he rushed out a statement at 3 am last night that the Washington Post had investigated, and found “red flags” in the story and decided there was no story.

Who puts out a press statement at 3 am? (Even CNN probably only has interns on the news desk at that hour.) Likely someone trying to get out ahead of a breaking story. Today Fairfax admitted a sexual liaison with a woman, but that it was entirely consensual. That’s not how the woman remembers it.

This afternoon the Post has clarified that there were no “red flags,” but that they decided against publishing a story that they were first tipped to a year ago because they couldn’t corroborate any of it with independent witnesses.

Here’s the relevant part of the Post’s story:

The woman approached The Post after Fairfax won election in November 2017 and before he was inaugurated in January 2018, saying she felt like she had an obligation to speak out.

The woman and Fairfax first met in Boston at the 2004 Democratic national convention. During a conversation, the two realized they had a mutual friend. It was that commonality, she recalled, that put her at ease enough that on the afternoon Fairfax asked her to walk with him to his hotel room to pick up some papers, she thought nothing of joining him.

Fairfax and the woman told different versions of what happened in the hotel room with no one else present. The Washington Post could not find anyone who could corroborate either version. The Post did not find “significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegations,” as the Fairfax statement incorrectly said. . .

The woman described a sexual encounter that began with consensual kissing and ended with a forced act that left her crying and shaken. She said Fairfax guided her to the bed, where they continued kissing, and then at one point she realized she could not move her neck. She said Fairfax used his strength to force her to perform oral sex.

The Washington Post, in phone calls to people who knew Fairfax from college, law school and through political circles, found no similar complaints of sexual misconduct against him. Without that, or the ability to corroborate the woman’s account — in part because she had not told anyone what happened — The Washington Post did not run a story.

Funny how the Post didn’t apply that same standard of review to Brett Kavanaugh, but of course he’s a Republican so shut up.

Chaser:

Northam’s medical school banned yearbooks in 2013 — after students posed in Confederate garb

What is it with Virginia Democrats? I guess they just can’t help themselves.

Remember: keep out of the way, and grab a bag of popcorn.

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