Vanessa Tyson, who has accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, has sat down with “CBS This Morning” Co-host Gayle King for an interview. Face the Nation has now put up a short segment from that interview, which will air in full tomorrow on “CBS This Morning,” as well as interview with Meredith Watson, who has accused Fairfax of rape. See below for a partial transcript and video from the King-Tyson interview. Powerful stuff.
“In my ideal world, I’d want [Justin Fairfax] to resign. There were two main reason why I came forward. Like there’s a million reasons not to come forward; it’s tough, I’m not gonna lie. But you know, I look at my beautiful students, I have the most wonderful kids, they’re brilliant and thoughtful and kind and passionate and they want to make the world a better place. And I teach politics and then they want to get involved. And all I can think of is that I don’t want this to ever ever ever happen to them. And then the second thing that I think, the Virginia people need to know who it is that they elected, they need to know. I think the Virginia people, the voters of Virginia have a right to know both my story and Meredith’s story. I think there should be a public hearing. There’s a difference between hearings and investigations. Investigations often allow people in power to sweep things under the rug…that’s kind of a pattern that as a political scientist I’ve witnessed and seen emerge. [Would she be willing to testify in front of the Virginia General Assembly?] In front of the Virginia General Assembly under oath, I’d want Meredith, myself and Mr. Fairfax to be able to speak, to be heard, and particularly for survivors I think this is incredibly important – we need to be heard, we need to be seen, we need to be treated as the human beings that we are.”
