The Washington Post denies Justin Fairfax's claim it found 'red flags' in sexual assault allegation

Hours after Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) claimed The Washington Post had found "inconsistencies" in a sexual assault allegation against him, the newspaper said that's not true.

Conservative website Big League Politics published a story on Sunday about a woman, Vanessa Tyson, who reportedly claimed in a Facebook post that Fairfax had sexually assaulted her. In a statement denying the allegation Monday, Fairfax said that the woman approached the Post with the allegation and that they "investigated the claim for several months" but found "significant red flags and inconsistencies" in her story, and decided not to publish it.

But the Post is now denying that this is the case. A report on Monday detailed how a woman whose name isn't mentioned approached the Post in 2017 to tell her story. She claims she met Fairfax at the 2004 Democratic national convention and went back to his hotel room, where he "used his strength to force her to perform oral sex." The Post writes that it didn't find significant red flags or inconsistencies like Fairfax said. Instead, the paper says the story wasn't published because reporters were unable to find any sources who could corroborate the woman's account, nor could they find any corroboration of Fairfax's account. The Post also says it found no similar complaints of sexual misconduct against Fairfax.

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"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," the article reads.

Fairfax would be next in line to replace Virginia Governor Ralph Northam should he resign following the publication of a racist yearbook picture.