Virginia’s lieutenant governor is asking the appeals court to reinstate his defamation lawsuit over the network’s exclusive interviews with women who accused him of sexual assault.
Virginia Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax looks over a briefing book prior to the start of a state Senate session in Richmond in 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Arguing a CBS interview inflated and endorsed two women’s claims that Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax sexually assaulted them, his lawyer told an appeals panel Thursday the official’s libel suit was wrongly tossed out.
“CBS did not just report the false allegations of rape and sexual assault against Justin Fairfax. It heavily promoted direct interviews resurrecting false allegations, two months after they were made,” Fairfax’s attorney Tillman Breckenridge said before the Fourth Circuit at a remote hearing Thursday.