Justin Fairfax, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, lost his libel lawsuit against CBS. The case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria, Virginia, the Associated Press reported.
Fairfax sued CBS last September for $400 million over its reporting on rape and sexual assault allegations against him, as iMediaEthics previously reported. Fairfax claims the allegations are false and were “politically motivated.”
Fairfax’s representative sent iMediaEthics a statement that read in part, “While we respect the court’s ruling, we disagree with it. We believe that we met the correct legal standard for a defamation claim and alleged plenty of specific facts in support of my claim.”
The statement added, “Since these false, fabricated and politically-motivated allegations were made more than a year ago at the precise moment it was speculated I would rise to Virginia’s governorship, I have been denied any meaningful opportunity to establish the truth, clear my name and get justice. I will not stop until I do and can put an end to this political smear campaign.”
CBS hasn’t responded to iMediaEthics’ inquiry.
The judge in the case, Trenga, ruled in part, according to the AP: “Most basically, none of the CBS This Morning co-hosts state that Fairfax did in fact commit the alleged sexual assaults or that they believed he committed the assaults. In fact, at the conclusion of each interview, King, in studio and surrounded by her co-hosts, promptly announces Fairfax’s assertions of innocence, including that he passed a polygraph exam.”