so that's justin fairfax. he's the democratic lieutenant governor. he is a direct descend entitle of a freed virginia slave. >> would you make the mueller report public because you say there's nothing in there -- >> it's totally up to the -- >> what do you want them to do? >> that's up to the attorney general. it depends. i have no idea what it's going to say. so far this thing has been a total witch-hunt. >> are you prepared for an attempt to impeach you? >> the only way they can win because they can't win the election is bring out the artificial way of impeachment. the problem is you can't impeach somebody for doing the best job of any president in the history of our country the first two years. the only thing i've done is created the best economy we've had in the history of our country. >> there is a lot there we have to get to, >> starting with this is not the best economy our country has ever experienced. we're going to fact check that for you. we have to stick with virginia where we do have breaking news on governor ralph northam. a source now

fairfax and i never gave any form of consent. quite the opposite." lieutenant governor fairfax has denied her account of what happened, saying "i have never done anything like what she suggests." fairfax had previously implied democratic virginia governor ralph northam's supporters might be behind a smear campaign to prevent him from assuming the governorship. well, for more, we go now to raleigh, north carolina, where we're joined by khalilah brown-dean, an associate professor of political science at clinic he at quinnipiac university in connecticut. she is from lynchburg, virginia, and is a graduate of the university of virginia. her book titled "identity politics in the united states" it will be out later this year. professor khalilah brown-dean, welcome to democracy now! can you respond to what is happening in virginia, the place where you went to college? homee situation in my state, and i have a lot of family there. fofor genius is near and dear to me and alwlways will b be. but what is happening now is forcing people to decide how much progres

fairfax is actually, possibly facing criminal charges. because he's committed -- he's accused of committing crimes. so it's going to be hard for him to move forward until this either is resolved or something else happens for him because i don't see the governor being dragged in front of a court anywhere at any time for what he did. but fairfax might be sitting in front of a judge one day having to answer under oath about the things he's accused of. >> the legislators' rape, you can be impeached for that. they think they have grounds. they don't think stupid, idiotic reprehensible racism, they don't think you can impeach somebody for that. >> one of the features of government like virginia is that the legislature is not in session full time. it's not like congress where they are here year round, right? virginia has either 45 or 60-day sessions. those can be extended. or the governor or the legislature canning called back in for special sessions but one of the things these -- all three of these men may be trying to do is run out the clock.

here's fairfax earlier today. >> good

i don't have any information to sigh justin fairfax -- to say that justin fairfax is telling the truth or not. there should be a full investigation. >> that itself the fair way to handle this. that's what the republicans are fighting against. democrats should support that in this case. i think brett kavanaugh, excuse me, i think that ralph northam should step down, justin fairfax should become the acting governor and new governor. if he wants, he can appoint a new lt. gov. somebody who isn't involved in this whole scandal. >> that way democrats can move forward. >> pretty shocking to see such an epicco lapts in t collapse o. a 43-year-old prosecutor could be a bigger there et to president trump than robert mueller. take a good long look at him. you will learn more in a moment. and jeanie moos on the clap that caught everybody's attention last night. >>> >>> tonight, a young, aggressive prosecutor taking on the president of the united states. people involved in all of this, described to me as a young gun. his name tom mckay, a 33-year-old attorney with the southern district of new york.

. >> a second woman is accusing lieutenant governor justin fairfax of sexual assault. >> fairfax saying, "i deny this latest unsubstantiated allegation." >> sparks fly betweeactingndma c h >> have u everas prove y requ action be taken by the special counsel? >> i see that your five minutes is up. >> reporter: as u.s. forces and allies in syria close in on the last remnants of isis, some families living under isis have managed to escape. >> elected leaders in washington state may crack down on vaccine exemptions amid a growing measles outbreak. >> we have 50 cases in our states. it's like a tinderbox ready to go up in flames. >> glor: and steve hartman's emotional tribute to the man at the center of so many of his stories. >> glor: good evening, i'm jeff glor. and this is our western edition. we're going to begin here tonight with a new federal probe into claims of blackmail and extortion against the publisher of the "national enquirer." the company that owns the country's leading tabloid is accused of threatening to run lewd photos of amazon c.e.o. jeff bezos and the woman he was having

fairfax and never gave my consent, end quo. just thi evening the lieutenant governor released a new statement of his own reading in quote, i take the situation very seriously and contin to believe dr. tyson should be treated with respect, but iee cannot a to a description of events that simply is not true. and he went onto say reading dr. tyson's account is painful aat e wishes for the best.on on mday the lieutenant governor told reporters the encounterwa happened before h married and was consensual. >> does anybody thi it's any coincidence that on the eve of potentially my being elevated that's when this uncorroborated smearom out does anybody believe that's a coincidence? >> meanwhile online supporters of dr. tyson are usi theel hashtag, ive vanessa on social media. >>> i want to again remind youa news 4'sto in richmond ght, so look for his live reports tomorrow morning on news 4 today. >>> ontother news now it's been less than two weeks since federal employees went back two after a longest government shutdown in u.s.istory.

fairfax delays the today, though, a fellow lawmaker says he will attempt to begin impeaching fairfax. geoff bennett is in richmond this morning. what dohie expect week? >> reporter: good morning. well, governor ralph northam says that entire blackface scandal serves a higher purpose. he's learned from it and he wants to s his time in office, serving an agenda ofeq ty. if the allegations against justin fairfax turn out to be true, he should resign. but over the weekend, fairfax tements where s he denies the allegations against him. he is calling for al fulnd and indepet investigation. the two accusers put out statements of their own. they now say they're willing to participaten any empeaimpeachme proceedings against fairfax if they move forward.ck and pat hope, the arlington county virginia house delegate member. we expect him t drop articles of impeachment this afternoon to get fairfax out o office. this is a fast-moving story. >> geoff bennett in richard monday. more from geoff on the "today" show. thanks. >>> we're once again on shutdown watch for federal workers who fear another fu

where do you sit on how you feel about justin fairfax today? are you too calling for him to step down in. >> i can only imagine it must take tremendous courage for women to step forward and talk about these things. they are so hurtful and these accusations are very, very serious. they need to be taken seriously. as you know, governor fairfax has called for an investigation. i really think where we are now, we need to get to the truth. the truth is important. and certainly if -- >> he too is calling for an investigation. >> he is. i support that. if these accusations are determined to be true, i don't think he's going to have any other option but to resign. >> brennan: at this time do you think he should resign? >> that's going to be a decision he needs to make. >> brennan: i know he needs to make it, but what do you think? >> again, i want the truth to come out. i certainly support an investigation, and again, these accusations are very serious. and we need to get to the bottom of them. >> brennan: no your attorney general is -- he also has som

that justin fairfax raped her. the vire virginia house democratic caucus has called for the lieutenant governor to step down. >>> inquiring minds may be in trouble. >>> people want a new generation of leadership. i'm going to bring a representation of the country that represents the future. >> i have not talked to the president of the united states about the special counsel's investigation. >> who are you? where did you come from? and how the h

fairfax had raped her. the statement calls on fairfax to resign. he responded to the accusations tonight saying i deny this latest unsubstantiated allegation. it is demonstrate bly false and i demand a full investigation into these unsubstantiated and false allegations. fairfax says repeatedly tonight an earlier allegation who says fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2004 during the democratic convention in boston. i'm joined by geoff bennett. this story is disturbing and worse every day. what's the latest tonight this friday night? >> reporter: chris, i tell you what, up until an hour ago when the second accuser came forward, this political crisis, the spiral political crisis had really hit a holding pattern. there was a sense that there was safety in numbers because all three top democratic officials in this state because all three of them were politically compromised in different ways. there was less external pressure on any one of them to resign. but that has all changed now with meredith watson coming forward alleging that lieutenant governor ja

but now fairfax is embroiled in controversy. fairfax's latest accuser says he raped her in 2000 when they were students at duke university. last week, another woman accused fairfax of sexually assaulting her in 2004. fairfax is calling for authorities, including the fbi, to fully investigate. but many democrats are calling for him to step down. >> on monday, i intend to introduce articles of impeachment on lieutenant governor justin fairfax. >> also today, the democratic lieutenant governor's association announced it had replaced fairfax as a co-chair. >>> still ahead on nbc bay area news at 5:00, it may have been raining but spring is in the air at oracle park. giants hosting their fan fest today, and the buzz is all about a potential new high-profile player. >>> and it's not just the rain we're tracking for you tonight. thanks to this cold storm dropping down the coast, we have another winter weather advisory for hilltop snow possibilities tonight and tomorrow morning. i'll talk about all the details and the time line when we

and justin fairfax could step into his shoes. that looks possibly to be in doubt as well because northam is not resigning and now the second accuser. >> juan: breaking news right here. as you said, coming out the stuff about justin fairfax, the second accusation. but i think the larger story here has to do with the governor refusing to resign. at this point, which seems incredible because it's not just a few small people thinking, oh, we will stick a finger in his eye and make fun of him. and certainly not republicans but tim kaine, mark warner the entire delegation, for the state of virginia sing this man has to go. in addition to which the poll numbers have plummeted. his moral authority given that awful performance when he went before the president said "oh, it seems to be that i should apologize. maybe it's not you me and the picture. not going to have an investigation." just so not believable. it's all about himself, dana. to that extent, if it is just him and his wife, the suggestion the wife has been encouraging him to sta

eric: meanwhile, all eyes on justin -- >> fairfax. eric: yes thank you, fairfax. he was lieutenant governor, would succeed in the office and he is a descendent of american slaves. part of the statement he says quote - as someone who s great-great-grandfather was enslaved in virginia this hits close to home. i've friends and worked with northam for many years. he has treated me and my family with respect. at this critical time we need leaders with the ability to unite. and help us rise to the better angels of our nature. in his statement, he does not call the governor to resign. he is, staying above the fray, i guess you would say that he is perhaps waiting for the call. >> that's right. i think context matters here. remember, the governor got elected partly because of the racial strife that comes out of things like charlottesville, virginia, this is not a situation for the governor if by any means and i do not need to know what he is waiting for. eric: james pindell, of the boston globe, good luck tomorrow in the super bowl. [laughter] >> all right. we don't need

fairfax one time after this alleged assault occurred. she asked mr. fairfax why did you do it and he answered, i knew that because of what happened to you last year, you'd be too afraid to say anything. two women have accused the lieutenant governor of two different sexual assaults. dr. vanessa ty sent says he forced her to perform oral sex n boston. countless democrats have called the lieutenant governor to resign. when virginia delegates is that if he fails to step down, he will introduce articles of impeachment on monday. >> i believe these women. impeachment shall be for a high crime or misdemeanor. there is no question that violent sexual assault clearly qualifies as a high crime. i would hope that no member would stand in the way of this process getting underway. my hope, my sincere hope, is that this will not be necessary. >> all of this as fox news learns the governor told senior staff he will not resign over that racist yearbook photo, despite the calls for him to walk away. the governor also sent an internal email to government employees tod

vanessa tyson who said that lieutenant governor fairfax then justin fairfax, while they were both visiting the democratic national convention in 2004 in boston, forced himself upon her, forced her to perform oral sex at that time. so we have really come full circle in the course of the last week. it has been remarkable. i was standing here a week ago today and we thought justin fairfax was going to be the next governor of virginia because of the controversy swirling around governor ralph northam who is not only survived but is now on something of a tour of contrition trying to rehabilitate his image. he's had a series of meetings here in virginia's capitol with black leaders from around the state. he is given that interview that you referred to at the washington post where he talks of a need for equity in virginia in things like the economy and mortgage and health care across the political spectrum. meanwhile the calls for justin fairfax to resign are growing louder by the day. a slew of presidential candidates now asking for his resignation. demanding his resignation and the senior senato

fairfax says she is lying. he has called that charge, quote, demonstrably false. this providing an ugly, but no doubt welcome distraction for governor northam who now seems to be riding out the storm over the yearbook photo as his succession plan looks a bit unviable at the moment. here's fairfax earlier today. >> good morning. >> any message for the citizens of virginia? >> we have [inaudible]? >> moments from now howie kurtz and trace gallagher in our west coast newsroom with the breaks news. trace. >> second accuser is meredith watson who says the assault happened in 2,000 when they were both undergrads at duke university. the two were friends never dated or had any romantic leadership. so far not detailed premeditated attack she claims her attack was similar to the first accuser, vanessa tyson who says that she and fairfax were at the dnc convention in boston in 2004 when he asked her to go to his hotel room to get documents and they began kissing, consensually, but then she claims fairfax put his hand behind her head and forced her to perform oral sex. watson

fairfax is denying both of these allegations. one virginia delegate is threatening to impeach fairfax if he doesn't resign on monday. cnn's ryan nobles has more for us. >> reporter: it seems in many ways that the situation here in richmond virginia is getting more complicated by the day. already the governor and attorney general over a cloud of scandal because of accusation of racist photos appearing in blackface in this past. and now the lieutenant governor who had already been under fire because of a sexual assault allegation is now facing allegations from a second accuser. that woman, meredith watson said that justin fairfax rape here while they were both college students at duke university in 2000. watson said she believes fairfax targeted her because she was a previous rape victim. watson's attorney supplying the e-mails that she say has shown that watson has said for many years about fairfax raping her while in college. one came as fairfax was beginning his critical career. a group of political alumni asked for donations. s

louder calling for governor ralph northam to step down. >> fairfax, fairfax. >> reporte the cries growing louder protesters in front of the exen,tive mans demanding governor ralph northam step down after a racist photo from his medical school yearbook page. >> we have to stand up in support of the african-american community. we cannot tolerate it. >> reporter: he's here from virginia,or he supported ham, knocked on doors on his behave. lewis now supporting jusn fairfax who brought the senate into session on monday, seemingly business as usual until he spped out for a recess. the lieutenant governor admits to a consensual encor with a womanth a democratic national convention in boston in 2004 but denies it was a sexual assault. >> to have someone manipulatss the pnd come out a year ago, fail at getting into into the media and then go away and when they think they have an opportunity at maximum media attention point to come back again with the same face allegation tells you everything you need to know. >> reporter: still refusing to call on ralph northam to step aside. >> the governor has t

does fairfax agree that the governor mus resign now? >> the governor has to make the decision that's in the best interest of the commonwealth of virginia. eporter: another question looming tonight, did someone encourage that woman to reknew her allegation? we d't have that answer yet. that's something we'reng goio try to learn. >> julie, thanks so much. live in richmond. l thatere is a new p came out today that shows a dramatic drop in approval forve or northam. this is according to morning consult. 48of virginia voters now disapprove of his performance. compare that to 26 who disapproved just last month. cory smith is lived in w bridge this evening where reaction there is mixed? >> reporter: took a pole of our own it was based on peoplal who would to us. we asked a question, should the governor stay or go? reaction was d. i can tell you the one thing everyone agrees on, regardless of what he decides to do, for the sake of virginia it needs to happen quickly. as his pol livelihood hangs in the balance, his staff was a no show in woodbri

impeachment talk for lieutenant governor justin fairfax not slowing down. now the women cluesingt( himok sexual assault say they are going to testify. >> and a shootout in broad daylight. people say they need to find h1a9 firefighters had to fight flames in the cold asxd the tur uiu%eá$p'd nowlpçó we'reea ing about the person who didn't make it tout alive. heads. a lotxd is going on. up. i'm adam tuss. >> and i'mxd meagan fitzgerald. day and there will be a wintry mix. theyw3 might have,Ñi i don't kn some deploys. apparently we'll get the latest om our girl lauryn ricketts. definitely north and west of d.c. headin. most of the day is going to be dry. if you need toq get out and do some things, g ahead. after sunset,c after about 5:00 p.m., that's when we'll see everything move in from the west to thet(t( ea#lz so your d dry. in the sky and it's going to be aok beautil sunrise out there. in the a lot h opening onfá the u right now. we're clear and dry here in the area, but this ist(xd head ou way. coming as a wintry mix is changing over to rain.cu rent

they have hired outside counsel to do an justin fairfax for now taking a leave of absence there. leon, back to you in the studio. julie carey reporting live from richmond. >>> developments today in the blackface controversy involving governor ralph northam. african american leaders say he should get a second chance. they spoke following a meetingt he governor earlier today. >> i believe today that we g ne e the governor a second chance. i believe that he is theht r person to guide virginia and bring us through this troubling time in history. >> with that as a backdrop, another group, the legislativea caucus has not withdrawn their calls for northam to resign but the chairman plans to meet with the governor to layo priorities important for black voters. >>> our coverage of the crisis continues at:00 we go to the senate where lieutenant governor justin fairfaxins pres over a group of lawmakers today. you can also get the latest, breaking alerts in our nbc wa> ington app. t's go to breaking news. this coming from the redskins and onc again it's an off the field issue to talk here. c

she and fairfax were students at duke university. in a statement, watson describes the attack as premeditated and aggressive. to bolster her charge, a pr firm working with watson's attorney released what they say are past electronic messages with friends, including an e-mail dated october 2016 where watson writes justin raped me in college. the charge comes after dr. week accused fairfax of sexually assaulting her in 2004 when they were both in boston to attend the democratic national convention. fairfax is fighting back. in a statement he says i deny this latest unsubstantiated allegation. it is demonstrably false. i have never forced myself on anyone ever. he calls for an investigation into what he terms a vicious and coordinated smear campaign and adds i will not resign. just hours before watson's charge was made public, fairfax was defiant when approached by nbc news. >> do you support the investigation into the allegation against you? >> we will have our say and i'm confident in the truth. >> reporter: but prominent democrats ar

to fairfax out. there were also a number of power outages. the downedrees and power lines have also caused school delays. we have all ofhat posted in the nbc washington app. >>> gusts 50 to miles per hour, likely for late morning into the middle parts of the afternoon. a little chance for rain/snow on friday morning, changing to just rain. and noticeablyr col for next week around here. winter not done yet. >> that's the news for today.ou we appreciate waking up with us. >> the "today" show is next. ee'll you in 25 minutes. enjoy your day. >> make it a great monday, everybody. (clucking noises) everyone wants to be the cadbury bunny because only he brings delicious cadbury creme eggs. while others may keep trying, nobunny knows easter better than cadbury!® . >>> good moing, green is gold. >> "green book.." > "green book" wins big at the oscars on a night filled with surprises. >> this is hilarious. >> and first-timeer s. >> i may not have been the bvious choice, but i guess it worked ou >> we've got all the big moments from hollywood's big ni

to this moment, we have not ard fro justin fairfax. what does this mean for him moving forward? how does he have to handle this? >> this is part speculation. the reason you haven't heard from justi fairfax is because, as the lieutenant governor who is going to succeed ralph northam, he is talking,'m sure, to the people he needs to talk to about how he will assume the governorship. we should note, if he does, in fact, beco the governor, he can finish the entire term for ralphnd northam, will still be eligible. there is no succession in virginia. you can only serve one term. in in case, justin fairfax, just elected lieutenant governor a year ago, will be able to serve out the rest of northam's term and run own in 2021.rm on his you wouldn't expect justin -- the lieutenant governor to say anything. yord also haven't h from somebody else who is very important. that is dougwilder, the first african-american elected governor in the country. he didn't endorse northam in the democratic primary. in hasn't said any either. he advices the lieutenant governor. we haven't heard from someone

fairfax releasing a statement of his own. saying i cannot agree with the description of events that i know is not true. >> i personally am not calling for anybody's resignation. just need to learn what's going on and ask people not to rush to judgment. >> reporter: virginians fed up as the scandal spirals. >> very difficult to find anybody to look up to as carrying the mantel for the commonwealth. >> reporter: governor northam is refusing calls to step down. he wants more time to clear his name. he may get his wish since both of his successors are facing scandals. >>> michael cohen's closed door testimony before the house intelligence committee has been. postponed. he was set to testify on friday but adam schiff said in interest of the investigation it's been now moved to february 28th. that's just six days before cohen is set to report to prison. cohen has been very cooperative and that the delay was not at his request. >>> president trump is set to hold a rally in one u.s. border city that he falsely claimed in the state of

two people rescued from their fairfax home after a large tree slammed on toit. power is out in the area and there's thousands of outages across our region. wind advisory set to go into effect. >> that's right. we're starting to see a lot of these storm reportsome in and i want to get to the graphic and show you where they're concentrated where we were expecting to see the stronger gusts. back along i-81. so what you're looking at, these little balls here are alls repof downed trees or high gusts and you're seeing a lot in frederick county, maryland and further back we s wind gusts reaching 66 miles per hour folks but at the end ofhe day we're all fair game for power outages. here's what you need to know. we'll still be under an advisory and warning throughout the ,egion tomorrow. guess wh even though the winds are calming a bit now they'll be picking back up tomorrow morning. that commute. we could be talking serious wind chills for kids at the b. st i have so much more. stick around for that. >>> virginia lieutenant governor justin fairfax stunned lawmakers in

fairfax has tried to brand me as a liar. another woman says he was premeditated and aggressive in raping her. news organizations are gathering corroborating evidence. joining us. mollie hemingway. gillian turner and mo elleithee, former democratic party official and fox news contributor. mollie, two accusers are saying justin fairfax raped them in the early 2000s. do you see a difference between this coverage and the wait media handled the coverage of the brett kavanaugh hearings? mollie: this is a sad story. but from the media angle "the washington post" comes out looking very poorly. you have a person making an allegation with a specific time and date an concedes there was a sexual encounter between the two. but having said that, that's fine if they didn't run it. but then to run the brett kavanaugh allegations when there wasn't any corroboration. you didn't have the specifics of a date, location and year. it makes "the washington post" look bad and that they are willing to go with allegations for political reasons. howie:

nicole jacs is live. >> she's in fairfax county. g.od morn >> reporter: we did see a dominion energy truck milling about in this area, just a short time ago, as fairfax county police continue to mend the scene here. they continue to tell us that they have multiple reports of trees down and limbs down across the roadway on power lines. the weekend's rain made for a soggy mess and made the cond ions right for this typ of situation, like we have on old dominion drive. we're keeping track of power outages here. we can tell youhat the are over 8,000 power outages throughout the statef virginia. i can tel you, it is important to note, if you come upon a scene like this in your yard, where trees comeown on power lines, you should ssume the lines are live. >> nicole, thank you. >>> we're followi developing stories this morning. in d.c. a man was found dead in an alley, 46th place southeast last night. police say he was shot. motive. on a suspect or a he was is second murder of the day. david brandon was shot and killed in the petworth neigh