Investigators said on Wednesday that they could not determine whether Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) was in a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook.
Eastern Virginia Medical School held a press conference today to announce their findings. The school hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation in the wake of the scandal.
Northam has faced criticism and calls to resign—since the yearbook photo surfaced in February, and has denied that he was in the photo. However, while denying he was in the photo in question, he did admit to wearing blackface during a concert in 1984.
The Washington Post reports that the Eastern Virginia Medical School interviewed classmates, but could not determine whether Northam was in the yearbook photo.
“With respect to the photograph on Governor Northam’s personal page, we could not conclusively determine the identity of either individual depicted in the photograph,” the report reads. “The governor himself has made inconsistent public statements in this regard. No individual that we interviewed has told us from personal knowledge that the governor is in the photograph, and no individual with knowledge has come forward to us to report that the governor is in the photograph.”
NEW: The Eastern Virginia Medical School could not “conclusively determine” whether or not Governor Ralph Northam is one of the individuals depicted in a racist photo on his 1984 yearbook page
— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) May 22, 2019
Page below from school’s newly-released report pic.twitter.com/xFxh1s3ZTw
JUST IN: Investigation into a racist photo featured in Gov. Ralph Northam’s 1984 yearbook was unable to “conclusively determine” it was the Virginia governor in the image https://t.co/vtRX01fk7h pic.twitter.com/jk2Rr8EZoK
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 22, 2019
In the press conference, investigators said they did find numerous instances of offensive content in Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbooks throughout Northam’s time there.
The photo shows a person in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan robe. You can read all of the Washington Post‘s report here.
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