President Donald Trump said the men accused in the reopened Cornell University gang rape case will not get a fair hearing now that New York Attorney General Letitia James is running the investigation, calling her a "corrupt person" during remarks on the South Lawn on Friday.
"Letitia James is a corrupt person," Trump told reporters, according to the Washington Examiner. "She's totally corrupt, and I can't imagine it. And I feel badly" for the accused, he added, saying they "won't get a fair shake."
The case centers on a woman identified in court filings only as Jane Doe, who alleges in a newly filed civil lawsuit that seven former members of Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity plied her with alcohol and drugs, left her incapacitated, and sexually assaulted her over several hours. The defendants have not been tried on these allegations, and no criminal conviction exists against any of them.
Hochul Removes Local DA, Installs James
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) appointed James as special prosecutor Thursday after pulling the case from the local district attorney. At a press conference Friday, Hochul said she acted because of what the investigation had — and had not — done after the woman came forward.
"Earlier this week, I called on Cornell to conduct an independent investigation led by outside counsel. I spoke directly to the university president who agreed to take those steps. But what we learned yesterday raised even more troubling questions about what was done and not done after this young woman came forward," Hochul said.
The appointment puts James — who campaigned for attorney general in 2018 on investigating Trump and his businesses — in charge of a politically explosive case involving a president who has been her courtroom adversary for years. James won a civil fraud judgment against Trump and the Trump Organization in 2024. The court imposed a $364 million penalty and restricted Trump's ability to do business in New York. Trump appealed; the monetary penalty was vacated, but the fraud finding was upheld. After returning to office, Trump had James investigated over mortgage fraud allegations. That case was dismissed, and two grand juries declined to re-indict her, according to the Washington Examiner's account.
National Spotlight After Civil Suit
The case exploded into national view this week when Jane Doe filed her civil suit against the seven former fraternity members, Cornell University and others. The complaint alleges she was drugged and assaulted by multiple fraternity members. The university and the accused have not been found liable in any court, and the criminal probe is at the investigation stage.
Trump's remarks drew immediate pushback from Democratic operatives. Kelsie Taggart, vice president at American Bridge 21st Century, told the Daily Beast that Trump has "rushed to defend men accused of sexual assault, abuse, and harassment" for decades while "smearing and mocking the women brave enough to come forward." Taggart's statement also referenced the 1989 Central Park jogger case, in which Trump took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty; the five teenagers convicted were later exonerated.
The White House has not issued additional comments beyond the president's South Lawn remarks. Hochul's office has framed the appointment as a response to failures in the original investigation, not a political move.
Cornell University has not commented publicly on the special prosecutor appointment. It is not yet known when James will issue her first findings, or whether additional criminal charges could follow her review.
Our Take
Here's the problem with handing this case to Letitia James: nobody in New York believes she can separate the job from her political brand. This is the same attorney general who built her national profile on one promise — get Trump — and parlayed it into a $364 million judgment before an appeals court gutted the penalty. She has spent eight years as the president's most visible legal antagonist. Now Hochul hands her the most politically charged criminal investigation in the state.
That doesn't mean the allegations at Cornell should be waved away. A young woman says she was drugged and assaulted by multiple men over several hours, and she deserves a real investigation — one conducted by someone whose name doesn't trigger half the state. Hochul could have picked a career prosecutor with no history with Trump. She picked James anyway, and now every move James makes will be read as political theater rather than justice.
The accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence. So is everyone. But in New York, the fix is in the air the moment James' name enters a case involving Trump, and Hochul knew that when she signed off. If the goal was restoring public confidence in this investigation, she picked the one person guaranteed to erode it.
Patriots, watch this case closely. Republicans in Albany should be demanding a full accounting of why the local DA was removed and why James — of all people — was the replacement. Ask Hochul directly: was there no impartial prosecutor in the entire state of New York?
