New York Attorney General Letitia James did not directly respond on Friday when a reporter asked about her being assigned as special prosecutor in the Cornell University case involving rape allegations from 2024.
The New York Times reported on Monday that a criminal investigation was being reopened after a woman filed a lawsuit alleging multiple men from the Chi Phi fraternity raped her on Oct. 19, 2024, after she was supplied with alcohol and drugs.
“She said she reported the incident to the Cornell University Police Department several weeks later, but that no criminal charges were filed by [Tompkins County] prosecutors,” the outlet noted.
On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as the special prosecutor to oversee the case.
“I’ve lost faith in the Tompkins County DA’s ability to fairly oversee it,” Hochul wrote on X.
At a Friday news conference with Hochul and James, a reporter pointed to a Monday social media post in which the attorney general wrote, “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”
What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers.
To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.https://t.co/az4ViQwgy1
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 28, 2026
The reporter asked James, “Why did you affirm her allegations as fact without doing your own fact-finding investigation?”
And to Hochul, he queried, “Why did you appoint an official who made a public statement affirming those allegations as fact?”
Some very good questions. Hochul first stepped in and answered, “I have every confidence in our attorney general to do what she has always done: Look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusion. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case.”
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James simply responded, “I will not comment on a Facebook post.”
Well, it happens to be a post that reveals her frame of mind going into the investigation: “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable… We stand with you.”
How can one not conclude the attorney general has made up her mind on the matter?
We’ve seen in the past that a rush to judgment based on allegations alone can lead to disastrous results. The completely debunked Duke Lacrosse rape allegations in 2006 immediately come to mind. The woman at the center of the criminal investigation later admitted that she had fabricated the whole thing.
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ABC News reported on Friday that a text from one of the Cornell fraternity brothers who allegedly attacked Jane Doe read, “I just wanted to apologize for how things went down the other night.”
To which she responded, “At the end of the day non [sic] of the sexual stuff was illegal and honestly I really liked being with u.”
Legal analyst Phil Holloway observed, “This text message alone, from Jane Doe to one of the Cornell 7, send just 2 days after the alleged SA [sexual assault] renders any prosecution inviable.”
This text message alone, from Jane Doe to one of the Cornell 7, send just 2 days after the alleged SA renders any prosecution inviable pic.twitter.com/Cx1AmUXWJF
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) October 2, 2026
But about two weeks later, Jane Doe’s view appeared to change. She texted, “Let’s be clear that 90% of what happened that night was not consensual,” adding, “All i remember after that was you giving me ket[amine].”
Days later, she went to Cornell campus police, and the university later posted a message to students in November 2024, which read, in part, “A female undergraduate student reported that she was recently raped by 8-10 men at the Chi Phi fraternity house.”
The facts of what happened at this point are unclear.
It is no service to the cause of justice for James to be pronouncing judgment on social media before her investigation even begins.
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