President Trump called New York Attorney General Letitia James corrupt and said the seven Cornell fraternity brothers accused in a rape case will not get a fair shake now that she runs the investigation.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said the accused students face a stacked process after Gov. Kathy Hochul handed the case to James. He did not speak evasively about the attorney general who previously pursued his business in court.
The New York Post reported Trump’s remarks after Hochul directed James to take over the criminal investigation of the alleged October 2024 incident at Cornell University.
Trump told reporters James is “totally corrupt” and that he feels badly for anyone she targets. “And I feel badly for whoever she’s looking at because they won’t get a fair shake. Letitia James is a corrupt person,” he said.
"She’s totally corrupt, and I can’t imagine it," Trump said. "And I feel badly for whoever she’s looking at because they won’t get a fair shake. Letitia James is a corrupt person."
The Washington Examiner reported he made the comments on the South Lawn while addressing the appointment. Days earlier he had said he did not know much about the case and called Cornell a fine school that would do what is right.
Hochul acted Friday. She said she lacked confidence in Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten after reporting raised questions about discrepancies between what the survivor told campus police and what the DA described.
The governor framed the move as protection for the accuser. “This young woman had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable. And then at every turn she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her,” Hochul said. She added she has “every confidence” James will look at the facts, examine the record, and draw proper conclusions.
Van Houten said he is opening an investigation and will cooperate with James. The case had not moved forward as a criminal prosecution before the civil lawsuit drew national attention.
James called it an “active criminal investigation.” She said her office will review the facts, gather evidence, interview witnesses, and pursue prosecutions if warranted. “I know that you want answers. I do, too,” she said. When pressed on a recent Facebook post affirming the young woman’s allegations, James replied she would not comment on it.
Fox News reported James’s announcement that the attorney general’s office now leads the probe after Hochul named her special prosecutor. James also said every New Yorker deserves a full and fair investigation when they report a crime.
A woman identified as Jane Doe filed a 101-page lawsuit last month in Manhattan Supreme Court. She accuses seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers of raping her at the fraternity house in October 2024. The suit claims the men plied her with alcohol and ketamine during an hours-long sexual assault.
While the assault allegedly occurred, one of the men sent a message to a roughly 50-person fraternity Snapchat group called “Chi Phi Actives” declaring there was “free p, sy” in the house, according to the lawsuit. All seven have denied wrongdoing.
Cornell ran an internal Title IX process with 12 hearings. University representatives said they acted in line with police and banned the Chi Phi chapter from campus. The lawsuit claims only two of the seven were expelled and calls the result a slap on the wrist. Not all of Jane Doe’s statements and evidence reached the local prosecutor at the earlier stage.
Breitbart noted the district attorney initially declined to prosecute, citing problems establishing non-consent under the victim’s earlier account, and that New York law has made rape cases harder when the accuser was willingly intoxicated. Hochul has vowed to close that provision, saying voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape.
Trump’s criticism does not come from nowhere. James previously brought a civil case against Trump, the Trump Organization, and his eldest two sons over claims they inflated real estate values. A court handed down a $454 million judgment. A state appeals court overturned that judgment last year.
Trump’s Justice Department later charged James in 2025 with one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution tied to Virginia home loan documents. A federal judge dismissed the indictment because then-acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan had served beyond the 120-day limit without Senate confirmation.
That history sits in plain view as Hochul now gives James control of a high-profile campus case. Readers tracking James’s broader record can also see how a federal judge dismissed a VDARE lawsuit against her on jurisdictional grounds in a separate matter.
James has also clashed with federal election authority claims. She has argued the Postal Service and the president lack power over elections, a stance covered when she challenged those boundaries in public statements.
Political pressure on her office continues in New York. Trump has already backed a challenger, endorsing former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy in the race to replace James, as detailed in coverage of how he moved to unseat the attorney general.
Antisemitism and related endorsements have also entered that contest. Elie Wiesel’s son publicly backed the Republican over James, adding another layer to the fight described when the endorsement landed against the incumbent.
Serious sexual assault allegations demand thorough investigation. Victims deserve to be heard. Evidence should be gathered completely the first time, not pieced together after public pressure and a civil filing force the issue.
At the same time, seven college students who deny the claims are now under a special prosecutor with a documented record of aggressive action against Trump and his businesses. Hochul removed the local DA she no longer trusted and installed the state’s most prominent Democratic attorney general instead.
James promises a review of facts and witnesses. Trump says the targets will not get a fair shake. The civil complaint, the campus Title IX outcome, the earlier non-prosecution, and the political appointment are all now part of the same public record.
Taxpayers and parents watching elite universities already see how institutions protect their brands first. Handing the follow-up to a prosecutor famous for high-profile political cases does not quiet those doubts. It magnifies them.
Equal justice means the same standards apply whether the defendant is a fraternity brother or a political enemy. Anything less turns accountability into a weapon.