Legal experts clash over New York AG Letitia James’s role in Cornell sexual assault case
Fox News legal editor Kerri Urbahn joined Lawrence Jones to examine the contentious sexual assault allegations involving Cornell University students. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten defended his decision not to file criminal charges, pointing to insufficient evidence, while the panel considered whether New York Attorney General Letitia James’s public comments could affect the investigation.
An attorney for one of the men accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a Cornell student identified as “Jane Doe” is asking a court to remove New York Attorney General Letitia James from the criminal investigation. The filing claims James showed bias and formed an opinion about the case before Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed her special prosecutor.
Teny Geragos, the daughter of high-profile defense lawyer Mark Geragos, submitted the motion Thursday in Tompkins County court. She argued that James’s earlier public statements supporting the accuser may have influenced or prejudiced potential grand jurors.
The motion points to a Sept. 28 social media post from James, published the same day Van Houten announced that he would reopen the investigation.
“What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers,” James wrote. “To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”
Defense attorney Teny Geragos, pictured at the Manhattan Federal Courthouse on July 2, 2025, filed a motion on behalf of her client on Oct. 8, 2026, seeking to have New York Attorney General Letitia James removed as special prosecutor in the Cornell University rape investigation. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
According to Geragos, the post suggested that James had already concluded the seven fraternity members named in the earlier civil lawsuit were responsible, even though she had not yet reviewed any evidence in the case.
“The public cannot, and should not, have any confidence in the investigation or charging decisions of someone who has clearly prejudged the guilt of individuals who the law presumes are innocent,” Geragos wrote. “The AG should be removed.”
Geragos further alleged that Hochul appointed James because of the attorney general’s “prejudicial public statements,” claiming the governor expects the probe to reach a predetermined result.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James appear at a news conference in New York on Oct. 2, 2026. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A Hochul spokesperson directed News Outlet to remarks the governor made when questioned about James’s post during an Oct. 2 news conference.
“I will answer that. 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 conclusions. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case,” Hochul said.
The New York attorney general’s office did not immediately reply to News Outlet’s requests for comment.
Geragos filed her motion shortly after another defendant in the civil case sought James’s removal in Albany State Supreme Court, likewise alleging that the attorney general was not impartial.
The former Cornell student at the heart of the investigation filed the civil lawsuit in September. She accused seven former members of the Chi Phi fraternity of drugging and raping her during the night of Oct. 19, 2024, and into the next morning.
The Cornell University fraternity house linked to the rape allegations is shown on campus in Ithaca, New York, on Oct. 8, 2026. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
The lawsuit alleges that the woman arrived at the fraternity house already intoxicated and was later pressured to take ketamine and other drugs. The men have denied the accusations. Some say the sexual activity was consensual, while others maintain they were not involved.
According to the complaint, Cornell suspended the fraternity on Nov. 8, 2024—the same day the woman reported the alleged assault to campus police.
Van Houten initially chose not to bring charges. He has said the woman’s sworn statement from November 2024 did not claim that she was drugged without consent or gang-raped. Instead, he said, her account characterized her drug use and sexual activity as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”
