Jane Doe lawyer rips Trump’s ‘fair shake’ remark in Cornell rape
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
The first thing that stands out in this story is how the lawyer for the alleged victim doesn’t actually engage with what Trump said. Trump didn’t say the accused are innocent. He didn’t say the victim is lying.
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The attorney representing the 20-year-old former Cornell University student identified as Jane Done, who was allegedly gang -raped by a group of fraternity brothers, condemned President Donald Trump for claiming the accused will not get a “fair shake” because New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading the investigation.
Thomas Giuffra appeared on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday and denounced Trump’s comments, which he claimed “politicized” the case. Giuffra also criticized the Ivy League’s handling of the initial investigation, saying he believes more men were involved than the seven listed in the lawsuit filed last month.
Trump says ‘Cornell Seven’ won’t get a fair shake under Letitia James A timeline of Jane Doe’s allegations of Cornell gang rape Cornell gang rape allegations trigger political firestorm “I think to politicize something like this is just wrong,” Giuffra said. “There are Republicans whose daughters are getting assaulted.
There are Democrats whose daughters are getting assaulted. It has nothing to do with politics.” Trump had responded to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D-NY) assigning James to the case by calling the attorney general corrupt and claiming he feels “badly for whoever she’s looking at because they won’t get a fair shake.” The president’s disdain for James stems from her high-profile civil fraud investigations into his business dealings.
James successfully brought a $454 million civil fraud case against Trump, his family, and his company in 2022. A New York appeals court threw out the case in 2025. During his interview with Jake Tapper on Sunday, Giuffra was asked about the initial investigation into Doe’s allegations that she was drugged and gang-raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.
The investigation did not subpoena any phone records related to the case, but Doe’s recent filing included an image of a Snapchat message in which one of the fraternity members allegedly encouraged more of his brothers to join him by sending a message about getting “free p****” upstairs.
A CNN report found that the Snapchat group message also included an image of Doe during the assault. In filing a civil lawsuit against Cornell and seven Chi Phi fraternity members, Jane Doe included an image of a Snapchat group message in which one of the fraternity members allegedly encouraged more of his brothers to join the assault him by sending a message about getting “free p***y” upstairs. (Provided to the Washington Examiner by attorneys for Doe) “If this was a normal investigation that was done in New York City, for example, they would have gotten search warrants. … They would have downloaded all of this material,” Giuffra said. “I’m confident, knowing this day and age and the group that we’re dealing with, that there were other photos, there were videos, and you know where I think those photos and videos are now?
I think they’re in the bottom of Lake Cayuga.” Giuffra said that, given the amount of evidence that was destroyed and Doe going in and out of consciousness during the incident, he has reason to believe that more people were involved in the alleged assault. “If you ask me, I believe there were more,” he said.
Tapper then asked if he thinks there were more than seven men involved. “I think so, but we’ll never know,” Giuffra said. “We will never know because of the inadequate investigation that was done.” Matthew Van Houten, the district attorney in Tompkins County, New York, revived the case based on new evidence filed by the alleged sexual assault victim.
Hochul believes Van Houten is not up to the task because he did not pursue charges when Doe first reported the alleged assault in 2024.
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
The first thing that stands out in this story is how the lawyer for the alleged victim doesn’t actually engage with what Trump said. Trump didn’t say the accused are innocent. He didn’t say the victim is lying. He said the accused will not get a fair shake with Letitia James in charge. That is a comment about the prosecutor, not the crime. And it’s a fair one.
James built her entire political career on promising to go after Trump and anyone in his orbit. She is not an impartial public servant in this case; she is a partisan elected official with a demonstrated interest in making headlines. Whether that means she will mishandle a sexual assault case is a legitimate question. The victim’s lawyer can stand up for his client without pretending that due process is somehow an insult to her. The two are not in conflict. A fair investigation is the best way to get justice.
It’s telling that the attorney chose to attack the president instead of addressing the actual concern. If a judge had been caught lobbying for one side, people would be outraged. But when a liberal prosecutor with a vendetta against Trump steps into a high-profile case, we’re supposed to just trust the system. No thank you. The accused deserve a fair shake too, and saying so should not be controversial.
The Cornell case is awful, and whoever did this should be held accountable. But accountability works both ways. Letitia James should have to answer for her conflicts, not get a pass because her critics are being smeared as insensitive. Trump’s remark was blunt, but it pointed at something real: politicized justice is still injustice, even when the underlying crime is horrific.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.