US President Donald Trump speaks with media before boarding Marine One as he departs for Mobile, Alabama, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., US, October 2, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
President Donald Trump said he feels "badly" for the men under investigation in an alleged gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity.
His comments came a day after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed an executive order naming state Attorney General Letitia James (D-NY) special prosecutor in the case, according to the governor's office.
Trump spoke to reporters Friday as he headed to Marine One, bound for a Republican midterm campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama.
"What do you think about New York's governor appointing a special prosecutor in the Cornell rape case, Letitia James?" Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked.
"Letitia James is a corrupt person. She's totally corrupt, and I can't imagine it," Trump replied.
"And I feel badly for whoever she's looking at because they won't get a fair shake," he added.
The seven men James is now investigating are accused in a lawsuit by a woman identified as Jane Doe, NPR reported. Doe says the men drugged and raped her for more than four hours at a Cornell fraternity house in October 2024. Her lawsuit also names the fraternity, the university and others, according to NPR.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten decided not to prosecute, but he reopened the investigation after the lawsuit, according to the Associated Press.
"New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I've lost faith in the Tompkins County DA's ability to fairly oversee it," Hochul wrote on X.
"As special prosecutor, the Attorney General will investigate this incident and, if warranted, prosecute any offenses arising from that investigation and present evidence to a grand jury," Hochul said in her statement.
In a statement, James said she stood ready "to lead a process guided by the facts and the law."
James has been a frequent target of Trump, and his Justice Department brought a mortgage fraud case against her last year, CNN reported.
A federal judge threw out the charges last November after ruling that Lindsey Halligan, whom Trump had picked as interim U.S. attorney, was unlawfully appointed.
A grand jury, a panel of citizens that decides whether to bring charges, later refused to indict James again, the network reported.