Oct. 1, 2026
NEW Details, Outrage Over Alleged Fraternity Gang Rape On Ivy League Campus
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RSS Feed It took former Cornell University student “Jane Doe” filing a lawsuit, and outrage on social media, for prosectors to “reopen” the investigation into her allegations that 7 members of the Chi Phi fraternity drugged and gang raped her back in 2024. The District Attorney claims he never received the full transcript of Jane Doe’s interview with campus police, and says this new lawsuit makes claims that were not made during the initial investigation. There is a lot of finger pointing going on, and a lot of questions being asked, as Jane Does’ full transcript of what she says happened that night have been released. It’s ugly, it’s appalling, and now, two years later, a grand jury will determine if it was criminal.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Thursday, October 1st, and Cornell has a mess on its hands. And it seems a lot of people have some explaining to do. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. We wanted to hop on because you know undoubtedly, Robes, just about everybody's seen the headlines over the past couple of days. Cornell gang rape being reinvestigated. We're going to get you caught up here on some of these details and robes. A lot of this is new to us. It's new to the public. And right now, there's a pretty big question. Why is it that a lawsuit prompted a police investigation of a woman who.
00:00:44
Speaker 1: Says she was raped?
00:00:45
Speaker 3: And a woman who says she was gang raped two years ago. By seven members of a fraternity on an Ivy League campus. We're talking about Cornell University. And yes, Jane Doe is the name, and she's not identifying herself, and that's often the name used to identify an.
00:01:02
Speaker 4: Alleged sexual assault victim.
00:01:04
Speaker 3: But she filed the civil suit claiming that Cornell failed to protect her. that seven fraternity members of Chi Phi raped her, gang raped her, and that lawsuit made the rounds on social media, my love. And the pressure from the reaction from all the folks weighing in on this has now led to a renewed investigation by the district attorney's office, but it has sparked a firestorm, everyone seemingly weighing in from the.
00:01:32
Speaker 4: Governor to the mayor to politicians.
00:01:37
Speaker 3: Um.
00:01:38
Speaker 1: Robes, this is another one.
00:01:40
Speaker 2: This is a very, very difficult story that involves consensual sex that turned into non-consensual sex, drug use that might have been consensual that turns into possible drugging, willing drinking and intoxication that turns into too intoxicated.
00:02:02
Speaker 1: To give consent.
00:02:03
Speaker 3: And then text messaging on a Snapchat among fraternity members that is just as ugly and awful.
00:02:10
Speaker 4: As it gets.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: Robe's ugly and awful. Is it also damning?
00:02:13
Speaker 4: Yes, it certainly is.
00:02:15
Speaker 3: Yes. So we'll get into all these new details that are coming out. First of all, I mentioned some of the outrage. New York Governor Kathy Hochul calling for an independent investigation and is questioning Cornell's integrity, whether or not they, in fact, did do what they were supposed to do in light of these allegations.
00:02:33
Speaker 4: The mayor of Ithaca, that's where Cornell is situated.
00:02:37
Speaker 3: Has now called for a moratorium on student event permits because they are just appalled at the allegations of what may have occurred in this fraternity house.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: Who is this, the mayor?
00:02:48
Speaker 4: This is the mayor of Ithaca.
00:02:49
Speaker 1: Gross. I'm okay with that. Yep. Like, y'all can't do anything.
00:02:53
Speaker 4: Exactly.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:02:55
Speaker 4: That's what they are now saying.
00:02:56
Speaker 3: And then we had AOC weighing in as well, denouncing the school's culture of rape.
00:03:02
Speaker 4: Is what she called it. So, yes, everyone... chiming in.
00:03:06
Speaker 3: But this was all from a lawsuit where, yes, this Jane Doe alleges she was gang raped. She says that the school didn't investigate, the police didn't investigate, the DA's office didn't investigate. And she has named some of these fraternity members who have come out swinging, by the way, in her lawsuit saying that, yes, she was raped and they invited others to join in on her assault. She points to some of this Snapchat text messaging where Some members of the fraternity were letting other members know there was free, I hate to use this word, but free pussy upstairs. And people were asking if the shop was still open. Very damning text messages.
00:03:48
Speaker 2: So this is the lawsuit, and this robes points to, at least those text messages, suggests what she is alleging, that there is a drugged, super drunk, her words, super drunk girl upstairs, and the fellas are sending each other messages, hey, head upstairs if you want to have sex with this girl.
00:04:11
Speaker 1: It's still going on, and it's still available. That is gross.
00:04:16
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:04:16
Speaker 2: And that does make anyone who participated in that, who answered that dinner bell, Robes, that makes you a rapist.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: It does.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: So.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: Robes, we know about a bunch of ugly and nasty stuff. Frat boys, we've seen. We've been on college campuses. We've seen some stuff that can happen in frat houses. Generally speaking, this ain't a thing.
00:04:39
Speaker 1: Robes, to.
00:04:42
Speaker 2: Think there were this many guys who were willing to participate in something like this. This ain't a fun old boys network. This is something guys do sometimes. This is way beyond the norm here. of frat boy behavior.
00:04:57
Speaker 4: It's outrageous.
00:04:58
Speaker 3: And according to the text messaging, that's kind of how we know the timeline. It started around 1.40 in the morning and went on until 5.45 that morning.
00:05:07
Speaker 4: So four hours of this.
00:05:11
Speaker 3: And look, we're starting to get, well, we actually can see now the transcript of her interview with police, which occurred, this is campus police, three weeks after the alleged incident. It's reported that Rumors started going around. She started piecing things together. She admits she was drunk. She admits that she had taken drugs. She admits that she was, her memory is, she has gaps in her memory. But from what she did describe to campus police, it is pretty horrific, but it's also confusing because it began, as you pointed out at the beginning of this episode, with.
00:05:44
Speaker 4: A consensual sexual....
00:05:48
Speaker 3: And I say that because it was a threesome, basically, a consensual threesome is how it was described as beginning. But then basically, she said she was pretty okay with it. And then she said she was being hit, physically hit very hard. She remembers being actually assaulted. She says that she wasn't sure just how many people had sex with her. But she said, I can say with 100% confidence, I was raped.
00:06:15
Speaker 4: She did say that in that initial interview.
00:06:28
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:06:30
Speaker 2: So what you hear there and what is described, Robes, is a crime. The district attorney never prosecuted. Now, Robes, this is where, and you're gonna have to help me. Where is the disconnect? Because the DA is claiming that his office was never made aware that she was drugged or gang raped or had ever made a statement like the one you just suggested. So Robes, how is it that her statements to the police at Cornell didn't make it to the DA.
00:07:06
Speaker 3: Yes. So here I can only tell you what the DA is saying publicly. He says that the allegations he's now seeing in the civil lawsuit are very different from the sworn statement he received. There was a six-page sworn statement in 2024 where he says in that statement, Jane Doe did not allege being drugged against her will or gang raped by multiple men. He described something that sounded very consensual.
00:07:29
Speaker 1: Do you have, are we going to get into the DA statement?
00:07:32
Speaker 4: I have it right here.
00:07:33
Speaker 2: Okay, because the DA played a little coy with some stuff. Well, I have some stuff I could release, but I'm not going to do it now. But I'm going to release this other.
00:07:42
Speaker 1: You know, right? What was he doing there?
00:07:45
Speaker 3: He also is saying that he never saw this above transcript. How does a DA not see the transcript of the interview with an alleged rape victim who is alleging she was gang raped by seven men? And so he claims that this is what he said. I'm going to follow up on this because this is news to me. That wasn't information that I had. If she had said those words, and he's referring specifically to in this transcript, it says, I can say with 100% confidence, I was raped. He said, if she had said those words, we certainly would have wanted to explore that more. Like I said, though, that was not provided to me. Now, Cornell University said its police department absolutely provided that information. to the district attorney. So now you've got finger pointing going on. So his reaction is, okay, now we're going to take all of this information and we're going to get it to a grand jury within 45 days because he says, of course, now he's taking this seriously.
00:08:44
Speaker 1: Well, that's a shame. Now, where is the truth in that? Is that true? How is it possible that a, okay, so both of y'all screwed up. That's fine.
00:08:53
Speaker 2: You're pointing fingers. Both of y'all are responsible. There is a woman that says she was gang raped. Now, they are innocent men until proven guilty. However, she deserved more than she got, which if she looked a police officer in the eye and said, yep, I'm 100 percent sure I was raped. And the person responsible for bringing charges against her rapists never heard about that.
00:09:19
Speaker 1: What sense does that make?
00:09:20
Speaker 4: It makes zero sense.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: So what's more likely here? That the DA is playing funny or that, yes, in fact, his office was never told there was a potential rape?
00:09:33
Speaker 3: It seems bizarre because Cornell University did take many, many steps in punishing some of these young men. And I think it's important to point out. This young woman, she dropped out of school shortly afterwards. I mean, her life was over at that point. At least her campus life was over at this point. So when we come back, we're going to tell you what the Cornell seven have to say. Some of them are speaking out already through their attorney. And I say, the Cornell seven, that's what they've been duped in the press and will dubbed.
00:10:05
Speaker 4: I didn't mean to say duped. I meant to say dubbed. Thank you for that. Um, and we'll also.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: Tell you what the university is saying about all of this. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. It is an absolute mess on the campus of Cornell University. This is a tough story. This is every parent's worst nightmare to imagine that something like this could.
00:10:32
Speaker 4: Occur to your daughter.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: Yes, we know college drinking and drugging is something that happens on campus and at fraternity homes, but you just don't want to think people would behave like this under those circumstances.
00:10:43
Speaker 4: It's awful and disgusting. There's no other way to put it.
00:10:47
Speaker 2: And look, they are telling a different story about what happened that night. And even the DA is saying she told a different story two years ago about what happened that night. No matter what, Robes, what version, what story to believe, the stuff we have read about that evening is just awful, no matter what, on everybody involved. Even if it happens and there was complete consent, it's still, Robes, a bizarre, an ugly, a strange.
00:11:17
Speaker 4: A Consent, can you give consent when you're that?
00:11:21
Speaker 1: Drunk and that high.
00:11:22
Speaker 4: Correct, and that is the issue.
00:11:23
Speaker 3: Now, Cornell president, and everyone's getting out with their statements now, he said two.
00:11:29
Speaker 4: Of the accused were expelled. Two suspended for at least two semesters.
00:11:34
Speaker 3: One had already graduated before any punishment could be handed down, and two were found to not be responsible for any sexual misconduct. So look, this rose to the level where the university took drastic actions against these men. They kicked out the fraternity chapter, closed in 2024, and remains barred from campus to this day. So somebody knew something about a thing that kind of sounded like a crime to them.
00:11:56
Speaker 1: So how is it the district attorney didn't know? How? Cornell, literally, it's a big deal to get into Cornell. It's a big deal.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: It's a really big deal to get kicked out of Cornell. Robes, they took drastic measures and completely dumped a fraternity. But it didn't rise to the level for the district attorney to bring charges. Now, Robes trying to leave space that maybe they didn't know.
00:12:24
Speaker 1: Maybe they weren't aware.
00:12:26
Speaker 4: Well, they were aware.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: I'm going to read you exactly what the district attorney said. Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. My office did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later. So he's saying he couldn't act on information he didn't have.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: Can you go with the very first part of what you just read again? There was something in there.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Can you start? Yep. Go ahead.
00:12:55
Speaker 3: He said Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.
00:13:05
Speaker 2: She described it as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. Why would she take it to police then?
00:13:10
Speaker 1: Is that what he said?
00:13:10
Speaker 4: That's what he says.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: She described, hey, police, y'all come in. I got a story to tell.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: I just want to let you guys know that I had sex with seven guys, and I did it with full knowledge, and I did it.
00:13:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:13:24
Speaker 4: I did it consciously, consensually, and voluntarily.
00:13:27
Speaker 1: That's all.
00:13:27
Speaker 4: Why would you go to police and say that? That makes no sense.
00:13:30
Speaker 1: Robes, what?
00:13:32
Speaker 4: His statement makes no sense.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: She described it as. She described it as. I was wondering his language. She described it, and did he determine that that is consensual? Who made that determination?
00:13:46
Speaker 4: He claimed she did.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: But Robes, why are you?
00:13:50
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:13:50
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: Maybe he's saying she thought a crime was committed, but then she described it to us. And as it was described to us, is that what?
00:13:58
Speaker 4: I believe that's what he's saying.
00:13:59
Speaker 1: He's trying to say.
00:14:01
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:14:01
Speaker 3: Yes. And look, they often, and we hear this all the time, but people have come to her defense when you look at this transcript and hear and read what she said. And she did describe some things as being consensual.
00:14:12
Speaker 4: That is true.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: But she also talked about being in and out of consciousness, telling people no, swatting their hands away, saying, I'm too tired, I don't want to. So in that transcript that you can clearly read that she gave her statements to campus police, she absolutely described non-consensual occurrences.
00:14:30
Speaker 4: There's no question.
00:14:31
Speaker 3: So I don't know what the DA is claiming he did not have in front of him. But look, two attorneys retained by two of the named defendants have categorically denied sexually assaulting her or even touching her. And I wonder if these are the two young men who were also exonerated by the campus. They might have been on the text chain. They've acknowledged that they were a part of that Snapchat.
00:14:51
Speaker 4: And they said, it's ugly, it's awful. But one of the guys said he walked in.
00:14:55
Speaker 3: I believe this is a situation where there was an ugly Snapchat, but that doesn't make my client a rapist. And it certainly doesn't make anyone a sex offender. He claims that his client briefly entered the room in response to the message. So he came upstairs to see what was going on. And he said he did not touch her in any way, shape or form and left in a matter of minutes. She was not incoherent, but in fact was coherent. And again, he left that room without touching her or having any physical interaction with her whatsoever.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: Again, that could very well be true.
00:15:23
Speaker 4: That could very well be true.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: But those names are attached to this lawsuit now. And here we go. Robes heads are going to roll. There are going to be countless investigations. There are going to be so many more statements put out. There's going to be so much. Yes, because this is one. Roves, when you get politicians to start, this is like a flashpoint once again. This is all Me Too related type stuff to where really you wouldn't listen to a woman for two years.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: And it took the internet? It took the internet. Yes. Media.
00:15:55
Speaker 4: I mean, sorry.
00:15:56
Speaker 3: Pressure from social media. That is why now... An investigation has been opened. And you could say reopened, but was it ever really opened in the first place? It doesn't sound like it was. They might want to categorize it as reopened.
00:16:11
Speaker 1: The DA is struggling. You've seen some of his interviews. Struggling. He's struggling right now. Struggling. He should stop.
00:16:17
Speaker 4: He is going to have a lot more explaining to do. But look, handing it to a grand jury.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: Is probably the best course of action now because they can present all the evidence, including all of these statements he allegedly didn't have two years ago, and they can come to a determination as to who, if anyone, should face criminal charges in this case.
00:16:34
Speaker 2: The last thing I didn't ask you about, he put out a six-page or whatever statement, was it six or nine pages? A long statement, right, about this case, and he included that description of the night from a statement he said his office had.
00:16:50
Speaker 1: Is that necessary?
00:16:51
Speaker 4: He's defending himself.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: Like, it's some ugly stuff.
00:16:55
Speaker 4: It's really ugly.
00:16:56
Speaker 2: And it makes everybody look bad. And even the victim here, the potential victim, even makes.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: The actions look bad.
00:17:05
Speaker 3: What she was willing to do up to a point. And this is why so many women don't come forward because a lot of times these types of assaults happen when it started off consensual or they were doing things that they shouldn't have been doing or they probably regret doing. But that doesn't mean a crime didn't also happen.
00:17:22
Speaker 2: There's something about him including that. now that felt like shame.
00:17:29
Speaker 4: Absolutely he was. And that's part of the problem.
00:17:33
Speaker 3: That's part of the reason why women don't come forward because they know that they'll be attacked. And we'll see where this leads but you know what? There is a lot more to come on this one including this grand jury investigation. We'll continue to keep our eye on it. It is not going away anytime soon. But we always appreciate you listening to us everyone. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:17:54
Speaker 4: We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Thursday, October 1st, and Cornell has a mess on its hands. And it seems a lot of people have some explaining to do. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. We wanted to hop on because you know undoubtedly, Robes, just about everybody's seen the headlines over the past couple of days. Cornell gang rape being reinvestigated. We're going to get you caught up here on some of these details and robes. A lot of this is new to us. It's new to the public. And right now, there's a pretty big question. Why is it that a lawsuit prompted a police investigation of a woman who.
00:00:44
Speaker 1: Says she was raped?
00:00:45
Speaker 3: And a woman who says she was gang raped two years ago. By seven members of a fraternity on an Ivy League campus. We're talking about Cornell University. And yes, Jane Doe is the name, and she's not identifying herself, and that's often the name used to identify an.
00:01:02
Speaker 4: Alleged sexual assault victim.
00:01:04
Speaker 3: But she filed the civil suit claiming that Cornell failed to protect her. that seven fraternity members of Chi Phi raped her, gang raped her, and that lawsuit made the rounds on social media, my love. And the pressure from the reaction from all the folks weighing in on this has now led to a renewed investigation by the district attorney's office, but it has sparked a firestorm, everyone seemingly weighing in from the.
00:01:32
Speaker 4: Governor to the mayor to politicians.
00:01:37
Speaker 3: Um.
00:01:38
Speaker 1: Robes, this is another one.
00:01:40
Speaker 2: This is a very, very difficult story that involves consensual sex that turned into non-consensual sex, drug use that might have been consensual that turns into possible drugging, willing drinking and intoxication that turns into too intoxicated.
00:02:02
Speaker 1: To give consent.
00:02:03
Speaker 3: And then text messaging on a Snapchat among fraternity members that is just as ugly and awful.
00:02:10
Speaker 4: As it gets.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: Robe's ugly and awful. Is it also damning?
00:02:13
Speaker 4: Yes, it certainly is.
00:02:15
Speaker 3: Yes. So we'll get into all these new details that are coming out. First of all, I mentioned some of the outrage. New York Governor Kathy Hochul calling for an independent investigation and is questioning Cornell's integrity, whether or not they, in fact, did do what they were supposed to do in light of these allegations.
00:02:33
Speaker 4: The mayor of Ithaca, that's where Cornell is situated.
00:02:37
Speaker 3: Has now called for a moratorium on student event permits because they are just appalled at the allegations of what may have occurred in this fraternity house.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: Who is this, the mayor?
00:02:48
Speaker 4: This is the mayor of Ithaca.
00:02:49
Speaker 1: Gross. I'm okay with that. Yep. Like, y'all can't do anything.
00:02:53
Speaker 4: Exactly.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:02:55
Speaker 4: That's what they are now saying.
00:02:56
Speaker 3: And then we had AOC weighing in as well, denouncing the school's culture of rape.
00:03:02
Speaker 4: Is what she called it. So, yes, everyone... chiming in.
00:03:06
Speaker 3: But this was all from a lawsuit where, yes, this Jane Doe alleges she was gang raped. She says that the school didn't investigate, the police didn't investigate, the DA's office didn't investigate. And she has named some of these fraternity members who have come out swinging, by the way, in her lawsuit saying that, yes, she was raped and they invited others to join in on her assault. She points to some of this Snapchat text messaging where Some members of the fraternity were letting other members know there was free, I hate to use this word, but free pussy upstairs. And people were asking if the shop was still open. Very damning text messages.
00:03:48
Speaker 2: So this is the lawsuit, and this robes points to, at least those text messages, suggests what she is alleging, that there is a drugged, super drunk, her words, super drunk girl upstairs, and the fellas are sending each other messages, hey, head upstairs if you want to have sex with this girl.
00:04:11
Speaker 1: It's still going on, and it's still available. That is gross.
00:04:16
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:04:16
Speaker 2: And that does make anyone who participated in that, who answered that dinner bell, Robes, that makes you a rapist.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: It does.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: So.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: Robes, we know about a bunch of ugly and nasty stuff. Frat boys, we've seen. We've been on college campuses. We've seen some stuff that can happen in frat houses. Generally speaking, this ain't a thing.
00:04:39
Speaker 1: Robes, to.
00:04:42
Speaker 2: Think there were this many guys who were willing to participate in something like this. This ain't a fun old boys network. This is something guys do sometimes. This is way beyond the norm here. of frat boy behavior.
00:04:57
Speaker 4: It's outrageous.
00:04:58
Speaker 3: And according to the text messaging, that's kind of how we know the timeline. It started around 1.40 in the morning and went on until 5.45 that morning.
00:05:07
Speaker 4: So four hours of this.
00:05:11
Speaker 3: And look, we're starting to get, well, we actually can see now the transcript of her interview with police, which occurred, this is campus police, three weeks after the alleged incident. It's reported that Rumors started going around. She started piecing things together. She admits she was drunk. She admits that she had taken drugs. She admits that she was, her memory is, she has gaps in her memory. But from what she did describe to campus police, it is pretty horrific, but it's also confusing because it began, as you pointed out at the beginning of this episode, with.
00:05:44
Speaker 4: A consensual sexual....
00:05:48
Speaker 3: And I say that because it was a threesome, basically, a consensual threesome is how it was described as beginning. But then basically, she said she was pretty okay with it. And then she said she was being hit, physically hit very hard. She remembers being actually assaulted. She says that she wasn't sure just how many people had sex with her. But she said, I can say with 100% confidence, I was raped.
00:06:15
Speaker 4: She did say that in that initial interview.
00:06:28
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:06:30
Speaker 2: So what you hear there and what is described, Robes, is a crime. The district attorney never prosecuted. Now, Robes, this is where, and you're gonna have to help me. Where is the disconnect? Because the DA is claiming that his office was never made aware that she was drugged or gang raped or had ever made a statement like the one you just suggested. So Robes, how is it that her statements to the police at Cornell didn't make it to the DA.
00:07:06
Speaker 3: Yes. So here I can only tell you what the DA is saying publicly. He says that the allegations he's now seeing in the civil lawsuit are very different from the sworn statement he received. There was a six-page sworn statement in 2024 where he says in that statement, Jane Doe did not allege being drugged against her will or gang raped by multiple men. He described something that sounded very consensual.
00:07:29
Speaker 1: Do you have, are we going to get into the DA statement?
00:07:32
Speaker 4: I have it right here.
00:07:33
Speaker 2: Okay, because the DA played a little coy with some stuff. Well, I have some stuff I could release, but I'm not going to do it now. But I'm going to release this other.
00:07:42
Speaker 1: You know, right? What was he doing there?
00:07:45
Speaker 3: He also is saying that he never saw this above transcript. How does a DA not see the transcript of the interview with an alleged rape victim who is alleging she was gang raped by seven men? And so he claims that this is what he said. I'm going to follow up on this because this is news to me. That wasn't information that I had. If she had said those words, and he's referring specifically to in this transcript, it says, I can say with 100% confidence, I was raped. He said, if she had said those words, we certainly would have wanted to explore that more. Like I said, though, that was not provided to me. Now, Cornell University said its police department absolutely provided that information. to the district attorney. So now you've got finger pointing going on. So his reaction is, okay, now we're going to take all of this information and we're going to get it to a grand jury within 45 days because he says, of course, now he's taking this seriously.
00:08:44
Speaker 1: Well, that's a shame. Now, where is the truth in that? Is that true? How is it possible that a, okay, so both of y'all screwed up. That's fine.
00:08:53
Speaker 2: You're pointing fingers. Both of y'all are responsible. There is a woman that says she was gang raped. Now, they are innocent men until proven guilty. However, she deserved more than she got, which if she looked a police officer in the eye and said, yep, I'm 100 percent sure I was raped. And the person responsible for bringing charges against her rapists never heard about that.
00:09:19
Speaker 1: What sense does that make?
00:09:20
Speaker 4: It makes zero sense.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: So what's more likely here? That the DA is playing funny or that, yes, in fact, his office was never told there was a potential rape?
00:09:33
Speaker 3: It seems bizarre because Cornell University did take many, many steps in punishing some of these young men. And I think it's important to point out. This young woman, she dropped out of school shortly afterwards. I mean, her life was over at that point. At least her campus life was over at this point. So when we come back, we're going to tell you what the Cornell seven have to say. Some of them are speaking out already through their attorney. And I say, the Cornell seven, that's what they've been duped in the press and will dubbed.
00:10:05
Speaker 4: I didn't mean to say duped. I meant to say dubbed. Thank you for that. Um, and we'll also.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: Tell you what the university is saying about all of this. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. It is an absolute mess on the campus of Cornell University. This is a tough story. This is every parent's worst nightmare to imagine that something like this could.
00:10:32
Speaker 4: Occur to your daughter.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: Yes, we know college drinking and drugging is something that happens on campus and at fraternity homes, but you just don't want to think people would behave like this under those circumstances.
00:10:43
Speaker 4: It's awful and disgusting. There's no other way to put it.
00:10:47
Speaker 2: And look, they are telling a different story about what happened that night. And even the DA is saying she told a different story two years ago about what happened that night. No matter what, Robes, what version, what story to believe, the stuff we have read about that evening is just awful, no matter what, on everybody involved. Even if it happens and there was complete consent, it's still, Robes, a bizarre, an ugly, a strange.
00:11:17
Speaker 4: A Consent, can you give consent when you're that?
00:11:21
Speaker 1: Drunk and that high.
00:11:22
Speaker 4: Correct, and that is the issue.
00:11:23
Speaker 3: Now, Cornell president, and everyone's getting out with their statements now, he said two.
00:11:29
Speaker 4: Of the accused were expelled. Two suspended for at least two semesters.
00:11:34
Speaker 3: One had already graduated before any punishment could be handed down, and two were found to not be responsible for any sexual misconduct. So look, this rose to the level where the university took drastic actions against these men. They kicked out the fraternity chapter, closed in 2024, and remains barred from campus to this day. So somebody knew something about a thing that kind of sounded like a crime to them.
00:11:56
Speaker 1: So how is it the district attorney didn't know? How? Cornell, literally, it's a big deal to get into Cornell. It's a big deal.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: It's a really big deal to get kicked out of Cornell. Robes, they took drastic measures and completely dumped a fraternity. But it didn't rise to the level for the district attorney to bring charges. Now, Robes trying to leave space that maybe they didn't know.
00:12:24
Speaker 1: Maybe they weren't aware.
00:12:26
Speaker 4: Well, they were aware.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: I'm going to read you exactly what the district attorney said. Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. My office did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later. So he's saying he couldn't act on information he didn't have.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: Can you go with the very first part of what you just read again? There was something in there.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Can you start? Yep. Go ahead.
00:12:55
Speaker 3: He said Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.
00:13:05
Speaker 2: She described it as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. Why would she take it to police then?
00:13:10
Speaker 1: Is that what he said?
00:13:10
Speaker 4: That's what he says.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: She described, hey, police, y'all come in. I got a story to tell.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: I just want to let you guys know that I had sex with seven guys, and I did it with full knowledge, and I did it.
00:13:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:13:24
Speaker 4: I did it consciously, consensually, and voluntarily.
00:13:27
Speaker 1: That's all.
00:13:27
Speaker 4: Why would you go to police and say that? That makes no sense.
00:13:30
Speaker 1: Robes, what?
00:13:32
Speaker 4: His statement makes no sense.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: She described it as. She described it as. I was wondering his language. She described it, and did he determine that that is consensual? Who made that determination?
00:13:46
Speaker 4: He claimed she did.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: But Robes, why are you?
00:13:50
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:13:50
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: Maybe he's saying she thought a crime was committed, but then she described it to us. And as it was described to us, is that what?
00:13:58
Speaker 4: I believe that's what he's saying.
00:13:59
Speaker 1: He's trying to say.
00:14:01
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:14:01
Speaker 3: Yes. And look, they often, and we hear this all the time, but people have come to her defense when you look at this transcript and hear and read what she said. And she did describe some things as being consensual.
00:14:12
Speaker 4: That is true.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: But she also talked about being in and out of consciousness, telling people no, swatting their hands away, saying, I'm too tired, I don't want to. So in that transcript that you can clearly read that she gave her statements to campus police, she absolutely described non-consensual occurrences.
00:14:30
Speaker 4: There's no question.
00:14:31
Speaker 3: So I don't know what the DA is claiming he did not have in front of him. But look, two attorneys retained by two of the named defendants have categorically denied sexually assaulting her or even touching her. And I wonder if these are the two young men who were also exonerated by the campus. They might have been on the text chain. They've acknowledged that they were a part of that Snapchat.
00:14:51
Speaker 4: And they said, it's ugly, it's awful. But one of the guys said he walked in.
00:14:55
Speaker 3: I believe this is a situation where there was an ugly Snapchat, but that doesn't make my client a rapist. And it certainly doesn't make anyone a sex offender. He claims that his client briefly entered the room in response to the message. So he came upstairs to see what was going on. And he said he did not touch her in any way, shape or form and left in a matter of minutes. She was not incoherent, but in fact was coherent. And again, he left that room without touching her or having any physical interaction with her whatsoever.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: Again, that could very well be true.
00:15:23
Speaker 4: That could very well be true.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: But those names are attached to this lawsuit now. And here we go. Robes heads are going to roll. There are going to be countless investigations. There are going to be so many more statements put out. There's going to be so much. Yes, because this is one. Roves, when you get politicians to start, this is like a flashpoint once again. This is all Me Too related type stuff to where really you wouldn't listen to a woman for two years.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: And it took the internet? It took the internet. Yes. Media.
00:15:55
Speaker 4: I mean, sorry.
00:15:56
Speaker 3: Pressure from social media. That is why now... An investigation has been opened. And you could say reopened, but was it ever really opened in the first place? It doesn't sound like it was. They might want to categorize it as reopened.
00:16:11
Speaker 1: The DA is struggling. You've seen some of his interviews. Struggling. He's struggling right now. Struggling. He should stop.
00:16:17
Speaker 4: He is going to have a lot more explaining to do. But look, handing it to a grand jury.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: Is probably the best course of action now because they can present all the evidence, including all of these statements he allegedly didn't have two years ago, and they can come to a determination as to who, if anyone, should face criminal charges in this case.
00:16:34
Speaker 2: The last thing I didn't ask you about, he put out a six-page or whatever statement, was it six or nine pages? A long statement, right, about this case, and he included that description of the night from a statement he said his office had.
00:16:50
Speaker 1: Is that necessary?
00:16:51
Speaker 4: He's defending himself.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: Like, it's some ugly stuff.
00:16:55
Speaker 4: It's really ugly.
00:16:56
Speaker 2: And it makes everybody look bad. And even the victim here, the potential victim, even makes.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: The actions look bad.
00:17:05
Speaker 3: What she was willing to do up to a point. And this is why so many women don't come forward because a lot of times these types of assaults happen when it started off consensual or they were doing things that they shouldn't have been doing or they probably regret doing. But that doesn't mean a crime didn't also happen.
00:17:22
Speaker 2: There's something about him including that. now that felt like shame.
00:17:29
Speaker 4: Absolutely he was. And that's part of the problem.
00:17:33
Speaker 3: That's part of the reason why women don't come forward because they know that they'll be attacked. And we'll see where this leads but you know what? There is a lot more to come on this one including this grand jury investigation. We'll continue to keep our eye on it. It is not going away anytime soon. But we always appreciate you listening to us everyone. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:17:54
Speaker 4: We'll talk soon.