Letter to the editor: No one worse for the Cornell job than Letitia James

OPINION:

The Cornell University community has risen in wrath against the men said to be involved in an alleged 2024 fraternity house rape — and the school officials said to have not done their jobs in the matter (“What to know about the Cornell fraternity rape allegations,” Web, Oct. 6).

The photo accompanying the article shows a large group gathered on the school’s campus during an Oct. 5 protest. The speakers at the gathering, including Cornell students and professors, accepted the accuser’s account and blamed university trustees and President Michael Kolikoff for failing to support the woman. They also called the accuser a “survivor,” with all the implications that conveys.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul accused Cornell and local authorities of inadequately pursuing the matter and appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor.

Ms. Hochul could not have found a worse prosecutor in this case. Ms. James is on record in support of the “survivor’s” account, and her pursuit of President Trump shows what she will do when she has a target in sight. During her run for attorney general, she even announced she was out to get Mr. Trump.

She then prosecuted Mr. Trump for alleged fraud in a matter in which there were no damages. She obtained a judgment for hundreds of millions of dollars from a compliant judge and demanded an appeal bond for the amount of the judgment plus interest.

Ms. James sought to bankrupt our current commander in chief by opposing a reasonable appeal bond, seeking to grab all his assets as soon as judgment was entered, refusing to support a stay pending appeal and stripping Mr. Trump of his right to do business in New York.

It took an appellant court to rein her in — and even then, Mr. Trump had to post an appeal bond of $175 million in a victimless matter.

A good prosecutor examines the facts before deciding to pursue a matter, but here Ms. James appears to be determined to pursue the matter before examining the facts. The attorneys for the accused in the Cornell case will no doubt try to boot her as special prosecutor. They have a good case for doing so.

JIM DUEHOLM

Washington