Cornell Brings in Sally Yates to Lend Some Integrity to the Rape Claim Investigation

Oh, wow.

As if this Cornell clown circus wasn't bad enough on its own, with Governor Daffy Kathy Hochul dragging in the accused mortgage-fraudster and whimsical crime-maker-upper, Attorney General Letitia James.

That total servant of blind justice, Letitia James.

Yeah. 

BREAKING: Gov. Kathy Hochul signs an executive order appointing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the Cornell 7 case. "I've lost faith in the Tompkins County DA's ability to fairly oversee it." One day before her appointment, James said: "My heart goes out to the victim. The survivor. And I stand with her and all individuals who unfortunately have been the victims of sexual assault." "We look forward to the outcome and to ensure that justice is served and there's accountability for the survivor." Hochul says the appointment ensures the case will be handled "without conflict or bias."

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) October 2, 2026

One day before her appointment, James said: 

"My heart goes out to the victim. The survivor. And I stand with her and all individuals who unfortunately have been the victims of sexual assault." 

"We look forward to the outcome and to ensure that justice is served and there's accountability for the survivor."

Hochul says the appointment ensures the case will be handled "without conflict or bias."

Her.

Well, Cornell has hired former Obama Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to handle their end of the digging.

Yeah.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham questioned former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates on Tuesday about the Obama administration's "Operation: Crossfire Hurricane" counterintelligence investigation into possible links between the Russians and the 2016 Trump campaign and transition team.

During a line of questioning about the FISA warrant used to open a counterintelligence investigation, Yates said that based on the Horowitz report, she would not sign a FISA warrant based on a document like the Steele dossier.

"I'm not saying you lied to the [FISA] court, I'm saying you signed something that was a lie and didn't know," Graham told Yates.

HER.

A former high-ranking Department of Justice official will look at how Cornell handles sexual misconduct complaints, university trustees announced Tuesday as they tried to address an outpouring of anger over allegations of a 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house.

Sally Yates, who was a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, will spearhead the review, the trustees said. The assessment is to include how the Ivy League university investigates reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment, how the disciplinary process works, campus police responses and more.

“It is imperative that Cornell be willing to examine itself with the same rigor we expect of others,” trustee Chair Anne Meinig Smalling said in a statement.

The announcement comes after days of outrage and a large protest over Cornell’s response to a complaint from a woman known publicly only as Jane Doe. She told campus police in November 2024 that, a few weeks earlier, she had been sexually assaulted by multiple Chi Phi fraternity brothers after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs.

I honestly never thought I'd hear that name again.

Fooled me.

No crisis like the present, I guess.

...New York’s attorney general is now conducting a criminal investigation, and the state’s governor called for an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the matter — the review that Yates now will lead.

Professor Turley calls it 'rounding up the usual suspects.'

I never thought that there was a paucity of lawyers in New York, but it seems that they are rounding up the usual suspects in politicized litigation. First, Gov. Hochul appoints Letitia James, the single most political AG in the country, as special counsel. https://t.co/15x8zz4LLn Now Cornell has hired Sally Yates as its investigator. https://t.co/VEbEScfGsd Yates ordered Justice Department attorneys not to assist Trump after he was elected in 2016 on his immigration policies. https://t.co/iLdot76EpO ...

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) October 6, 2026

First, Gov. Hochul appoints Letitia James, the single most political AG in the country, as special counsel. https://tinyurl.com/3dycjfj3 Now Cornell has hired Sally Yates as its investigator. https://foxnews.com/us/cornell-picks-former-deputy-us-attorney-general-review-sex-assault-response Yates ordered Justice Department attorneys not to assist Trump after he was elected in 2016 on his immigration policies. https://jonathanturley.org/2020/11/30/166352/ ...

And he revisits the insubordination that got Yates canned from the Justice Department when the newly installed President Trump took over.

Trump had big plans to straighten out immigration even way back then, remember?

Oh, good times, good times.

Yates, as the Deputy Attorney General, made the 'inexplicable' decision not to defend nor assist in the implementation of the President's lawful orders on immigration.

...Sometimes congressional hearings bring clarity to controversies. Many times they do not. Controversies can become “curiouser and curiouser,” as they did for Alice in Wonderland. That was the case with the testimony of fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week discussing her unprecedented decision to order the entire Justice Department not to assist President Trump in defending the first immigration order. Yates was lionized by Democratic senators as a “hero” and has been celebrated in the media for her “courageous stand.” However, for those concerned about constitutional law and legal ethics, there is little to celebrate in Yates’ stand. Indeed, her explanation before the Senate only made things more confusing. It was a curious moment for the new Alice of the Beltway Wonderland: “Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”

There has been considerable speculation on why Yates would engineer such a confrontation, but what is more important is her justification for ordering an entire federal department to stand down and not to assist a sitting president. Yates’ prior explanation fell considerably short of the expected basis for such a radical step. She dismissed the review of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) by insisting that those career lawyers only look at the face of the order and did not consider Trump’s campaign statements and his real motivations. Of course, many question the use of campaign rhetoric as a basis for reviewing an order written months later by an administration. Most notably, Yates did not conclude that the order was unconstitutional (in contradiction with her own OLC). Rather, she said that she was not convinced that the order was “wise or just” or was “lawful.” She does not explain the latter reference but then added that she was acting on her duty to “always seek justice and stand for what is right.” That is a rather ambiguous standard to support this type of obstruction of a sitting president.

She didn't agree with the President. Simple enough.

She was suspicious of his 'real motivations' for the orders.

So she wasn't going to do it.

...Yates agreed with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., that “the concerns you expressed about the constitutionality of these executive orders have been upheld by the courts.” However, that is also not entirely correct. First, some courts ruled for the president, including a number of Ninth Circuit judges who took the extraordinary step of filing a dissent to a rehearing petition in the first appeal. More importantly, most courts stayed only a portion of the orders, not the entirety. The point is that not only did career lawyers at the Justice Department conclude that the orders were constitutional but judges also agreed with interpretation of the Administration.

So all of this leads to one of the few truly probing questions given Yates at the hearing. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asked, “Did you believe, then, that there were reasonable arguments that could be made in its defense?” In an astonishing response, Yates said no because she decided on her view of Trump’s real intent and not the language of the order. However, many judges disagree with implied motive as the appropriate standard for review, as evidenced by the oral argument this week before the Fourth Circuit. More importantly, at the time of her decision, many experts (including some of us who opposed the order) were detailing how past cases and the statutory language favored the administration. It is ridiculous to suggest that there were no reasonable arguments supporting the order.

She was fired, naturally, but not before she became yet another brave Democrat martyr of the moment.

And now here she is, hunting down the Cornell 7 with the same unbiased verve she used to safeguard General Flynn's constitutional rights.

Further undermining public confidence, Cornell picks disgraced former Obama DOJ official Sally Yates to "investigate" Cornell rape issues -- Yates is Obama appointee who was fired by Trump after abusing her office as Acting Attorney General. She had also helped lead the Obama gang's Russiagate targeting and abuse of Trump. https://t.co/sn3NGEW670 #FoxNews

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) October 6, 2026

...She had also helped lead the Obama gang's Russiagate targeting and abuse of Trump

@BuckSexton https://t.co/abTtvxrlzD

— SouthernSentinel (@ProfessorXtwo) October 6, 2026

Oh, boy, oh, boy.

I hate to throw shade, but anyone who doesn't vote Republican, or just doesn't vote, period, is voting for all of this to come roaring back.

OMG - these people are horrible.

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