New criticism is mounting against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul over her appearance in a Netflix documentary examining the renewed investigation into seven men accused of sexually assaulting a woman at Cornell and her public comments about the allegations.
None of the seven men has been criminally charged. In October, Hochul signed an executive order naming New York Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor overseeing the investigation.
In the recently released documentary, “Instadocs: Jane Doe v. Cornell,” Hochul appears roughly 13 minutes into the film, discussing her reaction to reports about the case.
During the interview, she said, “My first reaction was how disgusting, not again. You feel like, not again.”
Hochul also recalled her experience as an undergraduate at Syracuse University in the late 1970s.
“There were a series of rapes our first week on campus and there was a sense of anxiety all around,” Hochul said.
She criticized what she described as a “culture” that “has never changed.”
“The number of people involved and the repugnancy of her allegations would’ve drawn you to local police department fairly quickly,” she said.
The allegations by Jane Doe attracted national attention after she filed a civil lawsuit against seven Cornell Chi Phi fraternity brothers, the university, her own sorority and others. She alleged that she was drugged and gang raped inside a fraternity house in 2024.
NEXT UP: Brit Says £110,000 ‘Never-Ending’ Cruise Was Worth Every Penny
The lawsuit came nearly two years after she first reported the allegations to local law enforcement. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said that “multiple prosecutors and criminal investigators reviewed Jane Doe’s statement and correctly determined the alleged facts as set forth in the statement do not constitute a crime.”
Hochul also addressed the handling of the allegations by law enforcement during her interview for the documentary.
“In a situation like this, you want to make sure that people believe in the process,” she said.
Fox News contributor Donna Rotunno, a criminal defense attorney and host of the “Crime and Justice with Donna Rotunno” podcast, criticized Hochul’s participation in the documentary. She argued that the governor’s comments could intensify existing concerns about the fairness of the prosecution.
“The governor can say anything she wants about anything. The question is, should she?” Rotunno said.
“The problem you have here is there has already been the air of impropriety,” she added.
Rotunno called the timing of Hochul’s renewed attention to the case “suspect” and questioned why the governor intervened two years later.
“If she was so in tune as to what was happening in Ithaca or elsewhere in the state of New York, this is probably something that should have been on her radar.”
Asked by Fox News Digital why Hochul chose to appear in the documentary, a spokesperson for the governor said, “Governors routinely speak to news and media organizations about matters of significant public interest.”