New York Attorney General Letitia James is being urged to recuse herself from the investigation into an alleged sexual assault at Cornell University after a defense attorney questioned whether she had already embraced the accuser’s account before taking charge of the case.

Andrew Miltenberg, who represents one of seven former fraternity members named in a civil lawsuit, said James’ earlier public comments in support of the woman raised “an avoidable question about the appearance of impartiality.”

“The concern is whether the public can have confidence that the investigation begins without any predetermined view of the facts,” Miltenberg said in a statement to Fox News.

Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed the attorney general’s office as special prosecutor Thursday, replacing Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten in the inquiry into an alleged October 2024 sexual assault at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe in court filings, claims that seven former fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted her. The men have denied wrongdoing. Some say the sexual activity was consensual, while others deny taking part. No criminal charges have been filed against any of the seven men.

Miltenberg’s challenge focuses on remarks James made before her office was selected to oversee the criminal investigation. In a public statement, she called what the woman had “been forced to endure” “horrific and unacceptable” and told her, along with “all survivors,” that “we stand with you.”

Asked at Friday’s news conference whether the Facebook post raised questions about her objectivity, James replied, “I will not comment on a Facebook post.”

Donna Rotunno, a criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor, also questioned James’ involvement during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show.”

“But it should be fair. It should be impartial. And it should not be from someone who’s already made a public statement on Facebook about it,” Rotunno said while discussing the reopened investigation.

James has said the investigation will be conducted according to “the facts and the law.”

Miltenberg said his objections were not politically motivated and did not minimize the seriousness of the sexual assault allegations.

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“There is nothing improper about expressing compassion for someone who reports a sexual assault,” Miltenberg said. “But there is an important difference between supporting a person who makes an allegation and appearing to accept the factual premise of that allegation before conducting an investigation.”

He called on James to recuse herself personally while permitting senior prosecutors in her office who have not commented publicly on the substance of the allegations to lead the investigation.

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“That would not weaken the investigation. It would strengthen it,” Miltenberg said.

He said the independence and public-confidence concerns that led to the appointment of a special prosecutor should also apply to the official overseeing the replacement investigation.

“I am not suggesting that Attorney General James does not believe she can be fair,” he said.

The case drew renewed scrutiny after Doe filed a civil lawsuit Sept. 16, nearly two years after the alleged assault. The complaint also names Cornell, fraternity entities, Doe’s sorority and a local bar, among others, alleging failures to protect her.

Van Houten initially declined to pursue criminal charges, saying the signed statement his office received from Cornell University Police did not establish a crime under New York law. He said prosecutors assumed Doe’s account was true and that her credibility was “never in question.”

He later reopened the investigation after the lawsuit surfaced.

Questions about the original investigation intensified when CBS News presented Van Houten with a fuller transcript of Doe’s police interviews that he said his office had never received.

“That wasn’t information that I had,” Van Houten said, adding that its existence “changes the landscape for me.”

Rotunno also questioned why prosecutors had not sought the complete investigative record before deciding against charges.

“The real question is, why didn’t the DA ask for every piece of information that the campus police gathered?” she said on “The Big Weekend Show.”

She warned against allowing public reaction to drive the case.

“We are watching the court of public opinion take over here when we don’t know the facts,” Rotunno said.

Cornell has separately agreed to an independent review of its handling of the allegations. University President Michael Kotlikoff said its disciplinary process resulted in two expulsions and two suspensions of at least two semesters. One student graduated before discipline could be imposed, and two were found not responsible for sexual misconduct.

Those proceedings are separate from the criminal investigation.

Cornell previously told Fox News it “fully support[s] the appointment of a special prosecutor” and is committed to “an independent external review of all aspects of how Cornell has handled this case.”

Miltenberg said any decision about criminal charges should come from prosecutors whose impartiality the public can trust.

“The simplest way to remove that question is for her personally to recuse herself and allow an uncommitted prosecutor within her office to lead the investigation,” he said.

Michael Douglas grew up surrounded by Hollywood glamour as the son of screen icon Kirk Douglas, but he has little patience for the label “nepo baby” — and neither do his children.

As his own offspring pursue careers in acting, the 82-year-old Wall Street and Fatal Attraction star has called the expression “snotty.” He argues that parents in almost every other profession are praised, rather than criticised, for helping their children get started.

Michael, whose father Kirk died in 2020, is often cited as one of Hollywood’s earliest examples of a nepotism beneficiary. Yet he says he “resents” the description.

Speaking to the Sunday Times about his memoir, One Helluva Ride, Douglas said: “For the number of so-called ‘nepos’, there were very few people I could think of that had the kind of career my father and I had.”

He added that the shortened term for nepotism carries “a snotty tone to it I really kind of resent”.

“In every other business, every mother and father helps their kids,” Douglas said. “We all know the companies, the names are ‘so and so and son, or daughter.’”

He continued: “In every other business everybody else, in relation, is required to have the same success or continuity. Whereas in this one, you’re criticised for being the same.”

Douglas’s comments, aimed at the phrase commonly used for the children of famous actors and musicians, came only weeks after his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, described “nepo baby” as a “horrific” expression.

The couple’s defence of the term comes as their children, Dylan and Carys, pursue Hollywood careers of their own — with mixed results so far.

Dylan, 26, graduated from Brown University in 2022 and secured a role last year in the thriller I Will Come to You. Carys, 23, made her stage debut in July in an off-Broadway production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.

“This horrific phrase ‘nepo baby’ is horrible because these kids didn’t ask to be born into this, they’re finding their own way in life,” Zeta-Jones said.

“But they love it, and they’re good. Otherwise, Michael and I would be the first to go, ‘You know what? Maybe law school looks really good.’”

In his memoir, Douglas also rejects the notion that he was a womaniser before marrying Zeta-Jones in 2000. Instead, he described himself as a “healthy product of the Sixties.”

He recalled making “five quick calls” after Zeta-Jones told him she would not date him while he was seeing other women.

The forthcoming book also contains Douglas’s first admission that he had an affair with his Romancing The Stone co-star Kathleen Turner during production of the 1984 action comedy.

In an excerpt published by People, he wrote: “Kathleen was smart, funny, and sexy with a deep, sultry voice that became her signature. I instantly liked her, and we were immediately attracted to each other.”

Douglas said his marriage to Diandra was “in a bad place” at the time. He also revealed that he had been involved with Romancing The Stone screenwriter Diane Thomas before meeting Turner.

Douglas and Turner, who was single but dating property tycoon Jay Weiss — whom she would later marry — repeatedly denied the affair. The rumours intensified after Douglas’s then-wife Diandra became so concerned that she travelled to the Mexican set and confronted her husband.

But now, four decades on from the blockbuster, Michael has ‘come clean’.

In his explosive memoir, he recalls how he and Kathleen, now 72, fell madly in ‘lust’ at first sight: ‘Kathleen was smart, funny and sexy, with a deep sultry voice that became her signature. I instantly liked her and we were immediately attracted to each other.’

The Fatal Attraction actor added: ‘Things at home were in a bad place. Diandra and I were both having extramarital affairs. The truth is that during the production of Romancing The Stone, Kathleen and I fell hard for each other and began a relationship.

‘It wasn’t a fly-by night affair; it grew naturally from how closely we were working together, how much pressure we were under, how much we respected and cared for one another, and how attracted we were to each other.

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‘Like every other guy in the world at the time, I was knocked sideways by Kathleen.’

The pair kept their affair hidden from everyone including their co-star Danny DeVito and director Robert Zemeckis.

Michael penned: ‘We found each other first as friends, then as co-stars, and finally as lovers.

‘Following an exhausting day of shooting in the jungle, we’d go out and have a meal, or head out with the group and afterward I would sneak into her hotel room after everybody was asleep.’

Their clandestine romance ended when Michael’s wife flew from LA to Mexico and brought their young son.

He added: ‘Diandra grew suspicious. A woman’s intuition, I suppose.’

Their marriage limped on until 2000 when the couple divorced – with Michael marrying Zeta-Jones that same year.

He and Turner had a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ never to discuss their relationship and for four decades both stuck to that pact.

Michael wrote: ‘The official story went as follows: Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry. Yes, we were both, as Kathleen said, ‘terrible flirts,’ and yes, we were both tempted, but nothing ever happened between us.

‘That was a lie. It was a lie meant to protect my wife and son, a lie we told the world for 40 years.’

Kathleen honoured that pact in an interview with The Mail on Sunday a few years ago, saying: ‘The chemistry was there and Michael and I were both terrible flirts. We were in the jungle and I was feeling very romantic towards him. It was going to happen.

‘Then I walked on set one day and his wife was suddenly there. She sat next to him and that was that. You don’t mess with another woman’s husband.’

When asked this week how she felt about Michael ‘outing’ their illicit romance, Kathleen appeared far from upset: ‘Good heavens, what a fuss about something 40 years ago! I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book.’

Michael and Kathleen proved to be a box office draw, with Romancing The Stone grossing $115million at the box office.

They reunited a year later for the sequel The Jewel of the Nile, but they kept their relationship strictly professional.

They did a third movie together in 1989, The War of the Roses, which was another massive box office hit.

Diandra eventually filed for divorce from Michael in 1995 after 18 years of marriage.

According to several reports, Diandra walked away with $45million and several homes.

Michael met actress Catherine in 1998 and they married two years later. They welcomed son Dylan that year followed by a daughter, Carys Zeta, in 2003.

Michael and Kathleen would go on to reunite once again, this time on the small screen in Netflix’s The Kominsky Method.

Kathleen joined the show’s second season in 2019 and also appeared in the third and final season in 2021.

They once again denied rumours of a past affair while promoting the series, leaving it as a four-decade secret.

One Helluva Ride will be released October 6.

A teenage runner’s unsettling discovery in a quiet Long Island park could help authorities resolve a missing-person case that has remained open for nearly a year.

The student was part of a local high school track team training on the trails at Plandome Pond Park in Manhasset at about 5:45 p.m. Thursday when he noticed what appeared to be skeletal remains in the nearby brush, Nassau County police and NBC New York reported. The teen is also an Eagle Scout.

“They were running adjacent to the train tracks, and they were coming through to the park. He discovered the remains,” Plandome Heights Mayor Kenneth Riscica told the station.

Investigators are examining whether the remains could be those of Shi Hua Xu, a 79-year-old woman with dementia who disappeared from her home in nearby Great Neck in December 2025.

Xu was known to take regular walks around her neighborhood and had been seen in Great Neck before she vanished without explanation.

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She was not wearing her tracking device when she went missing, leaving her family to conduct a painstaking search for her in the months that followed.

Authorities said the remains are those of a woman, but a formal identification is still pending. “We are looking to positively identify the body by the end of the day. We don’t believe it to be criminal in nature,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told NBC New York.

According to the report, Xu’s relatives have identified an item of clothing found near the remains as belonging to her.

The Nassau County medical examiner’s office is waiting for DNA test results to determine whether the remains are those of Xu.

Although the discovery was disturbing, the teen told detectives he was “doing fine” and said he hoped the find would provide answers and comfort to the missing woman’s family.

Riscica recalled the teen’s response when detectives checked on him: “I’m doing fine. I only hope this brings closure to a family that lost someone.”

A fisherman kayaking off the Malibu coast was taken to a nearby hospital Sunday morning after a reported shark encounter left him with two bite injuries.

The incident unfolded near Paradise Cove in Los Angeles County, according to KTLA.

Witnesses told the station that the man had hooked what appeared to be a mako shark. As he tried to free the animal, it reportedly bit him and knocked him into the water.

The shark allegedly struck a second time before disappearing into the water. The Los Angeles County Fire Department first referred to the event as a shark attack, but later described it as a “fishing accident,” ABC 7 reported.

The manager of the nearby Paradise Cove Beach Cafe said he saw injuries around the fisherman’s legs after the man reached shore.

“He was bitten in two places,” the manager told KTLA. “I saw there were some teeth marks on his lower leg and above the knee.”

Video captured a lifeguard sprinting toward the injured fisherman shortly after the encounter, with a small fishing boat visible close by.

KTLA reported that another fisherman pulled the victim from the water, placed him aboard his boat and transported him back to shore.

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The victim then reportedly contacted his girlfriend, a retired lifeguard. She helped him off the boat, supported him on the beach and called emergency services.

Los Angeles County Fire Department crews arrived and transported the fisherman to a local hospital, according to the outlet.

The cafe manager said the unusual incident stood out even in a location accustomed to unexpected events. “We’ve had a lot of crazy stuff happen here, but we’ve never had a shark attack like that,” he reportedly told KTLA.

Paradise Cove beach remained open after the reported shark encounter, ABC 7 reported.

Shark sightings and encounters in Southern California can become more likely in October, when warmer ocean temperatures draw prey and juvenile sharks toward the coast. Shallow, warm waters also serve as nursery areas where young sharks can feed and mature with greater protection.

News Media contacted the Los Angeles County Fire Department seeking additional details about the Malibu incident.