Matthew Van Houten

They wanted to get their story straight.

Um, you guys can see all of these messages, and there was even a witness, there was a girl that was with them and she's like, and the guy asked her, "How do you know?" And she's like, "I was there and I saw the text messages." Um, so Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten previously found Jane Doe had not described the prosecute crime in a six-page statement provided to police on November 24th and ruled out, out the possibility of charges.

Um, Jane Doe had told the police that she had been engaged in sexual, uh, in a consensual threesome the evening in question, but they had, events spiraled and she became more incapacitated and more men became involved.

So they're, they're basically saying, well, she didn't say, she didn't describe a prosecutable crime.

No charges announced.

Attorney General Letitia James, as we know, has assumed authority over the investigation after Governor Kathy Hochul removed Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten from the case.

The accused men deny the allegations.

And it seems like I don't think there are any new criminal charges as of today.

Now, the Cornell allegations would ordinarily fall under the authority of the Tompkins County District Attorney.

That's a person named Matthew Van Houten.

But DA Van Houten has come under intense fire and criticism for how he handled the matter in twenty twenty-four.

Most troubling, according to a lot of observers, is that in a case like this, you would want to make efforts to interview the alleged victim before making a final charging decision.

She made more than 20 handwritten corrections to it.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten declined charges on that record.

In a September 28th 2026 public statement, he wrote that the sworn account, quote, "Did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped, and instead described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual." He also said that when she asked to stop particular acts, the conduct stopped, and that failure to remember later events is not proof that she was unconscious at the time.

He called some of the men's behavior disgusting and morally reprehensible, and said that that is not the same thing as a prosecutable crime.

Some of the DA's phones wouldn't stop ringing.

September 28th, Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten reopens the case and says he'll take it to a grand jury.

That was quick, even though they research it over and over again.

Three days later, Governor Hochul takes it away from him.

As our state's chief law enforcement officer, I stand ready to lead a process New Yorkers can trust, guided by the facts and the law." End quote.

Now, as a refresher, you all will remember that the Tompkins County DA, Matthew Van Houten, that there was a, a, a vote of no confidence pretty much in that he did not conduct an independent investigation when presented with a allegedly limited set of facts and circumstances by the Cornell University Police Department, which was the only at the time, back in 2024 in October, it was the only agency at Cornell that had conducted an investigation.

Ithaca PD, not called in.

There was a subsequent Title IX investigation that resulted in punishment including expulsion, suspension, et cetera, for some of these Cornell frat members.

So tell me about that discrepancy.

So what's provided to the Tompkins County District Attorney, Matthew Van Houten, described Jane Doe's drug use and sexual conduct as, quote, voluntary, conscious and consensual, which vastly differs from her transcript to Cornell Police.

There have been several national news outlets who are saying they've got a copy of the transcript of that police interview that Jane Doe did.

And in those snippets they've reported, Jane Doe was pretty explicit about calling this incident a rape.

And we have also not seen a full copy of either of those personally.

But based on the statements he was given, he said he didn't think there was enough evidence to bring criminal charges against the men.

sworn statement that the district attorney received to make that determination.

Those are sometimes prepared by police, but they are reviewed by the person who has signed it, in this case, Jane Doe.

Mm hmm.

But in this one, I also think it's interesting that what Hochul is doing, what Governor Hochul is doing is replacing the county district attorney, Matthew Van Houten.

He also Van Houten spoke out.

I thought that was relevant that what he said was Cornell.