New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said she ‘lost faith’ in the local probe into the Cornell rape case as she announced that she appointed a special prosecutor.

The Democrat governor announced on Thursday she signed an executive order appointing Attorney General Letitia James to oversee the case in which a woman claims she was gang raped by seven fraternity members.

‘New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I’ve lost faith in the Tompkins County District Attorney’s ability to fairly oversee it,’ she announced.

‘The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued.’ 

The decision comes after a newly-released transcript shows the alleged victim told Cornell police she was ‘100 percent’ confident she was assaulted.

She described in the interview with a campus police investigator how she had been drinking and using drugs the night of the alleged attack and had gaps in her memory, according to a transcript obtained by CBS New York.

Still, she was able to distinguish the initial sexual activity from what she said happened later in the night at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she has ‘lost faith’ in the local probe into the Cornell rape case

She appointed Attorney General Letitia James to serve as a special prosecutor

When she was asked whether she was OK with the initial encounter, for example, the victim only referred to in court documents as Jane Doe, replied: ‘Yeah, as much as I can be, because again, I was super drunk when I got there… But I was pretty OK with all of this.

‘And then, of course, I was being hit at the same time,’ she added.

The alleged victim then went on to say she did not remember the end of the night ‘where I was raped’ and did not know exactly how many people had sex with her.

But when she described what happened to her that night, Jane Doe said: ‘I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped.’

The transcript also shows that throughout the interview, the campus police investigator asked the alleged victim questions as she prepared a written statement.

When he then started to ask Jane Doe what she said when the men asked her for sex, the transcript shows the investigator warned her that his questions may sound accusatory but that he needed specific answers to determine which charges to file.

Jane Doe then went on to tell the investigator how she swatted one man’s hand away and told him she was uncomfortable, and told another man ‘no’ a few times or that she was too tired for sexual intercourse.

‘Was it “no” or was it “eh, I’m tired?”‘ the investigator then asked.

‘I think it’s “I’m tired,”‘ the alleged victim replied.

The accuser, only identified in court documents as Jane Doe, spoke with campus police on November 14. Students are pictured walking past Cornell Police headquarters on Wednesday

Doe alleged the attack took place at at the Chi Phi house, above, late on October 19, 2024. The fraternity has remained suspended from Cornell’s campus

Later on in the interview, the police officer asked Jane Doe whether she became tired of answering the men’s questions and ultimately gave in to them.

‘Yes. It was coercion, yes,’ she replied, according to the transcript, adding that she was ‘completely and totally incapacitated.’

The transcript also shows that the investigator documented her account, read it back to the accuser and asked her to clarify or correct it, according to CBS News.

Then, on the second day of the interview, Jane Doe reviewed the revised six-page statement.

When she then went to sign it, the transcript shows, the alleged victim said: ‘I’m very confident about this.’ 

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said his decision not to bring charges against the seven alleged perpetrators was based on the contents of that signed 2024 statement. 

But he told CBS News on Tuesday he had never before seen the transcript showing what Jane Doe told campus police. 

The District Attorney said he will now seek a copy of the transcript and follow up with Cornell police.

‘Nobody knows this information about the transcript and that gives me something to really dig into because that changes the landscape for me,’ he said.

Cornell officials, meanwhile, said its police department provided the results of the school’s investigation to the District Attorney’s Office as prosecutors reconsider whether to bring charges against the alleged rapists.

University officials have also said it agreed to undertake an independent investigation into its handling of the matter.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said his decision not to bring charges against the seven alleged perpetrators was based on the contents of Jane Doe’s signed 2024 statement

The case gained renewed attention after Jane Doe filed a civil suit on September 16.

It alleges that Doe, then 20, arrived at the fraternity house on October 19, 2024, already heavily intoxicated following a night of drinking in Ithaca.

She alleges she was pressured to take ketamine and given marijuana and high-proof alcohol before being repeatedly sexually assaulted as additional fraternity members entered the room.

The complaint alleges seven men eventually participated and that Doe became ‘completely incapacitated.’ She says the ordeal continued until around 5.45am, when she lost consciousness.

It also claims that during the assault, one fraternity member posted to a ‘Chi Phi Actives’ Snapchat group that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe. 

‘Like you can walk in and whip it out,’ another member allegedly responded, according to a screenshot described in the filing. 

Doe reported the allegations to Cornell University Police on November 8 after friends encouraged her to come forward, according to the lawsuit.

Cornell temporarily suspended the fraternity and seven students that day.

One of the men allegedly posted to the fraternity’s active-members Snapchat group saying that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe, according to the filing, which included an image of the purported chat

The defendants have not all publicly responded to the allegations, but at least two have denied wrongdoing.

Jeremy Saland, an attorney for defendant Scott Kretzschmar, said the alleged incident ‘did not happen.’

‘At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way. Period,’ Saland said.

‘We look forward to confronting the plaintiff in a court of law for her selfishly false claims with both the evidence and her own words.’

Defendant Scott Norris separately denied participating in sexual activity or drug use, while acknowledging sending one message cited in the complaint.

‘I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use,’ Norris said. ‘I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened.’

For Doe, her attorney says the consequences have stretched far beyond the night at the center of the lawsuit.

He has claimed his client continues to suffer from anxiety, depression and sleepless nights and stopped attending Cornell following the alleged attack.

‘She is basically stalled, and her life is devoted to dealing with the trauma,’ Giuffra previously told the Daily Mail. ‘It’s like a constant, constant reminder.’

‘You could give her all the money in the world; nobody wants to have this as their story. Nobody wants to have this in their lives.’