Trump Calls Letitia James a “Disgusting Dog” After Cornell Rape Case Appointment

President Donald Trump took another swing at New York Attorney General Letitia James during a midterm rally in Syracuse on Friday, calling her “disgusting” and a “dog” just over a week after she was named special prosecutor in the Cornell University rape case.

Speaking to supporters at The Oncenter, Trump, 80, repeated his long-running attacks on James, 67, labeling her “corrupt” and using his usual nickname “Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James.” He told the crowd the people of New York need to “clean house in Albany” on Nov. 3, starting with Governor Kathy Hochul and “her totally corrupt sidekick.”

He claimed James is being looked at for prosecutorial misconduct over how she handled the case against him, then urged voters to tell both Hochul and “that disgusting Leticia dog she’s a dog” that they’re fired and to “get the hell out of here.”

“They’re corrupt, incompetent,” Trump continued. “The city and state are dirty, filthy places. We’re losing our tax base, and everybody wants to leave. This is not the state that I remember 10 years ago when I went to Washington, D.C., to be your president.”

A spokesperson for James’ re-election campaign pushed back in a statement to PEOPLE, saying Trump doesn’t have successful policies to run on so he resorts to personal attacks. The spokesperson added that Trump is welcome to keep rallying across New York with Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor, to remind people of what they called a hollow right-wing agenda. Blakeman, 71, is running against Hochul, 68.

Trump’s friction with James goes back years. It intensified after she won a civil fraud case against him in 2024 that ordered him to pay $354.9 million plus an estimated $100 million in pre-judgment interest. The Justice Department later investigated whether her office violated his civil rights with that lawsuit, but the case was dismissed in November 2025. At the time James said it was time for the unchecked weaponization of the justice system to stop.

These latest insults came shortly after Trump first reacted to Hochul appointing James as special prosecutor in the high-profile Cornell case. On Oct. 2, while leaving the White House, he told reporters he feels “badly” for the seven members of a Cornell fraternity accused of gang rape because James is a “corrupt person” and “they won’t get a fair shake.”

A woman suing under the name Jane Doe filed a civil complaint on Sept. 16 alleging she was drugged and gang-raped by seven members of the Cornell chapter of Chi Phi in October 2024. She claims the assault lasted for hours, that she was pressured into taking drugs that left her incapacitated, and that she was hit hard enough to leave bruises. She reported the incident to police in November 2024, but no charges were filed. Prosecutors reopened the case on Sept. 28. Hochul later appointed James, saying she had lost faith in the local prosecutors handling the Ithaca investigation. James said she was prepared to lead a process New Yorkers can trust, guided by the facts and the law. Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffre, said he was thrilled her office had taken over. Attorneys for three of the men named in the lawsuit have publicly denied any criminal wrongdoing.