New Revelations About Alleged Cornell Gang Rape Jolt Investigation

0:00This holiday all plans even unlimited are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required,$15 per month equivalent, taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera.

0:32What they don't expect. Stop. This is SimpliSafe. Police are on the way. Using smart AI cameras, live U.S.-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds. Don't just record a break-in. Stop it from ever happening. Plan starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 70 % off your new system with professional monitoring at simplisafe.com slash Spotify. 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at$49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information.

1:05Tonight, President Trump is kicking off a 33-day blitz heading into the midterm elections. But instead of starting in traditional battlegrounds, he's instead doing a run through some deeply red areas with his first stop in Texas this evening, Oklahoma right now, and Alabama tomorrow. Actually, when you look at it, every state that he's going to between now and Monday, he won by double digits in 2024. That might make sense if you've been listening to the president's arguments today, which include that he would win the election if it were today and that his policies aren't the problem. It's just the PR or lack thereof.

1:45The only thing we're doing badly at is public relations. In other words, we're doing a phenomenal job, but by a combination of maybe we're doing a bad job and selling it. The costs are way down and they're coming down further. We have inflation totally in control. and we've done a great job. And the thing I haven't done a good job with is explaining it to people. I'm going out because nobody's selling it. We're doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country. So I think you're probably better off with that, but we'll get the word out. It should not be hard.

2:22At one point today, the president gave himself an A-plus on the economy. And in a new interview with Time magazine, when the interviewer pointed out, quote, Mr. President, your polls have never been lower. This was Trump's response. They're fake numbers. I would beat anybody running today by 20 points. Your numbers that you have are fake. The pollsters are corrupt. They're almost as corrupt as the writers. During that lengthy interview with Time, the president was defensive about his own approval ratings and the ongoing war in Iran. He said it's possible that he ramps up the bombings in Iran after the midterm elections are over.

2:58And when he was pressed how he reconciles, calling himself the president of peace, while also considering annihilating Iran, as he put it at the United Nations last week, the president answered this way, saying, quote, because by annihilating Iran, we've created peace in the world. Now, the polls that the president blasted as fake show that by and large, Americans don't support the war or Trump's handling of it. Asked if he thinks that that has anything to do with the fact that he told Americans it would only last four to six weeks when the war has gone on for over seven months. The president said this, I think the press fed it to them so that, look, we were in Vietnam for 21, 20 years.

3:40We were in Afghanistan for many years. We were in Korea for many. We're everywhere for many years. I'm in there now for six months and I've destroyed their nuclear capability. Clearly, with the timeline still on his mind, he then posted on social media and said, I stated numerous times that it would take four to six weeks to get rid of the Iran nuclear threat, and I did it in one night. The rest of the time is just to make sure it stays that way. Of course, that's easily disproven, given it was the president and members of his administration that were on camera saying things like this just days into the war.

4:19Whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always, and we have right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks. We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. As he's articulated, you know, he said four to six weeks. The president, commander-in-chief, the Pentagon has always stated four to six weeks estimated timeline for Operation Epic Fury. The president, as I said, estimated about a four to six week timeline for the full completion of these military combat operations. I think we're two or three weeks. We'll leave. We're finishing the job.

4:55And I think within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job. A recent CNN poll found that 78 percent of Americans say the president is not doing enough to end the war. His daughter-in-law, Laura Trump, while strongly supporting his efforts, also acknowledged it could cost him the midterms. And when he was asked about that today, though, and her comments specifically, the president took the opposite view. Do you agree with her or didn't agree with that? No, it's possible. It should help because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. So when you say, is it OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, I would say 100 percent of the people say no, including worldwide.

5:39So when you say it that way, it would help. If you don't say that, it could hurt. At another point in the interview, when the president was questioned about his decision to ban certain outlets, including CNN, unprompted, he said this, quote, Because I don't think anybody should be forced to bear fake news, constantly bad stories, because I've done great things. I mean, I've done Venezuela. I've done I can name I can name 100 great things I've done. I never get good press. I never get fair press. Doesn't have to be good. All it has to be is fair. And the president continued. So at a certain point, you say, what's the purpose of like this crazy Caitlin Collins?

6:24She's a very average person. She's the most unhappy young person I've ever seen. if I did something spectacular by any standard and they would write about it, they will only write badly. Did I mention that was unprompted? I digress. To sum up the Time interview, the president complained about coverage he doesn't like, dismissed the polls that he doesn't believe, and also insisted the Iran war is going exactly as he planned. At one point, when the reporter asked about the health of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and he thinks he should stay in the Senate, the president snapped and said, quote, this ain't going to be much of a story.

7:04Here we are doing this. You haven't asked me one effing positive question. All of this. What about this? What about that? What about that? What about this? All negative, the president said. I want to start tonight with my political sources. Harry Enten is here with me, and we are also joined by Karen Finney and Doug High. I don't know how you're keeping it together. Harry, Harry. I think, I mean, Harry, though as i was listening to what the president said today and also going through his his time interview it was a 75 minute sit down the thing he keeps saying is if i was running tomorrow the election were tomorrow he'd win by 20 25 basically saying i haven't done anything that voters should be unhappy with what are the numbers it's just not true look he's had a negative net approval overriding now for well over 550 days in any poll that meets CNN standards for publication.

7:57More than that, you can look at the redos, right, between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. What do you see? You see that Kamala Harris, although she lost by a little bit more than a point in the popular vote back in 2024, she now leads by either six or eight points, depending on which poll you look at. He is at this point, you know, you look at that APNORC poll, what'd you see? You saw that his net approval rating on inflation was what, like minus 65 points. He now holds, it's a record, he holds the 20 worst polls ever net approval rating on inflation or the cost of living. And the minus 65 is the worst of the bunch.

8:29He's just full of it. So he says the polls are as corrupt as the writers. That was his point. When the interviewer was saying things are not as rosy as you're portraying them to be, Mr. President. I mean, he just seems to think that the polls are wrong. But do all of them show the same thing generally? They all show the same thing. You know, I said it right in that answer. Any poll that meets CNN standards for publication, he has had a negative net approval rating now since March of 2025. You have to go all the way back then to find a poll in which he wasn't underwater. And now this includes even the polls that have traditionally been good for him that don't meet CNN standards for publication.

9:07And I will note that in large part, while the polls did underestimate him a little bit in 2024, for, not anywhere near to the extent that he would need to actually have a positive net approval rating. I mean, Doug, when you hear what the president is saying and his argument is that the only thing that's going wrong is the PR, basically, that they're just not selling things properly. Is that how Republicans see it? Look, you, Karen and I both had sort of opposing jobs at the RNC and DNC, worked in communications. And if there's one time-honored tradition in politics, and Karen knows this very well, it's that you say that the policies are going well, it's just the communications effort and the comms team that isn't getting the job done.

9:43I've heard it from Trump, from Obama, from Biden, from Bush. Always blame comms. It ultimately means you're not doing what you need to do, but it's a failsafe excuse that every politician at some point tries to use. Every politician might try to use it, Karen, but I think the question is for voters, if the main issue is the economy and affordability, and they know that when they're filling up their gas tanks once a week. I mean, how do you think they hear the president's comments? Do they think it's just PR? Look, I think the president has really it's a symbol of how much credibility he's really lost.

10:17I mean, I thought one of the things that was so interesting in the AP poll, I think Kerry would say that meets our standards. So I'll mention it. That, you know, it pointed out not only the level of dissatisfaction, but how dramatically people are feeling like this is not what they expected. And so the point is, day after day after day, when he's trying to tell people that everything is great, it's not just that it's very, like, he's saying the sky is blue and people can see that it's gray when they're filling up the gas tank. It's also that they had a different expectation. And he is consistently not meeting those expectations.

10:53And in fact, they're feeling misled. We've seen that, you know, in And when we've seen John King on the road talking to voters, people will say it unprompted. Talk about unprompted. Right. People say that. We saw this over the summer when people were here for that July 4th debacle. Right. That they were so disappointed in him and his leadership. So we're hearing it again and again and again from lots of different parts of the country and from different parts of the Trump base. Well, and Karen, remind me how it went when Democrats tried to tell people that the economy was doing better than they thought.

11:26Oh, yeah, it was great. It was so awesome. Right. Remember when we sat here? I mean, probably many of us on the same panels when Joe Biden kept trying to say, you know, God love him. But when you're you know, we said to his team, guys, it's not just the messaging. It's the actual you're not meeting people where they are and what they're feeling. You know, Doug, I mentioned where the president is, and he's hitting a bunch of red areas. And obviously, you know, he's talking about how well he did two years ago, but obviously he's not on the ballot come November. This race in Texas, Ken Paxton, James Tallarico, the president had this to say about the candidate that he has endorsed in this race.

12:08Ken Paxton was at my side more than anybody. and I have to always remember that because he could be a pain in the ass sometimes, I'll be honest. Is he here, by the way? Oh, there he is. Good. I didn't even know if he's here. I don't care. I mean, Doug, what did you make of that comment from the president? Oh, it's typical Donald Trump. We've heard him say similar things about other candidates in the past as well. I don't think it hurts Paxton, but it obviously doesn't help him. What he needs is he needs help raising money, And that's something the president could be very effective at. They also need help in messaging, as we were talking about earlier.

12:45You know, if I'm Ken Paxton or any Republican on the ballot, I want the president saying, here's what we've done to try and lower costs. And here's what we're going to do in the next two years. Anytime that he takes himself off message, it really cuts into Republicans' ability to make those connections with voters that they need to. And just one other thing very quickly, Caitlin, you know, if you have a problem with how things are being communicated, you might want to hire a press secretary. That's a good point. They still don't have a press secretary. The president said there's a lot of people who want that job.

13:14Harry, you know, this is coming at a crucial time. I mean, the midterms are... They're close. ...creeping up. They're creeping. ...day by day. When you look at where the president is and where he's spending his time, what stands out to you? Yeah, I mean, look, you have the new polls tonight from Iowa and Texas, right? You have the Democrats, very competitive in both of those races. Anomaly ahead, though, within the margin of error. And it really is that Donald Trump, you know, don't listen to what he says. listen to what he does, where he's going. He's going to these red places, red areas. And, you know, you talk about someone like a Ken Paxton.

13:45I mean, Donald Trump endorsed Ken Paxton. And now he has to, he is endorsed and now has to support and basically try and drag someone across the finish line. If you look at Ken Paxton's net favorable rating, it's what, like minus 16 points in the average poll? That is the worst net favorable rating for a Texas Republican Senate nominee at this point in the campaign this entire century. And you know what? Donald Trump ain't doing too much better in Texas, So I'm not quite exactly sure how much he can truly help him. Yeah. And Karen, he might be unhappy because, I mean, Ken Paxton was recorded in some audio by The New York Times that The New York Times got where he was trashing that midterm convention the president held in Texas.

14:21He said it hurt their numbers. But Karen, just when you read this Time magazine interview overall, beyond the president going after reporters, he doesn't like talking, blaming the press for his Iran war timeline, which I thought was really remarkable. He was saying the press fed the American people that it was the White House who repeatedly told us from the briefing room, from the Oval Office, four to six weeks, seven months ago. Yeah, it was pure fiction. I mean, it was the delusional alternate reality that Donald Trump is living in that we, you know, keep hearing about, you know, again and again and again, as he's trying to tell us how great he is.

14:58This is a golden age of America, and it's not what people are feeling. Not to mention I have a strong disagreement with his comments about certain reporters. I mean, you know, he doesn't like to be held accountable. He doesn't like to have to face tough questions. We know this from the first Trump administration. And this time, you know, the other concern, though, I will say on a serious note, Caitlin, is the closer we get to the election, the more he is going to be just kind of disintegrate and the more dangerous he will become. Because now it's interviews, but what actions will he take as he gets more anxious about losing power?

15:34Doug? No, I agree. I think when we look at Donald Trump, sorry, I'm stammering there. Trump says a lot of crazy things. Some of that's intentional, some of it's not. You always have to pay attention to what's happening behind the curtain. Right. Doug, hi. Karen Finney, Harry Enten. Great to have all of you here tonight. Thank you for joining us. Up next, we have a new video that was taken during that attempted hijacking of the plane that was bound for Tel Aviv. A former NTSB investigator is my source tonight on this. It is remarkable. And also, there was a public hearing that was filled with outrage at Cornell University tonight over the school's handling of that alleged gang rape of a former student.

16:14And the governor here in New York has just appointed a special prosecutor to investigate.

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16:54This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like All I Want F***. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required,$15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms.

17:27Tonight, dramatic new video shows what it was like inside that Fly Dubai flight as passengers took control after the co-pilot stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the Israel-bound plane. The gruesome scene left some of them covered in blood.

18:04It's not clear from this video who exactly was shouting that phrase, I'll kill you, but the man who was covered in blood is one of the heroic passengers who actually helped subdue the attacker. The graphic video shows passengers attending to the seriously wounded captain while guarding his attacker after tying his hands with earphone cords. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the captain was stabbed or hit with an axe and that the suspect is an Omani national who was radicalized. The co-pilot who attacked the captain is now being interrogated. But here's what we do know. First, we know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.

18:50That appears to be something we're gathering from the information, his personal information. Tonight, that suspect that he mentioned has been transferred from Saudi Arabia, where the plane had made that emergency landing, to the United Arab Emirates as officials are investigating whether the violence was linked to terrorism. The captain, Smeet Mature, is a 39 year old father of two. Right now he's getting medical attention and Abu Dhabi, but we're told he's in good health and recovering well. My aviation source is Greg Fyth, who is a former air safety investigator for the NTSB. And it's great to have you here, Greg, because there are so many questions about this investigation where this stands right now.

19:31What do you believe is the number one thing that investigators are looking at in this moment? Really, Caitlin, it's about how this pilot actually became a pilot would fly Dubai. They have to look at the history because typically you go through mental health screening, you go through a battery of psychological tests to become an airline pilot, whether it's here in the United States or around the world. So the question is, it's apparent that he met all the requisite requirements. He got on, he's been flying for less than a year. But, you know, the radicalization, what was the motive? And how long has this motive been really festering?

20:08And was this an intentional opportunity to get a job and be able to commandeer an aircraft under, you know, nefarious circumstances? That's going to be a big issue. Or was this a mental health issue? And here in the United States, we just recently passed a bill in the Senate regarding pilot mental health. So that will be, I think, one of the first priorities. What was the intent? Because that's going to take it from either terrorism or mental health. Well, I mean, and we we were talking about what the prime minister of Israel said that he stabbed him with an ax or something like an ax. My one of my questions was, how did a pilot get that on board?

20:53I mean, did they go through screening? Do we know what the standard is for these fly Dubai pilots? One of the things that, of course, they have to find out is whether it was a night. There is some suggestion that it was a small pocket knife. There is a crash axe that is mounted in the cockpit. It is intended for emergency egress in the event of an accident or serious incident where the crew can't get through the door. They can use the crash axe to break out the windows to evacuate the aircraft. So there is an axe in the aircraft itself. So the question is, what was the weapon of choice? You know, we showed video of the passenger who's covered in blood after helping subdue the attacker.

21:36This is remarkable. He told Netanyahu that after he dragged the attacking pilot out of the cockpit with other passengers, because the pilot who got stabbed helped open it after that had happened, apparently, he grabbed the plane's controls and helped stabilize the plane because he said he had watched a TV show called Air Crash Investigation, which reconstructs real life air disasters. As someone who apparently and remarkably has been on that show, as you have, what do you make of the fact that that is what helped this passenger save everyone who was on that flight? I think that, again, you know, one of the things is, is that he reacted because the airplane was in a very steep dive multiple times.

22:22And he was the one that was the most successful to the controls. And it would have been a natural reaction to avoid keeping the airplane pointed at the ground. It was basically a heroic act. Fortunately, there was another flight crew on board that was qualified on the aircraft and was able to then take intervening action and stabilize the aircraft. But that initial action may have saved that aircraft only because that was occurring at a higher altitude. And the more altitude you have for recovery, the better. So if that in fact is true, then he initiated the heroism of saving that aircraft. Yeah, it's just remarkable after it plunged 17 ,000 feet in two minutes.

23:06Greg Fyfe, thank you for joining us with your expertise. We'll continue to follow that investigation, of course, as it shapes up. Up next, share for us on The Source. The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, just appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged gang rape of Cornell University after disturbing new details were made public, and we'll bring them to you right after this.

23:33When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera. What they don't expect... Stop. This is SimpliSafe. Police are on the way. Using smart AI cameras, live U.S.-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds. Don't just record a break-in. Stop it from ever happening. Plan starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 70 % off your new system with professional monitoring at simplisafe.com slash Spotify. 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at$49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. We have breaking news tonight as the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, has now appointed the state's attorney general, that's Letitia James, to be the special prosecutor into that alleged 2024 gang rape of a former Cornell University student.

24:20In a statement, Governor Hochul says,

24:31Now, this is coming as the New York Times has now got its hands on hundreds of pages of photographs, texts, emails, and interviews with Jane Doe, her friends, and the fraternity members that she has accused. The documents are from Cornell's private 2024 Title IX investigation. And in one of the documents that was obtained by the New York Times, Jane Doe recounted what happened the night of October 19, 2024, to her roommates the following morning. Without using the words assault or rape, but one roommate said that she could not remember Jane Doe saying that she had said yes to anything that occurred that night.

25:09while another roommate told investigators that it appeared that she was in shock and, quote, not really understanding the gravity of what she was saying. Her attorney told CNN today in a statement, quote, Ms. Doe's internal processing went from denial to shame and ultimately acceptance that she had been raped by people that she thought were her friends. Her reactions were a textbook reaction to trauma. Now, lawyers for at least two of the accused men have broadly denied criminal wrongdoing. Others have not yet made public statements. But there's so much new information on this investigation tonight.

25:46I want to bring in my colleague, Gloria Pashmino, who's been covering this story, and also our CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson. And Gloria, obviously, you know, we're seeing these documents that show that Jane Doe basically came across this online forum after she was assaulted that changed her perception of what happened. And I think what we are seeing in these documents, other than her literal words that she's saying to her friends and her friends are saying back to her, I think we're seeing her move through this, right? She is processing, and these messages and these documents kind of show us that process.

26:25It also gives us a bit of an insight into Jane Doe's mind in the immediate aftermath of the night of this incident. So I want to get right to the documents because we've been reporting on this all day, and the New York Times had this this morning, and it outlines this process by Jane Doe in which she becomes aware that the incident, the night of October 19, is being talked about on campus. That's the first thing she says to them. She sees this in an online forum. She sees there's a discussion about Chi-Fi and they say, are Chi-Fi brothers Crips or Bloods? Because I hear they have been doing hell gang banging.

27:02They do drugs and gang raped a sophomore. Another user said, report them. So she finds this and when she finds this, she tells the investigators that quote that's the first time I had ever heard the narrative change that I wasn't a whore and that I was assaulted so again she's going through the process and while this is happening she's also receiving text messages from one of the men that was there that night and he actually says to her quote I just wanted to apologize for how things went down the other night he and another fraternity member that's not named both felt terrible for being too under the influence of drugs and alcohol to shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand and she responds to him and she says at the end of the day none of the sexual stuff was illegal and honestly i really liked being with you and other person so those two are significant because we know from Jane Doe's written statement to Cornell University Police that her initial declaration about what happened that night is that it started out as consensual, right?

28:14She wanted to be there. She went there. She agreed to the threesome. So this is evidence, right? And she's texting with one of the fraternity members. Now, two weeks after the fact, again, this is playing out as a processing of the facts that she's doing. Two weeks after, she says to him, let's be clear that 90 % of what happened that night was not consensual. I was given more ketamine than I can remember. And then she says, and I know I told you I felt uncomfortable and I didn't know anyone in the room. That also is very similar to something that Jane Doe stated in her statement to Cornell police, that at one point towards the end of the night, she turned to the guy that she had meant to start out that night with and said, who are all these people and what happened to just you and me?

29:04So that I think is an interesting sort of match between the two documents. And again, showing her that she's coming to terms to how all this night really shifted. She says to herself, I've been assaulted, I have been raped. And it's at this point that she also seeks medical care. And now we see another instance of how this all really went wrong, right? She goes to Cornell Health. She tells them she's had a traumatic sex experience. And Cornell Health does not give her a rape kit. They do not refer her to resources. Someone makes a passing reference that maybe she should talk to somebody. And I think what we see in these documents is something that sex crime survivors and advocates often talk about and that is the amount of time that it can take for a victim to process that things change over time what you remember and i think you can kind of empathize with her you know she went there willingly there was a young man who she wanted to see and so you can kind of think about all of those emotions and then where she ends up in the end.

30:16Joey, when you look at these, what the school had in its possession, what we can see now is the public. How big of a deal is it that the governor has appointed a special prosecutor to look into this? It's huge and it absolutely is necessary in this case. Why? You have a district attorney who evaluates the case and doesn't do anything. And I shouldn't even say evaluate. What he does is he depends apparently upon a statement that the police provided to him, and that was a watered-down statement and didn't actually have the essence of what occurred. We learn later that she unequivocally told the police that she was raped.

30:51That's a critical fact. We learn later also that apparently the detective who took the statement and investigated reached out to the district attorney's office, to the investigator there, to ask for further follow-up. That wasn't done. Why? What was the issue such that, and again, I'm not condemning or saying anyone's guilty. That's for an investigation. But when we talk about an investigation, shouldn't a victim at least have that? Shouldn't you, when you go to law enforcement and tell them what happened, the law enforcement evaluate that? And shouldn't the DA, instead of saying, hey, I just rely upon the police, do what I and other district attorneys did when I was a prosecutor, talk to the police.

31:31Hey, you know what? I have questions and these are what the questions are. What was this about? What were you doing? What were they doing? What did you learned from her? What specifically did she say? You spoke with her for many hours. You condensed it into several pages. What else did she tell you? Was this a violation of her, et cetera? It didn't happen. And so what the governor's doing is saying, we want to have an investigation that has public confidence. The governor did not, let's be clear, direct Letitia James's office, the attorney general, to get indictments. That's not it. What she directed the attorney general to do was to have an adequate investigation.

32:05And just briefly, Caitlin, there's information out there. All of the seven have made statements with respect to what occurred during the school investigation. So that's out there. Other information with regard to what happened, witnesses, all of that is there. So it's going to be up to the attorney general to investigate and determine if there's a crime. And it seems like the woman, Joey, did what she was supposed to do here. I mean, she went to the police. And that's the critical issue. And again, when you go to the police, it's not just to say, hi, how are you? Nothing happened. If you're going to the police, clearly you believe that there's a violation.

32:39So you depend, if you're a sophomore or anybody else, upon the authorities to do their job. Shouldn't that be at least at the bare minimum? And again, when the prosecutor investigates, they're going to have to establish, Caitlin and Gloria, of course, that any of the seven have engaged in any wrongdoing. And it's not you can blanketly indict seven people if that's what happens. The district attorney now being out of the case has no say. It's up to the attorney general to determine, did one or more do anything wrong? Was it consensual? Was she helpless? Was there drugs and alcohol involved? To what extent would they know that?

33:12So she'll ask the questions that should have been answered in 2024, but were not. Joey Jackson, Gloria Pashmino, thank you for both for helping us break down all the new information. And I should note that this is what happened on Cornell's campus tonight, where a student-run public hearing was held amid the backlash that is only growing over the school's handling of this allegation, with several students at the assembly demanding transparency and accountability from the university officials, with one student recalling what she felt when the assault was first brought to light on campus two years ago.

33:48I'm speaking from personal experience now. I was devastated. what happened to Jane Doe two years ago when I was a freshman. And I'm a junior now and I cried about it then and I am still equally devastated and pained about it now and I am terribly disappointed in our university. My next sources tonight are two students who attended that hearing. Sophia Dasser is the editor-in-chief of the Cornell Daily Sun and Cerise Kuzba is the senior editor. They also broke this story days before any major outlet and have done extensive reporting on this case. So thank you for both being here tonight. I really do appreciate you.

34:29And Tufia, can you just tell us, since you were inside the room today, what it was like and what you saw and what you heard?

34:38There was a resounding sense of solidarity coming from students, students sharing their own stories and really requesting what the Senate's been requesting all this time which is transparency and accountability from the university administration and understanding what the title 9 process is really like from the inside. Well and I know there were calls for this transparency and accountability so Reese did that include from some students that they feel that the the president should resign over how this was handled? Yeah, so the first half of the meeting was for public comment. And the second half, the student assembly members actually asked that press did not take videos and that this was off the record, no photos, no recordings, so that speakers could feel very comfortable in the environment.

35:34And a lot of alumni, parents and students spoke up. Some of them called for, there was a call for President of Cornell, Michael Kotlikoff, to resign and it was followed with cheers and with snaps and some claps as well. People shared their experience as well as identifying with Jane Doe. And kind of the overall theme was that there was a lack of transparency in the Cornell processes and a lot of people felt that there's a major failure on the university level. Sophia, what has it been like on campus? I mean, obviously, the reporting on this story I know has been out there for two years now, much more extensively in recent days that so many people are learning about it.

36:20What has it been like on campus? How are students feeling about this? I think there's definitely a form of outrage from students, but it comes in the form of solidarity and kinship with Jane Doe and one another, where students feel really comfortable sharing their stories and relating to Jane Doe's story. The Sun recently released a survey and results are now up showing that a lot of students actually have no change in their view on whether they would report to the Title IX office before and after the case. This is the most common response. So the outrage isn't really coming from surprise, but it's coming from a sense of relatability from within the students and an understanding that the Title IX process has been opaque, is opaque, and should no longer be opaque.

37:15Yeah, I mean, we're seeing now the trove of documents here of what was said in these interviews. And Cerise, you know, you stayed on this story, reported it before any major news outlet did. When you see what the reaction has been and the growing push for answers, I wonder what your reaction to that has been.

37:37Yeah, it reminds, you know, I think it reminds everyone of the Me Too movement, you know, 10 years ago. And this is now marking a decade since that has happened. There's a lot, as Sophia said earlier, there's a feeling of camaraderie, at least on campus. But also, you know, we see this across the across social media and the wider community. and you know we've watched it grow and become an international issue as well. What I can say is I don't think that the university can return to a status quo after this. Cerise Kuzba, Sophia Dasser, thank you both for joining us tonight. We really do appreciate being able to hear from you directly on the campus.

38:24Thank you for having us. And I want to remind everyone who's watching as we continue to cover this who might be dealing with something similar. There are resources for you, for your help. You can reach them anytime at rainwith2ends.org. Call the number that you see here on your screen as well. We'll continue to follow what's going on with Cornell and the investigation. We're also following this story tonight after two lethal injections did not kill the first person, the first woman who would have been executed in Tennessee in 200 years. My inside source tonight was there to witness the botched execution.

38:58A reporter for the National Banner is up next.

39:24Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. The real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables. It's the feeling that your home stopped being safe. SimpliSafe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection. One, smart AI cameras and live U.S.-based agents help stop intruders before they break in. Two, we sound the alarm at points of entry. Three, our agents request emergency response.

39:54Plans starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 70 % off your new system with professional monitoring at SimpliSafe.com slash Spotify. Outdoor deterrence plans start at$49.99 a month. Visit SimpliSafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. Tonight, Tennessee is stopping all further executions after a woman who had been sentenced to death survived not one but two lethal injections. 50-year-old Krista Pike is alive and in critical condition right now after last night's attempted execution. Her legal team is now calling on the governor of Tennessee to commute her sentence because they argue that her rights were violated after the failed execution was quote cruel and torturous.

40:35Last night the execution team attempted to establish an IV line for an hour. I counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone, one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm after an unsuccessful attempt. The state continued its efforts despite the very complications that we had warned about in court months earlier. Now Pike was said to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. She had been sentenced to death for the gruesome murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, who was 19 years old. Pike and her boyfriend at the time had lured her into the woods, slashed her with a box cutter, and beat her with a chunk of asphalt.

41:21Her mom traveled to Nashville to see Pike's sentence carried out and told NBC News that the failed execution was quote, a mess. My source tonight is Stephen Hale, a reporter for the Nashville Banner and one of the media witnesses for last night's attempted execution. And Stephen, I mean, we've seen the heard from the other accounts. Can you just tell us as a witness who Was there what you saw?

41:47Yeah, Caitlin, you know, this was my fifth execution that I've witnessed in Tennessee. The reporters I was with in the witness room had also most of them witnessed numerous executions. And none of us had ever seen anything like what we saw last night. It was I've spoken to a few of my colleagues today. And the way it's been described is probably best for me not to repeat on your air. but it was a real horror show. And I have to agree with Ms. Martinez that it was a mess, is one way to put it. I mean, this was the state's second botched execution attempt this year. Do we know what happens next?

42:31Well, yes and no. So as you said, the governor has called off all executions for the rest of the year. That effectively just postpones one execution that was set for December. and I guess implies that the state won't try to execute Krista Pike again this year. But as you said, this is the second time in a matter of months that Tennessee has tried to execute someone and failed to do so. In May, at an execution that I was also inside the prison for, the state tried to execute a man named Tony Carruthers. They failed to place the IV lines at that point. And so that execution never made it as far as this attempted one did.

43:08but this is now the second time that they've tried and failed and it's also the second time in a matter of years that governor bill lee has called for a pause on execution so that the state's execution protocol can be reviewed so we've kind of been here before in a way with a different protocol um and we're pausing them again now what will come of that is not clear governor bill lee's about to leave office and there's about to be an election here for a new governor so what a new gubernatorial administration will do is unclear, but that's what's happening for now. Yeah. Do we have any clue? I mean, when they say they're going to review it, do we know, do you have any insight into what that process looks like?

43:48So a few years ago when, when a similar process happened, they brought in an outside law firm to do just, you know, what they call a thorough review of the protocol and whether it was being followed or not. And so that law firm was able to interview people with the Tennessee Department of Corrections, interviewed people who were involved in the execution process, and came out with a report. And that report showed that the department had not been following its own protocol in many executions. After that, the state took some time, created a new lethal injection protocol, which is the one they're using now, and you can see how that's gone.

44:22So I presume that the review will be similar to that, but it's hard to say right now. We don't have a lot of information yet. Stephen Hale, keep us updated what you're hearing and your reporting. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thanks for having me. Up next, it is time for Source Code. We give you a number at the center of the story of the news. We'll see if you can figure it out by the time we get back from break. Tonight's Source Code is 100 and we'll be right back with the story.

44:59Tonight's source code is 100, as in 100%. That's how much the donation pledges to the Kennedy Center have dropped in the months after President Trump's name was added to the building, according to records and internal presentations that were obtained by CNN. In that same time, gifts to the arts institution plunged 42 % as the documents reveal the center was struggling financially after the pandemic, but the situation got worse after the president got personally involved. One slide that was summarizing the state of the Kennedy Center of May 2025, three months after the president anointed himself the chairman, acknowledged that they were, quote, out of cash.

45:41Preliminary numbers show the deficit is only expected to grow this year, and this, of course, comes as there is a major legal battle over the center's futures that are playing out, and right now, as of tonight, the Kennedy Center remains closed to the public. In that new interview with Time Magazine, the president refused to rule out demolishing the Kennedy Center altogether, telling them, quote, I'm not committing to anything. We're going to see how it plays out in court. If you missed any of the show, you can stream the source live or watch it on demand anytime. If you have an all access subscription, you can scan the QR code on your screen right now or go to CNN.com slash watch to learn more.

46:19Thank you so much for joining us here tonight. CNN News Night with Abby Phillip starts now. The real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables. It's the feeling that your home stopped being safe. SimpliSafe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection. One, smart AI cameras and live U.S.-based agents help stop intruders before they break in. Two, we sound the alarm at points of entry. Three, our agents request emergency response. Plans starting around$1 a day. Right now, get 70 % off your new system with professional monitoring at SimpliSafe.com slash Spotify. Outdoor deterrence plans start at$49.99 a month.

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