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Trump backs Cornell defendants

True crime · Heat 2.4 / 10 · 2 shows · 22m airtime

On October 4, Legal AF reported that Trump sided with the alleged assailants in the Cornell rape investigation rather than the victim. The discussion widened as Trump called Letitia James corrupt and said anyone she investigates will not get a fair shake, and a 1990s clip resurfaced of him defending Mike Tyson over his rape conviction on the Letterman show. On October 26, AOC told an Ithaca town hall that rape culture is protected at elite institutions including Cornell. Coverage draws a through-line from the E. Jean Carroll verdicts to the Central Park Five ad, while the Cornell case itself remains under investigation.

How 2 podcasts covered it

  1. Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-10-04 (0:00 to 1:30)
    Admits a wrong prediction on Trump's silence
    Popok says he was wrong to predict Trump would stay out of the Cornell rape investigation, arguing Trump sided with the alleged assailants and tying it to the Carroll verdicts and the Central Park Five ad.
    New angle: Trump sided with the alleged assailants in the Cornell rape investigation rather than the victim.
  2. Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-10-04 (6:01 to 6:51)
    Plays Trump calling James corrupt
    Plays a clip of Trump telling the press that Letitia James is corrupt and that whoever she investigates will not get a fair shake, then walks through the $500 million fraud finding against the Trump Organization as the backdrop.
    New angle: Trump said Letitia James is corrupt and whoever she investigates will not get a fair shake.
  3. Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-10-04 (8:24 to 10:13)
    Plays the Tyson and Central Park Five receipts
    Plays the receipts on Trump's history with rape cases: the 1989 Central Park Five ad and a 1990s Letterman clip defending Mike Tyson's rape conviction, used to argue a pattern of siding against victims.
    New angle: Trump defended Mike Tyson over his rape conviction on the David Letterman show in the 1990s.
  4. Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-10-04 (10:23 to 11:38)
    Recaps Trump's sex abuse baggage
    Recaps Trump's decision to side with the alleged assailants and runs through his sex abuse baggage - the Epstein and Tate scandals and the E. Jean Carroll verdicts - before teasing a clip from a campus sex abuse expert. Stays inside the framing already on the record.
  5. Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-10-04 (40:08 to 53:12)
    Recaps Trump's reaction to the Cornell case
    Thirteen minutes on Trump's reaction to the Cornell case, framed as the story turning from a prosecutor swap into a story about Trump. Retells the Central Park Five ad, the Tyson Letterman clip and the Carroll judgment, and adds a fraud-monitor detail and a viewer comment; stays inside the pattern the card already records.
  6. Rotten Mango, 2026-10-26 (53:05 to 56:49)
    Adds AOC's town hall remarks on rape culture
    Rounds up the political framing of the case: Trump's feud with James, AOC's Ithaca town hall calling elite institutions protectors of rape culture, and netizen arguments over due process. The one on-the-record addition is AOC's town hall remarks.
    New angle: AOC told an Ithaca town hall that rape culture is protected at elite institutions including Cornell.
Unpacking...