By: Brianna Lyman – October 09, 2026 – The Federalist – 4 min read
“Our body our choice,” Cornell’s Jane Doe wrote in a text exchange with one of the seven men she has accused of sexually assaulting her during a 2024 encounter, according to screenshots published this week by TMZ. Doe, who now claims she was raped, casually described the incident as a “gangbang” in the message sent days after it took place.
But those comments, which cast further doubt on Doe’s claim that her participation was involuntary, are missing from articles published by The New York Times and CBS New York that were based on the same text thread. Both The Times and CBS New York reported on a text exchange between Doe and Jonathan Newell — a man she would later accuse of rape — in which she reassured him that none of the sexual activities they engaged in were illegal.
Citing that text exchange, The Times reported that Newell apologized “for how things went down the other night” and for not “shut[ting] it down and kick[ing] people out before it got way out of hand.”
The Times report continued:
Jane Doe replied and reassured him.
“At the end of the day non of the sexual stuff was illegal and honestly i really liked being w u and matt,” she wrote.
A lawyer for Mr. Newell did not respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Ingalls declined to comment.
The next day, on Oct. 22, Jane Doe made an appointment at Cornell Health to see a doctor because she had contracted a urinary tract infection and wanted to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. She told the doctor she contracted the U.T.I. “in a traumatic way,” according to a transcript of her conversation with investigators.
The Times ended its quote from the text message with “…u and matt.” Readers may have believed that that’s how the actual message ended.
Two days prior, Mahsa Saeidi of CBS New York, an affiliate station of CBS News, wrote a story entitled “Exclusive text messages reveal new details in alleged gang rape at Cornell University.” Saeidi reportedly “received new screenshots from a source.”
Saeidi quoted some of the same snippets of the exchange as The Times, including Doe’s admission that “non[e] of the sexual stuff was illegal” and that Doe liked being with the two men.
But neither The Times nor Saeidi included other crucial portions of that same message: Doe calling the activity a “gangbang” and reassuring Newell that their decisions were “our body our choice.”
The full Oct. 21 text from Doe to Newell shows one continuous message, according to TMZ:
aw jonathan i really appreciate this text. my memories super clouded too. i think we were all way to [redacted] drunk and high. i’m getting a little heat (pi phi girls ([redacted] and [redacted]) can’t get my name out of their mouth)) but that’s to be expected. but at the end of the day non[e] of the sexual stuff was illegal and honestly I really liked being w u and Matt. so anything anyone has to say about the gangbang is out of their jurisdiction. I don’t think we should feel any shame for the part. our body our choice asf…
When The Federalist asked CBS New York whether Saeidi had reviewed the entire text exchange, a CBS New York spokeswoman said she had. “Our reporter reviewed the full text exchange before publishing, and our editorial decisions reflected that review,” the spokeswoman said when pressed to answer why key portions like Doe’s “our body our choice” comment had been left out. “We also included her attorney’s explanation and gave our audience the context necessary to understand why some of those messages may be disputed,” she added.
Asked the same questions, The New York Times did not respond. However, in its story, Times reporters indicated that their reporting was based on “detailed filings collected during the private Title IX proceedings — hundreds of pages of emails, text messages, photographs and interviews with Jane Doe, her friends and those she accused.”
The Federalist also asked a spokesman for CBS News whether the national media outfit stands by the reporting of its local affiliate, but CBS News declined to provide an on-the-record response.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
We Know Why the Liberal Media Left Out Some Important Context Regarding the Latest Cornell Texts
Matt Vespa Follow @mVespa1 – October 12, 2026 7:00 AM – Townhall
The Cornell case is becoming a nightmare. We have drugs, group sex, alcohol, and very fuzzy details about when consent was withdrawn, if at all. We know all parties involved willingly engaged in this behavior, but that’s why the case is under review again, this time by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In September, Jane Doe filed a civil suit against several men, alleging she was drugged and gang-raped at a fraternity party in October 2024. Since then, investigators reviewed the initial Title IX documents, which revealed a hazy situation that warrants investigation, though not by James, who prejudged the case on social media before Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed her special prosecutor.
The latest batch of texts released showed Doe not characterizing herself as a victim, saying after the raucous party that it was “Our Body, Our Choice.” One of the men accused in the suit sent the text, apologizing for not shutting down the whispers that followed — word spread quickly about the event. Yet mainstream media coverage omitted that part of the exchange. Again, since Duke, this industry just cannot report on these stories accurately (via The Federalist):
…those comments, which cast further doubt on Doe’s claim that her participation was involuntary, are missing from articles published by The New York Times and CBS New York that were based on the same text thread. Both The Times and CBS New York reported on a text exchange between Doe and Jonathan Newell — a man she would later accuse of rape — in which she reassured him that none of the sexual activities they engaged in were illegal.
[…]
The Times ended its quote from the text message with “…u and matt.” Readers may have believed that that’s how the actual message ended.
Two days prior, Mahsa Saeidi of CBS New York, an affiliate station of CBS News, wrote a story entitled “Exclusive text messages reveal new details in alleged gang rape at Cornell University.” Saeidi reportedly “received new screenshots from a source.”
Saeidi quoted some of the same snippets of the exchange as The Times, including Doe’s admission that “non[e] of the sexual stuff was illegal” and that Doe liked being with the two men.
But neither The Times nor Saeidi included other crucial portions of that same message: Doe calling the activity a “gangbang” and reassuring Newell that their decisions were “our body our choice.”
[…]
When The Federalist asked CBS New York whether Saeidi had reviewed the entire text exchange, a CBS New York spokeswoman said she had. “Our reporter reviewed the full text exchange before publishing, and our editorial decisions reflected that review,” the spokeswoman said when pressed to answer why key portions like Doe’s “our body our choice” comment had been left out. “We also included her attorney’s explanation and gave our audience the context necessary to understand why some of those messages may be disputed,” she added.
So, they admitted they kept that out. Gee, I wonder why.
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