Letitia James is back in the hot seat. The New York attorney general, who has courted controversy by battling President Trump inside and out of the courtroom, is facing a fresh round of political and legal attacks over a new appointment: running the criminal investigation of the alleged 2024 sexual assault at Cornell University.

For any prosecutor, the probe, which involves drug and alcohol-fueled behavior and questions of consent, would be a tall order. But James’s appointment has raised eyebrows among legal observers, who say her office has little experience prosecuting sex crimes, and prompted complaints from two potential defendants, who have asked judges to remove her from the probe, citing comments she made expressing solidarity with the accuser.

A judge will consider that issue Thursday in Monticello, N.Y., weighing the accusations of bias by one of the defendants. Meanwhile, the Republican challenging James’s re-election bid has used the remarks as fodder against her in the homestretch of the campaign.

As James faces pushback, the attorney general’s office has spoken to several law firms about serving as outside counsel to conduct the criminal investigation, which could give James some distance from the probe while allowing her to stay connected to the case. James’s office sought recommendations for private lawyers before the two men sought her removal, people familiar with the matter said.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor after the Tompkins County district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, reviewed the Cornell incident but didn’t bring charges. Van Houten has said the accuser, a former Cornell student, initially described her drug use and sexual conduct on the night in question as “voluntary, conscious and consensual” to campus police. He has said he was unaware that in a transcript of her intake conversation with police she said she was raped.

The decision not to pursue charges created a firestorm after the accuser filed a civil lawsuit last month accusing the school of failing to protect her from an alleged gang rape by fraternity members. Replacing a local district attorney because of public pressure is fairly rare, legal experts said.

“I can’t make sense of it from the perspective of expertise or impartiality,” New York Law School professor Rebecca Roiphe said of the James appointment. “The only possible explanation is that this is just a political move.”The appointment has elevated James’s profile, putting her back in the spotlight as the final embers of her yearslong civil fraud case against Trump and his business are burning out.

New York’s highest court in January will consider the case, after a midlevel appeals court threw out the more than $500 million penalty she won against the president. But James’s visibility on Cornell has already caused complications because of remarks she made days before her appointment. “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable,” she said in a social-media post. “I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”

Lawyers for the two men argue that her comments showed the attorney general had already reached an opinion about the case. “Her own words indisputably establish that Attorney General James is not and cannot remain neutral in investigating this matter and determining whether to prosecute,” wrote lawyers for Gillio Lopes, one of the fraternity members, whose claims are being heard this week.

Lawyers for a second fraternity member, Winston Lee, have argued that James’s comment has prejudiced any future grand jury proceedings.

Hochul and James have defended the appointment, saying they have followed the framework outlined in state law. In a legal filing last week, James’s office called an effort to disqualify her speculative, since there was no indication the fraternity member in question would even be charged. Hochul has said she is confident James will “do what she has always done: look at the facts, examine the record and draw the proper conclusions.”

It isn’t the first time James’s public statements have faced scrutiny in court. In the Trump case, the president unsuccessfully sought dismissal of the lawsuit in part because of her statements about him—such as promising during her campaign to be a “pain in the ass” to Trump. The president has also weighed in on her Cornell appointment, saying potential defendants “won’t get a fair shake.”James has defended her social-media post. “Those comments demonstrate empathy, and what we need now more than ever in our body politic is more empathy,” James said at a recent political debate against her Republican challenger for attorney general, Saritha Komatireddy.

Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor, said James had “never prosecuted a sexual assault case. And she’s already screwed this one up by prejudging it.”