NEW YORK (AP) — A onetime West Point cadet drugged his then-girlfriend in her barracks room, administered abortion pills to her against her will and caused a miscarriage. Then he went on to study at two Ivy League universities, starting at one of them after he pleaded guilty to assault, according to court records and a new lawsuit.
The man, Caleb Suh, graduated from Cornell University this year and was a public health graduate student at Columbia University as of Oct. 28, when the woman sued in a New York court. His current status at Columbia is unclear.
The suit drew attention to a case that had played out quietly at West Point and in federal court, where Suh pleaded guilty this past June to the March 2022 assault on a cadet in the class below him. She was 19 and in her second year at the U.S. Military Academy, according to prosecutors.
She wanted to have the baby. Suh didn't. Instead, he told the judge, he impersonated the woman to open an online pharmacy account, ordered abortion medications, got Xanax from a friend to use as a sedative, and duped his girlfriend into drinking what she thought was just a prenatal protein shake. After waiting until she fell asleep, he administered the abortion pills orally and vaginally.
According to the woman's lawsuit, Suh left her alone and incapacitated and ignored her attempts to contact him after she woke and realized she was bleeding. She called 911 and was hospitalized.
While she was being treated, Suh went back to the online pharmacy's website to post questions about whether doctors might detect the pills, according to the lawsuit, first reported by The New York Times.
“She’s suffered a life-changing event that she is still dealing with and will be dealing with for the rest of her life,” her lawyer, Russell Kornblith, said by phone Monday. Her suit against Suh seeks unspecified damages.
Suh, who is awaiting sentencing, told the court in June that he was “deeply and immeasurably sorry for my actions and the pain that I have caused.”
His lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, declined to comment Monday.
The lawsuit, which the woman filed under the alias Jane Doe, comes amid national scrutiny of how universities handle student misconduct complaints. Cornell, in particular, has faced criticism since a former student's lawsuit alleged that several men raped her at a fraternity house in 2024 and that the university did too little after she reported the accusation.
In Suh's case, it's unclear what discipline, if any, he may have faced at West Point. The woman reported him to the Army Criminal Investigation Division there in May 2022, according to her lawsuit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia Cohen said in court in June that Suh had told a West Point investigator the woman’s miscarriage was accidental, denying that he’d ordered abortion medication.
The military academy didn't provide information Monday on the probe's findings or outcome.
Suh was criminally charged in a Manhattan-based federal court in June, court records show.
In the meantime, he transferred to Cornell during the 2023-2024 school year. The Ithaca, New York-based university said in a statement Monday that he answered “no” to an application question asking whether he'd been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at any previous educational institution. West Point reported that he was in good academic standing and was eligible to return, Cornell said.
Cornell websites indicate he was recognized for his writing in spring 2024 and got involved with the Cornell Center for Health Equity, a research group. He wrote on its site that he was interested in “the intersection of emergency medicine, addiction and public health” and aimed to become a physician.
Suh also briefly worked at Cornell's medical school, leaving several months ago, the university said. He's credited among authors of a medical journal report summarizing a 2025 conference on cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
This September, Suh started a master's program at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, his lawyer wrote to the judge in Suh's federal case.
Columbia declined to comment Monday, citing educational privacy laws.
A person familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment about it publicly said Mailman applicants aren’t asked about their criminal records but are asked whether they have ever been disciplined for student conduct violations or poor academic performance. Suh’s application never mentioned any disciplinary proceedings, the person said.
At the request of Suh's lawyer, his sentencing recently was put off until January for him to complete his semester at Columbia. He also has been taking a three-month life skills course for people charged with federal crimes, Kenniff told the court in a letter last month.
Prosecutors didn't oppose the postponement. They declined to comment Monday.
The woman's lawyer declined to say whether she ultimately graduated from West Point or what she is doing now.
“We hope that by our client coming forward with this lawsuit, it will, at least, ensure that this never happens to anyone else,” Kornblith said.
Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed.
FILE - Cadets on the plain observe the crucible portion of the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition, May 2, 2026, at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than 24 hours before polls opened across America, Democrats on Monday fought to stay focused on the economy and move past intraparty infighting in the Midwest, while President Donald Trump promoted construction projects in Washington and cast his Democratic opponents as dangerous radicals.
The dueling closing messages came as the nation's two major parties battled for control of Congress and key governors' offices. The outcome could fundamentally reshape Trump's final two years in the White House — and the level of power that comes with it.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's request to sideline thousands of disputed California mail ballots, and the president separately raised the prospect of voter fraud in Alaska.
Early voting spiked ahead of Election Day compared to 2022. There were more than 57 million ballots cast in 47 states and D.C. as of Monday, compared to a little under 44.5 million in 49 states and D.C. in 2022.
Overall, Democrats expressed overwhelming optimism about their party's chances Tuesday, while Trump, who has struggled to control rising prices as the war in Iran continues, acknowledged that the midterm election may not go well for him or his party.
“For some reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot," Trump said in remarks at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where he talked extensively about new grass, rusty pipes and algae. “We have a lot of great things planned for Washington, and I could get into (more about) the nation, but for that you don’t have enough time.”
The speech at the National Mall marked Trump's final scheduled public remarks before Tuesday. The Republican president was also scheduled to participate in nine telerallies for Republican midterm candidates.
Emboldened Democrats, meanwhile, spent election eve pressing their economic message in places like Iowa, Ohio, Kansas and Texas — red states that have emerged as a central front in the 2026 midterms given Trump's unpopularity. In the Midwest, however, Democrats worked to contain the fallout from a messy intraparty fight a day after Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens stunned her party by endorsing Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed 's Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed made no mention of the controversy at an event Monday at Eastern Michigan University, instead emphasizing that his campaign was about voters, not himself. Asked afterward what he would tell supporters nervous about the impact of Stevens’ endorsement on the race, El-Sayed had a simple message: “Go vote.”
Trump, in his final speech before polls open, delivered rambling remarks Monday afternoon at the Reflecting Pool, where he repeated false statements that the project was sabotaged by vandals. The Justice Department has acknowledged in court that the new blue liner he had installed on the pool surface peeled and detached because of a rushed repair job.
He said little about the national economy, which voters say is their chief concern, aside from insisting it was “great.”
“Our country is doing great. I think it’s the greatest we’ve ever done,” Trump declared. “We had a great first term in terms of the economy. We had the best term ever. We had the most successful economy.”
The president spent the majority of his remarks focused on the Reflecting Pool renovation, reflecting on the challenge of removing algae and installing new grass, among other things. He also promoted new Washington-area construction projects, including a golf course and a “promenade” that would let people walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River.
“It’s a great architectural concept, simple and beautiful and white stone,” Trump said.
Tuesday's elections were largely an afterthought in the president's speech. He did, however, briefly portray his political rivals as extremists, claiming that Democrats had “nominated the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in American history.”
The president's message in the midterms' closing days was similarly detached from voters' concerns about the high cost of living. He's called affordability a “hoax” along with repeatedly praising the physiques of the GOP's nominees.
Vice President JD Vance stuck closer to the party message while campaigning Monday in Rome, New York. He touted Trump's moves to end taxes on tips and overtime and secure the border while branding Democrats as “lunatics" who have contempt for American voters.
Democratic candidates were working to capitalize on widespread disaffection over high prices, the fallout from Trump's war with Iran and historical trends that typically favor the party out of power in midterm elections.
In places like Iowa, where voters have not elected a Democratic governor in two decades, Democrat Rob Sand was asking canvassers knocking on doors to help break that streak.
“This is it," said Sand, who faces Republican Zach Lahn. "We have 30-whatever hours to change the direction of the state of Iowa.”
He was appearing with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, who cited his own races as proof that a Democrat can win over Trump-backed candidates in states like his own and Iowa.
And in Virginia, Democrat Shannon Taylor, a prosecutor seeking to oust longtime GOP Rep. Rob Wittman in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, said that voters are fired up and demanding change.
“People are mad, and people want to see change,” said Taylor, who has run on an anti-corruption platform and focused on the cost of living.
Democrats in Michigan — a key state in their efforts to try to retake the Senate — were trying to keep their coalition together after a shock on Sunday when Stevens announced she would back the GOP candidate instead of her party's nominee, appearing at a church service with Rogers.
Stevens — who lost in the primary to Abdul El-Sayed — is a staunch supporter of Israel, while El-Sayed is a fierce critic of the U.S. ally. He has also been criticized for past remarks regarding a Michigan synagogue attack and for appearances with controversial streamer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed tried to ignore the controversy on Monday, simply encouraging his supporters to go vote.
“There’s only one thing we can do to control the outcome,” he said as he campaigned with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and his grandparents, who greeted the crowd.
With over 2.3 million Michigan voters having already cast their ballots as of Monday, the question is whether the extraordinary political drama will matter to those who have yet to vote. Nearly 4.5 million people voted in the 2022 midterms. The state’s regular early in-person voting period ended Sunday, with polls reopening statewide Tuesday.
“Well, around half of people have already voted,” said Lori Goldman, a longtime Democratic organizer in Oakland County, a party stronghold near Detroit. “But for the rest, it could matter a hell of a lot.”
Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington, Hannah Fingerhut in Ankeny, Iowa, Mike Householder in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, and Mike Catalini and Moriah Balingit in Washington contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, surrounded by his running mate Dave Muhlbauer, left, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, right, speaks to reporters during a canvass launch, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
Vice President JD Vance speaks during for a campaign rally at Griffiss International Airport, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 in Rome, N.Y. (Tom Brenner/Pool Photo via AP)
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a campaign rally at Eastern Michigan University, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The podium is seen where President Donald Trump will speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
