Central Park Five sue Trump for defamation

The Central Park Five, a group of Black and Latino men who were wrongfully convicted and then later exonerated for the rape of a White female jogger in 1989, have recently filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Pennsylvania, accuses Trump of making defamatory statements during a presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

During the debate, Trump falsely claimed that the Central Park Five pleaded guilty to the crime and were involved in killing a person during a series of assaults in Central Park. The lawsuit argues that these statements are “demonstrably false,” as the Central Park Five never pleaded guilty, and the victims of the assaults were not killed.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous, accusing it of being an attempt to interfere in the upcoming presidential election. Cheung stated, “The frantic lawfare efforts by Lyin’ Kamala’s allies to interfere in the election are going nowhere, and President Trump is dominating as he marches to a historic win for the American people on November 5th.”

The Central Park Five were teenagers at the time of the assaults against Trisha Meili, the White female jogger, and two men. They were wrongly convicted in 1990 but were exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence matched to a different man who confessed to the assaults. They are now known as the “Exonerated Five.”

The lawsuit details an encounter between one of the men, Yusef Salaam, and Trump in the “spin room” after the debate. Salaam introduced himself as one of the “Exonerated Five” and attempted to engage in dialogue with Trump about his statements. The suit alleges that Trump refused to engage with him.

Salaam and three other members of the exonerated group appeared at the Democratic National Convention in August, where they criticized Trump. Salaam, now a New York City councilmember, along with Korey Wise, another member of the Exonerated Five, have also been active on the campaign trail as part of a get-out-the-vote bus tour with civil rights leader, Rev. Al Sharpton.

It is clear that the Central Park Five are seeking justice for the defamation they believe they suffered at the hands of Trump. The lawsuit aims to hold the former president accountable for his false and insulting statements made during the debate with Vice President Harris.