You would think Trump learned from his first two defamation cases that resulted in him owing E. Jean Carrol nearly $90 million but guess he likes burning his hand on that same stove.
The Exonerated Five, formerly known as the Central Park Five, have filed a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump in response to comments he made during a presidential debate in September 2023. The lawsuit was triggered by Trump’s remarks during the Sept. 10 debate in Pennsylvania, where he falsely claimed that the five men — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise — had pleaded guilty in connection with the 1989 assault and rape of a Central Park jogger, and that the victim had died as a result.
If you saw the debate, Trump stated: “They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty.” However, in reality, all five men had pleaded not guilty during their trials, and the victim survived the attack.
Get this, the lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, argues that Trump’s statements are “demonstrably false.” It asserts, “Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further, the victims of the Central Park assaults were not killed.” The complaint also highlights the emotional and reputational harm caused by Trump’s remarks, stating that the men, now in their 50s, have “suffered injuries as a result of Defendant Trump’s false and defamatory statements.”
Taking you back, the Exonerated Five, who were teenagers at the time of their indictment, spent years in prison before being fully exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence linked another man, a serial rapist, to the crime. Their wrongful convictions, based on coerced confessions, drew widespread attention and criticism, particularly as the case occurred during a time of heightened racial tensions in New York City.
When it comes to Trump, in 1989, then a real estate mogul, he publicly called for the reinstatement of the death penalty in large newspaper ads in response to the Central Park case. The city of New York later agreed to pay the five men $41 million in a legal settlement after their exoneration.
Get this, Yusef Salaam, now a New York City Council Member, was present at the debate when Trump made the defamatory statements. The five men are seeking a trial to determine the amount of damages, though no specific financial figure has been requested.
Of course Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, dismissed the lawsuit as “another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists.” Yeah, okay, buddy.
What’s more, Shanin Specter, attorney for the Exonerated Five, responded by saying, “Unfortunately the civil justice system doesn’t permit us to require Mr. Trump to apologize or retract his statement. The most that we can obtain are money damages both to compensate these five men for Mr. Trump’s damaging their reputations and for punishment of Mr. Trump for making these statements.” Specter added that while an apology or retraction would be welcome, “we are not holding our breath for that.”
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