By Zach Schonfeld - 10/21/24

The exonerated Central Park Five sued former President Trump for defamation Monday over his comments at the recent presidential debate about the group’s wrongful convictions for rape and assault.

During a segment on race and politics at the Sept. 10 debate against Vice President Harris, Trump said “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,” Trump continued.

The five Black and Hispanic teenagers were wrongfully convicted of the 1989 rape and assault of a woman jogging in Central Park. They spent years in prison before their convictions were overturned in 2002, once the true culprit confessed and was corroborated by DNA evidence.

The lawsuit notes the five members never pleaded guilty and the victim wasn’t killed, claiming Trump’s comments were made with a “reckless disregard for their falsity” to the tens of millions of Americans who tuned into the debate.

“Defendant Trump’s conduct at the September 10 debate was extreme and outrageous, and it was intended to cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs,” the complaint states.

Members of the Central Park Five have chastised Trump as he hopes to win a second White House term, including by addressing the Democratic National Convention this summer.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Pennsylvania, includes claims of defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It asks for an unspecified amount of damages.

“This is just another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’s dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

“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,” he added.

Trump’s debate comments about the group came during a segment on race, when Harris noted that Trump in 1989 paid for full-page advertisements in major New York newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty following the incident.

“Took out a full-page ad calling for their execution,” Harris said at the debate, prompting Trump’s comments.

The Central Park Five — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise — previously received a settlement of $41 million from New York City after filing a civil rights lawsuit.

Salaam, who now sits on the New York City Council, was in the spin room during last month’s debate and confronted Trump minutes after the former president made the comments at the center of the new lawsuit.

“I’m Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five,” he said.

“You’re on my side,” Trump responded.

Salaam then replied, “No, no, no. I’m not on your side.”

— Updated at 11:48 a.m.