Members of the “Central Park Five” sued former President Donald Trump for defamation. Their lawsuit comes after the comments Trump made about their case at the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in September 2024.
The five black and latino men were teenagers when they were wrongfully convicted of raping and beating a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989.
At the time, Trump bought a full-page ad in multiple newspapers including the New York Times and called for the teens to be executed.
The men spent years in prison and were exonerated in 2022 after DNA linked another person to the crime.
During the debate on Sept. 10, Trump said they pleaded guilty to the crimes and “badly hurt a person, killed a person” in the attack.
The lawsuit alleged what Trump said was defamatory because they never pleaded guilty to the assaults.
Trump campaign spokesman, Steve Cheung said the lawsuit is, “Just another frivolous, election interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’ dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”