President Trump has lost his bid to end a defamation lawsuit filed by members of the so-called Central Park Five, a federal judge ruled.
Mr. Trump is accused of making false statements during his 2024 debate with then-Vice President Kamala Harris about the five Black and Latino men who were wrongly convicted of raping a White female jogger in New York City in 1989.
In her ruling, Pennsylvania U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Beelestone allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint and the case to continue, despite the president’s legal team asserting nothing he said amounts to defamation.
During the 2024 debate, Harris criticized Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee at the time, for taking out “a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five.”
The plaintiffs — Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise — claim Mr. Trump falsely said they pleaded guilty to the crime and killed a person when he responded, “This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country. There’s never been anything like it. They’re destroying our country. And they come up with things like what she just said going back many, many years when a lot of people including Mayor Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five. 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. But this is a person that has to stretch back years, 40, 50 years ago because there’s nothing now.”
Their lawsuit argues the statement was “demonstrably false,” since they never pleaded guilty and the victim of the assault was not killed.
In a statement, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Karin Sweigart, said, “This baseless lawsuit is yet another unfounded and meritless attack against President Trump. It exemplifies the very kind of meritless legal action Pennsylvania’s anti-SLAPP law aims to prevent — shielding free speech from politically motivated abuse. The court’s dismissal of several claims is a victory. We firmly believe the entire case should have been dismissed and will continue fighting to protect the First Amendment rights of not just the President, but all Americans.”
The Central Park Five were teenagers at the time of assault against Trisha Meili, a White female jogger, in Central Park.
The five were arrested and charged for the rape and assault of Meili and other crimes. They pleaded not guilty and maintained their innocence throughout the trial, but were convicted in 1990.
The five were exonerated and had their convictions overturned in 2002, when DNA evidence was matched to a different man who confessed to the assaults. They’ve been known as the “Exonerated Five” since.
Salaam is now a New York City councilmember, Santana recently announced he is running for a city council seat, and Richardson recently launched a civil rights workshop in the Bronx to help students understand their rights during police encounters.
