Central Park 5 Sue Donald Trump for Defamation

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Facts

  • The members of the Central Park Five — whose conviction of the 1989 rape of a woman in Central Park, NYC, was overturned in 2002 — are suing former US Pres. Donald Trump over comments made during the Sept. 10 presidential debate.[1][2]
  • During the debate, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris alluded to how Trump 'took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five young black and Latino boys,' referring to his public response to the crime at the time.[3]
  • Responding to Harris, Trump argued: 'They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately.'[4]
  • The lawsuit — filed by Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, and Antron McCray — claims the statements were 'false and defamatory,' arguing that they 'never pled guilty' and that 'none of the victims of the Central Park assaults were killed.'[5][6]
  • Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung referred to the lawsuit — which seeks $225K in damages — as a further incident of 'frivolous Election Interference.'[3]
  • This comes after the five, whose convictions were eventually overturned on the basis of DNA evidence, reached a $41M settlement with NYC in 2014 over their wrongful imprisonment.[4]

Sources: [1]The Hill, [2]NBC, [3]New York Post, [4]Washington Post, [5]Newsmax and [6]New York Times.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Youtube. Donald Trump has made openly racist comments for decades, ranging from his response to the original Central Park 5 arrests to this more recent debate with Harris. Not only were these men wrongfully arrested, put behind bars, and smeared by figures like Trump in 1989, but they continue to face false accusations today. If he wishes to continue defaming innocent people, he must face the consequences in court.
  • Right narrative, as provided by Townhall. Trump never mentioned the race of the Central Park Five 1989, and he, like the rest of the public, was under the impression that they were guilty. Misspeaking about a group of men who happen to be Black doesn't make someone racist. Even though the media know this, they'll continue to smear Trump so as to achieve their real goal: stopping him and his policies on crime prevention from getting back to the White House.

Predictions