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    • The Central Park Five lawsuit alleges that Trump made false claims during the debate
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    The Central Park Five lawsuit alleges that Trump made false claims during the debate

    Bronwen Cerys Posted on

    The members of the “Central Park Five” are suing Donald Trump over “defamatory” comments he made during the presidential debate on ABC News last month.

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    Members of the “Central Park Five,” also known as the “Exonerated Five,” are suing former President Donald Trump over “false, misleading and defamatory” statements he made during the presidential debate on ABC News last month, the men’s lawyers said known.

    Attorneys for Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise filed the federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Monday. The complaint, obtained by USA TODAY, alleges that Trump falsely said during the debate that the “Central Park Five” members killed someone in 1989 and pleaded guilty to the crime.

    The former president’s comments came after Vice President Kamala Harris said he had “taken 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.” said a message released by men’s lawyers Shanin Specter and Alexander Van Dyke. In response to Harris, Trump reportedly said that the men “admitted – they said they pleaded guilty. And I said, well, if they pleaded guilty, they would have seriously injured one person and ultimately killed one person.”

    “The truth is that none of the Central Park Five pleaded guilty and no one was killed in the attack,” Specter and Van Dyke said in the press release.

    The lawyers also said Trump omitted facts in his testimony, including that the Manhattan district attorney’s office later acknowledged that the then-teenagers’ confessions were unreliable and contradicted evidence, that all convictions were later overturned by the court in 2002, and that Matias Reyes had confessed that he was the real perpetrator and that the city of New York had agreed to pay the men $41 million for their conduct during the investigation.

    “The lawsuit alleges that Donald Trump defamed plaintiffs, portrayed them in a harmful false light, and intentionally caused them emotional distress. “Plaintiffs are seeking to correct the record and clear their names once again,” Specter said in the press release.

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    Trump released a scathing ad in 1989 calling for the assassination of attackers in Central Park

    The “Central Park Five,” now all between 50 and 52 years old, were wrongfully convicted of a series of assaults that occurred in Central Park in New York City on April 19, 1989, according to the lawsuit. The members were between 14 and 16 years old at the time of their convictions.

    When first interviewed by police in 1989, the teenagers denied knowing anything about the Central Park attacks, including by Patricia Meili. But after hours of “coercive interrogation,” four of the boys agreed to give written and videotaped statements in which they admitted to being present during the attacks, the lawsuit says.

    On May 1, 1989, 11 days after the attack and rape of Meili in Central Park, Trump published a full-page ad in four New York newspapers alluding to the crimes. The complaint did not name the suspects, but called on the city of New York to “send a message loud and clear to those who would murder our citizens and terrorize New York: BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY AND BRING BACK OUR POLICE!” “”

    “I want to hate these highwaymen and murderers. They should be forced to suffer… I want to hate these murderers and always will… I want to punish them… I want them to understand our anger. “I want them to be afraid,” Trump wrote in the ad, according to the lawsuit.

    Trump did not apologize for comments in the spin room after the debate

    Immediately after the Sept. 10 debate, Trump walked through the spin room to answer questions from participants, including Yusef Salaam, the lawsuit says. During that post-debate event, the Republican presidential nominee was asked, “Will you apologize to the Exonerated Five?” and “Sir, what do you say to a member of the Central Park Five, sir?”

    Trump reportedly did not respond to the question, prompting Salaam to say: “President Trump, I am Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five. How are you?” Trump replied, “Ah, then you’re on my side.” Salaam then said, “No, no, no, I’m not on your side.”

    Trump would then wave at Salaam, smile and leave, the lawsuit says.

    “Plaintiff Salaam attempted to engage in civil dialogue with Defendant Trump regarding the false and defamatory statements that Defendant Trump made about Plaintiffs less than an hour earlier, but Defendant Trump refused to engage in dialogue with him “, says the lawsuit.

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    Bronwen Cerys
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