President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of making defamatory statements during his campaign about five Black and Hispanic men wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white jogger in New York’s Central Park. Trump’s lawyers argued that his comments about the Central Park Five were legally protected expressions of opinion under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
Central Park Five and the Lawsuit Allegations
The Central Park Five—Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise—were exonerated in 2002 through new DNA evidence and another person’s confession. Despite this, Trump falsely claimed during a September 10 presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris that the men had killed someone and pleaded guilty. Attorneys for the men stated that Trump’s “demonstrably false” statements cast the plaintiffs in a harmful light and inflicted emotional distress.
Shanin Specter, the attorney representing the Central Park Five, criticized Trump’s legal arguments and expressed confidence in the plaintiffs’ case. “We look forward to taking discovery and proceeding to trial,” Specter said. The lawsuit highlighted that the men never pleaded guilty and that their initial confessions were coerced and later recanted.
Trump’s Defense and Public Backlash
Trump’s lawyers maintained that his speech addressed matters of public concern and should be protected. They further emphasized that his statements fell under legally permissible expressions of opinion. Despite these arguments, Trump’s past comments about the Central Park Five have drawn widespread criticism. In the aftermath of the 1989 assault, Trump took out full-page ads in several New York newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty, fueling public outrage.
This case, which underscores the ongoing debate over freedom of speech and accountability, continues to draw significant public attention.
