Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on October 15, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Five men wrongly convicted as teenagers of so-called crimes central park five The jogger rape case sued Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday, accusing him of defamation by falsely claiming he had murdered someone and pleaded guilty.
of lawsuitFiled in federal court in philadelphiaHere are some of the things President Trump said about the men during a Sept. 10 debate with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, who accused Trump of running an ad calling for the execution of a then-teenage defendant in 1989. I am quoting his statement.
“Defendant Trump made false statements.” [at the debate] The plaintiff committed murder and pleaded guilty to the crime. These statements are demonstrably false,” the civil suit said.
“Plaintiffs did not plead guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further, the victims of the Central Park assault were not killed,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit alleges that President Trump’s actions toward the men at the debate were “part of a series of extreme and outrageous conduct that has been going on for several years and constitutes ongoing misconduct.”
The plaintiffs in the case, who currently refer to themselves as the “Innocent Five,” are Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Corey Wise. Salaam is a member of the New York City Council.
Their lawsuit alleges defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeks more than $75,000 in damages, with the total amount of compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial. It is planned.
“This is a desperate left-wing attempt to distract the American people from the dangerous liberal policies and policies of Kamala Harris,” Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chan said in a statement provided by the campaign. “This is just another frivolous election interference lawsuit brought by activists.” A failed campaign. ”
“Desperate legal efforts by allies of the liar Kamala to interfere in the election are going nowhere, and President Trump remains well on his way to a historic victory for the American people on November 5th.” he said.
Activist Corey Wise (center), activist Kevin Richardson (R-Left), New York City Councilman Dr. Yusef Salam, activist Raymond Santana, and Pastor Al Sharpton (from the 2nd). Speak on stage as a representative. R) Watch the final day of the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
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The suit alleges that the men were convicted of a series of assaults in New York City’s Central Park in April 1989, even though they were still teenagers. The men were between 14 and 16 years old at the time and had been living in the home for years. Prison after conviction.
Less than two weeks after teens were charged with sexually assaulting joggers in a park, President Trump told a New York newspaper that he would not specifically identify the suspects. The company paid for a full-page advertisement that alluded to the Central Park assault and called for sexual assault on the victims. From New York City[s]”To those who murder our citizens and terrorize New York, we send a message loud and clear: We are reinstating the death penalty and bringing back our police departments,” the complaint states.
In 2002, all five were exonerated of claims that they had raped the jogger based on newly discovered DNA evidence.
A year later, the men sued New York City for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and racially motivated conspiracy. The city settled the case more than a decade later, paying the men $41 million, but President Trump called the deal “disgraceful” in a newspaper op-ed that year.
“Let’s remember, this is the same person,” Harris said during a presidential debate in September. [Trump] He placed a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, five innocent black and Latino boys. ”
The complaint added that Harris “published full-page advertisements calling for his execution.”
President Trump responded to Harris by saying, “They’re saying they admitted it, they’re pleading guilty.”
“And I said, if they plead guilty, they seriously hurt a person and ended up killing a person. And if they plead guilty, they say we’re not guilty “I swore to be,” President Trump said.
President Trump had previously been accused of defaming author E. Jean Carroll in two separate lawsuits after he publicly claimed he raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Post-trial juries in those cases awarded Carroll a total of $88.3 million in damages, including damages after it was discovered that he sexually abused the writer.
Mr. Trump is appealing the rulings in those cases, which were filed in federal court in Manhattan.