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Donald Trump is facing a defamation lawsuit over comments he made during the September presidential debate about five men who were wrongly convicted in the 1989 jogger rape case and came to be known as the “Central Park Five.”

The men, who were teenagers when they were arrested, said in a in federal court in Philadelphia that Trump defamed them by saying during the debate that they had pleaded guilty when they hadn’t. Trump also made erroneous comments during the debate suggesting someone had been killed during the 1989 incident.

The case comes as Trump enters the final two weeks of his presidential campaign before Election Day on Nov. 5. The new lawsuit won’t be resolved in such a short time, but could fuel criticism from his opponents.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement that the case “is just another frivolous, election interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’s dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”

Trump has a history of speaking publicly about the 1989 case, including taking out full-page newspaper ads referring to the attack days after it took place that called for the city to “bring back the death penalty” to “send a message loud and clear to those who would murder our citizens and terrorize New York.”

The guilty verdicts of the five men were overturned in 2002 after DNA evidence linked another person to the attack on the jogger. New York City later settled a civil lawsuit brought by the men for .

The case came up during the Sept. 10 debate between Trump and Harris. Harris mentioned Trump’s 1989 ad in response to a question about race and politics. The five men are Black and Latino.

Trump replied, “They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately.”

The woman survived the attack.

After the debate, one of the five men, Yusef Salaam, a member of the New York City Council, approached Trump and introduced himself, according to the complaint. Trump commented that Salaam was “on my side then” and Salaam responded, “No, no, no, I’m not on your side,” at which point Trump walked away. Salaam and several other members of the group addressed the Democratic National Convention this summer.

The lawyers for the five men wrote in the complaint that “Trump’s conduct at the September 10 debate was extreme and outrageous, and it was intended to cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs.”

The case is Salaam v. Trump, 24-cv-05560, US District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).

Top Photo: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 22: (L-R) Activist Raymond Santana, Activist Korey Wise, New York City Council Member Dr. Yusef Salaam, and Activist Kevin Richardson, representing “the Central Park Five,” stand with Rev. Al Sharpton (R) on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic Party supporters are gathering in Chicago, as current Vice President Kamala Harris is named her party’s presidential nominee. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Topics Lawsuits