A federal judge declined to toss a defamation lawsuit against President Trump over his remarks last year about five Black and Hispanic men wrongly convicted of a 1989 rape, dubbed the Central Park Five.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone on Thursday ruled the lawsuit, which stems from Trump’s remarks about the men at a 2024 presidential debate, can move forward. She said Trump’s commentary can be “‘objectively determined’ to be false,” as reason for the challenge to continue.
However, she did dismiss a claim contending the president intentionally caused the men emotional distress.
The Central Park Five — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise — were teenagers when they were wrongfully convicted of the 1989 rape and assault of a white woman jogging in New York City’s Central Park. They spent years in prison before the true culprit confessed, backed by DNA evidence, resulting in their 2002 exoneration.
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