A federal judge on Thursday ruled that a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump from the “Central Park Five” can move forward.

U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone, out of Philadelphia, ruled that a defamation lawsuit had enough evidence to proceed,” Reuters was first to report. The lawsuit was filed in October by Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise. The five men were wrongfully convicted in 1989 of the rape of a white jogger in Central Park. They were acquitted in 2002 following a confession and new DNA evidence. The men spent years in prison for a crime they did not commit.

Trump had in the past called for the death penalty for the men. During the 2024 presidential election, he falsely claimed that the five had pleaded guilty to killing someone. The lawsuit accused the president of painting the five innocent men in a “harmful false light,” while Trump’s lawyers argue his words are protected by the First Amendment.

At a September debate with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump claimed the “Central Park Five” had “admitted – they said, they pled guilty, and I said, well, if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty—then they pled we’re not guilty.”

Beetlestone argued, however, that Trump’s statement “can be ‘objectively determined'” to be false.

“The Plaintiffs seek to correct the record and clear their names once again,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Shanin Specter, said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed.

The post JUST IN: Trump to Face Defamation Lawsuit Over ‘Central Park Five’ Statements, Judge Rules first appeared on Mediaite.

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