Donald Trump was served yet another lawsuit in the weeks leading up to Election Day.
As if 34 felony counts, six bankruptcies, two impeachments, and one conviction weren’t enough to convince MAGA Republicans not to vote for Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, think again! While it isn’t exactly news that the settler colonial state that is the ol’ US of A doesn’t care about women, people of color, or folks with disabilities, it’s still jarring to think that billionaire politicians are somehow above the law, especially billionaire politicians who are literal felons.
Now, Trump is facing even more legal woes, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that the case ties back to his long and storied history of racism, lies, and slander.
The exonerated Central Park Five are suing Trump for defamation over false debate claims
Last month, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise, more commonly known as the Central Park Five, filed a defamation suit against Trump, accusing the not-so-former president of “falsely stat[ing] that Plaintiffs killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime,” according to newly released court documents. The group of men (who Trump wanted executed) were exonerated after being wrongfully convicted of the assault and rape of a jogger back in 1989, on top of robberies and other violent acts around Central Park.
As mentioned, Trump has made some dubious remarks about the Central Park Five before, but the lawsuit focuses specifically on Trump’s September 10 debate in Pennsylvania, where he told the crowd: “They 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.” A very quick Google search would reveal that A) each of the men pleaded not guilty, and B) the victim survived.
Per NBC News, the complaint reads: “Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further the victims of the Central Park assaults were not killed,” also noting that the men have “suffered injuries as a result of Defendant Trump’s false and defamatory statements.”
Although the lawsuit doesn’t specify what exactly the men, represented by attorney Shanin Specter, hope to get out of this, they are asking for a trial to determine damages—and they might actually have a shot, even though defamation cases are notoriously difficult to win.
However, Specter did make sure to reiterate that his clients aren’t holding their breath for an apology. “Unfortunately the civil justice system doesn’t permit us to require Mr. Trump to apologize or retract his statement,” he said. “The most that we can obtain are money damages both to compensate these five men for Mr. Trump’s damaging their reputations and for punishment of Mr. Trump for making these statements.”
Surprise! Trump is refusing to take accountability for his actions—again
Face-checking has famously not been important to Trump and his gaggle of loyal followers, but given how highly publicized the trial of the Central Park Five really was, you’d think he’d do some basic fact checking 101 before spewing out such nonsense in front of thousands of people. And this time around, it sounds like he certainly messed with the wrong people.
Allegedly, Trump was served at Mar-a-Lago last month while he was away on the campaign trail. Since then, his spokesman, Steven Cheung, has shut down the accusations, calling the suit “just another frivolous, election interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’ dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”
It’s important to note that this is hardly the first time Trump has gone after the Central Park Five; in 1989, he dished out thousands of dollars to pay for a large ad calling for New York to reinstate the death penalty. So yeah, regardless of how the scales tilt in this case, here’s hoping Trump will actually be held accountable for his little misinformation spree, and that he’ll finally learn to keep these mens’ names out of his mouth and give them the respect they deserve after all these years…but I’m doubtful.
Published: Nov 7, 2024 01:20 pm