The “Central Park Five” sue Trump for defamation after his comments in a debate about the 1989 case

() – Members of the “Central Park Five” sued former President Donald Trump on Monday over “false and defamatory” statements they allege he made about their 1989 case during last month’s presidential debate.

The five men claim in a federal lawsuit that Trump knew he was acting with “reckless recklessness” toward the truth when he said during the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that they pleaded guilty to crimes related to the beating and rape of a woman. woman in New York City, and that the five teens “seriously injured one person, killed one person” in the attack.

“Defendant Trump’s statements were false and defamatory in numerous respects,” lawyers for the men, now all in their 50s, wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia. “The plaintiffs never pleaded guilty to the Central Park attacks. “All plaintiffs pleaded not guilty and maintained their innocence throughout the trial and incarceration, as well as after their release from prison.”

“None of the victims of the Central Park attacks died,” wrote Yusef Salaam’s attorneys, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the lawsuit “another frivolous election interference lawsuit” that he said was filed to “distract the American people from Kamala Harris’ dangerous liberal agenda and her failed campaign.” .

The five men are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit also claims that Trump’s comments put them in a false light and caused them to “suffer severe emotional distress.”

The group was pressured to give false confessions in the case. They were exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence linked another person to the crime. The teens sued the city, and the case was settled in 2014.

Trump has long been outspoken about the case, which rocked New York in the late 1980s when he was a leading figure in the city’s real estate and celebrity world. At that time, Trump took out full-page ads in several New York newspapers that said in capital letters: “RETURN THE DEATH PENALTY. LET’S GET OUR POLICE BACK.”

His comments last month came in response to Harris bringing up the ad during a portion of the debate devoted to race and politics in America.

“Let’s remember that this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five innocent black and Latino youth, the Central Park Five,” Harris said. “He took out a full-page advertisement calling for his execution.”

One of the ads Trump purchased was included as evidence in the lawsuit.

During his three White House bids, the former president has attempted to project a tough-on-crime image, and debate comments highlighted his willingness to invoke racially charged criminal cases from U.S. history. and politics.

Trump has continued to criticize the case as he delved into politics in recent years. In October 2016, then-candidate Trump defended his actions around the time of the case, telling , “They admitted they were guilty.”

And in 2014, Trump wrote in an op-ed in the New York Daily News that New York City’s $41 million settlement with the five men was “a disgrace.”

– ‘s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.