A federal judge agreed Friday to step down from overseeing the now-acquitted Central Park Five's defamation lawsuit against President-elect Trump.
Shanyn Spector, the lead attorney for the Central Park Five, revealed earlier this week that she has been friends with the judge since childhood and has represented him and his wife in legal matters.
In their motion asking U.S. District Judge Michael Beilson to recuse himself from the case, Trump's lawyers wrote that “the defendant acknowledges that any reasonable person would question the court's impartiality in this matter. We respectfully submit, and therefore request that the case be dismissed.”
Mr. Beilson was appointed by former President George W. Bush. agreed to the request immediately After plaintiffs indicated they would not object to his dismissal.
The case will now be reassigned to another judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where the case was filed.
Last month, the Central Park Five sued Trump for defamation over comments the group made during a presidential debate in September about wrongful convictions.
In 1989, five black and Hispanic teenagers were wrongly convicted of the rape and assault of a woman jogging in New York City's Central Park. They spent years in prison, and their convictions were overturned in 2002 when the real culprits confessed and were supported by DNA evidence.
The complaint alleges that President Trump recklessly made false claims to tens of millions of people watching the debate that the group “pleaded guilty” and “ended up killing people.” claims.
Trump and the five members have a long history. After the incident, the real estate mogul at the time paid for full-page ads in major New York newspapers calling for reinstatement of the death penalty.
The defamation lawsuit is still in its early stages, but the Trump campaign has described it as a frivolous lawsuit filed by “left-wing activists.”
Members of the Central Park Five spoke against President Trump during the campaign, including speaking at the Democratic National Convention. Yusef Salam, a member of the group and current New York City Councilman, was also in the spin room supporting Vice President Harris after the September debate.
