Trump’s Recent Attempt to Dismiss Central Park Five Defamation Case Fails

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. Ken Cedeno | Reuters

A federal judge on Friday dealt another blow to President Donald Trump's efforts to throw out a defamation lawsuit filed by plaintiffs formerly known as the Central Park Five. U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone stated that Pennsylvania's Anti-SLAPP law, which is designed to protect defendants from lawsuits targeting protected speech, does not apply in federal court, rejecting Trump's motion to dismiss the case.

"The only issue before the Court is whether Plaintiffs' claims for defamation, false light, and intentional infliction of emotional distress ('IIED') can survive given Pennsylvania's Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, otherwise known as its Anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Statute," Beetlestone wrote in a 13-page filing. 

"Pennsylvania's Anti-SLAPP Statute (a state law) does not apply here, in federal court," she continued, adding: "Accordingly, Defendant's Motion shall be denied."

Five men who, as teenagers, were wrongfully convicted in the so-called Central Park Five jogger rape case sued Trump in October, accusing the then-Republican presidential nominee of defaming them. They cited several statements Trump made during his Sept. 10 presidential debate against former Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing him of falsely stating that the men killed someone and pled guilty to the crime.

"These statements are demonstrably false," they wrote in their filing against Trump. The five men — Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, and Korey Wise — spent years in prison for the rape and assault of a white female jogger, a crime they were later exonerated of and did not commit.

Trump has attempted to dismiss the defamation lawsuit against him but has not been successful. Judge Beetlestone in April also rejected Trump's motion to dismiss the case in a separate ruling.

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