Month: October 2024

The five men who comprised the “Central Park Five” (and now call themselves the ‘Exonerated Five’) have filed a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, accusing him of spreading “false, misleading and defamatory” statements about their 1989 case during the Sept. 10 presidential debate. The lawsuit states: “Defendant Trump’s conduct at the September 10 debate was extreme and outrageous, and it was intended to cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs.”

According to a new court filing filed on Monday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Trump said that the five men — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise — pleaded guilty when they were tried in connection with the assault and rape of a woman who had been running in Central Park on April 19, 1989, and that the victim had died.

During the debate, Trump responded to a statement from Vice President Kamala Harris in which she revisited his full-page ad in The New York Times in the wake of the incident that called for the execution of the Central Park Five when he said the following: “[T]hey come up with things like what she just said going back many, many years when a lot of people including Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five. 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.”

However despite Trumps statements, the five men (who were then teenagers) accused of the crime always maintained their innocence, despite being convicted and serving years in prison. A decade after the attack, a different man confessed to the crime which was confirmed through DNA analysis, and the men’s convictions were vacated in 2002. Wise (who was still in prison at the time) was released early and the group went on to sue New York City in 2003. Ten years later the suit finally settled for $41 million, while the city never admitted to any misconduct by its police department or prosecutors.

Attorneys representing the five men are seeking monetary damages over Trump’s statements, which they say have caused them “severe emotional distress and reputational damage.” Shanin Specter, an attorney for the five, said Monday: “Unfortunately the civil justice system doesn’t permit us to require Mr. Trump to apologize or retract his statement. 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.”

In response to the lawsuit, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, said Monday: “This is just another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’s dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”

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On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt from ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to sue Trump and other federal officials.

The high court ruled in favor of a lower court decision that says Cohen is not able to pursue a lawsuit which asserts that then-President Trump, then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr and other federal prison officials had allegedly violated Cohen’s civil rights by putting him in solitary confinement for writing a tell-all book about the former president.  Cohen had been released to home confinement during the pandemic while serving his prison sentence, and said one of his release conditions was to refrain from criticizing Trump. He contends he was thrown back in jail and then into solitary confinement after questioning the legality of that condition.

Cohen initially asked the Supreme Court to review his retaliation claim against Trump in July, after a panel with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Cohen’s legal effort to hold Trump accountable for his 2018 imprisonment (Cohen was serving a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to coordinating payoffs to buy the silence of women who said they had sexual affairs with Trump before he was elected).  New York’s U.S. Southern District Judge Alvin Hellerstein later ordered Cohen’s permanent release from federal confinement, saying his return to prison had been in retaliation for his criticism of the former president.

Cohen recently told NBC News that if Trump is re-elected and without a deterrent or other safeguard in place that a second Trump presidency will be about “just locking people up.”  In his filing, attorneys for Cohen say he was trying to stop other U.S. citizens from “being imprisoned because they refuse to waive their First Amendment right or because they express criticism.”

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Officials said Sunday that seven people are dead and half a dozen others were critically injured after a gangway that’s part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island on Saturday. Sapelo Island, on the Atlantic Coast, is about 72 miles south of Savannah.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner Walter Rabon said Sunday morning that the aluminum ferry gangway gave way before 4 p.m. in a “catastrophic failure” with at least 40 people on the gangway at the time, attending an annual cultural event on historic Sapelo Island off the coast of Georgia. Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources, said a celebration of Gullah Geechee culture was underway on the island when the collapse took place.

DNR Commissioner Rabon said during a news conference that three other people were critically injured and remained hospitalized Sunday afternoon, adding that among those killed was Charles Houston, the chaplain for both the DNR and the Georgia State Patrol. Rabon said the aluminum gangway was installed at the Marsh Landing Dock on Sapelo Island in November 2021, and gave way in the middle under the weight of people boarding the ferry to leave the island.  He added that the gangway was supported by two standing platforms and that at the time of the incident, the ferry Annemarie was moored to a stationary dock next to one of the platforms. Said Rabon: “One end of the gangway was in the water. One end of the gangway on the landward side was still attached. It is a structural failure… There should be very, very little maintenance to an aluminum gangway like that, but we’ll see what the investigation unfolds. The initial findings of our investigation at this point show the catastrophic failure of the gangway causing it to collapse.” Rabon said at least 20 people ended up in the water and another 20 jumped in to try to save people: “Their quick response and action saved additional lives yesterday afternoon.”

Petty Officer 3rd Class Jamie Emery said that the Coast Guard was part of an active search for survivors Saturday night, with two Coast Guard air crews, including one attached to a MH-65 helicopter, being deployed

The Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society organized its annual Cultural Day celebration on the island, calling it “our most celebrated event.” The society said in a statement: “The Sapelo Island community is grateful for the outpouring of love and support, and we ask that you join us in praying for the families of those who were impacted by this tragedy.” The centuries-old culture has been maintained by descendants of West and Central African slaves along the coast of the Southeastern United States who were able to retain many of their Indigenous African traditions.

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said on X: “deeply saddened by the awful news out of Sapelo Island. A tragic end to a joyous celebration. Praying for the loved ones of those we sadly lost and those still missing. The heart of every Georgian is with the Gullah Geechee community & the people of Sapelo Island tonight.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement: “Marty, the girls, and I are heartbroken by today’s tragedy on Sapelo Island. As state and local first responders continue to work this active scene, we ask that all Georgians join us in praying for those lost, for those still in harm’s way, and for their families.”

The White House also released a statement from President Joe Biden: “We are heartbroken to learn about the ferry dock walkway collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island. What should have been a joyous celebration of Gullah-Geechee culture and history instead turned into tragedy and devastation. Jill and I mourn those who lost their lives, and we pray for the injured and anyone still missing. We are also grateful to the first responders at the scene. My team is in touch with state and local officials, and we stand ready to provide any assistance that would be helpful to the community.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a separate statement that she was also “praying for all those who were killed or injured in the collapse of the ferry dock walkway on Georgia’s Sapelo Island. Our administration is in close touch with state and local officials, and we have offered any federal support the community might need. As always, we are deeply grateful for the heroism of our first responders .. In the face of this tragedy, we will continue to celebrate and honor the history, culture and resilience of the Gullah Geechee.”

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At least two people have died and hundreds more were rescued after overnight rainfall and flooding Saturday in Roswell, New Mexico caused severe flash flooding,

According to New Mexico State Police, nearly 300 people have been rescued by the New Mexico National Guard and other agencies within Chaves County, including 38 who were taken to hospitals.

The National Weather Service stated that widespread showers and storms on Sunday in central and eastern New Mexico and also bring the risk of large hail, damaging wind gusts, tornadoes, and both flash flooding and river flooding, “especially in the Roswell area.”

Per the National Weather Service, Roswell recorded 5.78” of rainfall Saturday, which set a record for any date, surpassing the prior mark of 5.68” set November 1, 1901. It also broke the daily record set in 1983 and is four times the region’s average October rainfall. The Spring River in the Cahoon area rose to dangerous levels, stranding several vehicles under bridges along the river, with water entering homes.

The City of Roswell said in a statement: “Many motorists became stranded when their vehicles got stuck in flood waters on many streets. Some people had to await rescue on top of their vehicles that were covered by water. Some vehicles were swept by the water into the river channel. One fatality has been confirmed as a result of the flooding. Search-and-rescue efforts are still underway this morning.”

The NWS has also issued a flood warning for east central, northeast and southeast New Mexico through the early hours of Monday. Additional rain is expected on ground already saturated by Saturday’s downpours and thus raising the risk of further flash flooding.

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