A federal judge on Friday withdrew his presiding over the defamation lawsuit brought against President-elect Trump by the acquitted Central Park Five.

U.S. District Judge Michael Beilson, appointed by former President George W. Bush, recused himself from the case after it was revealed that he was a longtime friend of the group’s lead attorney, Shannyn Specter. legal issues, According to To The Hill. The case will be transferred to another judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where it was originally filed.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers had argued for Mr. Beilson’s withdrawal from the case, saying it could raise concerns about Mr. Beilson’s impartiality in the eyes of a reasonable observer. The plaintiffs agreed to the motion to withdraw, The Hill reported. The defamation claim against Trump stems from remarks he made during a presidential debate last September in which he claimed that the Central Park Five had confessed to and committed the murders.

The case is part of a long history of disputes between President Trump and five people who were wrongly convicted of raping and assaulting a woman jogging in New York City’s Central Park in 1989. The incident involved investment banker Trisha Meili, who was running in Central Park around 9 p.m.

A group of young men attacked her, dragged her into the woods, where they stripped her, beat her with pipes and bricks, raped her, and left her for dead. The district attorney’s office initially treated the case as a homicide because her injuries were so severe that doctors did not expect her to survive the night. (Related: Trump-hating teacher chokes on air after resigning over ‘extreme’ video)

Of the 37 youths questioned about several violent incidents that occurred in the park that night, 10 were charged, and only five were charged in connection with the rapes: Antron McCray, Youssef. – Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Corey Wise. In 2018, New York City released thousands of documents related to the 1989 Central Park rape case.

Although they spent years in prison, their convictions were overturned in 2002 after the perpetrators’ confessions were backed up by DNA evidence, The Hill reported. The lawsuit is still in its preliminary stages, and the Trump campaign has dismissed it as baseless and characterized it as a tactic by “left-wing activists.”

Throughout the campaign, members of the Central Park Five have actively opposed President Trump, appearing at the Democratic National Convention and other election-related events. Salaam, who is currently a member of the New York City Council, also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the spin room after the debate in September.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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