Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump are seeking the removal of the judge overseeing a defamation case brought against him by members of the Central Park Five. The case stems from comments Trump made during his presidential debate with Kamala Harris earlier this year.
On Thursday evening, Trump’s legal team filed a motion in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania calling for the “immediate recusal” of Senior U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson. The motion cites Judge Baylson’s “personal relationship” with Shanin Specter, the lead attorney for plaintiffs Antron Brown, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam.
The motion highlights a November 13 letter from Specter to Trump’s attorneys detailing his ties to Baylson. According to the motion, “Mr. Specter stated that he has personally represented both the Honorable Michael M. Baylson and his wife. Mr. Specter also stated that he has known and enjoyed a friendship with Judge Baylson since he was a child, and that both the Judge and his wife have been guests in Mr. Specter’s home on various occasions. The letter further stated that Mr. Specter and his wife have been guests in the home of the Judge and his wife.”
Given this longstanding personal and professional relationship, Trump’s legal team argues that a reasonable person would “question the Court’s impartiality in this matter.”
According to the complaint, the lawsuit arises from Trump’s statements during his debate with Harris, where he “falsely stated that Plaintiffs killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime.” During the September 10 debate, Harris accused Trump of using race to divide Americans, referencing a “full-page ad” he placed in 1989 calling for the execution of the Central Park Five—five Black and Latino teenagers convicted of a brutal assault.
In response, Trump claimed, “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.” The complaint asserts these remarks are “demonstrably false,” noting that the plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were fully exonerated. It also emphasized that the victims of the Central Park assault were not killed.
The plaintiffs argue that Trump engaged in “malicious, intentional and reckless conduct” and are seeking punitive damages to hold him accountable and deter similar behavior.
