The men formerly known as the “Central Park Five” filed a defamation lawsuit against the Republican presidential candidate ahead of their exoneration on Monday Donald Trump.

With Election Day still two weeks away, the group accused the former president of making “false and defamatory statements” about them during the presidential debate with the vice president last month Kamala Harris. The group is calling for a jury trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages.

“Defendant Trump falsely stated that plaintiffs had killed a person and pleaded guilty to the crime. “These statements are demonstrably false,” the group wrote in a federal complaint.

The men are upset because Trump essentially “defamed them in front of 67 million people, resulting in them trying to clear their names again,” chief deputy attorney Shanin Specter told The Associated Press in an email.

Specter did not comment on whether there were concerns that some would view the lawsuit as purely political because of the group's support for Harris. “We are seeking redress in court,” Specter said.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called the lawsuit “just another frivolous election interference lawsuit filed by desperate left-wing activists to distract the American people from Kamala Harris' dangerously liberal agenda and her failed campaign.”

Trump campaign officials did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise were teenagers when they were accused of raping and beating a white jogger in New York's Central Park in 1989. The five, black and Latino, said they committed the crimes under duress. They later recanted their actions, pleaded not guilty in court, and were later convicted in a jury trial. Her Convictions were overturned in 2002 after another person confessed to the crime.

After the crime, Trump bought a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the teenagers to be executed. The jogger case was Trump's first foray into anti-crime politics, foreshadowing his outspoken populist political persona. Since then the dog has been whistling openly and clearly racist rhetoric were an integral part of Trump's public life.

In the September 10 debate, Trump misrepresented key facts in the case when Harris brought up the matter.

“They admitted, they said they pleaded guilty, and I said, 'Well, if they pleaded guilty, they seriously injured a person, ultimately killed them… And they pleaded guilty, then they pleaded not guilty.” said Trump.

He seemed to confuse admissions of guilt with confessions. Furthermore, no victim died.

The now-exonerated five, including Salaam, who is now a New York city councilman, lobbied for Harris. Some of them spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August and accused Trump of never apologizing for the newspaper ad.

They also joined civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton Get Out the Vote Bus Tour.

Previous defamation suits against Trump resulted in plaintiffs being awarded significant amounts. In January, A jury awarded advice columnist E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million about Trump's ongoing social media attacks on her claims that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in 1996. In May 2023 A jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing her and entered a $5 million judgment.